Pics are now up - VERY INTERSTING TREE!

[swiftsearcher]

Jacko,

BTW - if you think this area is rough, I will have to post pics of the area where I found one of Swift's mines when I get the film developed (the ones showing the roughness of the area - not any giving away the site yet). The area was so rough that I had to go around a lot of places I wanted to detect in the mine area (and I am one who does not like to leave any stone unturned so to speak)!

However, the rough terrain made me take the "high way" out because it was getting close to dark. And, this "high way" out turned out to be where the mine was located - right above where I found an old horseshoe and file below on the way in!

In fact, the area is so rough, that I might go to some other places before I go back and look for the smelter which should be over the ridge.

SS

 

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[JACKOJohn Stanwix]

Swiftseacher -- I have the same problem in the field. Not seeing what's really there till I look at the photo's.
I have snake chaps that I use when I know I am going into tuff weeds like that, they take the brunt of the torns and sticks.
I have some very small carving tools that cut into rock like a razor and since I have a better camera, I'll find them and post them.
Found in a funny place. Got a signal in a hollow tree branch and pulled out these tools.
Good luck on your hunt !


Jacko

 

[swiftsearcher]

Jacko,

Those tools you found sound very interesting! Did you find them in a "Swift Area"?

I also have some snake-proof chaps (bought them for field work during the summer months). It wasn't that the area was briary or anything like that - just full of thick laurel that was hard to work in. I bet it would take almost two hours to go one half a mile, and that was with me skipping some of the thicker areas.

SS

 

[grizzly bare]

searcher,
GREAT!
Have you been through 'Picum' yet? There used to be several old smelters there and a ton of legends about haunted treasure.
Keep looking and we all hope you find all the caches left there!

grizzly bare

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Re: Anyone know what this carving might mean?

pseudodragon ]
when you look through the deer tree's eye, remember that the tree would have been a lot shorter when that carving was made and was pointing at something much lower in the distance than the current view would find.
Gary
********************
A) HI Gary, unfortunately a tree trunk doe not grow upwards, only thicker, however the upper parts do.

Incidentally, that was excellent thinkng my friend.

Till Eulenspiegle de la Mancha

 

[swiftsearcher]

Grizzly,

I have been at the Northern and Southern ends of the place you are talking about. I did find a mossed over smelter there one of my first times out. Also, I was at the Northern end recently. It is a very "spooky" place. There may be some kind of a "curse" with that place, as I wasn't in the woods over two minutes and fell and hurt my knee very badly. I went on that day, but did not make it as far as I wanted.

The journal I am going by led me to another place far away, and I have been there ever since. However, I am planning on going back to where you mentioned before it is all over. The biggest problem is that the place you are talking about is very inaccessible, rocky and cliffy.

I have a question for you Grizzly. I know you mentioned seeing some of the Cherokee "little people" in GA on a Mountain (and people made fun of you). Believe it or not, I saw some in the Northern section of "Pickum" - twice when I was in there. From what I have gathered, it seems these "little people" are around where caches are buried - what is your opinion? There might be one cache in "Pickum". However, I have pinpointed a creek in another place far away from "Pickum" that might be the one with several caches on it!

BTW - on the deer tree. I still believe the "eye" has nothing to do with a cache. I believe it was a "pointer" tree by an old moonshiner or KGC pointing to the rockhouse. The "nose" on that tree was the sign to the cache, b/c I found the rusted rings of an extremely old keg right in front of it under the rockhouse.

SS

 

[grizzly bare]

searcher,
Those little people are around treasures for sure. My opinion is that these are the leftover miners that Swift and others brought in to dig the treasure. Possibly Celts. Possibly Portugee or Central Americans. Possible racial mixtures. I know that Melungeons are indigenous to High Knob and Rocky Face. You may have seen the remnants of the High Knob Melungeons watching over their old legendary caches.

