LOST FRENCH GOLD

[BobPA]

Potter Poker,
The only thing I remember is that the campground was outside Austin and that the lady was a widow. Don't remember her name. She did make the best home brewed beer I have ever had. She also belonged to the Simian Society, which is an adoption agency for monkeys. She had about 4 monkeys at her house and would let two of them roam the campground. Anybody in that area will probably remember her. Not too many people in Austin run around with a bunch of monkeys, at least not the simian type.

I'm in your area every weekend. If you would like to get together for a little detecting, PM me and I will give you my phone number.
Bob

 

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[brand spankin newbie]

been TH-ing at an old school house near Coudersport when I heard about some gold hidden on a knoll by indians that stole the gold and buried it A farmer who rents a house to my brother in law also spoke of an old man named Walter who would show up every summer to look for the loot til he died at the age of 82 some time in the 1980's. Any light to shed? Dave in NJ..

 

[gods country girl]

i have heard of this legend, with a slight variation, on where the treasure supposed to be hidden.

I heard the indians took the loot from many of the white settlers and hid it in a cave.

it may be the same legend or a different one, there are so many stories ,who knows for sure??

what old school house if you don't mind sharing??

 

[brand spankin newbie]

there's an old school house in the Borie valley owned by a farmer friend of mine. There was an even older schoolhouse directly across the street. Dug alot of nails and barbed wire and came up with a few wheats but didn't really have enough time to TH given time constraints. The old school house burnt down in the 1930s but the one they use for a town hall/voting place still stands and I know there's some silver just waiting quietly in the dirt. As for the LOST FRENCH GOLD, there hasn't been much buzz lately on it and I think someone may have found it like Potter Poker or one of the other TH-ers... You know how the thread goes dead after a combined effort takes place . Why have there been no updates?

 

[deepskyal]

Probably no updates because everyone gave up the effort. Maybe not 100%, but it's an unconfirmed legend. The original post was from a book I once had...I see Jeff has/had it also. "Treasure in Pa." or something like that, written by a guy named Hanson.

I actually wrote him many years back, offering corretions to a couple of his "legends". I never heard back. I too wonder where he got his information.

I tried searching for this lost gold, searched/drove thru Borrie Valley and there isn't any "rocks the size of a house" there. If you're in that area, check out Ayre's Hill Cemetary. It's on private property but the owner was pretty cool....at least back in the early 80's he was. Pretty old farm with a slave burried with a neat headstone. Here lies (dont remember the name) "He was a good slave".

The conclusion I came to about this lost gold is that it's located in Roulette...if it still exists or existed at all. I detected around some huge boulders there...obviously didnt find a thing...lol But again...my first detector was a White's Coinmaster, series 3....might have only detected something large down to a foot or so.

If there is/was a cross etched in it, over 400 years, you'd never see it now with erosion and moss growth.

The place in Potter County I'd love to detect is below Austin...the path of the great flood.
I actually started a scale model of that area, a topo of the valley, to figure where all the stuff from Austin being nearly leveled would have settled. I spent a day up there a couple years ago...pics are on a post about Austin....http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,104340.0.html

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,104356.0.html

Research for the lost gold might be a nice winter past-time...but I'm more for the documented stuff.

Al

I'm hopin that late summer this year, if we don't have monsoons or anything, to try another trip up to the creek...look for deep pockets.....access, that's the key.

Al

 

[brand spankin newbie]

thanks Al! Although I'm new to the scene and live 5 and a half hrs. away, in jersey, I will be back to give it another go with a better detector perhaps an MXT if I can afford it. or rent one.. I have seen pics in other posts of supposed pirate markings carved into rocks that were still legible after 3-400 yrs. If the rock was as big as a house, would the French have made the cross large and deeply carved into the rock or would the sheer size of the rock itself be used to lead them to a smaller sized cross carved into it? I think you're probably right that erosion may have all but erased the cross. What about the person who was going to get taken to another area where a cross and other strange markings are alleged to be etched in stone ? I wonder if they did find them. The area where I was searching was in the area of Black Hole Rd. Are you familiar with it? thanks, Dave.

 

[gods country girl]

Still working on this one, still doing research and scouting out a location that matches the legend pretty close

Oh my i can't wait for the warm weather so i can MD

 

[simonds]

Same here Country Girl.
I may run into you over there sometime this summer.

 

[orion024]

We found a site in 2007 that fits all the info in the story and we are doing everything we can with the land owners to get it check out before winter 2009. We found the large rock, 7 fire pits used to keep the Indians away while they worked. We know were they camped and we have artifacts. The large stone was the landmark to show the area of the treasure but it was the 20 foot stone cross on the ground that showed the location of the treasure. The gold kegs are at the base of the stone cross. We think this is the French Gold but we could be wrong but this is a once in a life time find and we want to do this right. When the land owner clears all the paper work we will post what we find. Even if we don't find anything we will still post it. Thank You
Denny from www.FindersKeepersUSA.com

Hi, Denny, I was wandering if you made it up there before winter 09'? Just wandering what you found to be there, I cannot believe nobody is posting on this anymore Best of Huntin to you! 8)

 

