Stories and Notes of old mines, Silver/Gold finds along Swifts Trails

[KY Hiker]

He had a chance to correct himself yet shifted the blame to someone else. I get that, I've witnessed that kinda of behavior in all forms of treasure hunting from all types of people. Regardless, I will credit him for all of the information he shared, I believe he had a good heart. I wish he would have found something more definitive before passing, he had a lot of time and effort into the legend.

According to him, he found several mines in KY but they were French or Spanish with no evidence of Swift. He shared with me back in the Fall a little something via PM with pictures and last said was waiting on an assay. He was being cautious but wanted to share. Rather not express any details as he told me to keep it to myself... I guess I just blew that, but he has moved on to a better place and has no concern with it now.

 

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[Ken S.]

I'm not so sure that Swift wasn't working French, Spanish or Indian mines. I have yet to see evidence otherwise. As for mines in Eastern Ky., I know of more than anyone can count on their fingers. Could be some of them was worked by Swift, But who knows for sure.

 

[KY Hiker]

Well the legend tells of Swift mining where Indians had done before. Boomer said he saw no Swift carvings around what he had found many years ago but did see Spanish and French signs. In the back of my mind I still think the Welsh came first around 570-580, the Spanish and French came in after by some 700-900 years. Not sure who taught the Indians. 1000 years of any markings on sandstone that were not under an overhang would surely fade by erosion and the freeze thaw cycle.

 

[Ken S.]

The Welch may have been the first to mine in the E. Ky. area.

 

[franklin]

The Welsh as many call them were actually descendants of some of the Lost Tribes of Israel that came over around 600 BC. Some members of the Holy Family came over around 70 AD. Their descendants became were embedded in most of the Eastern Indian Tribes especially the Mandan Indians that were blue eyes with red and blonde hair.

 

[KY Hiker]

The Welsh can trace their roots to Israel, referring to the research done by Alan Wilson and Barum Blackette and their ability to read Coelbren and its root languages. The Welsh detached themselves from Rome as that empire fell and the dark ages set in. There are legends that Joseph of Arimathea, Mary mother of Jesus and others came to the British Isles in the early first century to escape the turmoil of the various rebellions the Jews had against the Roman occupation of their land. T. Jefferson did order the surveys of many mounds in the Ohio country, one of which was a Jewish menorah. The Mandan Indians found by Lewis and Clark did know basic Christian symbolism and spoke broken Welsh. The blue eyes, red/blonde hair were descriptions given by Indians of other 'older tribes'. I have found no description of the Mandans having hair or eyes like that. Also it is important to remember, that the early Christians were Jews that believed Jesus was their Messiah, they practiced the same religion, and most of the same beliefs. Early Welsh Christians probably came to North America around the 5th or 6th century, possibly because of a partial comet strike that laid waste to parts of the British Isles, and could have built many of the mounds scattered through the Ohio valley.

 

[Ken S.]

I am to an opinion that they got here by the comet strike that broke Pangea apart . The crater could well be what we call the Gulf of Mexico.

 

[KY Hiker]

https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/269

 

[KY Hiker]

https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/408

 

[Ken S.]

I love good confirmation from research. Good work Hiker.

 

[Ken S.]

the first map, the story was in the Ashland daily independent,
two fishermen were on the redbird fork of the Kentucky river, when a rain storm forced them to take shelter in a small rockhouse.
during the storm the rocks on the side were they were sitting gave way and several English crowns fell out. this was near Oneida KY.
The next two maps has to do with trails that i know of where coins, bars and carvings were found. all i did was connect the dots. the trails or roads would be easy on men and horses and the loaded down pack animals going in and coming out. all follow old buffalo paths and of course our roads followed pretty much the same routes. also i put in David KY. where Boone camped in 1767. over time they found shorter routes to the southeast. there is another route i did not show, it runs south on route 11 past natural bridge state park to beattyville ky where silver bars were found. across the kentucky river and over the ridge to war fork and station camp creek, south through sand gap where swifts JS is carved and then to cumberland gap. all the routes would put you near castlemans cabin, where castlewoods VA. is today. But they could also have a route going to the redbird fork of the kentucky river from beattyville ky? the bottom map, the right side, only part of the arrow is showing this is prestonsburg ky.

The J S carving at the mouth of Rock house Creek in the 3rd pic I have seen and referenced in another thread. Sorry the pics didn't come with the quote. Refer back to post #8 in this thread for pics.

 

[KY Hiker]

Thanks for bringing this back up to the top, I had forgot about it honestly. Good to reread things discussed before for a refresher.
As I had stated multiple times before, hammering down the Indian Traces is crucial to getting in the right neighborhood for the mine(s). Swift either traveled the traces and/or the creek bottoms to get around if the legend is true. Following those traces and then finding the landmarks should get you on the right street. From there its all about finding the correct house address, rock house that is...

I still can't figure out if the J.S. carving you speak of and the one or two found in the RRG and the various others are like claim markers marking the corners of a land claim OR just places Swift spent the night and had time to carve to mark his route to and from. Carving initials into sandstone would take an hour or so to do well...assuming they were all done in sandstone and not limestone. I guess all the known J.S. carvings should be plotted on a topo map to make sense of it all.

 

[Ken S.]

The J S carving I speak of is In Johnson Co. Possibly a corner marker of property Prather spoke of Swift owning in the P burg presentation. Lots of info in some of the old threads that is never revisited.

 

[KY Hiker]

The J S carving I speak of is In Johnson Co. Possibly a corner marker of property Prather spoke of Swift owning in the P burg presentation. Lots of info in some of the old threads that is never revisited.

Do you remember if it was out in the open on a rock or under an overhang/rock house or shelter? At the junction of a creek and a stream or just along a path? That might help determine it's purpose. If I recall right you had said some time ago it was or may have been ruined by road construction?

 

[Ken S.]

It was at the junction of 2 creeks pretty sure it was on a cliff where the two join. been 40 + yrs. since I saw it and haven't been back to check if it's still there. The fact that it was at the junction of two creeks is what leads me to think it could be a property marker.