3 million in Bell County KY?

[BMan]

In A Guide to Treasure in Kentucky by Michael Paul Henson, page 13, Henson writes:

"BELL COUNTY - Wagons loaded with what is believed to be $3,000,000 in gold and silver bars were thrown into the Cumberland River above Pineville by a Union paymaster when he was about to be overtaken and captured by a band of Confederate raiders. There is no government report of this, but with a mixup in orders, the disorder of war, and the possible execution of the Union soldiers if captured, the money could have been thrown away."


Has anyone ran across this tale anywhere else?
I haven't, but I don't live near Bell County.

I have most of Henson's Kentucky related treasure books and while they are interesting, they suffer from poor documentation.

 

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[Rebel - KGC]

"Google" BELL COUNTY, KY TREASURE...

 

[Kentucky Kache]

Henson sold books, so you can't expect everything he said to be good leads. He does have a few I like. But with any lead you want to research it to see if it's something you can believe.

 

[lamar]

Dear BMan;
If I were you, I'd allow the legend to grow to at least 10,000,000$ before making any real effort to recover it. After all, why settle for a paltry 3,000,000$ when, with some patience, you could be searching for a cool 10,000,000$.
Your friend;
LAMAR

 

[Rebel - KGC]

lamar, treasure is treasure... $$$$$$$$$$$$$? Who CARES! Reading about this Bell County, KY treasure DOES interest me, in that a BUFORD fellow is mentioned; let's see... Bell... BEALE... BEALL! The Beale Treasure in Virginia... hmmmmmmmmmm. Will DEFINITELY
"look into it"! THANKS, BM!

 

[BMan]

"Google" BELL COUNTY, KY TREASURE...

Thanks, but I had already Googled that and more.



Henson may have got his material from an oral account.

Dear BMan;
If I were you, I'd allow the legend to grow to at least 10,000,000$ before making any real effort to recover it. After all, why settle for a paltry 3,000,000$ when, with some patience, you could be searching for a cool 10,000,00$.

Why passively let it grow? If I liberally fertilize it with BS, I could inflate it to 20 million. Then I'll recover it.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Try THIS... http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,70955.0/topicseen.html POINT being... send PM to Gypsy, asking for MORE info...

 

[BMan]

Try THIS... http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,70955.0/topicseen.html POINT being... send PM to Gypsy, asking for MORE info...

Thanks, I'd seen that too. Looks like a rehash of Henson.



The only thing thing different I'd seen was this account here:
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=14053
"Several different treasures are said to be in the region of Pineville. One involves a Union paymaster who they say was about to be captured by Rebels, so he threw a couple of million in bullion into a bend in the Big Sandy River. They say this was never recovered. Is it true? Reports do claim that in the 1940’s, a couple of boys found around $16,000 in gold and silver coins at Pineville! Was the story of the paymaster exaggerated?"

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Did ya check the KENTUCKY - Treasure by Location "child-board" of TN?

 

[Oroblanco]

Lamar wrote

Dear BMan;
If I were you, I'd allow the legend to grow to at least 10,000,000$ before making any real effort to recover it. After all, why settle for a paltry 3,000,000$ when, with some patience, you could be searching for a cool 10,000,000$.
Your friend;
LAMAR

Ah yes, true words of inspiration to encourage our fellow treasure hunters, however this particular sardonic remark seems at odds with your previous post in another thread, quote
<Lamar also wrote>

I honestly don't consider myself to be a *naysayer* as I believe in lost treasures, however I tend to take a more * traditional* approach to the problem, which seems to upset those treasure hunters who are more out towards the fringes.

I believe that our mutual friend Bman posted his question in an attempt to find verification for this legend, and since we do have some excellent researchers here among the membership of Treasurenet, it was reasonable to expect that some one (or more) might have already located documents which would provide that verification. Trying to cast ridicule on either the person asking for information or upon the legend is not being helpful I am afraid. I would suggest a thorough search of the Official Records of the Civil War, which are available online FREE, at
http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/moawar/ofre.html

there are many other resources online, but this will give you a good place to start your search. Don't be surprised if the actual amount of money or gold turns out to be considerably less, the amounts tend to get exaggerated over time with the re-telling, often enough in an innocent way when someone takes the original amount, multiplies it by the then-current price of gold, and publishes it with the NEW value, which is then read and re-multiplied by later treasure writers until $30,000 becomes $20 million.

Good luck and good hunting Bman, I hope you find the treasures that you seek! I also hope you will keep us posted with your discoveries, maybe even some photos of the GOLD you will find!
your friend in 'Dakota Territory'
Oroblanco

 

[Oroblanco]

PS Sheesh I must be getting senile, almost forgot to say

WELCOME TO TREASURENET BMAN!

Oroblanco

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Oro, just a "Senior Moment"... happens to me, too. WELCOME BM!

