dents run treasure

[CoilFisher]

Ok...not to be skeptical, but how feasible would it be for a team of mules to carry pig iron containers and gold from California?
That seems a bit heavy.

Just a question: How many of the dead solidiers were missing from that ambush (as in they never found the bodies)?

 

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[poorhunter78]

Denny, Have you had the oppertunity to see or use 1 of these cameras going into a dark tunnel.. The suspense is unreal...

A buddy has something similar we have used.. Snap-on tool company... We used it to look down in a cylinder head.... Then he hit the start button ( by accident ) CRUNCH! It had the screen... And the camera on a lead of I think 6'... They warrantied it... He has a much better one now with bigger screen and longer lead...

Ben

 

[CoilFisher]

Might be a tomb is what I was referring to.

I thought Dr. Jones said "X" doesnt mark the spot. Kind of unreal to hear someone had a treasure map of where it was? Like noone would ever dig that up?
Show of hands here?

Not to be a downer or anything; but it seems kind of odd. However, I really do hope you do find what you are looking for.

 

[FinderKeeper]

Hi Coilfisher, There is a lot more to this story than I can tell. Just the part of how I got the map and what we been through in the last 20 + years will make a good movie and some people would find it hard to believe. Then what we been through since 2005 when we found the site would be another story it self and again some would find it hard to believe. We can give out some info and that leaves a lot of un answered questions that I can't talk about yet. Please hang in there everyone.

 

[kudo623]

Thanks Dennis for sharing all you have so far. I'm just a beginner and its
very fascinating to hear the whole process of treasure hunting on a whole
different level unfold. It sounds like a whole lot of fun, but I'm beginning to
realize too that a project like this takes a whole lot of time and $$$ to complete.
Can't wait to see the camera pics of that shiny yellow stuff.

 

[CoilFisher]

Yes, this is upper level stuff. Way out of my league. I am happy to find a silver dime or an old nickel.

I am not trying to deflate the balloons here or anything, but it would be nice to see a summation now of the hard evidence without disclosing
anything that you consider extremely private/confidential.

Just curious though, where did they find those 2 tar covered bars of gold way back when? They were sticking out of the ground from what I remember.
That is definitely something that would be playing over and over in my mind. Why were there 2 bars sticking out of the ground.... and why there?

 

[FinderKeeper]

Hi CoilFisher, This is my thoughts on what you ask. If I just buried 1 1/2 tons of gold and I plan to return after the war to get it I would need money and lots of it . I would have to either buy the land and build a house there so I could keep a eye on the gold or I would have to hire workers, wagons, and horses, and what ever it would take to get it to a safe place. So I would need fast money and I would leave 2 bars close by to get things going with out digging up the site. There is a story in the St. Marys Historical Soc. that tells about a gun fight in the area around this time period and 3 men were shooting it out. The person that wrote the story said he thought it had something to do with the lost gold. So the 2 bars could of been payment to a partner that helped but did not get the chance to spend it

 

[FinderKeeper]

O Ya, I know about the 2 bars to and that was a joke by Bob Williams or I think that was his name. They were brass bars . I also know of a person that drove to the local gas station in Dents Run and showed 26 bars of gold in the trunk of a car. Then he drove off. I think 1,300 lb of gold would be heavy for most cars. But we believe there is 52 bars and that puts the weight at 2,600 lb of gold. Any way we may be in the wrong area but we have something at our site and we plan to stay there and if the Civil War is not there we are done in the area and with this hunt.

Update - Today we started back to drilling

 

[maipenrai]

Why is it that a backhoe is needed to dig this up? Did they have a backhoe when they buried it? And why bury it so deep? Its not like they were afraid of someone coming with a metal detector to find it. Did they have a pump to keep the water out while they dug so deep?

Hope this isnt just another Oak Island story, with lots of snow, too cold to work, too hot to work, rattle snakes, drilling, permits and History Channel.

Sorry, I dont know any of the people in this discussion, so who am I to ask stupid question, and apparently a lot of research has gone into this treasure, by several posters, but this is just my 2 cents worth.

 

[kudo623]

Thanks for the update Dennis!, can't wait to see the camera footage.
I think we're going to see a lot of History unfold here come Thursday.
It sounds very plausible that those pig iron boxes were 'safes' that the
Army loaded the Gold into and onto the wagons and possibly had locked.
So I believe for those 'safes' to be down there, they were undoubtedly placed
there on top of that boulder and the gold has got to be inside them.

 

[schieftain]

Why would they coat the gold with tar to disguise it and then put it in iron boxes?

