PENNSYLVANIA?S LOST

This search is heating up with some of the guys talking about getting a group together to search Gardeau. There's plenty of areas and cellar holes to search at this location. There were lots of homes and commercial businesses. I located some old photographs of Gardeau including the Parker Mineral Sanitarium! The locals swear that this treasure is still there. Notice how the mountains were just stripped of all timber. It's all grown back today. I did find the exact location of the Sizerville mineral spring just before Gardeau. I have an assortment of photos of Gardeau that should aid in locating the Parker Hotel and other buildings and have leads on other nearby ghost towns.
 

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I found the source of this treasure story quite a while ago. It was printed in the History of McKean County published in 1890. Henry Shoemaker picked up on the story from this book and published his article "Treasure Cave is McKean County Mystery" in 1950. Francis Scully simply reprinted Shoemaker's story.
 

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Treasure Hunter, This is a very good report and thanks. You did your research. If there is any silver buried there in a cave this make the most logic I've heard. I had a friend that found some small silver bars there and financed his move to California years ago. Likely some of the larger bars were taken out of the stash and remelted down to smaller bars for sale? As they had no smelting marks on them. So whom ever should find these bars again will have to be very quite about it, as to find them will be one thing, but to keep them will be another. Plus if I think I need someone there to work with I'll keep you in mind. Thanks again for your report.
 

Hi Monk,

I'll keep reporting what I uncover as I research. I'm not in this for the silver; in fact I would be amazed if someone finds any. It would be interesting to search the area where your friend found some silver if you remember the location I'd love to check it out. I think you're correct to believe that the silver would be in a cave or maybe buried. You can see from the pictures that these mountains were stripped bare of all vegetation buy 1897 and if the silver was visible the loggers would have found it. I'm happy just poking around old homesteads turning up a coin here or there and a lot of old junk. I'd love to find some axe heads like logging camp and Gardeau is a great place to have the opportunity to find these. It would be nice to find some things to donate to the historical society as well. I enjoy the research and want to document Gardeau and other lost towns in the area. I'm also researching ghost towns in the Clearfield, Elk, McKean and Potter Counties. The wild west has nothing over this area when it comes to ghost towns. I've got about 50-60 in my files and growing. I really need to get out and hike this area rather than just driving along Gardeau Road stopping intermittently.

I'm getting ready to overlay a plat map of the homesteads over a topo map from the mid 1800's and then search the most promising homesteads for cellar holes. Once I document these I'll then try to get permission to search some of them. I'll get the GPS coordinates so that other guys can find them in the future without all the work.

Treasure Writer
 

Well.....we just returned from a great day of THing and I'd like to thank Turtle Dove for planning the search and Potter Poker for his vast knowledge of the area and all things TH related. I'm humbled by his experience.
 

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If we to to talk in person, we would have a friendly discussion about this Indian Trail Marker Tree, so don't take this the wrong way. Quite often I've seen people post pictures on Tnet of bent trees that they say are Indian trail marker trees. I do a lot of hiking and come across numerous trees that are bent into odd shapes. These trees are usually deformed by a tree or branch falling on the tree when it was a sapling and it grows crooked after that. When were the last indians in Pa? 1700s? A tree bent by an indian in that era would not living today.
 

Hello Mr-Dig-it
Thanks for the insight. I see your point.
Native Americans were prevalent in this area into the 20th century. The main Indian trail lies just across the valley and acted as a portage trail from the Susquehanna to the Allegheny River. The location of this tree is along a trail and stream that run perpendicular to the main trail and leads from "the Great Elk Lick" a place named by and well known to the Native Americans and described to George Parker by a Native American when giving directions to Parker to to a hunting location where animals amassed around a mineral spring. This trail follows "Elk Lick Run" now named "Parker Run" for about 5 miles before diverging to a place called dividing ridge and into the direction of Norwich in another valley where George Parker resided. The tree is dead and has a fairly large diameter and given its proximity to the main trail and the directions given to Parker I would think that there is a better likelihood that it was a marker that designated the "Elk Lick Trail" as the one that leads over dividing ridge. I hiked this trail again today up through Stone Chimney Hollow and given the terrain it is also probably the easiest, most direct hike over the ridge and to Indian Run, Potato Creek and Norwich. I didn't see any other markers, but these mountains were clear cut in the mid 1800-early 1900's so it's likely they were removed and never recreated. This one may have survived because it is very close to Gardeau or created in the late 1800's after the logging of Gardeau. These trails were still actively used into the 1900's and it's location places it close to the intersection of two trails. Then on the other hand you could be entirely correct. It is nice to have a marker tree at a trail head however. :wink:
 

If you're thinking of searching this area...I was also told of the sighting of 10 different black bears last fall in this area and have seen bear tracks on the trail. Coyotes appear to be over populated and they run the logging roads. I saw the tracks and scat of an entire pack today on the same trail we hiked yesterday where none existed. Stay aware, I continually look behind as I hike. While these animals are not generally aggressive both have records of killing people. Just 3 coyotes killed a young woman in Canada last year and I viewed 7 sets of tracks today in a pack. They had fed on a deer.
 

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Background on the "Blackbeard's Treasure" Story



What's important here is that Shoemaker collected thousands of stories from "old timers" in Pennsylvania and it may be worth a trip to the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh to check out the collection and old maps.
 

