Untold treasures are buried beneath the state capital in Montgomery. And the best thing for those who seek to claim it, there’s not a single pirate involved.

The treasure is partially made up of gold, silver and jewels. It’s unguarded, easily accessible and waiting for some intrepid soul to claim it.

Actually, it’s waiting for thousands of intrepid souls to claim their pieces of it.

The capital building holds, deep in a basement vault, a valuable booty, the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes from across the state.

This booty, along with millions of dollars in unclaimed funds, is part of the state’s collection of unclaimed property.

Oddly enough, the state wants to get rid of it as soon as possible.

“We’ve got silver coins, jewelry, old baseball cards, old photos,” Anthony Leigh, Deputy State Treasurer said. “We’ve got things that were turned over in the first year of the program in 1971.”

For decades now, the state has kept a database of unclaimed property, including paychecks that were never delivered, stock dividends, insurance policies, utility deposits and all manner of money, just waiting for the right person to claim it.

At least some of the $180 million dollars the state is holding belongs to Dallas County residents.

The state treasury lists 5,038 area residents who are owed money or tangible property.

Luckily, residents or treasure hunters can go online and find out about money or property the state’s holding for them.

Leigh said all funds are held forever by the state, which means family members of deceased relatives can also claim property they didn’t know exists.

The money is kept by the state in a simple bank account, Leigh said. The contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes are kept in the Treasury’s vault.

Leigh said all types of property are kept by the state.

Every few years, the state cleans out the vault and auctions the property.

Leigh said the money collected from sales is kept by the state, and can be claimed by the original property owners.

Earl Alsobrook, of Cone Drive, was listed on the database.

He had some property held described as unexchanged stock, reported by Waste Management Inc. in 2003.

“I thought we already took care of all that,” the mildly surprised Alsobrook said. “It’s new to me.”

Not all of the state’s unclaimed treasure is the valuable kind, Leigh said.

“There’s been a lot of jewelry that from the looks of it doesn’t look very expensive,” he said.

Still, Leigh knows that it’s probably special to someone, and he hopes it’s claimed.

“Last year we were able to pay out over 44,000 claims to citizens who came forward and were properly able to claim property,” he said.

That’s just the tip of it.

“That only represented about $11million in claims,” Leigh said. “There was still $23 million that was turned into us that was not claimed last year.”

Since the legislature streamlined the reporting process last May, the reports have poured in.

Leigh said that $60 million in unclaimed property has been reported in the last three months.

Since no pirates are running around looking for loot, Treasury officials hopes the property will be claimed soon.

“It’s all worthwhile when we are able to reunite rightful owners with their money,” State Treasurer Kay Ivey said in a press release.

To find or claim property kept by the state, call 1-888-844-8400, or go online to www.treasury.state.al.us.