the state. than >> after years of scouring the ocean floor, a treasure hunter with a simple motto... >> today is the day. >> today is the day. >> today is the day. >> ...hits the mother lode. >> ...a shipwreck, which had 40 tons of gold and silver and copper on board. >> when his heirs cash in, collectors grab a piece of the action. >> a gold chalice. $100,000 to open the bid. >> but this treasure hunt is far from over. >> is it true that there's a 40-pound bag of emeralds down there? >> it's 70 pounds of emeralds. >> could you look harder?

i'm jamie colby, and, today, i'm driving into key west, florida, in search of treasure. you know, years ago, spanish galleons and pirate ships sailed upon and sank in these waters. more recently, the island's been home to the heirs of a man who became rich and famous searching for the treasure left behind. >> my name is taffi fisher abt, and i inherited a wreck. i mean literally a wreck, a spanish shipwreck. it's an incredible archeological find, and we keep bringing up more treasure all the time. >> you must be taffi. >> welcome to the mel fisher maritime heritage society. >> taffi's father, mel fisher, salvaged tons of treasure from the sea. oh, yeah. solid gold. >> this is an emerald cross and ring that was found in 1982. >> some of his most precious artifacts are in the museum he

founded here in key west. he must have loved the adventure. >> he did. he was an awful lot like tom sawyer. >> tom sawyer had the mississippi. indiana native mel fisher dreams up his childhood adventures on lake michigan. >> he would go to the lake, and he made a dive helmet out of a bucket. >> how did that work out? >> he said that it didn't work at all. >> in world war ii, mel joins the army corps of engineers. >> over in europe, one of his jobs was building latrines. >> but after the war, this hoosier is fated for a higher -- or maybe lower -- calling. >> he'd met some gentlemen who were spearfishing in tampa, and he was amazed that they could go down and stay underwater. >> they're scuba diving. mel falls in love with the new sport. he follows his parents to california, where they buy a chicken ranch. a lot of clucking and feathers,

but he's moving closer to his dream. >> he bought a compressor and started filling his own tanks. >> in 1952, a beautiful local girl named deo horton walks in and steps out with mel. >> he taught her how to scuba dive, and they decided that they were gonna open a dive shop. >> together, they lead dive charters to explore shipwrecks off the california coast. >> treasure hunting was really a passion for my father. it was full of romance and adventure. >> soon, mel and deo have a thriving business in redondo beach and three boys -- kane, kim and dirk. >> my mother was trying to get other women to go diving, so she decided she was gonna set the world's record for staying underwater. >> and she did -- 55 hours and 37 minutes. as deo put it, "worst case of dishpan hands in history."

she is pregnant at the time with taffi. were you born with a wet suit? >> i was born with webbed feet. [ both laugh ] >> eyeing bigger fish to fry, mel sells the dive shop and moves his family to the florida coast to become a full-time treasure hunter. he sets his sights on one particular prize. >> he read about a shipwreck, which had 40 tons of gold and silver and copper on board. >> her name is nuestra señora de atocha. in september 1622, the spanish galleon leaves havana, bound for seville. she's loaded with treasure from spain's central and south american colonies -- gold bars, finely worked religious articles, and gold chains that some spanish officials are trying to smuggle home in their baggage. [ thunder crashes ] but a caribbean storm sends the atocha to the bottom. finding her wreck becomes

mel fisher's obsession. every morning, he rousts his crew with a simple statement -- "today is the day." >> and, of course, every day, my father is saying, "today is the day. we're gonna hit it. we're almost there. it'll only take a few more months, and we'll have it all." >> finally, mel's search turns up a couple of musket balls from the atocha, plus some coins, a gold chain, and an anchor, then three silver bars -- 76 pounds each. he's getting warmer. >> but then it would kind of piddle off, and he'd say, "that's all right. we'll find it tomorrow." and the next day, "today is the day." >> mel and deo's son dirk and dirk's wife, angel, pitch in to run the northwind, one of their salvage boats. >> they found nine bronze cannons, and that was major, but there was nothing much around those cannons. >> what are the next five years like? >> mostly just empty holes. digging hundreds of thousands of empty holes. >> mel is out of money, living

