great ridge

[KY Hiker]

Pine Mountain Ridge is the long ridge laying SW as it divides Virginia from Kentucky all the way down to where it divides Kentucky and Tennessee.

I agree.
rgb1, I think, was saying that if they went West first then split makes more sense as the two groups of miners would be closer together logistically. If one group went SW while the other West at the forks of the Sandy, then they could be as much as 60-100 miles away from each other. This is all based on the possibility that what KI has found near the RRG is the West or middle mines. If what KI found turns out to be it, and what is historically considered to be a fact that Campton was Swift's camp (base camp) then South or Southwest of Campton would be the direction of the lower mines. I know, lots of ifs... but there are a lot of carvings found in that area, Filson's land warrant said 60-70 miles from Martin's Cabin (Cumberland Gap) that gets you to Beattyville, Col. Harrod disappeared around 'the forks of the KY' looking for the Swift mine and you have a crossroads of Indian Traces near Beattyville/Proctor... there is a lot of evidence for this area.

Map rgb1 may have been talking about, look West of the forks of Sandy...two ridges lines make a shape of a U with a tail. The first one runs SW.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=382561&d=1332417894

I checked the area on the topo map site and cannot find a ridge of any good size or length that runs like the old map shows. I think those were done for illustration.

 

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[franklin]

I believe the two groups separated at Louisa Kentucky. There are five forks of the Big Sandy River.

 

[KY Hiker]

I believe the two groups separated at Louisa Kentucky. There are five forks of the Big Sandy River.

Following that logic the group that went Southwest from Louisa would end up in Paintsville... what great ridge is in this area?

 

[Ken S.]

Nothing to see in Paintsville. Just move along, our land is all pancake flat.

 

[KY Hiker]

Nothing to see in Paintsville. Just move along, our land is all pancake flat.

Zoomed out topo of Paintsville, KY link below. I do not see a long ridge running SW-NE. I do see the Levisa running in that direction.

https://www.topoquest.com/map.php?l...&zoom=32&map=auto&coord=d&mode=zoomout&size=m

Nice blacked out area 10miles East of Paintsville towards Kermit

 

[Ken S.]

Just a glitch in the system. No 20 mile ridge no where.

 

[franklin]

Following that logic the group that went Southwest from Louisa would end up in Paintsville... what great ridge is in this area?

They would pass through and by the branch of Paintsville and continue on SW and end up along the Great Ridge after reaching Elkhorn City. The rich mines which Swift and party were after a considerable distance West would take them towards Lexington

 

[Ken S.]

I was reading a legend sometime back that had him ending up in Colarodo (parden the Spelling)

 

[Ken S.]

I believe the two groups separated at Louisa Kentucky. There are five forks of the Big Sandy River.

By this thinking the Kanawha river runs all the way through W.Va., Va., into N. Carolina

 

[Ken S.]

They would pass through and by the branch of Paintsville and continue on SW and end up along the Great Ridge after reaching Elkhorn City. The rich mines which Swift and party were after a considerable distance West would take them towards Lexington

Why go to Louisa and then back up the Levisa/louisa river to Pine Mtn. when Mondays house was in the Yadkin Valley Why spend 30-45 days traveling 400/500 miles to get a weeks ride from home Why would Swift travel through Indian country when he could have just traveled down the east side of the Blueridge When you can answer these questions, I'll listen to your argument.

 

[franklin]

I am not arguing with you, I am only stating what Swift said in his journal. He did come in from Fort Pitt and left by Fort Pitt several times before he started having trouble out of Indian Parties. If you can not except Swift's own words how are you ever going to find the treasure by your own thoughts? Also I do not have to answer any questions unless I want to.

 

[KY Hiker]

The problem is, sticking to any one journal as truth when the likelihood is they all have distortions, distractions and may have even been copied down wrongly to purposefully mislead any future readers. Greed could have easily made any or all of this happen. As I have stated before, the best way to refine down all the various journals is to compare them, and only take down the details that are in ALL of them, then you have a basis of what could be true. Much of what is in the existing and published versions of the Swift journals is most likely false. No one can prove or disprove anything contained in any of them as fact or fiction to this day... Whoever owns M.P. Henson's research and the 30+ versions of Swift's journal is the only one who could perform this duty. The chance of that person coming forward and presenting that 'least common denominator' version of the journal in the form of a book or paper is very low. They are more likely than not, to sit on that information and keep it for themselves to use or to let rot depending on their motivation.
So, all I can do is go by common sense, deductive and inductive reasoning and come to my own conclusions based on what I have read, seen and experienced. The evidence is out there and some published on here. The only two people I have heard of finding silver dated to Swift's time are Bill Gibson and KI. Sharing ideas and information on Treasurenet helps us all move a little closer to the truth, whatever that may end up being.

