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Despite the fact that the expression "they’s
gold in them thar hills," has its origin far west of the Commonwealth,
mid-eighteenth century residents of Virginia and North Carolina may have gazed
to the west and said it, too. In the 250 or so years since Europeans came here,
no gold has surfaced in our state, but did you know that silver has? Well,
maybe.
The tales of Swift’s Lost Silver Mines are the
most enduring of all Kentucky stories. Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, James Harrod
and the other pioneers are mere Johnny-come-latelies relative to the John Swift
who -- according to the story -- mined, smelted and coined pure silver from the
eastern Kentucky hills as early as 1760. Early accounts indicate that every
Kentucky pioneer settler believed in Swift’s mines, and give some detail of the
countless hours spent searching for hidden treasure. Every twenty years or so, a
tale of a Bell County farmer plowing up a lump of silver or a Harlan County
spelunker finding a cache of silver coins is reported, but none of them has
withstood the test of time.
Facts concerning Swift’s Silver Mines are few
and far between and just enough to add a dash of plausibility to the myths. In
the 1740's, there was, in fact, a man named John Swift living in Alexandria,
Virginia. The man had evidently been a seafarer in his younger days. By 1750,
Mr. Swift began trading with the Shawnee in the Ohio valley, and may have had an
Indian wife. Here the stories begin to vary. Either the Shawnee knew of silver
deposits and mined them for their jewelry, or Swift stumbled across a vein of
silver, or another white man found the ore and told Swift about it, take your
pick. At any rate, by 1760, Swift, with a few others, was mining silver and, as
there were no mints in this country, producing his own coins. On annual trips
back to Virginia, they stashed silver bars and coins at various locations with
the intent of recovering them when they retired from the business. After ten
years or so, the men had all the riches they felt they would ever use, so Swift
took what he needed and returned to Virginia.
Late 1700’s court records show that a man
named Swift was tried (either in Virginia or North Carolina) on charges of
"counterfeiting" British currency. As there was no established mint in the
United States, the only test for coins was the purity of the silver. After a
silversmith testified that Swift’s coins contained purer silver than the genuine
article, he was acquitted.
Two other "facts" are in order before we press
on with the story. First, there is no documentary record that Swift was ever in
Kentucky. Secondly, and more significantly, during an 1854 geological survey, an
old explorer led Professor D. D. Owen to the site of Swift’s silver mine. Owen
examined the "kidney shaped mass of dark grey argillaceous iron-stone" and found
that it contained, "some accidental minerals sparingly disseminated, such as
sulphuret of zinc and lead."
So there the facts end and the legends begin.
According to one tale, about 1790, Swift along with men named Munday, Jefferson
and others, made a final trip to recover their stashed treasures. Despite
Swift’s failing eyesight, the men located all the caches. All good stories must
have an element of greed, so after the goods were found, Swift murdered his
companions and made his way into east Tennessee. Another version has it that
Swift was in Tennessee on the way back to his mines in Kentucky. At any rate,
according to Tennessee historian John Haywood, Swift ended up at Bean’s Station
in east Tennessee.
What would this story be without a tinge of
sex? At Bean’s Station, Swift lived with a Mrs. Renfro, and, in return for her
kindnesses, gave her his journal, which details the locations of his smelting
furnaces, mines and caches. The journals do not indicate what became of Swift’s
Shawnee wife. In true Long John Silver fashion, however, "X" marks the spot on
some of the maps!
Where, you may well ask, does the journal
locate the silver mines? "On Clear Creek (in present day Bell County) are two
old furnaces about half way between the head and the mouth of the creek….they
got the ore from a cave about three miles from the place where the furnaces
stood." More specifically, the journal records that, "The richest ore is to be
found in latitude 37 degrees 56 minutes. The ore vein of little value is in
Latitude of 38 degrees, 2 minutes north." If you’re ready to strike out with
pick and shovel, that describes a site near where Morgan, Elliott and Lawrence
counties meet.
With the journals, the plot thickens. Just as
one would expect in such a tale, there are various versions of Swift’s journal
in circulation, and each of them specifies a slightly different location. In
1986, one collector said he was in possession of 28 "original" maps and 35
different manuscript copies of Swift’s journal.
All the versions are consistent on one
paragraph, however, and it became "fact" when it was reprinted in Collins’
History of Kentucky published in 1874. In it, Swift records, "On the 1st
of Sept, 1769, we left between 22,0000 and 30,000 dollars and crowns on a large
creek, running near a south course. Close to the spot we marked our names … on a
beech tree. No great distance from this place we left $15,000 of the same kind,
marking three or four trees with marks. Not far from these, we left the prize,
near a forked white oak, and about three feet underground, and laid two long
stones across it, marking several stones close about. At the forks of Sandy,
close by the fork is a small rock, has a spring in one end of it. Between it and
a small branch, we hid a prize under the ground; it was valued at $6,000. We
likewise left $3,000 buried in the rocks of the rock house." That description
has had explorers searching everywhere from Bell County to Carter County for
more than 200 years!
After locating Swift’s mines in Josh Bell
County, Collins’ History then states, "Several years ago, a couple of Indians,
from the far west, visited Carter County, and acted in such a manner as to
excite the attention of the citizens. They remained for a considerable time, and
were continually wandering over the mountains and making minute examinations of
the country along the small streams. When about to leave, they told an old
gentleman with whom they staid (sic) that they were in search of a silver mine
which the traditions of their tribe located in that section of Kentucky; but
they were unable to find it. Owing to the changed condition of the country."
Alas.
One of the more intriguing legends stems from
a version of the journal in which Swift states that the treasure was hidden in
a,"Great cavern of the Shawnese" and that before they left, they "blocked both
ends of the cavern so as to make it impossible of discovery." So, if you find a
place where the ground rings hollow, dig. That just might be the lost mine.
One bit of folklore contents that the search
for Swift’s lost mine is what brought Daniel Boone to Kentucky while another
accuses early historian John Filson of manufacturing copies of Swift’s journal
to finance his trips. A more likely version lays the same accusation at John
Swift’s feet, and local stories abound almost everywhere, not only in Kentucky,
but also Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. Before you pack your pick and
shovel and gather a grubstake, be advised that any geologist will tell you that
there is no silver in any of those states.
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