on a rundown houseboat. then, in july 1975, a faulty valve on the northwind leads to tragedy. what happened? >> my brother dirk and his wife, angel, and a good friend, rick gage, were killed one night when the boat capsized at sea. >> and that tragedy on the water didn't deter dad from wanting to be on the water? >> i think if there was one time ever that my parents considered not continuing, that was it. >> tell me about your brother dirk. >> we were all very depressed about it, but we decided that dirk would want us to continue. and, so, it actually increased our determination. we were gonna find it for dirk. >> so mel returns to the trail of scattered pieces of the atocha's cargo, knowing each

tiny find is a data point that inches him closer to the wreck site. >> we'd find a nail, maybe, a ballast stone, just little teases. >> "teases" that tell mel he must be closing in. others sense it, too, including the government, which wants a cut. in 1977, the federal government and the state of florida claim they own everything salvaged from the atocha. mel fights back. >> he found a lawyer who was in admiralty law, and they arrested a piece of the shipwreck and put it in my father's custody. >> "arresting the wreck" is the legal action a marine-salvage operator files when he's found an abandoned shipwreck. the law wants to create an incentive for people like mel to find valuables lost at sea. that's just the start of his battle with the government. it takes seven years, 151 trials and hearings, $1.2 million in

legal fees, and a trip to the u.s. supreme court. but, finally, mel fisher prevails. no one else can own it. >> nope. it's ours. >> no wonder you're smiling all the time. >> [ laughs ] >> after he beat the government in court, he said, "america has one of the best governments in the world, because a little guy like me can fight and win." >> mel fisher may own the atocha, but the main cargo hold is still out there somewhere. then, on july 20, 1985, after almost 17 years of scouring the sea, the radio at mel's key west office crackles to life. it's his son kane. >> my brother called in and said, "you know, get dad on the radio. i got some important news to tell him." >> what was the news? >> the news was that we had found the main pile of the atocha. it was an 80-foot-long pile of

silver bars and coin chests and jewelry. it was just there sticking up out of the mud. >> is today the day? find out next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. how many sunken spanish treasure ships lie undiscovered off the florida coast? i'm definitely able to see savings through using the car buying on usaa.

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>> the answer is "b." the 40 to 50 wrecks likely contain billions of dollars in precious metal and jewels. >> july 20, 1985. yes, this really is the day for mel fisher. after almost 17 years of searching, the treasure hunter finally discovers the main cargo hold of the atocha, a spanish galleon that sank off key west in 1622. >> 55 five feet down from us, there was this big pile of silver bars about 80 feet long, and then money chains, gold chains, about 6 pounds of emeralds. >> 6 pounds of emeralds. he's lived nearly two decades on the financial edge, been written off as a kook and a charlatan, and rededicated himself to his goal after losing a son and daughter-in-law to the sea.

but now mel fisher has accomplished his mission. >> the value of what we found, at that time, was about $400 million. >> there were so many people who were doubters, but at this point, every magazine in the world came and wanted dad on the cover. >> mel even gets on "the tonight show" and impresses johnny carson with his favorite treasure -- a 6-foot-long gold chain, which he likes to wear around key west and show to kids. >> do you have a favorite piece so far? >> yeah, my favorite piece is a poison cup. it's a solid-gold cup and it has very beautiful engraving. and in the bottom of the cup is a mount for a stone. and if anything with poison was poured in the cup, the stone would change colors. >> is that what you like about it? the story? >> well, that, plus i found it myself. [ laughs ] >> mel's daughter, taffi, oversees archiving the artifacts his divers bring up. so, the fine jewelry, obviously,

is right up my alley. this rosary is unbelievable. >> yes, this a gold rosary with ebony inlay. >> oh! mel salvaged thousands of spanish coins like this one. >> the cross represented the ten commandments. you know the ten commandments, don't you? >> yes. >> well, if you never broke any, i'll let you have that. [ both laugh ] >> mel shares a big chunk of the treasure with his crew. how much is a secret. but suffice it to say there were a bunch of new millionaires in key west. >> did your folks' and your life change? did they live bigger? what'd they do? >> well, a little bit. it was nice not to have to worry about money anymore. but, you know, they stayed in the same house. after the atocha, it became more like a hobby, 'cause he didn't have to work anymore. but he loved it. he loves the search and the thrill of finding it. >> my father said, "taffi, remember, we're only temporary custodians of all of this treasure.