 

[KY Hiker]

They would pass through and by the branch of Paintsville and continue on SW and end up along the Great Ridge after reaching Elkhorn City. The rich mines which Swift and party were after a considerable distance West would take them towards Lexington

I'm not sure how that could happen, Elkhorn City is Southeast of Paintsville close to 50 miles as the crow flys. If they continued SW from Paintsville they would end up toward Jackson, KY then London, KY and then into the Big South Fork area...Although the US460/US23 hwy does run down to Elkhorn from Paintsville, if it was a buffalo trace at that time, it could have been another way in/out of KY for them.

 

[KY Hiker]

Here is a modern map of KY you can get free in any rest area in the state. I have highlighted areas of interest, hot spots of Swift/silver finds in articles and the curved line is a 75 mile arc from cumberland gap (martin's cabin area) to show the distance of the Flison land warrant. I took the picture with my phone, its camera is not the best but if you right click the picture and open in a new window you should be able to enlarge the view.

View attachment 1682903

You'll notice that Pound, VA is just out of the arc...but close. Beattyville (top of the arc) is on the arc with the orange glob being the Red River Gorge just above it. The long East West orange line is US460 and US23 routes that in many places followed old buffalo traces.

 

[franklin]

I'm not sure how that could happen, Elkhorn City is Southeast of Paintsville close to 50 miles as the crow flys. If they continued SW from Paintsville they would end up toward Jackson, KY then London, KY and then into the Big South Fork area...Although the US460/US23 hwy does run down to Elkhorn from Paintsville, if it was a buffalo trace at that time, it could have been another way in/out of KY for them.

I am sure because that is the way they traveled. They either followed the water courses or went along the Mt. Ridges. In this case it would be easier for them to follow the water courses. I have been all over these areas. If you want to say it is SE that is fine but I do know if the story is true then that is what they did.

 

[Ken S.]

I'm not sure how that could happen, Elkhorn City is Southeast of Paintsville close to 50 miles as the crow flys. If they continued SW from Paintsville they would end up toward Jackson, KY then London, KY and then into the Big South Fork area...Although the US460/US23 hwy does run down to Elkhorn from Paintsville, if it was a buffalo trace at that time, it could have been another way in/out of KY for them.

Sorry but 23 nor 460 run through Elkhorn City !! 460 comes the closest but it cuts of at Belcher just north of Elkhorn 3-5 miles. 23 runs through Pound.

 

[KY Hiker]

A possible conclusion, if the journal is true about the groups splitting up at Louisa AND the group that went South actually followed Pine Mt., is the southern group followed the Tug fork South and THEN SW along the 'Great Ridge'. One version I have read states that they split up at the headwaters of the Sandy... if this is the case then following the great ridge (Pine Mt.) makes more sense, and the group that went West could have followed the 460(buffalo trace) toward Paintsville or Prestonsburg.

 

[Ken S.]

I am not arguing with you, I am only stating what Swift said in his journal. He did come in from Fort Pitt and left by Fort Pitt several times before he started having trouble out of Indian Parties. If you can not except Swift's own words how are you ever going to find the treasure by your own thoughts? Also I do not have to answer any questions unless I want to.

Are you sure

 

[KY Hiker]

Sorry but 23 nor 460 run through Elkhorn City !! 460 comes the closest but it cuts of at Belcher just north of Elkhorn 3-5 miles. 23 runs through Pound.

I don't even know if that section of 460 followed a buffalo trace or not, Boomer stated that from Frankfort East and past Frenchburg roughly followed an old buffalo trace...I am assuming the rest of it did as well. I have never driven into Elkhorn city I was just looking at the hwy map I posted earlier in this thread.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1682903

 

[1320]

I'm not trying to interject myself into this "argument", I really don't care about the Swift legend at all but while you guys are trying to pin down this "great ridge"...perhaps throw this into the mix for debate.

The Mount Sterling to Pound Gap Road aka The State Road. Official work began in 1817 so one would think that it was a trail or trace way before that. It's pretty much modern day US 460. The area beginning in Frenchburg and going east were called "The Dry Ridge" during that time. I have a vague map that shows that the Dry Ridge was a rather large piece of real estate.