Money Making Sol

[franklin]

"Google" Patrick County, Va. - GOLD Veins; Patrick County, Va. - SILVER Veins. Wife found some SILVER at Fairy Stone State Park...

Was that natural silver ore or silver coins. I found several silver coins at Fairystone Park. Use to be a town there and a lot of moonshining. Up on the hill there several were killed over the moonshine wars. A 98 year old Civil War Veteran shot one man through the window of the house and killed one of them. I have seen Barber dimes found there. I found a 1934 quarter about 8 inches deep out near the plaque. That is where the house burned and where the men were killed. A right interesting place.

 

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[DeepseekerADS]

Was that natural silver ore or silver coins. I found several silver coins at Fairystone Park. Use to be a town there and a lot of moonshining. Up on the hill there several were killed over the moonshine wars. A 98 year old Civil War Veteran shot one man through the window of the house and killed one of them. I have seen Barber dimes found there. I found a 1934 quarter about 8 inches deep out near the plaque. That is where the house burned and where the men were killed. A right interesting place.

The legend is that there's a natural silver ore mine on one of the mountains in Patrick County, and it's not Bull Mountain.

Dirt digging at Fairystone Park is not permitted. The rangers do patrol fairly regularly. My father was a ranger at Fairystone Park in the late 40's when I was born. I "remember a memory" of being there as a small one. Essentially, I was born there.

 

[franklin]

The legend is that there's a natural silver ore mine on one of the mountains in Patrick County, and it's not Bull Mountain.

Dirt digging at Fairystone Park is not permitted. The rangers do patrol fairly regularly. My father was a ranger at Fairystone Park in the late 40's when I was born. I "remember a memory" of being there as a small one. Essentially, I was born there.

There are two or three silver mines up there near Lover's Leap Overlook.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Was that natural silver ore or silver coins. I found several silver coins at Fairystone Park. Use to be a town there and a lot of moonshining. Up on the hill there several were killed over the moonshine wars. A 98 year old Civil War Veteran shot one man through the window of the house and killed one of them. I have seen Barber dimes found there. I found a 1934 quarter about 8 inches deep out near the plaque. That is where the house burned and where the men were killed. A right interesting place.

RAW Silver, no coin...

 

[Rebel - KGC]

The legend is that there's a natural silver ore mine on one of the mountains in Patrick County, and it's not Bull Mountain.

Dirt digging at Fairystone Park is not permitted. The rangers do patrol fairly regularly. My father was a ranger at Fairystone Park in the late 40's when I was born. I "remember a memory" of being there as a small one. Essentially, I was born there.

OK, think on this... Bull Mountain once had a FED Fire Tower; NOW privately owned, IF it was ONCE "Fed-land"... Fed, State, local Gov't land will SOMETIMES "hide" something of interest... AND! Part of KGC "mis-direction" may be at "play" here... "saying" something is at one place... but, REALLY at another. ANYWAY... it's a "Bull's market".

 

[Rebel - KGC]

ANYWAY, back to Sol's Market; would LOVE to see a "pic" of one of his "counterfeit" coins... may have to "google" it. 25 cents, half a dollar, dollar coins... WOW!

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Almost PURE Silver (he mixed other minerals in it); must have found one of Swift's Mines for the SILVER...

 

[mrslojo]

Legend says that Sol and Brandy Jack Mullins both ran out the Spanish Milled dollars in the late 1800's. They were convicted of the counterfeiting and served jail time in Wise County VA. The coins they rolled out were almost pure silver even more than the royal mint. Says that Sol mined the ore somewhere near the breaks of big sandy. I think he defiantly found one of the swift mines. May have been one of the mines Captain Bob Benge knew of near breaks of big sandy

 

[mrslojo]

Coins by the Mullins Family

 

[Rebel - KGC]

View attachment 1493099

Coins by the Mullins Family

TY!

 

[Rebel - KGC]

One of the web-sites had a "description" of how he "made" these coins; had a strong black guy "strike" the coins, etc. FASCINATING "read".

 

[mrslojo]

Thanks Rebel, I finally found the site giving the description of the coins being made. Great reading. Sol had to find one of the mines due to the large amounts of silver he used for his enterprise and the locations being so close to where the Swift legend lies. Im thinking the Mullins family had the knowledge of the swift mines all along. Some of the stories I've heard state that the Mullins were Melungeons and that some of the Swift crew may have been melungeons also. If so I'm sure that the locations were handed down

 

[Rebel - KGC]

I agree.

 

[franklin]

First thing I would like to know is where Sol got the metals for his coins? How could he give two coins that have more silver content than the silver US coin he traded for? He made coins near Clintwood, near Pikeville, Ky. and in Tennessee. Did he have different silver mines? The coin that was mounted in a plaque. How do they know it is one of Sol's coins? It could have been made by any number of counterfeiters? Lot of questions with no answers. Also his two sons helped in minting the coins. Were the counterfeiting apparatus obtained from their father when he died and did they continue to counterfeit coins?

 

[Rebel - KGC]

GREAT QUESTIONS! Time for MORE R & I...

 

[franklin]

Has anyone seen or found the seam of silver on Newman's Ridge supposedly 20 silver dollars thick. That would be about 2 1/2 inches thick.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

DO tell MORE!

 

[mrslojo]

Franklin your absolutely right about the subject, theres defiantly a lot of questions with not many answers. Just from the research I've done on Sol is that he made most of the coins on a cliff on Holly Creek which is present day Clintwood VA. Most believe he obtained the ore close to this location and that it was one of the Swift Silver Mines. As for the other locations Im not sure if he took the ore from there to the other places or he obtained it somewhere else. As for the coins in the plaque im not sure how they determined those to be Sols exact coins form other counterfeiters. The picture was taken from an article i found on Sol Mullins and the money making family. The article just said it was some of the pieces Sol made. The only info i have read on Sols sons is that the were caught helping Sol make the coins but not much info is given on them after that.
Like you said not many answers but lots of questions. Only thing that is for sure is that Sol did make counterfeit coins and he was getting silver from somewhere to do it

 

[franklin]

All of that is along Pine Ridge. He may have known what to look for or either where to look? Can't really say. I too have read about every article and genealogy on the subject but they usually repeat all the information. I have started researching gold deposits here in Virginia. May go and do a little panning if the landowners do not shoot at me.

 

[franklin]

Has anyone seen or found the seam of silver on Newman's Ridge supposedly 20 silver dollars thick. That would be about 2 1/2 inches thick.

I went down there one time to Big Stone Gap just under Newman Ridge and talked to a family that was kin to the Tony Brothers from Pennsylvania. They were on the movie "Unsolved Mysteries searching for the Beale Treasure." The family told me about Newman's Ridge and the silver vein up there some where? I gave them an Infrared photo of the area. The photo lead me to a depression in their backyard. They said their grandfather had inquired about the sinkhole too. I told them of JSwift hidding a pack load of silver near there and they said they had heard the story also.