hundreds of years ago, it all belonged to someone else, and then it was lost. and then we found it, and we've been custodians for a while. and hundreds of years from now, someone else will have it." >> words of a man who relishes the hunt for treasure more than possessing it. in 1994, mel fisher begins a battle with lymphatic cancer. he continues to search for treasure almost to his last days. he dies at age 76, in 1998. what was it like when dad passed? >> we had a big celebration of his life. we took his ashes out and put them over the atocha site on father's day the following year. >> in 2009, mel's widow, deo, passes away, too, leaving the treasure of the atocha to her children. what is like to inherit something that was underwater for 400 years? that's pretty strange. >> yeah, it's a very strange inheritance and very exciting at

the same time. >> exciting, in part, because before deo dies, she tells her children it's time to begin selling off the atocha treasure. >> selling once. selling twice. >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. according to legend, a 17th century ghost ship called the flying dutchman is cursed in which way? the answer when we return.

>> the answer is "a." for hundreds of years, sailors reported seeing the phantom ship

aimlessly wandering the seas. >> for almost two decades, as he searched for the atocha, mel fisher confronted doubt, suspicion, financial risk, and personal tragedy, yet he never gave up. when he dies, in 1998, his heirs inherit the full-time job of running the salvage business and managing the fortune in treasure he left them. and in august 2015, in new york city, they're in the midst of a major piece of business -- auctioning off a big chunk of the gold, silver, and jewels from the atocha. >> these objects have an intrinsic value, but it goes way beyond that because of the history of how they were discovered. >> arlan ettinger, the founder of guernsey's auction house, has sold everything from soviet art to jerry garcia's guitar. >> we'll begin tonight with lot number 1, the three silver coins. and $2,000 for them.

>> mel fisher's daughter, taffi, has spent months preparing for this day. >> it's exciting and a little nerve-racking. >> part of the proceeds will be donated to a foundation taffi and her husband established in memory of their 12-year-old son, michael, who died in 2006 of sudden cardiac arrest. >> lot number 11. fair warning at $750. >> so, we're just hoping that it's appreciated and loved and people bid high. >> the fisher family decides this auction will have no reserve, or minimum bid, for most of the objects. >> lot number 83, the silver coin. $950. $1,000 is bid. $1,100. $1,100 is bid. $1,200. $3,500. and now $3,750. any more beyond -- >> yes. >> $3,750. sold here for $3,750. >> the smuggler's silver coin. $18,000 is the bid. $19,000 is bid. and now $20,000. fair warning at $30,000.

last chance. $30,000 for bidder number 607. >> and what about mel's favorite? the gold chain he wore on "the tonight show" just after discovering the mother lode. >> selling once. selling twice. sold to the telephone for $60,000. okay, lot number 51, the gold bar. $55,000 is bid. and now $60,000. >> you marvel at their brilliance. how is it possible that these were under the water, in turbulent conditions, for 400 years and look like they were crafted yesterday? >> $60,000. $65,000. $70,000. and $75,000 next. >> yes! >> $75,000. sold for $75,000. a fabulous emerald cross. $85,000 is bid. and now $90,000. $90,000 is bid. and now $95,000. sold for $95,000. now lot number 53, the gold

disk. $60,000 is bid. and now $65,000. $80,000. and now $85,000. and $90,000 is bid. and now $95,000 on the phone. selling once. selling twice. sold for $110,000. the gold chalice. $350,000. and $375,000 next. sold here for $350,000. aggregate >> some buyers get bargains, but the final tally of just over $2 million is a tidy sum for both the fisher family and taffi's foundation. >> some of the bids were very high. some of the bids were very low. but, you know, everything sold, so i don't have to carry anything home. maybe can save some lives. and maybe we'll just go out and find a whole bunch of more treasure. >> a whole bunch more treasure, because wait till you hear how much atocha booty remains beneath the sea. excuse me? that's next.