Keep looking, my friend. I hope you find a cache or great mine !

grizzly bare

(Sure folks made fun of me. I don't blame them. I have told this story for decades and my own friends made fun of me. There are times I ALMOST think it was a dream myself. But I have a "reminder" that I brought out of those hills and whenever I start to think they might not have been real, I pull it out and everything is as real as ever.)

gb

 

[swiftsearcher]

Grizzly,

Those little fellows sure are fast too! I haven't been able to get a pic of one yet. Also, I don't think I will put the story of me seeing them in the book I will be working on either (as I have been laughed at by family members when I told them about seeing the little people in the mountains). There is a blurry pic on a website of one of the little people running - taken in Lynchburg VA.

Like I stated, I am many miles away from this area now in another location - where I have found one of Swift's mines - probably the first one he worked. After I am finished with the current area, I may move back down the country to "Pickum" where I saw these little people and search a few days.

After finding this mine of Swift's rather easily, I thought I would be able to find the caches and smelter easily as well. However, the old journal I have has precise directions to the first mine. THEN, the directions to caches and smelters get a little "blurry" to say the least. Sometimes, it is hard to tell if Swift is giving the directions to everything else from the first mine location or the next mine location. Anyway, it is fun hunting (what little chances I get) and I have been able to narrow down the searches to single digits for the number of locations.

E-mail me sometime when you get a chance at [email protected]. When you are back in the SW VA area, we can talk and I will let you see some of the pics I have taken of the mine I found before I show them in my upcoming book about finding the mine (I would like to find the next mine and a couple of cache sites, even if the loot is gone, before the book is printed). I would also love to hear what treasures you are working on as well and some of your adventures!

SS

 

[grizzly bare]

"Melungeons" is an American way of saying 'melange' which is a way of saying mixture. The Melungeons are a mixture of races Native American, African, English, Celt, Portugese, etc.
Brent Kennedy (of Wise) wrote a good book on the subject.
I've heard a lot of stories about the haunted goings on in Picum. Don't know when I'll get back to Wise County, thought I'd be there now but things went awry.
I'll get there in the next few months and would love to see your pictures and read your manuscript.
As for my current hunting, you wouldn't believe it if I told you. Gyrocopter, crossbow, mothballs...

grizzly

 

[swiftsearcher]

Grizzly,

After seeing a few of the "Little People" a while back, I would believe almost anything now. I like your theory about Swift and others bringing to the Southern United States to work in mines. This seems logical b/c of their size. I had always simply thought they were an ancient race that now lives underground (after the Cherokee drove them underground).

You are right about Picum. I, too, have read several stories about the hauntings there. I am not scared of too many things, especially in the mountains, since I always pack heat when I go. However, I will never forget the last time I was in Picum a few weeks back. I fell and hurt my knee about two minutes after entering the woods. Then, I saw around 6 or 7 little people at different times, that seemed to vanish behind trees. When I found a high cliff I wanted to detect, I started hearing flute music coming from this area. Also, on the old trail up to the cliff, I could hear footsteps behind me - then, they would stop when I did (but, I could not see anything nor anyone). I was never scared nor wanting to leave. However, it seemed to take me a half day to reach within 20 yards of the cliff I wanted to search. THEN, at around 20 yards from the spot, I simply gave out physically. I couldn't climb any longer and had to go back down to the branch for a drink. No weirdness on my way out whatsoever. Also, the more distance I put between myself and the cliff, the better I felt physically. In fact, after stopping for a drink, I made it the rest of the way back to my Jeep without having to take any breaks.

You may laugh. It simply seemed that there was some sort of a "force" that, when it found out it couldn't scare me, drained me physically to keep me from reaching the cliff area.

BTW - your current cache hunt sounds really exciting. ESPECIALLY, when I think of that hard climb I had in Picum! I guess climbing these hills and fighting the thick laurel in KY/VA is part of the reason people have hunted for over 200 years and not found much relating to Swift and the Silver caches/mines.

SS