Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

Liquigirl...thanks for the post. I'm familiar with the Louis Frontenac story and the stone near Borie marked with a cross. actually, Borie is south of Coudersport, not North, but then again, when he went through this area there WAS NO area designated "Borie", there was actually nothing here but forest, rivers and a small trail or two.
However, the story about the Jesuit of the "True Knights of the Cross" is new to me. Would you be able to tell me the source of this info? I can see how these two stories might be construed into one, for the "Inez" area and the "Black Diamond" area are close by the Borie area. Inez is just North of Borie, and the Black Diamond is just South of Borie. I am interested in the source of this story because "Inez" and "Black Diamond" are location names that are not widely known outside of this area, they are common names known to local people here. I am interested in knowing more about the terms: "True Knights of the Cross", and the "Tiadaghton trading post" and about when all this is supposed to have occurred. If you can help me with any of this info I will be very grateful. thank you...pp
 

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Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

That's more extensive than mine Jeff, good searching. Potter Poker, I have to refer back to my notes on this one and not the short typed version that I have on my computer, but I believe I pulled that information from a book on PA folklore and legends written by Jeffrey Frasier. I'm not certain if I'm spelling his name correctly and he wrote 6 books. Unfortunately, my mother has borrowed them and I've left a message for her to call me and let me know of the correct book number that information is in, if that indeed is where the information was from. I'll PM you with the further information.
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

Thanks Liquigirl, I will try to find anything up here by Jeffrey Frasier (sic), maybe our own Hist.Soc. has something by him. Thank you for the tip...pp
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

jeff of pa said:
I would Be curious how they know Which Safe they Found.
There are Jewelry Store Safes Etc. Missing, & if all they used was Sounding machines, All they could realy know at Best is they got
a Square Block.

Definately Intresting though.
Click to expand...
Jewelry store safes? That's cool.
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

i grew up in Inez and i never heard this one before.Could you please post the full story??
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

I worked at the Saint Marys Airport(OYM) at that time, and was the one that the gentleman talk to the night they left. It was a weird story but there was some weird things that happened with them.

I can relate the story to you if you'd like.

Let me know, Bill
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

Bill1976 said:
I worked at the Saint Marys Airport(OYM) at that time, and was the one that the gentleman talk to the night they left. It was a weird story but there was some weird things that happened with them.

I can relate the story to you if you'd like.

Let me know, Bill
Click to expand...

Welcome to treasure net Bill :icon_pirat:

Heck yes tell us the story.

Charlie
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

I worked @ the Saint Marys Airport(OYM) when this went down and was the one on duty when these guys came in and 3 days later when they left. I know this is a strange story, bare with me, and I will answer any questions the best I can.

A Twin Turbo aircraft lands at the Saint Marys airport, and 4 men come out looking around they say how nice the area looks from the sky. They landed to "stretch their legs", and then ask some questions about the area like is there a good place to eat in town, "what do people do for fun around here"... Then they ask if there was a car they could use to go into town for lunch. I tell them maybe(as I had to check if it was reserved or not), and the guy says he had called a few days ago and was told "there was a courtesy car on base". I said there was I just had to check that no one else had already reserved it.

We go into the office to check on the availability of the car. He starts talking about maybe spending the night because the area looks really interesting. We ask for a donation for gas and up keep of the car. He says that he'll put gas in it and the they will top off the plane before they leaves. They we'll let us no if they are spending the night after lunch. I give them the car and go back to work inside Maint. Building. About an hour later I hear a plane start up I get up to see who's taking off, it's the Twin Turbo that they came in on. I call the office and asked if they returned the courtesy car and the manger said he didn't see it up there, I looked for it and didn't see it. We tried calling on the radio to the plane with no response. We contacted Cleveland control about the plane and they had no contact with it either. I then notice that the spare tire, tire iron, and other items that were in the trunk of our very large old Lincoln laying on the ground next to where the plane was parked. One of the local pilots told us that before they left for lunch they load the car with a lot of suitcases and boxes. We called the police and reported the car stolen. The thought was that they were drug runners.