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>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> their auction has just raked in more than $2 million, but mel fisher's heirs are not done searching for treasure. you see, they not only inherited the fortune that's already been salvaged from the atocha, but the rights to anything else from the wreck site. how much is left down there? >> 250 million. >> what? >> dollars worth of treasure. >> excuse me? >> $250 million worth of treasure. >> mel used to say, "today's the day." his kids predict there will be more "days" ahead. >> i saw the sunset last night, and there was a green flash. that means we're gonna find a big pile today.

we'll find the stern-castle of the atocha that's been so elusive very soon, maybe tomorrow. >> okay. >> have you ever had a real job? >> you mean besides treasure hunting? no. >> the fisher family spreads their love of treasure hunting around. several times a year, they run cruises to the site of the atocha. it's a chance for even non-divers to search for treasure without getting their feet wet. >> today's the day. >> using a system called an airlift, divers suck up sediment from the ocean floor right into these troughs on deck. >> when you see a green emerald with that white sediment, you can't miss it. >> well, i was digging through the sand. a green emerald popped right out at me. i couldn't believe it. >> great start for the day. >> is it true that there's a 40-pound bag of emeralds down there? and are you looking for it?

>> actually, it's 70 pounds of emeralds. >> should i tell you green's my favorite color? [ thunder crashes ] four centuries ago, nature intervened, and the treasure of nuestra señora de atocha never arrived at its original destination, but through the labors of one dedicated -- and slightly obsessive -- man, it was not lost forever. now it will be scattered across the world -- to collectors, museums, and churches. after that, who knows? as mel fisher said, nobody holds on to this treasure for long. mel fisher's heirs clearly inherited their father's undying fascination with shipwrecks. taffi told me, "once you've seen the ocean paved with gold, it's hard to quit." or, as mel used to say, "it's not the find. it's the hunt." and, kim, if you do come up across that big old bag of emeralds, please give your pal, jamie colby, a call.

i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." and, remember, you can't take it with you. >> two proud texans with a passion for old west guns, guts, and glory. >> i do see bullet holes. >> two strange inheritances -- one a lone star mystery... >> i'm roy roberson. >> i don't think he wanted anyone to have the combination, because that was his control over the pandora's box. >> ...the other a texas-sized challenge. >> this may be financially one of the dumbest things that i have ever done. >> together, can they make history? >> fire! [ explosion ] [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today

i'm out in west texas, about 50 miles southwest of abilene. i'm here to hunt down two strange inheritances submitted by viewers whose stories converge into a single tale, a tale born straight out of the wild, wild west. >> my name is garland richards. in 1998, my dad passed away, left me and my siblings a large cattle ranch and a giant part of history. >> well, i got your letter, and i'm dying to learn more about your inheritance. what is this place? >> this is the richards ranch, and this is fort chadbourne. we will be glad to show you around. >> i'm ready. garland tells me fort chadbourne was built in 1852, during the great western expansion. [ gunfire, horses neighing ] the area had become a hotspot for violence between the pioneers and native indian tribes. >> the u.s. military came in

here and set up fort chadbourne as a buffer zone. >> and unmistakably, i do see bullet holes. >> there was a comanche warrior that was killed in this officers' quarters, and that's part of the history of fort chadbourne, also. >> during the fort's early years, a who's who of future confederate leaders walked through its doors. >> robert e. lee was through here on three different occasions. pickett. longstreet. >> after the civil war breaks out, hundreds of texas troops are mustered into the confederacy here. but by 1867, chadbourne is reoccupied by u.s. troops, many of whom leave their marks on its walls. garland, every one of these walls, they're covered with etchings. wow. "forsythe, october 1870." amazing. garland, if these walls could talk. imagine. the u.s. cavalry uses the fort