[diggemall]

tag

Diggem'

 

[jeff of pa]

This treasure has 6 power kegs filled with gold coins from the 1690's and we figure there is close to 2000 coins in each. Sounds good so far now with the price of gold up collectors will pay a lot for this. Well the truth is no matter who's land it is on the owner of the land and the finder gets what is left over after France takes their share. France can put this in storage until the courts decide who gets what, and this could take 5, 10 , or 20 yrs. Then you have the taxes to pay and the lawyers. I know your thinking melt it down or sell it piece by piece. That works in the movies not is real life. The truth is many do get caugh and end up in big trouble. If the state didn't get you I would bet some else would.
The Stewart Museum in Cannada tells me this treasure does not exist. None of the story is on record. They have nothing on this treasure hunt . But when and if it is found I will bet you they will be there with all the paper work to claim it .
I will try to post the letter they sent me. BYE

Funny how things work like that.

If the Treasure Dosn't Exist,
& You find it, It musn't be the Treasure.
So it's yours.

 

[poorhunter78]

Tell 'Em yuh dug a hole and buried all yer possessions there in yer last life and Yer here to claim what is rightfully yers. .
To bad it cant be that easy.
I kept up readin all yer progress as it comes, Just want to wish you FKers guys the best of luck.....

 

[Frankn]

Here's what I found. Will try to cut down on the repetition. Leader Louis Frontenac, treasure $350,000, New Orleans to Montreal, Hostiles with Indians caused them to bury the nail kegs filled with gold coins near Borie and a stone was marked with a cross pointing to the treasure. the party continued on to Canada. The French later searched for this hoard, but it was never recovered. The Seneck Indians knew of the cross mark, but not it's meaning. Several noted historians have mentioned this marked rock in their writtings.

​

 

[brand spankin newbie]

I was in Roulette and The Borie Valley for a few days this past week to visit my in-laws. It would be ironic if the gold is there since its not the most affluent town in the area.

 

[simonds]

??

 

[deepskyal]

It's not suprising you found artifacts from that period, but that doesn't mean there is a gold treasure anywhere. There is not one single shred of documented evidence to back up the story of the lost gold. I do mean documented, not someone's fantasy in a book written years ago from some lore handed down from days of yore.
The Jesuits were pretty meticulous record keepers and you'd think there would be something somewhere.
The Journals that were written on their expedition, telling of their trials, the conditions, etc were and are very informative. I've read them. Some days during their treks they only managed a few meager miles because of storms, obsticles, etc. That means they camped a lot! In a lot of places, some very close to others. Plus things lost when swept in rivers or lost during campings.
As far as the dates...the french were thru the valley in the late 1600's marking the territory for the king of France. They were burying lead plates...not gold. I think it's one in the same only embellished to turn the lead plates into gold.
And in the journal they kept, the jesuits refered to the Indian God rock with strange markings carved into it.
The Indian God rock could have been compared to the size of a house if you seen how tiny some houses were back in those days. I've been to the Indian God rock...searched for the lead plate that was to be burried there. Even sunned on the rock during a camping trip. Some really neat grafiti carved into it from the early 1800's. Now it's protected...go figure!
But over 300 years, how much has that rock shifted, how much has the water changed, how much railroad slag has covered the area immediately around it And now a visitor overlook to admire it without being able to touch it.

I spent a lot of time trying to research the burried gold. I simply wrote it off as an embelleshed story from another event.
The journals of the Jesuit's used to be available at the Carnegie library as reference books that were translated to english. I never read a word about being attacked by indians and burrying gold.

Al

 

[deepskyal]

90% of the fun of treasures like the lost gold is the research and exploration, even if I don't find a plug nickle. But we didn't have the luxury of computers to make it easy. You know that from starting back in the 70's. Was all library and footwork.
Pennsylvania is beautiful country, treasure hunting has gotten me to some interesting places I may have never otherwise had a reason to be. Those places are treasures in themselves.
Health and work have slowed me down a good deal lately, but I still like to plug around the back woods of Pa. once in a while. If I could only find my g-g grandfathers stash...maybe not retire but be a bit more comfy anyhow...

Al

 

[Potter Poker]

Regarding this issue, I have heard two different accounts of the location of that rock with a cross on it: one has it located north of Austin, along Freeman Run. Another has it located near the actual headwaters of the Allegany, which would be just south of route 49 between Colesburg and Gold. Then again, according to one treasure tail (by Scully, I think) it is placed in the "Borie" area, about 3 miles directly South of the Coudersport/Ladona area, off the Moores run road. Take your pick. I have been researching the info on this for a couple of years now.

 

[simonds]

Potter Poker, For years now I have wondered how the little village of "Gold" aquired its name. Most towns are named after a family who lived there or after some other feature in the area.
Happy Trails, Clayton

 

[Potter Poker]

Hi Simons, According to the local story around here, before Gold became a settlement, some local residents did some digging for gold but never found any, and not wanting to be laughed at they acquired some flakes and chunks that looked like gold and sprinkled them around at the site where they were digging and spread the word. I don't know what happened, but according to the "story", it wasn't pretty. Anyway, that's the local understanding of how the town came up with it's name.