Moonshine Caches (Tennessee)

[Kentucky Kache]

In Overton County in 1878, a detachment of Revenuers fought a two day engagement against an army of 100s of moonshiners nine miles north of Cookeville in the Cumberland Mountains. Eventually, a truce was arranged, and the Revenuers were forced to withdraw ·but they vowed to return. Later, Campbell Morgan, the leader of the moonshiners was captured in a gun battle at his fortress still in Jackson County, Tenn. During these violent times, numerous caches were made and lost in the Cumberland Mountains.

By the early 1900s, the action had shifted to the little town of Cosby in Cooke County where the sugar comes in dry and goes out shaken.·During Prohibition, the sugar came in by the train load, and the frequent use of dynamite as a means of communication to signal the next hill over that the Revenuers were on their way led to several cases of suspected caches owing to the deadly mixture of alcohol and explosives.

 

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[Las Vegas Bob]

The areas around a Moonshine Still can be a very profitable place to detect and interesting places to explore.

I have had experience and the pleasure to research and locate two such sites in the back country of Ontario Canada a several years ago.

Any lead on a still site is worth the effort to follow up on.

 

[rockhound]

Yes, these areas can be very profitable, but also deadly, if caught there by the owner. Or by the feds. You would have a hard time explaining to the feds that it wasn't you still. I know people who have detected these places, but taken extreme precaution in doing so. Be careful out there.

 

[Shortstack]

If you plan on going into the mountains of Tennessee, searching for old moonshine stills and caches, you should at least take out a good life insurance policy so that your next of kin can have something left after you disappear. Because, friend, you will NOT be seen again. Nobody but family and close friends go into the back areas to visit. Only law enforcement officers and foolish amateurs would go poking around in the back country of the Smokies; looking for something that isn't theirs.

 

[cavers5]

Local law is kin...they only go in to take out the competitors! Feds only go in if they know they can get some moo-lah and big publicity out of it. It's not shine so much anymore, as it is drugs...meth labs and dope-growers.

Nobody gets paid enough anymore to risk their life too much! Besides, snakes, poison ivy, ticks, sweat, and hard-work-hiking tend to keep most of them out! Booby traps might be used, but if someone accidentally gets hurt, that just draws too much attention to the area.

My older son and I went metal detecting in the hills one day. To this day, I'm thankful that we made it out of there alive. We hadn't been in this area before...actually haven't been back, either! We fought snakes, ticks, and poison ivy all day and came up on a two-story shack in the hills with no windows, new big lock on the door, and cameras on the trees outside. A generator was hidden underneath a wooden platform disguised to look like a bush/tree. It actually had real dirt and growth on top of the platform! No roads at all going to it.

My heart literally missed a couple of beats as I started to look around for booby-traps. Although I'm the navigator, I always try to make sure that my sons have a general idea of where they are in the hills as we tend to go into a lot of out-of-the-way places. It only took me a minute to outline a plan for getting out of there and which way he was to go if there was any trouble. I think the only thing that saved us was that the bad guys underestimated us. They had no idea that we were hill-folk and could travel the hills as fast and/or better than they could! We made it to the vehicle in double-quick time and only had one possible moment with the solitary "guard" at the bottom, who hadn't been there when we came in! We smiled and waved like idiots while flooring it downhill on a single lane, rutted, dirt road. I immediately went straight to my uncles who have a "good" reputation with the lawless and told them what happened so they could make sure we weren't tracked down and killed, literally. Scary!

Cavers5

 

[Kentucky Kache]

Yall must be referring to sneakin' on someone's land. If you do that, maybe you SHOULD get shot.

 

[cavers5]

You are dead wrong, Cache Crazy. I did get permission.

They underestimated us...did not realize that we "could go the distance!" I'm guessing they probably figured that we were city-folk and would go for about an hour at the most and give up. We had to machete through weeds over our heads (it was August) and there were snakes galore (which I hate with a passion!) It was already late in the afternoon when we came upon the shack.

But, by golly, I don't care what alarms we set off and how fast they thought they could travel, there is NO ONE and I mean NO ONE, that could ever beat our record getting back to the vehicle that day. And, I don't watch NASCAR, but I'll bet I held my own traveling that one lane dirt road getting the heck out of there! No exaggeration, whatsoever!

Fortunately, the only thing that really saved us was my kin! Strike one up for them! I often wonder if they hadn't turned a bunch of poisonous snakes loose up there! UGGHHH! Best protection ever, in my opinion!

Cavers5

 

[Kentucky Kache]

Weeeell doggies.

 

[DanB]

you been messen with big foot again.......lets go RING THE BELL .......

db

 

[FireRescue]

I know of a place near me "big Moonshine still site" i'm gonna see if I can get some permission.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

HA! THAT happens in VIRGINIA, too. Monvale, Va. (WESTERN part of Bedford County, near Roanoke, Va.), had a HUGE Meth Lab "bust" back in SPRING, 2008. Montvale is "area" for the famous BEALE TREASURE. I keep telling THers, the FEDS, STATE, and County ''DAWGS" are ALL over those mountains... EVEN U.S. Park Service is on "ALERT". It ain't the BEALE TREASURE, either... "POT" growing in thise "hills" (GOLD - HA!), METH LABS, etc. ...
it is a HOT ZONE! Look for the Beale Treasure, at YOUR risk... travel in pairs (ONE, as a "witness"). 8) (FED wanna-bee...).

 

[Salvor6]

All the stills in E. Tenn. are monitored now. I go to Oliver Springs (N. of Oak Ridge) to get my gallon. Its made by a guy that produces 800 gallons/week. He pays off the sheriff and the sheriff inspects his still to make sure there is no lead.

 

[outdoors2i]

Best to detect at OLD sites where you might have part of the rock furnace near a creek. These are the one's that have interesting finds around them. There's alot of 1800's type sites around here. If you run up on a busted up submarine it's from the 1940's and up. When they built the lake here back in the 50's and the land around most all of the lake is public hunting, you can find old still site rock furnaces up every creek bottom around here. They are pretty safe. 8)