until 1873, when its buildings and surrounding lands are abandoned. four years later, garland's great-great grandmother snatches it up. >> they paid $500 gold for a section of land, which at that time was in the upper end of the land prices. >> garland's ancestors used some of the fort buildings for milking sheds, feed and saddle storage, and even houses. >> they overcame a lot of adversities to actually make it a successful ranch. and this has been handed down to us. >> so when do a handful of decaying government buildings become a historic treasure worth preserving? for fort chadbourne, it begins when young garland, the sixth generation of richards on this land, plays his first game of cowboys and indians among the ruins. heck of a playground. >> i shot a lot more indians out here than the cavalry did. growing up, i thought everybody

had a frontier fort in their backyard. >> but as garland gets older, he realizes how special this place is. and while watching the old fort crumble doesn't much bother the rest of garland's family, it crushes him. what are we talking about? one pebble at a time? >> no. whole sections of walls. [ thunder crashes ] >> during a heavy rainstorm in 1995, garland witnesses a column crumble off one of the old fort barrack walls. >> and i looked at this, and i thought, "that's gonna be the last time i see any of the rocks fall off of fort chadbourne." i didn't want my heritage destroyed by mother nature. >> knowing his father, conda odom richards, plans to divide up the ranch among his three children when he dies, garland asks for the slice with the ruins on it so he can fix up the fort. >> this may be financially one of the dumbest things that i have ever done. >> when his father dies in 1998

at the age of 72, garland gets his wish -- 9,000 acres. his strange inheritance includes fort chadbourne, and he gets $125,000 to boot. garland's life's mission is now mapped out. he even convinces his bride, lana, to quit her job and come along for the ride. what do you say to your beautiful bride -- "i love you, sweetheart. we have a beautiful life ahead. oh, but i forgot to tell you -- we're going to rebuild a fort"? >> he didn't know how complicated it was gonna be. he had no clue. >> everybody said, "you cannot do this. you are not qualified to do this. >> but this stubborn rancher won't give up without a fight. and he'll get some help from an old friend over in abilene, texas. by the way, that man's heir, unbeknownst to garland, also wrote me about his strange inheritance. i'm back on the road after the break.

>> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. after a drought in 1883, texas made it illegal to carry what items? the answer in a moment.

♪ >> so, after a drought in 1883, texas made it illegal to carry what items? it's "c," wire cutters. the severe drought sparked a

violent conflict between open-range cattlemen and ranchers, who used barbed wire to fence in their land. the law was on the books for over a century. >> hi there. back on the road again, heading out from garland richards' ranch. we'll return to his story. but first we want to pay a visit to another viewer, from abilene, texas. he wrote me about his strange inheritance. >> my name is roy roberson. when my father passed away, he left the family a mystery in the form of two safes that would take us years to open and unravel the mystery of what was inside. >> roy roberson's father, also named roy, was a civil engineer by trade. what do you remember most about your dad? >> i remember as a child thinking my dad was a little nerdy because he was an engineer. he was an outdoorsman. as i grew older, i realized that those interests were quite

sophisticated. >> such as roy sr.'s favorite hobby -- scouring the southwest for antique firearms. >> that was his passion, after his family. to him, that firearm represented american freedom. >> riding shotgun on many of these gun-hunting trips -- fellow history buff garland richards. >> i met roy at a gun show, and his interest in collecting guns and my interest tied us together as friends. >> roy sr. collects rare firearms for almost 50 years, but only he knows the true extent of his armory. >> he had everything in a couple of safes in the garage, but he never laid them out for anyone to see the scope of how many were actually there. >> this is the 1866 rifle. >> he most certainly never shares the combination to those

safes. >> that was his power, his control over the pandora's box. >> this is also a 66 carbine. >> roy sr. does give others a taste of his collection, though -- one gun at a time, maybe two if you're lucky. >> it was almost like a celebrity not conducting interviews. he never let them see the whole story. it was a mystery. >> for roy sr., every firearm he collects is a glimpse into the gun-toting frontier. >> one of the things my dad liked to do was he would pick up one of his favorites and say, "can you hear what this is saying to you?" >> "talk to me." >> "tell me your story." this particular one has seen some very hard use. that means this was carried on something -- most likely a saddle horn -- by someone for thousands of miles... >> oh, my. >> ...protecting themselves from

