Timothy C Draper - Treasure Hunter and Explorer

Timothy C. Draper, (born October 28, 1978) is an historical treasure hunter and researcher, founder of Treasures in America and Uncharted Expedition. He's also an author of "Treasures of the Ancients: The Search for America's Lost Fortunes and he's a television personality of many shows, but mostly known for his producing and directing skills. By 2014, Timothy started his first creation structure that landed him as a known public figure. His longtime studies of lost and forgotten history can be found on many social media platforms, websites, and various articles. In 2021, he started producing the "Uncharted Expedition web series found on YouTube and other media platforms. As his career has grown, he's been featured on many news articles, podcast show and radio, and other publications, explaining his passion and devotion for the treasure hunting community.

He's known as Tim Draper to his friends and family. To some, he's a businessman, full of creative ideas that apply to the world of treasure hunters, historians, metal detectorists, and prospectors. To other communities, he's been a teacher and mentor for various known television shows about treasure hunting and adventure. Some of these show have been on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel and more. Since his success, he moved on to create his own production videos and media, inspired by experience and passion.

Early life

Timothy Craig Draper was born in Mesa, Arizona on October 28, 1978 , the son of proud family history that sketches to United Kingdom, Denmark, and Germany. His Scottish, English, and Danish descent from his father's side and German descent from his mother's side. His father, Craig Draper was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and his mother was a second generation child, born in America and her parents descents from Scotland. A family line that runs deep in the roots of the United Kingdom. Family MacGregor clan, bloodline and the famous Robert Roy MacGregor and called the "Robin Hood of Scotland", family St. Clair, otherwise known as Sinclair, Sir William Sinclair (St. Clair) the third and last Earl of Orkney, builder of the Rosslyn Chapel and known Knights Templar. His mother, Audrey Alice Draper, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and her mother was a first generation child, born in America and her parents' were born in Germany. Timothy lived in Tempe Arizona where he learned to enjoy the landscape of the Superstition Mountains and desert terrain. As a young boy, he played in baseball leagues for several years and ventured into the forest of Payson, Prescott, and Flagstaff, hiking and camping during the summers. By the time he was 14 years old, his family moved to Boise, Idaho. Timothy married LeeAnn Dopp of St. Anthony, Idaho and the couple moved to many different western states, chasing construction jobs as his career.

Beginning of Historical Research and Treasure Hunter

Beginning Exploration and Research (1997 - 1998)

At the age of 18, he started to venture out, deeper and deeper into the wilderness, looking for clues and evidence of lost treasures and hidden history. He lived in West Valley City, Utah and on his freetime, he would hike and wonder in the high Uinta Mountains of Eastern Utah. Inspired from reading many treasure hunting and history books of local lore and legends, he followed in the footsteps of many experienced treasure hunters and researchers before him. He was surprised to learn that Utah itself was a treasure on it's own with stories of old ancient and forgotten civilizations, early 18th and 19th century Spanish explorations, and old western mining and pioneering. He found himself lost his his research and when he wasn't in the field, he was at home, reading all he could learn.

Life Events Changed (1998 - 2000)

In the later part of 1998, he married LeeAnn Dopp and moved to Eastern Idaho where he started to work construction as a laborer. The newly-wed couple, moved to West Yellowstone and he furthered not only his construction skills, but he was continuing his research. Everywhere they moved to, he would conduct an extensive learning of the local history. Tim and LeeAnn spent most of their free time, driving and exploring the beautiful country where they lived. Every weekend was a great opportunity for another adventure. The couple knew the outskirts of town very well and would spend most of the day, getting lost themselves, only to find that it was the best adventure they've experienced in their young lives.

Gold Rush and Ghost Towns Exploration

Work took the young couple to the Boise area of Idaho and he wasted no time in learning the rich mining history of the old gold rush era in the area. He visited a small town called Idaho City, a tourist town where travelers can experience old buildings and mine ruins in the tall pines. Tim was inspired to explore the area and made his first mine discovery and exploration in the area. This is where adventure and studying history connected him with his passion even further. Soon after, he explored as many old mining towns and ghost towns as he could get to. Many of them were deep in the wild and hard to get to. He had to learn many outdoor skills to further his way of life. One of the biggest places he visited and conducted many explorations was Silver City, Idaho. There had discovered many ruins, cabins, mines, and relics of the silver mining era. He revisited the area many times, only to explore further and further. Soon he learned that he enjoyed not a tourist attraction, but ruins and mines that were lost for over a hundred years before he found them.

Further Knowledge and Exploration

For the next 10 plus years, the couple traveled and relocated from one state to another. He was expanding his career and construction was booming at this time. Jobs would come and go and he traveled with many of the successful and higher paying jobs to better his family's life. Sometimes he took risks when others may have stayed in one place but to him and his wife, they were traveling and making new memories and seeing many exciting places. This set him up for a great opportunity to research and learn new history of most of the western states. Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Montana was full of history. He gained many life experiences and seem many historical places. By the time his family was growing and he had 4 children, the Draper family decided that it was time to settle in one local. Utah was the ending point and they lived in the Salt Lake City area once again. Even though this was the stopping point, the family made one more demission, to relocate to Southern Utah.

