Treasure hunting Archives - Appalachian History

Swift treasure map and illo of silver ingots

August 16, 2018 Kentucky / Treasure hunting

Swift’s Silver Mine – lost or merely invented?

Swift’s Silver Mine has been searched for in every county in eastern Kentucky. Was there ever such a mine? If so, did it really produce?

May 4, 2018 Treasure hunting / West Virginia

I wish they’d a threw it in the New River sometimes

Punch Jones wasn’t looking for the largest diamond ever found in WV. It just came into his life. And changed everything for him, and for his descendents.

May 1, 2018 Pearl hunting / Tennessee / Treasure hunting

A ‘pearl rush’ grips Clinch River residents

Pearls had been routinely hunted on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers and their tributaries for many years prior to the outbreak of a ‘pearl rush.’

March 28, 2018 Tennessee / Treasure hunting

The more they dug, the more money piled up

Torbett & Watson said when they reached the place where the money was found it looked like a flock of hens had been turned out on the hill.

Front & back of Bechtler half-eagle ($5.00), period counterfeit, gilded brass, 1840s

February 29, 2016 Appalachian crime / Tennessee / Treasure hunting

The stranger who minted money at Indian Grave Gap

Tales have circulated for years telling of counterfeiting operations in the Unakas – all the way from the Ephriam Place to the Beauty Spot.

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