something. so the question is, what was the guy doing with this? was this a wagon train, cattle drive, a stagecoach? really tough times. difficult situations. life-and-death struggle. >> that love of relics that tells stories from the past drives the now-retired civil engineer to help his old pal garland restore fort chadbourne. >> once he saw that it represented a very important position in american history, he wanted to come every chance he got. >> garland certainly needs help. remember that $125,000 he inherited along with the fort? he blows through it faster than a texas twister. didn't you ever say, "i don't know how much more of this i can take"? >> yeah, there's a few times that i'm like, "where are we gonna get this money? where are we gonna get that money?"

>> was that sad for you and garland? >> oh, garland was devastated. >> but garland's not cowed, and neither is roy. but do the buckaroos have enough grit left in their boots? and why does it take so long for roy jr. to open roy sr.'s locked gun safes? >> i think that was one of his final practical jokes on me. >> next -- two strange inheritance stories come together. >> here's another quiz question for you. the .405 winchester was a favorite of which american president? the answer when we return.

>> so, the .405 winchester was a favorite of which of these

presidents? it's teddy roosevelt. the powerful rifle was one of t.r.'s favorites. after taking it on safari in africa, he called it "the medicine gun for lions." >> beautiful day. in the early 2000s, garland richards is trying to restore his strange inheritance, fort chadbourne, a frontier army outpost that has sat in ruins on his family's west texas land for over a century. >> i always describe it as jumping off in the raging water and swimming your way out. >> garland enlists the help of his old buddy roy roberson sr., but he needs money, too -- a lot more than he ever imagined. he applies for grants and gets $374,000 from a private foundation to stabilize several of the fort buildings. >> we hired several consultants. they would tell us that you would have to tear these

buildings down, put a foundation under them, and build these buildings back up. >> garland scoffs. he proposes an old west technique of braces and turnbuckles to stabilize and restore the walls. >> as a rancher, i've been taught all of my life to patch it up, make it last one more year. what we've done is taken that ranching theory and we've applied it to a historical site. and we did this without removing any stones from fort chadbourne. >> garland's dogged determination pays off. his strategy is a huge success, leading to the reconstruction of three of the oldest fort buildings. >> a lot of this was done because they told me that we could not do this. >> but not everything can be fixed with texas ingenuity. garland needs more money. thankfully, it's increasingly clear the site is of genuine historical significance. >> we were left probably one of

the most pristine archaeological sites of any of the frontier forts. >> that attracts an army of archaeology buffs, who discover thousands of artifacts. rattle off for me some of the items that were part of the artifacts that you inherited. >> gun parts. doll parts. surgical instruments. coins. >> some items link back to garland's own ancestors, like this plate fragment signed in gold by garland's great-grandmother. >> the shard was actually found under the floor in the archaeological excavation. this plate has been handed down through the family. >> it's beautiful. in total, the excavations uncover some 800,000 artifacts. the discoveries help garland raise $6 million more in private donations and grants. in total, eight fort buildings are restored or stabilized.

but garland's old friend roy doesn't live to see all this restoration. he dies in 2004 of coronary heart disease at the age of 66. he died young. >> yes. and i didn't really expect to lose my dad that young. but he made sure that every moment that we had him was great. >> it would be five years after roy sr.'s passing when garland and roy jr.'s strange inheritance stories really merge. in 2009, garland breaks ground on a new visitors center, and roy senses a way to make his late father a part of it. he's finally ready to open those safes his father left to the family. >> at that time, the fort museum was just being completed. so it made sense then to try to get into the safe and see what was there. >> if i had lost a relative who had a safe of anything and i didn't know exactly what was inside, i'd sort of want to look

right away. >> we were hesitant to get into dad's personal space. it felt like we were invading his privacy. >> coming up... were you surprised when you saw everything he had? >> i was astounded. >> what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to hear it. send me an e-mail or go to our website -- strangeinheritance.com.

