Red River Gorge

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The carving is located in Eastern Kentucky. It was shown to me by one of two brothers who did most of their searching for the Swift mines back in the 1940s. The land the carving is located on belonged to a family that first settled there in the 1790s. He told me that he and his brother talked with the old people and found that the carving was known to their relatives and the location passed down. I use red carpenters chalk mixed with water to paint in the lines of a carving so it will photograph better. The chalk won't hurt the rock and falls away in a few years. The font is one that was taught to children of the colonies during that time period and can be found in the New England Primer. Not far from this carving is a rock shelter that has a large slab fallen from the ceiling. It fell in such a way that a person can crawl under it. On the underside are several sets of initials, one of which is GM. If you go above the carvings, there is a large flat rock lying flat on the top of a cliff. It is about six feet long, by three feet wide, and about 5 inches thick. If you stand on this rock and look to the west there is a hole in the cliff. We went over to it and it is just large enough for a grown man to step through.
 

Thanks for the info, how do you suppose it was carved with such straight lines? Maybe touched up by someone over the years?
 

All someone would have needed would have been a sharp knife point, and taking their time to make the carving. The carving is also in a very protected place. Not even the wind would have been able to hit the sandstone it's carved in. There is another carving next to the SWIFT carving that I also photographed. When I tried to paint the lines of that carving in with a small artist paintbrush the sandstone was so brittle that a part of it fell away. I've put all of my research together and I sent it to the Lagina Brothers, but I've not heard from them. They probably have their hands full with their current endeavor. I am a big fan of Josh Gates, so I'm going to go see him in person. I'm planning to give him the information and see if he's interested in it. He does a good job telling a story, and he might even find something. One of the things about the Swift legend is that he gives all of his directions to the mines and buried treasure from the furnace he built. The problem is there is no furnace to go from because he tore it down when he left out in 1769. You have to find three landmarks and then triangulate the location of the furnace. The landmarks being; the remarkable rocks, the monument rocks, and the hanging rock. Other carvings, a rattlesnake, horseshoes, a date, the initials JS, a Templar Cross, along with other landmarks close by also help validate the location. I was also told by a landowner that there is a small bottom close to where the furnace was located and was used to grow corn. His father's farm joined this land and he worked the field as a young man. He told me that their was glass in it, much like you would find at an iron furnace. The owner of the land where the furnace was located told me that someone had "salted" the creek that runs through his families farm with silver ore. I suspect that what they were finding was silver slag that was dumped by Swift's men into the creek. I also found a pile of buried "hot rocks" with my metal detector near this location.
 

Good luck with the TV shows, if that goes it will spawn another silver hunt swarm all over E.KY ! So many versions of the journal with different details its hard to tell which is the closest to original.
 

Howerton Bradwell said:
All someone would have needed would have been a sharp knife point, and taking their time to make the carving. The carving is also in a very protected place. Not even the wind would have been able to hit the sandstone it's carved in. There is another carving next to the SWIFT carving that I also photographed. When I tried to paint the lines of that carving in with a small artist paintbrush the sandstone was so brittle that a part of it fell away. I've put all of my research together and I sent it to the Lagina Brothers, but I've not heard from them. They probably have their hands full with their current endeavor. I am a big fan of Josh Gates, so I'm going to go see him in person. I'm planning to give him the information and see if he's interested in it. He does a good job telling a story, and he might even find something. One of the things about the Swift legend is that he gives all of his directions to the mines and buried treasure from the furnace he built. The problem is there is no furnace to go from because he tore it down when he left out in 1769. You have to find three landmarks and then triangulate the location of the furnace. The landmarks being; the remarkable rocks, the monument rocks, and the hanging rock. Other carvings, a rattlesnake, horseshoes, a date, the initials JS, a Templar Cross, along with other landmarks close by also help validate the location. I was also told by a landowner that there is a small bottom close to where the furnace was located and was used to grow corn. His father's farm joined this land and he worked the field as a young man. He told me that their was glass in it, much like you would find at an iron furnace. The owner of the land where the furnace was located told me that someone had "salted" the creek that runs through his families farm with silver ore. I suspect that what they were finding was silver slag that was dumped by Swift's men into the creek. I also found a pile of buried "hot rocks" with my metal detector near this location.
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And here I'm thinking if it were original they would never use a knife because it would need to stay sharp for skinning and eating. A spike or chisel would seem more likely for a minor to use to carve their name? Is this limestone or sandstone?
 

It's in sandstone, so it might have been an awl that was used. The carving is very old, but was made deep into the stone. Swift carved into a lot of rocks...he may have had a small hammer and chisel just for that purpose. You're right about the many different journals. It wasn't until last year that I came up on a segment from one that I had never seen giving a detailed description of where the monument rocks sat in relation to the furnace. Usually journals read, "look to the east" and you can see two monument rocks. I know the area well, and I've been in a lot of cliffs. I can say that I've never seen two huge rocks, one about 15 feet tall, and one about 25 feet tall sitting where these two rocks are located. It just doesn't happen.
 

Yea a nail or a spoon would work too on sandstone. Much easier to make marks on sandstone than limestone. It crumbles when struck so they probably scratched it out.
 

I have a few more photos. I want to go back and get another one of the rattlesnake. It is broken up like the one Franklin used before the revolution. It represented the colonies and their need to join together against England. I would also like to get a photo of the Templar Cross. This one took whoever done it some time.
 

Howerton Bradwell said:
I have a few more photos. I want to go back and get another one of the rattlesnake. It is broken up like the one Franklin used before the revolution. It represented the colonies and their need to join together against England. I would also like to get a photo of the Templar Cross. This one took whoever done it some time.
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join_or_die_flag.jpg
 

the carving is broken up like this one, but a little different...it's almost if you're looking down on the snake instead of from the side...
 

Hate to hear KI moved away. I always enjoyed reading his posts. Thank you for the information! Ive been reading up on books and doing some research on the gorge and love the information you all are giving me! Im excited about this area and am anxious to keep learning.
 

Hope you lots of luck.:metaldetector:
 

Those of you who live in NC, SC, VA, WVA and possibly EKY up to the Cinci area best wishes and prayers for you on Hurricane Florence. Stay high and dry, and if you live in the low lands please head to family and friends on higher ground! Rebel, Franklin, Boomer, ECMason, Curtis, RGB1, 1320, Brushy Bandit and anyone else I may have missed, 8-18inches of rain is nothing to play with in the mountains! The Northern half of the center of the storm usually has the heaviest rainfall. If this thing stalls, this is the kind of event that could change the landscape if the rainfall projections are correct.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at1+shtml/092830.shtml?rainqpf#contents
 

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I hope your right, but as you know these cyclones are not predictable after landfall. Right now most of the computer models predict it will stall on the coast near NC/SC boarder then drift NW along that boarder and into E TN then EKY. The N and NE side of the storm dumps the most rain... depending on where you are in VA I would stay watchful of this one.
 

Lows in the high 40s here by next weekend (week from Saturday). We are getting some low 70s for highs this weekend though. Camping weather..... !!!
 

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did swift have 3 groups of mines

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