Here is a little something I wrote that pertains to the missing gold.
ELK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA MISSING GOLD
Writers with pen and paper have buried more treasures of gold, silver and jewels, than robbers and pirates ever actually did with pick and shovel. Such is the missing gold reportedly buried at Dent’s Run, Elk County, Pennsylvania during the Civil War by Yankees in 1863.
Researching and hunting for treasures is what I have done for over 60 years. You have to research, research and do more research. For thirty dollars or even a hundred dollars an article, writers have created stories of fictitious hordes and riches of treasure. Some writers actually write true stories it is up to the treasure hunter to weed the false tales from the true tales and research is the “KEY” to finding actual treasure.
Now you take the missing gold supposedly buried at Dent’s Run, Elk County, Pennsylvania which is it, a False tale or is it a True tale and is there a treasure yet to be found today.
First, we have to go to the Root of the story by researching. No records of these missing gold bars were ever heard of until 1973 when a writer, Sarah Gardner had the story published in Lost Treasure Magazine. The “Official Records of the War of the Rebellion,” never recorded this happening at Dent’s Run, Elk County, Pennsylvania. Later, Francis Scully picked up on the story written by Sarah Gardner embellished the story and wrote an article in Potter County, PA. webpage:
https://www.coudy.com/Austin/Scully5.htm.
Also, in 1979, a story written by World Renown Treasure Hunter, Michael Paul Henson wrote a real story that he had researched since 1958. More than likely he had written this “Union Army Payroll Cache,” much earlier. This I believe is the Roots for the whole story of the Gold Missing in Elk County, Pa., known as the Dent’s Run Gold. I have researched both stories and Michael Paul Henson’s story is True and the Dent’s Run Gold Bars did not happen.
While, the story written by Treasure Hunter, Michael Paul Henson has it merits and truths. It is in the OR (Official Records of the War of the Rebellion), the soldiers in the story are in the Soldiers and Sailors Database.
The three Yankee soldiers in the Dent’s Run Missing Gold can not be found as serving in the Yankee Army by Research at the United States National Archives nor are they on the databases of the Soldiers and Sailors Database of the Civil War. Another blaring issue is regulations of the United States Military Paymasters Office. No payroll of $300,000 would have been sent out by a Lieutenant, a Sergeant and five infantry soldiers. It just did not happen. A Union Payroll of that size would have had an officer of at least the Rank of Major, a Captain, two Lieutenants, a Sergeant, a Couple Corporals and at least an infantry of 35 soldiers with repeating rifles or a Gatlin Gun, as guard.
If you obtain a Civil War Map of the areas the story mentions, and if it was copied from original Civil War Records, the names of the towns, the creeks and valleys had different names: Hick’s Run was called “Three Mouth Run,” Dent’s Run was known by “Two Mouth Run,” and Benezette was known as “Winslow.”
In conclusion, if the soldiers listed in the story did not exist, the locations had different names in 1863 and the Union Army Paymasters records say explicitly how many soldiers and officers would escort a payroll, also gold bars instead of coins, make this Treasure Story of Dent’s Run Unreliable and therefore untrue.
