swiftsearcher
Sr. Member
I haven't been on here in a while nor out in the field until the past couple of weeks. As some of you may know, I found Swift's first mine last winter. When I quit searching, I had left off there and was going to continue my search this fall West of the first mine site to the site Swift supposedly worked after 1761 (the mine he states as lying West of the first mine and being richer in ore).
Well, during the last two to three weeks, I have been taking a couple of days each week to try and locate the rockhouse and waterfall where Swift supposedly left a couple of caches and smelted his silver ore. Yesterday, I finally arrived at the spot, after finding it last week, but being unable to get to it from the direction I came in due to the terrain.
I was able to get some great pics (I hope they turn out great - haven't had them developed yet). The country and area was just as Swift had described. Unfortunately, the silver caches have long been gone. I even took a picture of the right hand side of the rockhouse as I entered - a huge hole there where the silver crowns were unearthed sometime ago.
I did make a nice discovery on a ledge near the waterfall (actually between the waterfall and rockhouse). It was the only hit I had on my detector all day, but was a good one. The object was a skinny, long all metal hammer with two small heads. I measured the handle today and the metal handle of the hammer is exactly 12 inches long. After researching antique tools on the internet, I found out that the hammer is actually a silversmithing hammer of the 1700's!!
I will post some pics of the hammer on here in a week or so (I still have some film left in the camera and am going back to the site to look for other clues and take some more pics in the next several days).
Well, during the last two to three weeks, I have been taking a couple of days each week to try and locate the rockhouse and waterfall where Swift supposedly left a couple of caches and smelted his silver ore. Yesterday, I finally arrived at the spot, after finding it last week, but being unable to get to it from the direction I came in due to the terrain.
I was able to get some great pics (I hope they turn out great - haven't had them developed yet). The country and area was just as Swift had described. Unfortunately, the silver caches have long been gone. I even took a picture of the right hand side of the rockhouse as I entered - a huge hole there where the silver crowns were unearthed sometime ago.
I did make a nice discovery on a ledge near the waterfall (actually between the waterfall and rockhouse). It was the only hit I had on my detector all day, but was a good one. The object was a skinny, long all metal hammer with two small heads. I measured the handle today and the metal handle of the hammer is exactly 12 inches long. After researching antique tools on the internet, I found out that the hammer is actually a silversmithing hammer of the 1700's!!
I will post some pics of the hammer on here in a week or so (I still have some film left in the camera and am going back to the site to look for other clues and take some more pics in the next several days).
