mines not in red river gorge

[rgb1]

as many of the thousands of people that have searched this area why no swift mines have been found i think in 250 years certainly they by now someone would have found them if they are there he did a good job of concealment i just do not belive this is not where they are and believe this is a falacy to lead people away from the real locations ,give me your thoughts

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[KY Hiker]

Well, as I ponder this from time to time I weigh the pros and cons.
...Yes, in 250 years no one has found the mines in the RRG. Nope, no one has found the Swift mines any where else in KY either.
There are several reasons of evidence toward the RRG location... one, Swift and his search party were lost in the late 1700's in the RRG and a local there lead them to safety and tried to nurse Swift back to health. Two, Campton, KY which sits near the head waters of Swift Camp Creek, both were named because a base camp for horses (troths ect.) were found at the site prior to its settling in the very early 1800s. Three, many of the landmarks from the oldest known version of the journal (Becky Timmins had), were on and along Swift Camp Creek and she spent the rest of her adult life searching that area from roughly 1870s-1890s. Four, Col. Harrod disappeared, according to his wife, searching the forks of the KY river for Swift's mine in the 1780s or 90s (which is near Beattyville, KY just South of the RRG). Five, the only known and documented stone carving with the S:J:M (Swift:Jefferies/Jefferson:Mundy) was found on Lower Devil's Creek which runs North-South BETWEEN Beattyville and the RRG/Natural Bridge S.P. areas... Note that there was a intersection of Indian traces very near Beattyville, KY. One of the mines, if they existed, was most probably in this area. No where else in KY can you find a convergence of evidence in an area roughly 15 miles N-S by 8 miles E-W. I have uploaded topo maps and links to topo maps of this region with possible Indian Trace routes based on the topography and others research into the whereabouts of those ancient traces. Those 'highways' had to be used by Swift in and out of the area, believe me it would be almost impossible to take loaded horses/mules off trail in that cliffy area and with the undergrowth in the warmer months.
There may be other locations in KY that his group mined, but the RRG and that general area is the Grand Central Station of Swift evidence. Personally I have witnessed rock falls in the winter out there. Ice breaks the boulders free from the cliff faces regularly, erosion is what created and sculpted that area, an opening the size of a salt keg could have been covered easily by a large tree or rock fall. It could be buried under 20ft of rubble and dirt. The area is riddled with natural cave systems as well.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

I think that the Smith Mine stories were just "come on" for NEW settlers to look at RRG, etc. to "love" the land & settle in what was OLD Virginny (Virginia) up to the Mississippi River, once upon a time...

 

[Rebel - KGC]

It was known as Botetourt County, Virginia. WONDERFUL & MYSTERIOUS sites to see and LIVE! Covered all or parts of SEVEN present day states!

 

[rgb1]

i belive the journal was written to decieve and will prove this to be true i have found many new things when i tye it all together i will give it freely and you make up your mind my research is not quite complete just yet but belive all will be suprised till then i will stay quiet. one thing is certain the swift mines did exist i will also prove this and show to all.

 

[KY Hiker]

i belive the journal was written to decieve and will prove this to be true i have found many new things when i tye it all together i will give it freely and you make up your mind my research is not quite complete just yet but belive all will be suprised till then i will stay quiet. one thing is certain the swift mines did exist i will also prove this and show to all.

Don't forget what KI has found as well, in the general RRG area.

I believe most if not all the present day journals are bits and pieces of the original(s). No doubt many were altered to deceive other readers. Keep in mind there were at least two sets of mines and/or two different crews working mines according to the most common versions circulating. No doubt with the legend being told in the early days it influenced people to move, search or buy land. Carving some initials on your property before you go to sell it was probably a common ploy.

 

[rgb1]

i belive KI has done a great job but he has only found described things of the journal not the mines as of yet if they are there i belive he will be the one to find them and my hat is off to him i hope he does find them . it would be great if he does it would prove what i belive to be false i certain im not 100% right but time will tell. he did find a mine but no metal it would be good if he did.

 

[KY Hiker]

i belive KI has done a great job but he has only found described things of the journal not the mines as of yet if they are there i belive he will be the one to find them and my hat is off to him i hope he does find them . it would be great if he does it would prove what i belive to be false i certain im not 100% right but time will tell. he did find a mine but no metal it would be good if he did.

It could be that many of the lesser mines were actually mined out? Shallow deposits? That could explain the Indian Waybill mines and why they were abandoned. This is one of my many ponderings about finding the mines in KY after all these years...could they have all been shallow deposits left over from eons ago? They were found, mined out and who ever mined them moved on? Boomer said he had found many mines during his searches, but no evidence of Swift...just Spanish and French operations.