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I was once again in Gardeau on 14 April 2012. I had the opportunity to meet with one of the guys that owns a hunting camp directly across from the Hotel foundation. He has marked the location of the original spring that bubbles up out of the ground. I'll get some video and pictures the next time I am there. It's amazing.....the deer still congregate at this spring.....the water is supposed to taste horrible and it's said that if you drink a couple of glasses of the water don't be too far from a bathroom! This area is called God's Country but God only knows why someone would want to drink this stuff.....cheers!:coffee2:
 

I just posted a new picture of Gardeau in the PA Ghost Town Group. It's one looking from North to South that people probably haven't seen yet. It's particularly interesting because it shows a ladder on Parker's Tomb possibly indicating that it was just being built. Anyway it gives a different perspective on the town and you can see the hotel from a different angle.

On another note....I found a picture with a large cross carved into a stone that was supposed to be in the same area as the Jesuit Treasure of the Borie. It is along the water. It's a poor quality picture and I can't make out the cross but it is labeled as such and was taken by a minister in the area. I'm going to try to clean up the photo with a forensic photo tool to see if it helps. In the research there seems to be some conflict in the description of where the picture was taken exactly. I'm trying to sort this out as well. Maybe this is the break that we have all been looking for?
 

Hey guys, I am new to the site but I have been following the Colonel Parker Captain Blackbeard story for a little while. I've come across some information, that I hope is wrong, but it would point to this story being a falsehood. I would like to state at this point that I hope the story is true because I enjoy the adventure aspect of it, so if anyone has any information that would confirm the story or disprove what I have found I would be more then excited.
So the red flags I have found are this. In the original story it claims that Captain Blackbeard raised a 120 year old wrecked Spanish Galleon with pontoons as the Galleon was in less then 20 fathoms of water. Which is roughly 120 feet. How? A 132 year old wooden ship wreck in the tropical waters of the Caribbean would have had massive amounts of decay. Underwater breathing apparatuses were not invented until the 1840's. So it would have had to have been an air filled pontoon that was pushed down. Which seems highly unlikely.
I also came across a critique on Shoemakers stories, showing how he changed the names of characters, mainly the captain. His original name was Captain Thomas. This also has some holes in it because it claims he was a pirate that sold the land to Noah Parker, who went looking for the treasure and never returned. The problem here is that there weren't "pirates" in the 19th century, it also claims he was running from the Spanish, from whom he had stolen the treasure, and buried it in Florida.
If anyone has any information that can shed light on the confusion of the two stories would be greatly appreciated. I would like to continue the adventure :)
 

Story Is False You're Right mccedian

QUOTE=mccedian;4574040]Hey guys, I am new to the site but I have been following the Colonel Parker Captain Blackbeard story for a little while. I've come across some information, that I hope is wrong, but it would point to this story being a falsehood. I would like to state at this point that I hope the story is true because I enjoy the adventure aspect of it, so if anyone has any information that would confirm the story or disprove what I have found I would be more then excited.
So the red flags I have found are this. In the original story it claims that Captain Blackbeard raised a 120 year old wrecked Spanish Galleon with pontoons as the Galleon was in less then 20 fathoms of water. Which is roughly 120 feet. How? A 132 year old wooden ship wreck in the tropical waters of the Caribbean would have had massive amounts of decay. Underwater breathing apparatuses were not invented until the 1840's. So it would have had to have been an air filled pontoon that was pushed down. Which seems highly unlikely.
I also came across a critique on Shoemakers stories, showing how he changed the names of characters, mainly the captain. His original name was Captain Thomas. This also has some holes in it because it claims he was a pirate that sold the land to Noah Parker, who went looking for the treasure and never returned. The problem here is that there weren't "pirates" in the 19th century, it also claims he was running from the Spanish, from whom he had stolen the treasure, and buried it in Florida.
If anyone has any information that can shed light on the confusion of the two stories would be greatly appreciated. I would like to continue the adventure :)[/QUOTE]


Congrats mccedian - you actually did some research. Anybody with a computer and 10 minutes of time will see that at least half this story (if not all) is false. The writer Shoemaker added and changed whatever he felt like changing ha ha ha. He wrote many stories about ghosts - werewolves etc. The only thing that can be verified is that there actually was a colonel Parker and that IS his burial place there in Pa - and that he had a mineral springs type hotel. (He was rather wealthy and maybe the part about him having silver bars is real but I wouldn't spend any time looking for this)

All the facts can be found by searching "google books". Sorry to disappoint everybody but there was no Blackbeard or pirate ha ha ha.


Gary
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I did a little checking myself and I believe Parker made up the story to help draw more people to his hotel/spa. According to us census Noah Parker was born in 1812. So,he must have been just born on this adventure. He married Hannah Bullock,who's family had some money(not rich but ok).The captain that told"blackbeard" that everyone was on to him has a very similar name as one of the men that started Karthus,what are the odds. Besides,if he did have all that silver,he would have spent most of it building the hotel,then rebuilding it. And his "bottled water" didn't go over very well. His spa was recommended by doctors far and wide so he might have made money on that. That's what I see anyway. Let me know if I'm wrong.
 

I see you found the Noah Parker discrepancy. Your Karthus link is pretty much correct as well.
 

I have a Question.

How Could a man who was not born yet (Noah Parker) be left in charge of a treasure???
 

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