Professional Historical Treasure Hunter

By 2010, Timothy was now enrolled to Dixie State University, now known as Utah Tech University. He was bettering his general education and focusing on specialized studies of anthropology and history. His family was settling into St. George, Utah and he continued his studies and ventured into the new territory a couple times a month. He started to learn the area was known for the Old Spanish Trail history, a long with mormon pioneer, and native indian (Native American) history. Southern Utah become his backyard and as he met more people and ventured into the wilderness, he started to become a local who unstandstood the surrounding history. With places like the Grand Canyon, Zions National Park, and Bryce Canyon, he spent much of his free time in the wilderness.

After a couple years went by, he started to really get to learn how valuable the history was in the area. Early mormon historical records suggested that early explorers like the Spanish, French, KGB, and more, were once apart of the area. Even local myths of forgotten ancient cultures were a local topic that was brought up from time to time.

In 2014, he started to associate with experienced treasure hunters and they started to mentor him into the life of searching for lost riches and history. Tim started to expand by using social media. This was a great way for him to meet more like-minded people. The world as he knew it started to get bigger and bigger as he learned more and more. By the end of the year, he was contacted by filming producers and directors and he learned that television might be something in his future. He spent the next couple year, under contract with potential opportunities to debut on major tv networks and shows about treasure hunting. He was involved in many teaser trailers and sizzle-reels. The filming business kepted him very busy and on his weekends and evening after work, he spent most of his time, researching and preparing for more possible filming.

Travel Channel Appearance (2017)

Early in the year of 2017, Tim was contacted by a filming company that found him on the web. Within a couple months, they contracted him to gather a treasure hunting crew to track down Butch Cassidy's gold and treasure in Utah. He spent almost 3 months after, putting together a storyline that would attract attention of many. As he spent hundred of hours researching, he would report his findings and research to the filming company. From there, he gained knowledge of how a plan and tv episode comes together. He attended many production meetings and he helped the director with information that created a script-unscripted outline.

After a couple more months, he learned that Chris Jericho, the famous wrestler was going to be the host of the show and the Tim and his crew would film side by side with Chris for the pilot episode of the show called "The Legend of... with Chris Jericho". Travel Channel was the network that picked the show up and Tim's crew was in for a taste of what it's like and the hard work that goes into creating a show from scratch.

Show Description and Details

Wrestler Chris Jericho pursues his true lifelong passion as he investigates unexplained legends and lore across America. From bayous to big cities, Chris is on a mission to find the answers behind these enduring stories of mysterious people and events. He separates fact from fiction on his quest to satisfy his curiosity about the country's most fascinating folktales. Treasures in America, a team of researchers and treasure hunters will take Chris Jericho deep into the Utah desert to track down Butch Cassidy's gold. Will they find evidence of the Wild Butch? The show aired November, 2017 and played during several days into the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Talk Is Jericho Podcast Show - "The Real Life Indiana Jones"

Tim was asked to join Chris Jericho on his world famous podcast show to "Talk is Jericho" about the new pilot they were in the middle of filming and the life of a treasure hunter. This was posted November 15, 2017.

Podcast Description and Details

Real-life treasure hunters Timothy Draper and Steve Shaffer join TIJ with wild Indiana Jones-style stories about searching for and discovering long lost loot and ancient artifacts like gold bars and Egyptian tablets! Hear details of the expedition they took with Y2J to the deserts of Utah to pursue Butch Cassidy's take from the infamous Castle Gate heist (an expedition you can see Friday night on The Travel Channel when "The Legend Of... with Chris Jericho" airs at 11pm ET/PT), and learn how you can become a treasure hunter yourself! Plus, Tim and Steve share some of their most lucrative finds!

More Television Experiences (2018 - 2020)

Tim didn't stop with one television episode and pilot. For the next couple years, filming companions and directors were reaching out to him. He spent most month after month, sharing his knowledge of lost treasure sites, their history, and locations. A few popular tv shows and episodes was inspired by his advice and direction of treasure hunting. He started to know serval main production companies and directors and the world of treasure hunting was growing larger and larger.

Extensive Field Research and Expansion

During this time, Timothy was conducting a western state exploration around many different states. He was able to connect with many known and unknown researchers, historians, and treasure hunters to collaborate extensive studies of historical records and field work. During this time, he was collecting and creating hundreds of files to organize his discoveries. In these files, he makes notes to himself of locations, data linking to time and era, what person or culture was involved with the history and linked treasure. Soon, he found that his work and discoveries of legends or lost riches, reached a boundary that was too much for one person to investigate. This is where he found the need to grow and he started to find talented people to recruit for his team. This soon became known as "Treasures in America".

Treasures in America Website (2020)

Timothy founded the foundation and organization known as Treasures in America, also known as TIA. With his growing team on the rise, he created and designed the website, treasuresinamerica.com. This became not only known as a well organized website, the treasure hunting community started to use it as a central hud to read and watch treasure hunting reports, videos, and news articles (blogs). These treasure hunting blogs started to reach out to the public and he shared his research and discoveries with the world. This award-winning website gives an insight to the life of real treasure hunting and the professionals that are involved. Today, it's hard to argue if Timothy's team is one of the best treasure hunting teams in the United States.