A few days later the state police call and said that they found the car and the guys in Coudy and that they were on their way back to the airport with the car. As it was late afternoon I had to stay after work to wait for them to come back with the car. When they came back they were very upset that the were arrested and question about the car and what they were up to. They told the police that it was just a misunderstanding with the airport and that they were doing reseach for a book. The police let them go and told them to take the car straight back to the airport.
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

That when they told me that they were treasure hunters looking for a 9' safe that was washed away when the damn broke above Austin. I helped them load the plane and they had a pile of equipment, shovels, mud covered boots, med kits, overhauls, machetes, pry bars, laptops, gauges, metal detectors, and surveyor's equipment. And what looked like a dentist x-ray. It was very heavy and they treated it like gold, nothing put on top of it and secured it for the flight. The guy told me they had found the 9" safe south of Austin under a power substation it was below it at one of the corners. The "x-ray" tool was an "atom bouncer" it bounced atoms into the ground and they bounced off targets underneath the surface, down to about 10'.

They said there was no money in it for them because off the permints and claims to the safe would take forever, they had hoped to find it and get into it with no one knowing about it. They told me what they thought was in it but can't remember everything they told me. I think it was from a bank. I believe they were from Long Island, NY.

Feel free to ask questions, I'll do my best to answer them. I didn't believe them at first, but loading the equipment and seeing some of the amount of trouble they went through makes me think twice about it.
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

Thanks for the info. There sure is a lot of unanswered questions there. It sounds like they weren't telling you everything, and I can understand why.
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

Are safes water tight? If not I'd bet that if there was cash in any of them it might be junk by now. Thanks for the articles and pics. Jeff. That was fantastic. I have a Camp about 20 mi from there and I'm going to Austin to look things over for curiosity's sake. Been there in the early 70's but never knew about the flood. Wow. I read about fishing contests there but didn't realize how big a deal the flood was.
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

Well Bill, at least you remembered all the equipment they had, but it would have been nice if you would have remembered what they said was in it.

Seems that they sure talked alot, on a subject they shouldnt have talked about, especially where it was!
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

Well, I said I'm going up and I went up. It's a real spooky site and I saw the transformers etc. but they're uphill from the very bottom of the valley. How can a safe go uphill in a flood? I don't care if it's filled with helium somebody's goofy! Just like burying Civil War gold UNDER bedrock! :sign13:
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

big mike said:
Well, I said I'm going up and I went up. It's a real spooky site and I saw the transformers etc. but they're uphill from the very bottom of the valley. How can a safe go uphill in a flood? I don't care if it's filled with helium somebody's goofy! Just like burying Civil War gold UNDER bedrock! :sign13:
Click to expand...

Sorry But it Dosn't matter if it weighs a ton.
If the water hits it at the right speed & Angle,
It will go up.
I'm not sure how fast the water Came down,
But it Probably Threw Tons of stuff Up to both sides
of the Ditch it Created.

So Yes I Do Believe a safe can go up
in a Working flood.
Sort of Like upside down Tsunami
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

Big Mike, I don't know what transformers you were looking at. I've been through Austin several times and as I recall, the substation is just above the town, within sight of houses. This is where the safe was supposedly found. The dam that burst was a couple miles above the town, washing debris along the valley floor along with the safe from the Bayless paper mill which was located below the dam.
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

Well, I probably saw the same substation as you mention. I came through town,past the Museum and the blacktop street turned into a dirt road. So what was there to have a safe that would cause concern 100 yrs later,only the paper mill? Did any of you ever try to move even a small safe of vintage? Not the junk they make today. You know everything was built super heavy and bulky in the old days. I live along a huge river and I see floods, not like a dam break but still the current along the bank is never as strong as in the middle of the flow, my favorite trout stream has more push on my legs. No safe is gonna wash up a bank unless it is air tight and floated after it got freed from a demolished building.And someone built a substation on top of it? Yeah, right! Think about it. :read2:
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

Here's a link to a satellite view of the substation. Scroll around and see the site of the mill and dam. If a safe did wash out of the mill it sure didn't go far or uphill IMO.http://www.weather.com/weather/map/interactive/
Type in Austin Pa. and satellite view and scroll around. It ain't that far out of town. You'll see the exact road(s) I took to get to the ruins. :read2:
 

Re: Possible "large safe" found from Austin, Pa. dam break...Strange Story????

ok, some quick number crunching yields:

assuming this safe is a CUBE 9 feet on a side, AND
assuming the walls are solid steel, 6 INCHES thick:

Empty Weight: 55 tons
Displacement weight in water: 22-1/2 tons
Net effective weight: 32-1/2 tons

water force required against ONE surface to lift the safe: 5.6 PSI

I'm guessing a "dam burst" could move this thing any which direction............

Diggem'
 

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