>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> in 2009, five years after they inherited two locked gun safes, the family of roy roberson sr. decides it's finally time to solve the mystery inside the vault -- that is if his son, roy jr., can ever figure out the combinations on their father's gun safes. >> he came up with this combination that was very complicated. it was like a rubik's cube puzzle. we didn't know how many rotations, and it was very easy

to get the numbers out of order, and then he left out a few numbers. >> so, how long did it take? >> days. >> days to crack them open. >> i think that was one of his final practical jokes on me. >> what he finds inside is nothing to snicker at -- nearly 200 antique firearms, the most rare among them a complete collection of every historic winchester, the rifle that won the west -- short- and long-barrel models of each. >> it was almost like taking a sack of rare coins and realizing, "hey, wait a minute. every date is here and every mint is here." >> roy aims to put some of his dad's guns on display at fort chadbourne, which roy sr. had spent his later years helping to restore. but when word gets out to the gun-collecting community, the family has to rethink things. you knew those guns were valuable. >> yes. and i knew that a lot of people wanted them. >> and is it also true that

breaking up the collection and selling them individually could have yielded a huge payday? >> probably. that's what we were told by auction houses and people that called us. >> the family is suddenly between the horns of a dilemma. based on roy's research, the firearms could be worth as much as half a million dollars. he invites his father's old friend garland richards over to see his inheritance. were you surprised when you saw everything he had? >> i had seen one piece at a time. i had never seen it all in one place. i was astounded. >> garland wants roy sr.'s guns to be part of fort chadbourne, too, to sit on display alongside his own collection. >> i knew that what my collection lacked, his collection added to this would make a very nice timeline in a gun room. >> so he makes the family his best offer -- around $165,000. though it's only about a third

of what roy thinks they could make if they sell them piece by piece, the family takes the deal. >> the reality is he spent his whole life assembling that group of firearms, and so to disassemble them was very disrespectful, in our eyes. >> and so roy's complete collection of firearms lives in garland's now-finished visitors center that tells the tale of fort chadbourne and the texas frontier to 25,000 visitors a year. >> we tried to build this big enough to house all the artifacts and things from fort chadbourne. >> big enough for a stagecoach. is this real? >> big enough for a stagecoach. it is for real. >> and big enough for a texas-sized gun collection. >> i bet roy really would've liked to have seen it this way. >> roy would like where his guns are. >> this is exactly what dad would've wanted. it's on a property run and maintained by his best friend. and it's in a fort that the u.s. army built and then discarded.

so what could be better than that? >> of course, for garland richards, fort chadbourne is more than an old army fort. it's still the place that first unleashed his imagination while fighting indians on the frontier. you can tell he hasn't lost that childhood enthusiasm as he rolls up an antique cannon for my visit. this is a serious cannon. can you tell me about it? >> this is a model of an 1835 12-pounder mountain houser. this is the smallest of artillery pieces but a very, very powerful gun. it could fire a 12-pound shot about 1,000 yards. okay. your first command is "load." >> load. >> everything you see them doing right there is the same thing they did back in the 1800s. >> ready. fire! literally holy smokes. that was amazing.

>> the first time that we ever raised the flag in the middle of the parade ground, i realized, "this is the first time that the flag has been raised in over 125 years." i was overwhelmed. i'm a proud texan. i'm a proud american. and this is my contribution back to america. >> garland and roy loved collecting those old guns that won the west. but they never competed over a firearm. that's because garland favors single-shot rifles, while roy loved his winchester repeaters, those classic rifles used by ranchers and outlaws. two old buddies, their collections now displayed side by side. on that note, i learned something else on this trip to texas. the state motto is just one word -- "friendship." i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance."

thanks so much for watching. and remember -- you can't take it with you. r time life's video collection. (doorbell chiming) oh, hey, hi, dean. hey, hi there, uh... bob. (narrator) from the battlefield to the white house, from hollywood to the heartland, america's entertainer was bob hope. oh, this room, it's so dull and depressing tonight. if only there was some way to brighten it. oh, of course. (laughter) (narrator) he was a true patriot. (bob hope) this has been a great trip. we've been to england, to germany, then to crete,