 

[BMan]

Thanks for the welcome Oroblanco and Rebel - KGC.

Oroblanco, thanks also for mentioning "Official Records of the Civil War." Very much appreciated.

 

[Oroblanco]

MUCHAS GRACIAS amigos! Seems I have those "Senior Moments" pretty regularly, must need to increase the coffee intake!

Bman - can you recall any details or particulars on this story, like the name of the river, a date, the name of a commander for either side, a nearby town and so forth? It would help a great deal in locating relevant documents. Thank you in advance,
your friend in 'Dakota Territory'
Oroblanco

 

[BMan]

Bman - can you recall any details or particulars on this story, like the name of the river, a date, the name of a commander for either side, a nearby town and so forth? It would help a great deal in locating relevant documents. Thank you in advance,
your friend in 'Dakota Territory'
Oroblanco

The only details I have ran across were in my original citation and my quote from another forum.

W.C. Jameson doesn't mention it in Buried Treasures of the Appalachians, but he does mention some "lesser tales" from Kentucky. I find the absence noteworthy.
http://www.wcjameson.com/content/btseries/

 

[lamar]

Lamar wrote

Dear BMan;
If I were you, I'd allow the legend to grow to at least 10,000,000$ before making any real effort to recover it. After all, why settle for a paltry 3,000,000$ when, with some patience, you could be searching for a cool 10,000,000$.
Your friend;
LAMAR

Ah yes, true words of inspiration to encourage our fellow treasure hunters, however this particular sardonic remark seems at odds with your previous post in another thread, quote
<Lamar also wrote>

I honestly don't consider myself to be a *naysayer* as I believe in lost treasures, however I tend to take a more * traditional* approach to the problem, which seems to upset those treasure hunters who are more out towards the fringes.

I believe that our mutual friend Bman posted his question in an attempt to find verification for this legend, and since we do have some excellent researchers here among the membership of Treasurenet, it was reasonable to expect that some one (or more) might have already located documents which would provide that verification. Trying to cast ridicule on either the person asking for information or upon the legend is not being helpful I am afraid. I would suggest a thorough search of the Official Records of the Civil War, which are available online FREE, at
http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/moawar/ofre.html

there are many other resources online, but this will give you a good place to start your search. Don't be surprised if the actual amount of money or gold turns out to be considerably less, the amounts tend to get exaggerated over time with the re-telling, often enough in an innocent way when someone takes the original amount, multiplies it by the then-current price of gold, and publishes it with the NEW value, which is then read and re-multiplied by later treasure writers until $30,000 becomes $20 million.

Good luck and good hunting Bman, I hope you find the treasures that you seek! I also hope you will keep us posted with your discoveries, maybe even some photos of the GOLD you will find!
your friend in 'Dakota Territory'
Oroblanco

Dear Oroblanco;
I believe what I wrote is called H-U-M-O-R. I was only making a bit of a joke, and it seems that pretty much everyone understood it for what it was. It was simply a bit of treasure hunting humor, nothing more or nothing less than that and it was NOT meant to ridicule anyone, rather it was posted in reference to the fact that most treasure stories seem to grow and expand with time and the continued re-telling of them.

It's not bad nor good, it's merely the nature of the treasure hunting beast. Once again, my post was not meant to ridicule BMAN or anyone else, it was just some generalized good fun, however it does seem that there many people on this forum who are taking things wayyyyyy more seriously than they should be. In light of this I think I am moving to a different forum. Have F-U-N and may everyone find what they are seeking.
Your friend;
LAMAR

 

[Oroblanco]

Lamar wrote

In light of this I think I am moving to a different forum. Have F-U-N and may everyone find what they are seeking.

Well I am sorry to see you go Lamar, for you have much to offer as a historian to our fellow treasure hunters. I realize that your post was in jest, but in jest it was also ridicule. You cannot believe it was helpful to answer the question of our new member Bman, which was my point. Good luck and good hunting to you Lamar, I hope you find the treasures you seek.

Bman - thank you, but without some more detail it is going to be VERY difficult to find relevant documentation even in the large volumes of the Official Record. I will see if I can find anything, but can't promise any good results based on what we have.
your friend in 'Dakota Territory'
Oroblanco

 

[Oroblanco]

Hello again - tried a search of the Official Record using "Cumberlan River" and "Pineville" - this being the only two clues I could think of based on the story, and found zero results. Sorry amigo, but if you can find some other detail, like the name of an officer involved or a date especially I will try again.
Oroblanco

 

[Gypsy Heart]

If you are really trying to find out if this story is true ,then my suggestion would be to backtrack to the story...
If it is true that boys found silver and gold coins in the Big Sandy in the 1940's and that silver bars were found in the 1920's...then that shouldnt be to hard to find out from the local newspaper archives or even local people who would still be alive . Even if the original story is hogwash...if people are finding money there in the last 70 years,then that would be enough for me to dig a little deeper into the story.