Lost Pharohas Cave Treasure

jeff of pa

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Kosh

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Dec 4, 2011
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Saratoga Springs, New York
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May I ask what the source is on this story? An old book, news paper? I don't live far from there but I need more info before I can go scrounging up maps and so on.

I found the mountain on google earth but that is all. I really need to track genealogy and and find the site of the farm before I would consider giving this story any credibility.
 

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jeff of pa

jeff of pa

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all I know is it was a Bunch of Pages from an old
papeback book on treasure tales.
Cover was missing, & pages were crumbling.
but I think
from some of the stories it was early 60's
 

Kosh

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Dec 4, 2011
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jeff of pa said:
all I know is it was a Bunch of Pages from an old
papeback book on treasure tales.
Cover was missing, & pages were crumbling.
but I think
from some of the stories it was early 60's

Well thanks for the reply, it is a really cool story and frankly kinda peeks my interest. I studied anthropology in school so this one caught my eye.
 

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jeff of pa

jeff of pa

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I tried Googling a Few Key words from the Story,
Unfortunately, Nothing came up elswhere on it.

good Luck though
 

Jrsmith

Tenderfoot
May 6, 2019
9
13
Colton, NY
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I have looked for this cave several times, my theory is that the story was at least partially made up but possibly the author actually put something there, fake story to go along with real gold, just a theory. I think the odds of finding a true cave there are slim(granite?), but what there is, are cliffs and a large boulder field. In that there are several nice caverns that would make an excellent treasure cave. I've done a fairly extensive search and have yet to come up with any gold, I've seen more (small) bats and snakes and good places to hurt myself. Going by my theory, the story suggests the entrance has been closed off, hidden. Any ideas on how I would find it, any hidden clues in the story? As a previous post says, I also would really like to know who wrote this and what book it's from. Anybody have anything?
 

Jrsmith

Tenderfoot
May 6, 2019
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Colton, NY
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I happen to think treasure symbols are ....but I have a Boulder with a rock on top, then two rocks cairn style, then one flat rock on end ..any ideas? FCFC0D2A-E566-4853-813C-88E099754670.jpg
 

enlisteddigger

Tenderfoot
Oct 14, 2018
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jefferson county ny
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Jrsmith this story is very interesting I can’t find any source for the actual original book and maybe the legend was cooked up after the mountain was given its name that would make sense but I still ask certain questions like why was it given the name pharaoh mountain for what reason it could have been any name but why something related to Egypt and another thing is that when I was looking at old maps of the area from the 1800s I did find a homestead under the name Johnson in proximity to the town of Ticonderoga and pharaoh mountain this is a common last name so it may mean nothing but it still makes me think and wonder could the legend be true
 

Jrsmith

Tenderfoot
May 6, 2019
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Colton, NY
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Within about ten miles, there is Johnson pond, brook, and road, along with Indian ridge. If I were to expand my search to include any of that I think it would become an impossibly large area to cover. It would certainly be nice if the story was a bit more solid or had some other evidence such as the original “gold disk”. I vaguely remember reading something about the pharaoh name being similar to the Indian name for the mountain. I’ve been there several times but mostly concentrated on an area maybe 300’ by 1/2 mile based on there being a lot of rock overhangs and boulders. Some of the best caverns there are well hidden, these are not legitimate caves but if you really look for them there are cool little caverns there. Whether there is any gold in any of them I have no idea. Unless I come up with a brilliant idea or new information I probably won’t go back until fall when the bugs aren’t so bad. One of my favorite things there was about a 10x10 cavern where if I moved some rocks around I could drop into a lower level that was about 5x20’
 

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Chase7628

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Mar 6, 2018
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I am interested in heading up there, if anyone wants to come along...
 

Wind Walker

Newbie
Aug 18, 2011
3
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Ive been up there looking I found johnsons decendants,which they live around the mountain still.Ill like to go up there sometime too.yet I had to send these kids upthe mountain ,they ended up loosing more of my stuff than they found anything.THis is hard to find ,thats why I choose the catskills ,a whole lot easier.only about 100 feet off the road
 

My Precious

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Ive been up there looking I found johnsons decendants,which they live around the mountain still.Ill like to go up there sometime too.yet I had to send these kids upthe mountain ,they ended up loosing more of my stuff than they found anything.THis is hard to find ,thats why I choose the catskills ,a whole lot easier.only about 100 feet off the road
Looks like the same pages from this site I found doing a google search... https://cnyartifactrecovery.wordpress.com/2013/12/24/pharoahs-mt-treasure/
 

Bsktkaz

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Jan 12, 2020
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Jrsmith this story is very interesting I can’t find any source for the actual original book and maybe the legend was cooked up after the mountain was given its name that would make sense but I still ask certain questions like why was it given the name pharaoh mountain for what reason it could have been any name but why something related to Egypt and another thing is that when I was looking at old maps of the area from the 1800s I did find a homestead under the name Johnson in proximity to the town of Ticonderoga and pharaoh mountain this is a common last name so it may mean nothing but it still makes me think and wonder could the legend be true

I grew up in Ticonderoga and I never heard this story growing up. That seems unusual in itself. I am greatly intrigued by this story but have many doubts of my own. The first doubt is the actual pages in the post. If these pages were as old as presented the outer edges should be greatly frayed not straight as razors. These pages are all pretty well the same color, if they were this old they would have stains and discoloration. The inside edges appear such that the pages were torn out of a book, but the pages 45-46 (should be back to back) do not match up like pages 47 and 48. The outer side rips on 47-48 look as if they were done on purpose not accidentally which would have to be the case on outer edge. Second, I have searched local censes and find no residences for Johnson's near Pharaoh Mountain in the 1840's, I may have overlooked though. They may have rented but his father made a living as a farmer, so I doubt it, most farmers especially in those times owned their farms. The Johnsons (Johnson's Farm and Johnsons Orchard) I found lived more towards Crown Point (near 7 miles from Ti). One last question I have is the time frame for the hike. Ti (Ticonderoga) is several miles (6-7 estimate) from Pharaoh Mountain. Like I said I grew up in Ti, well Chilson just outside Ti and even closer to Pharaoh Mountain and I grew up hiking those mountains, That kind of hike would take hours one way let alone to, playing around, waiting out a thunder storm the returning. A good estimate of time would be close to if not more than 12 hours. That father seems awfully calm for having his son disappear for 12 hours. Even if the boy was coming from Eagle lake area the closest to Pharaoh Mountain you looking at 4 miles or more one way.
 

