Treasure Hunters Claim Pennsylvania State Officials Blocking Dig for Lost Civil War G

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Treasure Hunters Claim Pennsylvania State Officials Blocking Dig for Lost Civil War Gold
Treasure Hunters Claim Pennsylvania Officials Blocking Dig for Lost Civil War Gold
Treasure hunters on the trail of a lost Civil War gold shipment claim they have discovered the fortune in a remote location of Pennsylvania, but state and federal authorities have blocked them from digging it up, reports say.

The treasure hunters, calling themselves Finders Keepers, claim to have found the gold buried in a state-owned forest at Dents Run, 135 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. However, state officials have denied permission for the group to dig at the location, the Associated Press reported.
Still, authorities appear to take the claims seriously because on March 13, state officials and the FBI accompanied the group to Dents Run and set up a post. Neither authorities nor the treasure hunters are revealing what is transpiring, however. Indeed, Finders Keepers owner Dennis Parada insisted the FBI had him under forced silence.
The only public comment by the FBI is that it is conducting ā€œcourt-authorizedā€ activity with its participation in the mysterious activity.
Finders Keepers has been chasing the legend of the lost Gettysburg gold shipment for some time. Rumor has it that President Abraham Lincoln sent 52 bars of gold ā€” some tales set the number at 26 ā€” toward the Harrisburg area in 1863 to be used to pay his soldiers.
But somehow en route from Wheeling, West Virginia, the wagon carrying the precious cargo was attacked, and the gold disappeared. The wagon, along with a contingent of dead federal soldiers, was later found, but the gold had vanished. The last time the wagon and its escort were seen was in St. Marys, Pennsylvania.
The shipment would be worth up to $55 million today.
According to WJAC, in 2012, Finders Keepers claimed it tracked the gold to an area in Dents Run but could not come up with the $15,000 bond the state had demanded to begin digging.
The group says they found the gold using high-powered metal detecting devices.
 

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Rumored site of $55M in Civil War-era gold draws FBI's attention, reports say
Rumored site of $55M in Civil War-era gold draws FBI's attention, reports say | Fox News
Dozens of FBI agents, Pennsylvania state officials and members of a treasure-hunting group dug in a remote Pennsylvania site earlier this week, on rumors of Civil War-era gold being buried there.
A 155-year-old legend has it that a Civil War-era gold shipment bound for a U.S. Mint in Philadelphia was either lost or hidden northeast of Pittsburgh around the time of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.
President Abraham Lincoln reportedly ordered the shipment to help pay Union Army soldiers, Dennis Parada, owner of local treasure-hunting group Finders Keepers, told WJAC-TV.
"Iā€™m not going to quit until itā€™s dug up," Parada told the Philadelphia Inquirer, "and if I die, my kidā€™s going to be around and make sure itā€™s going to be dug up.
ā€œThereā€™s something in there and Iā€™m not giving up.ā€
"Iā€™m not going to quit until itā€™s dug up, and if I die, my kidā€™s going to be around and make sure itā€™s going to be dug up. Thereā€™s something in there and Iā€™m not giving up."
- Dennis Parada, owner of Finders Keepers, a treasure-hunting group
Based on different stories, the shipment was composed of either 26 or 52 gold bars, each weighing 50 pounds, meaning it would be worth $27 million to $55 million today.
Local lore that the federal gold might be buried at the Dents Run site in Benezette Township, Pa., about 135 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, caught the FBI's attention.
So earlier this week agents from the bureau and officials from the Pennsylvannia Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) set up a search area off Route 555, the Courier-Express reported.
The site is west of Driftwood, where a crew delivering the gold was attacked in an ambush, lone survivor Sgt. Jim Connors reportedly told his Army superiors at the time, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. But the Army reportedly doubted his story and Connors died in a ā€œwestern outpost,ā€ leaving the loot unfound.
This week the FBI wouldn't say why it was at the site, revealing only that it was conducting ā€œcourt-authorized law enforcement activity.ā€
Historians have cast doubt that the shipment of gold was lost on its way to Philadelphia. Finders Keepers also said Pennsylvaniaā€™s Historical and Museum Commission claims the legend of the lost gold is a myth, the Inquirer reported.
But the lost treasure recovery group has insisted for years that it discovered buried gold in a state forest at Dents Run (within the township) using a high-powered metal detector, but federal law wouldn't allow it to conduct a dig in search of more, the Courier-Express reported.
A spokesman from the Pennsylvania DCNR said that the group previously asked to excavate the site, but elected not to pay a required $15,000 bond.
The spokesman also referred questions on Tuesday's activity to the FBI, and Parada said he was under FBI orders not to discuss the site.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
 