I sure wish you could provide some pictures/evidence of your finds without disclosing the location. I'm not trying to argue with your point of view... put yourself in others shoes reading your posts, show us some of your evidence until you can reveal the whole kit-and-kaboddle.

 

[Ken S.]

I do believe I remember Ki posting that if what he had found was related to Swift it would be the West mine.

 

[KY Hiker]

That could be Ken, KI posts things then sometimes deletes it later on. I hope the TV show he was talking about does air in August, It will be interesting to see how many coins he found in the mine area. I think he found a Swift mine...and I am pretty sure it is in the Red River region and not actually in the RRGorge. He had mentioned permission to be on the land he made his finds, so it was private land. No one from the general public is going to stumble upon his finds, here is some of what he has posted in the past...

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/l...-story-about-silver-mine-along-red-river.html

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/l...than-swift/548693-swifts-turtleback-rock.html

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/lost-silver-mines-jonathan-swift/163932-john-swift-landmarks.html

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/lost-silver-mines-jonathan-swift/318280-swift-carvings-2012-a.html

 

[Ken S.]

Swift being lost in RRG in the late 1700's doesn't mean the mines was there at all !! Key to the statement in my mind is "he was lost". If I remember right that was when his eyes was failing him and he said "he saw it only as a blind man could see it".

 

[KY Hiker]

Swift being lost in RRG in the late 1700's doesn't mean the mines was there at all !! Key to the statement in my mind is "he was lost". If I remember right that was when his eyes was failing him and he said "he saw it only as a blind man could see it".

Yes, when Swift was found lost in the RRG area he was blind or going blind and trying to find his old workings.

 

[rgb1]

sad to saybut i belive swift was senile and blindon his return he had wrote so much deception into his journal he did not remember what his deceptions were and because of this no one else could decipher it even with swift trying to direct them

 

[KY Hiker]

Personally, because I have hiked and camped in the Red River Gorge since I was a young teenager, my experience is similar to Swift's. I pretty much stopped going to RRG for about 10 yrs while my kiddo was growing up (not much free time back then). When I did start going back many things and places I had mental images of did not appear to me as they did in my mind. Trees grow, fires burn and the area is in a constant state of erosion. Some large boulders looked the same but the trail to them seemed much different. Some of the best and little known cliff side views became obscured because of tree growth. I have dozens of 35mm film photos of places there that no longer look like my photos. Time not only distorts our memory, it can obscure the real place and its imprint on our memory of the actual place in time.

Swift may have been senile, maybe I am senile? I dunno... but the place had changed a whole lot in that 10 year span (1995-2005). I have photos that can prove it. If my vision was failing me also...I probably couldn't find my way back to those special places or lead someone I know to them either.

 

[Ken S.]

Change takes place ,senile or not . Ten years back then would probably mean as much or more change than it would today. 250 years between then any now would mean mega change. Think of erosion that has taken place in that length of time. That alone would be enough change to totally change the landscape.

 

[KY Hiker]

Like I have said before, it wouldn't take much of a rock slide or blow down of trees to cover up an opening. The number of storms that could cause such an event in 250 years of time could probably approach 50 ... maybe more? Throw in the quakes that happened in the early 1800s... you get my point.

 

[Ken S.]

Simple assay will tell ya if there is any silver in a piece of material. 8oz. of material is all it takes for an assay. Flat rate box from the post office would probably hold two samples maybe three. Then mail the samples to someone reputable to do the assay, then set and wait for the report. Then you have removed the guess work out of the equation .

 

[Curtis]

I know what you mean about things being different, the area around Caney Creek/Little Sandy was pretty familiar to me about 1980, then I wasn't there again until around 2007 and wow was I surprised! Never id find the place where it looked like someone had dug out rocks to look like beds, we had even laid in them and they were comfortable without padding....the area looked like lots of crude mining had taken place.(not far from the mine in the curve where the big rock cliff is)

Even creeks often change there flow over the years...a landslide can do it so easily...not just covering a mine location, but the course of a creek. Like I posted on the other thread Earthquakes can have a big impact.

 

[Ken S.]

think of all the roads that have been built from swifts time till now. That alone would make a world of difference in the geography .Then then earthquakes and land being timbered and that's all just a start.

 

[Ken S.]

Some year back a guy that I was fishing with from the Catlettsburg area ask me if I had hunted for the Swift mines. At that time I ask who Swift was . He went on to tell me a story of Swift being lost In the southern Boyd Co. or Lawrence Co. area and looking silver mines, saying the Catletts family which Catlettsburg was named after was the one that had found Swift and nursed him back to health. He went on to tell me Swift was buried in the Catlettsburg Cemetery . No!! I never checked it out because at that time I figured it was just a tall tale., and No I haven't checked it out to see if Swift is indeed buried in the Cemetery. Could it have been a true story ?? Yes it could. It could just be another rabbit hole to check out also.