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Bsktkaz

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Jan 12, 2020
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I grew up in Ticonderoga and I never heard this story growing up. That seems unusual in itself. I am greatly intrigued by this story but have many doubts of my own. The first doubt is the actual pages in the post. If these pages were as old as presented the outer edges should be greatly frayed not straight as razors. These pages are all pretty well the same color, if they were this old they would have stains and discoloration. The inside edges appear such that the pages were torn out of a book, but the pages 45-46 (should be back to back) do not match up like pages 47 and 48. The outer side rips on 47-48 look as if they were done on purpose not accidentally which would have to be the case on outer edge. Second, I have searched local censes and find no residences for Johnson's near Pharaoh Mountain in the 1840's, I may have overlooked though. They may have rented but his father made a living as a farmer, so I doubt it, most farmers especially in those times owned their farms. The Johnsons (Johnson's Farm and Johnsons Orchard) I found lived more towards Crown Point (near 7 miles from Ti). One last question I have is the time frame for the hike. Ti (Ticonderoga) is several miles (6-7 estimate) from Pharaoh Mountain. Like I said I grew up in Ti, well Chilson just outside Ti and even closer to Pharaoh Mountain and I grew up hiking those mountains, That kind of hike would take hours one way let alone to, playing around, waiting out a thunder storm the returning. A good estimate of time would be close to if not more than 12 hours. That father seems awfully calm for having his son disappear for 12 hours. Even if the boy was coming from Eagle lake area the closest to Pharaoh Mountain you looking at 4 miles or more one way.

Another issue I have is then mention of the metal disk darkening like tarnish, gold does not do that. Silver does?
 

Bsktkaz

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Jan 12, 2020
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For every story or treasure hunt something has to make sense and has to have the possibility of being true. I have to admit, that though I have my questions about this treasure hunt, I do find possibilities. The first thing I look at is the distance that Ticonderoga is away from Pharaoh Mountain, how could that distance be shortened to 1-2 miles a much more reasonable distance for a child to cover in the time frame. Graphite mining started in the area of Ticonderoga in the early 1800's Could the boy actually have been a part of a mining community near Ticonderoga? That could explain the 1840's time Frame as well as make the day trip more reasonable. But all records I find of the closet mine within the 1-2 mile range is the Rock Pond mine but it opened later in the late 1800's. Graphite is simply to far away. Could this mine been open sooner that recorded, or could there have been a mine in the area that was never noted. I know there are mines on the 3 brother mountains near Chilson. Those are possibilities that make sense. The next big thing to be addressed is who's gold was it and where could it have come from. If you have any suggestions feel free to email me [email protected] I am open to others opinions
 

Bsktkaz

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Jan 12, 2020
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Who's gold was it and where did it come from. The only area around here with placer gold or vein gold is the green mountains of VT and White mountains of New Hampshire so we can pretty much eliminate eastern American Indians, they had little gold at their disposal. There is also no to little documented or found use of gold my eastern American Indians. As well the tests say the gold is from Europe or Asia. The mastodon is another point of interest, mastodons native to North America died off at the end of the last ice age 10-11000 years ago, about 9000BC. Gold was not widely used until about 7000-8000 years ago in the Mediterranean Regions like Egypt or by the Sumerians. The Clovis people are known to have hunted mastodons, but there is no evidence that the Clovis people used gold. Western American Indians, Central American Indians and South American Indians are know to have used gold, but it was much more abundant in these areas. Without any images of the disc, it is hard to say it was a mastodon for sure, could it have been a small mammoth, which died out about 3000 years ago in upper modern day Russia, or a form of elephant? Both the mammoth and elephant were and are native to the Eastern Europe and Asian regions. That would coincide with the gold being from those regions. I am sure minting processes at the time this disc may have been made were not as good as today so confusion of species is a definite possibility. The most logical source of the gold according to the information derived would be the Sumerian People who were know to use gold and copper. But why would the gold be found here in Northern New York? The most logical explanations I could come up with is trade, Eastern American Indians had an abundance of copper and little gold. The Native Americans were well know to use copper. The Mediterranean area was growing quickly and as a part of the Bronze Age needed large amounts of copper. But how would the Sumerian People know of the Americas and its copper? Well there is a theory called the Solutrean hypothesis where the Solutrean People came across the frozen Atlantic Ocean during the ice age, artifacts have been found that does suggest this is possible. If this is possible, then that means some could have made it back as if in a migration. If they did return to Europe, they most probably would have returned with copper from the American Indians. If this where the case then, this information and what was found would have been passed on. This just shows there is a possibility that the gold could have come from Eastern Europe or Asia and why.
 

Tiredman

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Oct 15, 2016
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I seen pages from other stories look the same. We can even create them if we want to. Who wrote the article I believe was one of the two best known treasure story writters in the early 1900's. These ladies are covered by KVM in one of Randy Bradford's books. Tracking this one back to it's first appearance will be the key.
 

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