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If I was a member of the group, we would hire an attorney. If I had to, I myself come up with the money. Good hunting and good luck.
 

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If I was a member of the group, we would hire an attorney. If I had to, I myself come up with the money. Good hunting and good luck.
Yes a good idea. Wish them luck.

Wonder what kind of "High power detector" was used?
 

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You guys don't understand the law very well do you?

If you don't understand why this "treasure" doesn't belong to someone who finds it, you should do some deeper research.

The gold belonged to the government when it disappeared...it still belongs to the government when it is found.

Funny they decided not to pay the bond to dig either...not very smart for treasure hunters.


I think that's called GREED
 

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The story says the wagons were ambushed and the gold disappeared. The ambushers took the gold!
 

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The story says the wagons were ambushed and the gold disappeared. The ambushers took the gold!
Just following the information at this time. There is numbers and other markings on the gold bars that will show the ambushers removed the bars.
 

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FBI, treasure hunters digging in Elk County, Pa.
FBI, treasure hunters digging in Elk County | WJAC
Parada said Abraham Lincoln ordered a gold shipment to help pay union soldiers. He said the wagon left West Virginia with 50 pounds of gold, and came right through Elk County.
In 2012, Finders Keepers claimed they found the gold, but federal law prevented them from digging it up.
The FBI did not allow Finders Keepers to speak with 6 News Tuesday, but residents who live in the area said they believe officials are searching for the lost gold.
 

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Rumors of Lost Civil War Gold Stir Hope in Pennsylvania
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/us/gold-fbi-civil-war.html
Last week, F.B.I. representatives showed up at a site in Dents Run, Elk County, an area known for its seasonal elk viewing activities that feed the economy of nearby Benezette Township.
The agency, in a statement on Monday, said very little about the mission aside from describing its work as a ā€œcourt-authorized excavationā€ at Dents Run that ended on March 14. Its conclusion: ā€œNothing was found.ā€
An F.B.I. spokeswoman, Carrie Adamowski, declined to comment further.
The sudden and apparently secretive appearance of federal investigators at the site has deepened the mystery over the fate of the gold bars that has persisted for more than a century, despite the efforts and hopes of treasure hunters, the study of historians and the years of scrutiny by local news media.
ā€œThere has been numerous people over the past 20 or 30 years traveling up and down the mountains looking for the gold,ā€ said James Burke, executive director of the local Mt. Zion Historical Society. His group has sent teams into the area looking for the gold, and hired a private investigator at one point.
ā€œThere had to be some credible evidence to convince them that there might have been gold there,ā€ he said, referring to the F.B.I. ā€œThe fact that they got a court order to go in there and do a dig ā€“ that might have been based on some evidence that they had.ā€
ā€œThat is just creating a mystery in itself,ā€ he said.
ā€œThe locals are just ā€“ ā€˜Did you see that? Wow,ā€™ā€ he added.
In 1863, according to historical accounts, just before the outbreak of the Battle of Gettysburg in July, the Union army wanted to move dozens of gold bars from Wheeling, W.Va., northeast through Pennsylvania, to pay soldiers. The wagon train caravan went to Ridgway and then on to St. Maryā€™s, where the idea was to pick up a local guide and then swing over the mountains and onward to Philadelphia, Mr. Burke said.
The story of the gold bars was pieced together from old documents, a map and even a mysterious note found decades ago in a hiding place on the back of a bed post in Caledonia, Pa., he said.