Today, anyone can go to the website and get information on treasure hunting and historical documents from around the world. Tim's work and research doesn't stop with North America. His studies has taken him down the trail of lost cities in America, Spanish exploration and conquests, and research in ancient cultures like Aztec, Mixtec, Inca, Maya, and many more. All of which can be found on Treasures in America's website.

Treasure Hunting Articles and Blogs (2020)

Tim's writing and blogging has brought in thousands of people, every month. A data reports show that his blogs alone attract over 50,000 new viewers and readers every month, reported on October of 2021. This trend of new audience is still on the rise and he is constantly working on publishing is work. He's work can be found on major platforms like Reddit, Quora, Medium, and more. By the end of 2021, he realized the need for videos on all platforms.

Uncharted Expedition Web Series and Show (2021)

Since 2015, Tim and his colleagues have seen the need for video documentation and their plans was in the work for over 3 years. By 2021, he was able to piece everything it takes to create and develop a web series. He developed another website called Uncharted Expedition and started to conduct the work that was so successful for his previous website. He spent the entire year of 2021 to connect with the founding and sponsors that would help take their new idea to a different level. By the beginning of 2022, Tim and his team was preparing to head out in the field to film their reality web series Uncharted Expedition.

Show Details and Description:

Uncharted Expedition is a reality web series that shows real-life treasure hunters and adventures. The team is investigating legends and mysteries around America.

This treasure-seeking team will wander into the wilderness to hunt after legends and treasures that have been talked about for generations. The tv entertainment world is not short on adventure shows but it falls short of real-life situations and treasure hunting until Uncharted Expedition! This team has not only spent years in the field, but they've also spent years in the filming industry to gain experience in front of the cameras.

Uncharted Expedition and Treasures in America is the leading treasure-hunting and adventuring team in America. Compiled from many talented people with different skills. You have not seen treasure hunting like this before. This team will explore different treasure sites and stories for every episode. They're going to investigate every site, looking for clues to either prove or disprove these stories.

The team will leave breadcrumbs so everyone watching, as the viewer, can go out and make a discovery of lost treasures and history. It's time to bring in real treasure hunting and reality episodes so people can see what it's like to treasure hunt! These are the real stories and documentation of the Uncharted Expedition.

Treasures in America is a group of adventure seekers, dedicated to exploring the world and finding all of its treasures. The team was formed with diversity of skills and knowledge in mind. These team members are passionate about what they do; researching lost history, hunting after treasures, and inspiring the people they encounter to find their adventure. Join us and help the world uncover truths and history that's been lost with time. Please like and subscribe to join the team on a mission of adventure, history, & riches!

Uncharted Expedition was created for the sole purpose of producing and filming real-life treasure hunting journals. It's a Treasures in America production company based out of Utah. Several experts in their field decided to join up and create an elite team. Uncharted Expedition films and creates videos, articles, podcasts, and more to inform the public of lost history and treasure sites.

This team is always on the move to new discoveries and the camera crews are following them around as they investigate legends and mysteries around America. You can find the website at unchartedexpedition.com

Book Publications (2023)

In 2022, Tim was contracted by Wolfpack Publishing in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Treasure hunter, historian, and television personality Timothy Draper has one very important question for you: Will you be the one to find America’s next Lost Treasure?

In this first book by one of the country’s foremost experts, you’ll gain invaluable insight into the methods used to unearth the secrets that could lead you to lost gold, silver, gems, and other hidden artifacts from the past.

Included in the book are a great number of images of clues Timothy has found while out in the field, and he tells you about how you, too, can find these clues that are all around you. He also provides a comprehensive list of known lost treasures from all 50 states to give you a jumpstart on your treasure hunting journey.

Whether you’re a novice with no tools or have been a seeker your whole life with a truckload of gear, Treasures of the Ancients offers up valuable information that’ll get you up off of the couch and into the heart of America in search of America’s next Lost Treasure!

About the Author, Timothy Draper

Timothy Draper was born in Southern Arizona and always enjoyed the outdoors. He has lived in several western states and attended Utah Tech University. Soon into his childhood, he grew to love history and the stories that surround lost treasures and cultures of the past. Because of his passion and determination, he landed a seat at the table with many other historical researchers.

By 2014, he was asked to appear on television shows about treasure hunting. From there, his career has taken him down a path of success. He produces, directs, and stars in the "Uncharted Expedition" web series and manages the well-known website, Treasures in America. He enjoys inspiring others by teaching lost methods of seeking fortune and glory.

Even though he thrives on unlocking mysteries and finding lost riches, he also feels that history needs to be preserved and well documented. By doing this, Timothy hopes that future generations can continue learning and researching forgotten information that would typically be lost with time. Timothy's first book, Treasures of the Ancients: The Search for America's Lost Fortunes released in early 2023. Join him on his adventures.