 

[kudo623]

Hi Schieftain
I think there would be a lot of reasons for this
1. To properly transport the Gold in the wagons--allowing them
to 'tie down' the safes to the wagon base to secure them and prevent
any movement.
2. The Army would undoubtedly use safes with a lock and key (maybe
given to the Lt?) to protect this high valued cargo--I don't see them just
throwing them into a wagon, do you?
3. Even though the bars may have been tarred that's not going to fool
anyone who can observe their shape/size and weight, including the one's
who loaded them into the wagons. Pig Iron adds some 'screen' to a heavy cargo
and further protects their 'identity'.
4. I worked for the military and this is their MO.

I think those boxes Dennis found fits this theory perfectly.
What do you think ?

 

[schieftain]

According to the old accounts, the bars were originally hidden in wooden crates, marked as machinery bound for the Mint in Philadelphia. The crates were transferred from a packet boat to the wagons. No one in the party except the Lt. knew what the real cargo was. That night, he paid the men and they went into town and got drunk. While they were gone, he unloaded the gold from the crates and transfers it to the hidden compartments in the wagon bottoms. There is no mention of strong-boxes in any of the accounts but I guess it's possible. It would have been more weight, and unless he opened each box, removed the gold, put the box in the bottom of the wagon and re-loaded it with gold, it would have been too heavy for one man to lift alone. Those bars were about 42 lbs each, 6 of them would be close to 250 lbs. The accounts say he was the only one who knew, but I think he had to have help, otherwise, he couldn't have removed the crates from the wagons to access the wagon bottoms.

 

[kudo623]

I didn't read or hear that record.
Either way its a very heavy cargo, and I wouldn't expect
any one man handling each bar individually and transferring them
from crates into strong boxes--that would have to be many men.
But based on the evidence so far wherever and however they came
into play, it seems like the pig iron boxes are the repository
of the Gold? Time will tell.
Thanks for your insight, it will be very interesting to see this
whole recreation story one day on the History Channel.

 

[schieftain]

Yes, pretty heavy, and iron strongboxes were heavy themselves. Often over 100lbs.
So add 6-8 bars of gold and you're talking around 350-450 lbs.
People I've talked to say there were 52 bars (not 26).
So you would need about 7 boxes (approx 2800 lbs.), split between 2 wagons.
That's do-able, those wagons were rated for about that much weight per wagon, with 6-mules pulling it.
Supposedly they had 4 mules pulling each wagon, not the 6 that was standard.
Whatever the case may be, it will be interesting to see what the camera reveals...

 

[kudo623]

The 52 bar count idea would definitely lend more weight (no pun intended)
to burying most of the bars.
The whole story intrigues me because that would mean you would need
maybe at least 6-8 men to do that and it would take some time to bury
them. The ambush scenario doesn't seem to lend credence to a timely
and deep burying of the bars?
What do you think?

 

[schieftain]

There are many theories on what happened.

I don't see how it could be buried deep in that area given the type of ground (a few inches of soil over mostly solid rock). BUT.. if there were a cave nearby, it could be stashed there, and there are small caves in the area. And caves can collapse, or be filled in, so it could in effect be "buried" that way.

I've also seen rocky places in that general area where there are BIG, deep crevices that go down in the rock. It could have been lowered down into a large crevice.

But I'm just speculating. I don't have any theory on it myself that I favor.

I do think the bulk of it was stashed, too much weight for a few guys (whoever won the fight) to haul out without wagons. They may have taken a couple of bars each, but I doubt all of it.

 

[kudo623]

Dennis Did you get any pictures ?
Thanks

 

[CoilFisher]

I dont know...I hate to be the pessimist. But, I do know with just doing common metal detecting you can find
metal almost anywhere. You can be in the middle of the woods 2 miles from a road and find old scrap metal in the ground.
I don't mean to take the wind from your sails, but I am a bit of a realist. I think it's great you took this initiative and really did something, BUT

That's alot of loot. I really can't see how it would be lost so easy with noone getting it especially that is has been common knowledge for so long.

I think what we all need to consider is the premise of truth: Would anyone who had found it tell another they did?
I dont think anyone with a brain in their skull would have spoken up and said they found it if they did. You would either end up in someone's crosshairs or have the government knocking on your door as it was a federal shipment. So in other words, chances are if it was found it was kept a secret.

Just recently, a treasure expedition in the Carribean air lifted the bounty off an old wreck to avoid detection and scrutiny from a foreign country trying to lay claim on a wreck that was nearly 400 years old in international waters. These aren't new ideas.

We aren't talking 1700 feet down in the Carribean Sea here...we are talking a wooded area in Pennsylvania.

Anyone have a satellite photo of the Dent's run location they can link?

 

[dogpound]

i guess thats why i never believe anything i read (esp treasure legends) and only half of what i see