ā€œThe gold got lost,ā€ he said. ā€œIt was pretty much a wilderness area, and they got wrapped around in the mountains over in Dents Runs or Hicks Run.ā€
Some reports say there were 52 bars, but Mr. Burke said he thought there were 26, with each 14-carat bar weighing 50 pounds, making the trove potentially worth millions of dollars.
ā€œWe have very, very little credible or documented evidence of the gold,ā€ he said. ā€œA lot of it is hearsay.ā€
Over the years, the speculation has turned into action, inspiring treasure hunters. Finders Keepers USA, a Pennsylvania group that describes itself as a treasury-recovery service, has documented its efforts to locate the gold. The owners of Finders Keepers, Dennis and Kem Parada, were at the site when the F.B.I. visited last week, according to a report by WJAC, a television station in Johnstown.
On their website, the Finders Keepers founders, who did not reply to an email on Tuesday, said that they believed they had found the location of the gold but that federal law had prevented them from excavating it. The group, which describes itself as a ā€œlocate and recovery service for under ground metal artifacts,ā€ also posted a copy of a 2005 letter from the Bureau of Forestry to the district overseeing Elk State Forest.
It said Dennis Parada had excavated materials from Dents Run that he believed were related to the Civil War, but on examination they were found to be camp debris, from the 1880s at the earliest, and of no cultural or historical significance. Mr. Parada was banned from further excavations there, but he was permitted to use metal detectors, the letter said.
ā€œI told D.C.N.R. Iā€™m not going to quit until itā€™s dug up,ā€ Mr. Parada told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2008, referring to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. ā€œAnd if I die, my kidā€™s going to be around and make sure itā€™s dug up. Thereā€™s something in there and Iā€™m not giving up.ā€
On Tuesday, Terrence Brady, a spokesman for the conservation department, which also sent representatives to the site when the F.B.I. was there, said he had been told not to say anything about the F.B.I.ā€™s excavation.
The story of the lost gold ā€œhas always been on the back burner,ā€ he said.
ā€œWhat prompted this resurgence of interest with a federal agency?ā€ he added. ā€œIt is a rumor, a story if you will, that refuses to die.ā€
 

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a waste of our tax dollars. unreal. Yet we have bombers, shooters, and who the heck else out there threatening to kill Americans, and the feds are worried about treasure tails.
 

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a waste of our tax dollars. unreal. Yet we have bombers, shooters, and who the heck else out there threatening to kill Americans, and the feds are worried about treasure tails.
Don't know if the FBI has sealed off the area or not. Someone has records of the stamp marking used on the gold bars.
 

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a waste of our tax dollars. unreal. Yet we have bombers, shooters, and who the heck else out there threatening to kill Americans, and the feds are worried about treasure tails.

actually if it is the missing Union shipment , this is exactly what they are supposed to be doing.

It is in no way about harping on or harassing treasure hunters.

The bars have never ceased belonging to " The Union"
 

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FBI finds no lost Civil War gold in Pa. dig
Updated: March 20, 2018
FBI finds no lost Civil War gold in Pa. dig - Philly
If thereā€™s Civil War gold in them thar hills out in Western Pennsylvania, the feds couldnā€™t find it.
Again.
Last week, the FBI, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DNCR), and some die-hard treasure hunters converged on state land in Elk County, about 250 miles northwest of Philadelphia, to search for a cache of gold that was lost, so the legend goes, during a shipment in 1863.
The FBI, in a brief statement issued Monday night, said the crew came up empty after two days of looking and had packed up last Wednesday. It did say the investigation was ā€œongoing,ā€ so perhaps some small mystery remains.
 

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am I the only one wondering why they would send bars of gold to pay soldiers instead of coin?
 

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Easier to track with GPS ? :laughing7:
" Gold Position Sensor "
 

b3y0nd3r

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actually if it is the missing Union shipment , this is exactly what they are supposed to be doing.

It is in no way about harping on or harassing treasure hunters.

The bars have never ceased belonging to " The Union"


so saving lives is NOT important and chasing a treasure myth is?
 

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I know the location of "Hundreds" of pull tabs in a state park, and was also denied permission to dig those up as well.
 

Goldwasher

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so saving lives is NOT important and chasing a treasure myth is?
they aren't chasing treasure tells.

They are making sure that federal gold isn't stolen twice
 

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