this journal is long and tells of several locations of mines and what was the stones in the river, maybe someone in VA/NC well recognize a river or creek name and be able to follow the trail of the men in the journal and also find the locations of cabins. a good mystery for a long summer night. Page 112
and barren grounds, clothed with little timber, and refreshed with less water. All my hopes were in the riches that might lie under ground, there being many goodly tokens of mines. The stones which paved the river, both by their weight and colour, promised abundance of metal; but whether it be silver, lead or copper, is beyond our skill to discern. We also discovered many shows of marble, of a white ground, with streaks of red and purple. So that it is possible the treasure in the bowels of the earth may make ample amends for the poverty of its surface. We encamped on the bank of this river, a little below the dividing line, and near the lower end of an island half a mile long, which, for the metallic appearances, we dignified with the name of Potosi. In our way to this place we treed a bear, of so mighty a bulk, that when we fetched her down she almost made an earthquake. But neither the shot nor the fall disabled her so much, but she had like to have hugged one of our dogs to death in the violence of her embrace. We exercised the discipline of the woods, by tossing a very careless servant in a blanket, for losing one of our axes.
William Byrd, 1674-1744. The Westover Manuscripts: Containing the History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North ...
The Westover Manuscripts: Containing the History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina; A Journey to the Land of Eden, A.D. 1733; and A Progress to the Mines. Written from 1728 ... William Byrd died where he had long lived, at his ... produced gold or silver, as they greedily expected, and ...
docsouth.unc.edu/nc/byrd/byrd.html
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