Found the "three oak" tree today!

[swiftsearcher]

Found the "three oak" tree today!

Too bad that I didn't find anything else yet, except for some old ashes under a rock ledge. But, I did find the Oak tree Swift mentioned in his journals. When he wrote of it, it was three oaks growing from a stump. Now, the three oaks don't split out until around 20+ feet from the ground!

I didn't take my camera today, but will get some pics of the tree for everyone next time I am in that area. Though, I might not be back in this specific area until the forest gates are unlocked (I had to walk well over a mile of forest roads just to get to the spot in the woods where I wanted to start).

Now, I just have to go back through all my Swift papers and books and see what exactly was mentioned about the three oaks growing from one stump! I was thinking there might have been something buried under or around the tree, but I checked all around it twice with no signals. Should I be using a two-box? My MP Pro 3 is suppose to detect large caches up to five feet.

Also, I found an interesting rock face (this was a perfect face - not like those indian head rocks with a sharp nose). The rock seemed to be pointing to where I have marked the map as a hot spot. However, I didn't have time to search too far from the rock - only one ridge over today.

 

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[Jeffro]

Re: Found the "three oak" tree today!

I hope this doesn't put too much of a damper on your spirits, but trees grow from the top up, not the base up. A nail pounded into the trunk 40 years ago at exactly four feet will still be pretty close to four feet today. So this may not be the one...

 

[swiftsearcher]

Re: Found the "three oak" tree today!

Jeffro, that didn't dampen my spirits at all. I have heard that before. I have also heard the opposite. I remember reading a treasure tale from GA where the cache was supposedly marked by signs on a Pine. The author stated the signs should be around twenty feet from the ground by now, as they were marked where someone on horseback could view them orinally. This was only a Civil War cache. The Swift caches were much earlier.

I have a poplar in my chicken lot that is only a little older than I am. It grew into two trees. The base before the trees fork out is already four+ feet from the ground (and when I remember them first growing, there was no base - just looked like two seperate trees). So, four feet in thirty years the base has grown on the poplars - that should be right on pace with a tree from Swift's time having the base grow 20+ feet.

Plus, the tree was between two creeks on the top of a small hill, just as in several versions of Swift's journals.

 

[trk5capt]

Re: Found the "three oak" tree today!

SWIFT, Best of Luck & Good Hunting. Keep Us Posted. trk5capt...

 

[swiftsearcher]

Re: Found the "three oak" tree today!

Capt. - thanks for the kind words!

I will let everyone know if I find any major markers or what not. Have a trip planned for Sat. with two fellow board members - going to be looking for the Shawnee Cave that is suppose to go from Pound to KY through the mountain. Also, we are planning to detect the old Buffalo Trail and check out a creek or two where some interesting finds were made by the Bollings several years ago.

BTW - I found out one more thing today - the "Blue Pond" where Swift supposedly washed his silver has almost dried up (only a muddy impression now). I found it, but did not go down and detect the area as my back and hip were killing me already. Interesting to note that there were two old rusted out metal 55 gallon barrels in the "pond". I don't know what these were doing there - they are definitely way after Swift's time. My only thought so far is that someone found silver in the pond, brought metal barrels down to "fill up" and didn't get as much silver as they thought was there - leaving the two barrels.