Anyone Heard of a legend of a East tennessee silver mine ?

[mical66]

This may be totally Garbage but this would be the place to find out i think so here goes.

I moved to east tennessee 23 years ago and was told this story by my brother in law who tried then to get me to go in with him and buy a metal detector and a couple pistols ( for the snakes of course ) and help him find the lost silver mine .
story goes, years ago a old man living up in the mountains claimed while he was out hunting he was following a rabbit he had shot and was crawling in some brush and found a small cave , thinking the rabbit went in he went in after it and found a good size cave , after further inspection found silver and set to minning it .
story says he even smelted and made his own coins to show people he was telling the truth, it was said many people tried to follow him but he took a different route every time and no one ever found where he went . when he died he had a bag of coins under his bed .

now i find it hard to believe this old man smelted and made his own coins , so it sounds like total hog wash to me . but stranger things have happend .

Has anyone else heard anything about this or like it ? just for my piece of mind ..lol

 

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[HCA1961]

I'm sure this story is related to the legend of Jonathon Swift's lost silver mines, reputed to be located in Eastern KY but stretches to VA and TN as well. Check out the thread in Treasure Hunting under Treasure Legends (or something like that). People have been searching for those mines for 250 years!

 

[Rebel - KGC]

MANY rumors/legends of SILVER Mines in the Great Smoky Mountains... NOT JS Silver Mines.

"Google" Melungion Mines of Tennessee.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

THEN, you have the Silver Mines of NE Tenn. in the Unaka, GARLAND SILVER MINE. Get book, SILVER IN THE UNAKA by Buddy Johnson with James W. Mintz.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

There is a legend similar to that on the Eastern side of the Appalachians of Virginia. It said two brothers were making their own silver dollars, out of real silver. It was suspected they had a mine on a mountain there. This was supposed to be around the turn of the century in Patrick County, VA

 

[two bear]

There are so many silver and goldmines the Cherokee used. They learned from the Spanish miners by watching their every move. Then they learned how to work the ore into beautiful jewelry. James Addair wrote about them in his memoirs while living with the Cherokee in the 1700's. One tale I am looking into is a wonderful deposit of silver very close to the capitol city of Chota. The Swift Silver mines were discovered in the late 1990's and I know a gentleman who was involved in the find. This was in eastern Ky. There are stories of gold and silver deposites mined by the Cherokee in Loudon, Blount, Monroe, Polk, Greene and other nearby areas too many to mention.

 

[NHBandit]

Tagging this for future updates. I'm in Greene County TN.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

There are so many silver and goldmines the Cherokee used. They learned from the Spanish miners by watching their every move. Then they learned how to work the ore into beautiful jewelry. James Addair wrote about them in his memoirs while living with the Cherokee in the 1700's. One tale I am looking into is a wonderful deposit of silver very close to the capitol city of Chota. The Swift Silver mines were discovered in the late 1990's and I know a gentleman who was involved in the find. This was in eastern Ky. There are stories of gold and silver deposites mined by the Cherokee in Loudon, Blount, Monroe, Polk, Greene and other nearby areas too many to mention.

ROCKY FACE MOUNTAIN in Georgia was a BIG one, I think. Watch out for the Cherokee Nation, Nunnehi Tribe, tho.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

RFM may be the same as WATERHOUSE TREASURE... dunno.

 

[two bear]

Hey Rebel KGC-is the Waterhouse Treasure the same tunnel that the Cherokee stocked full of gold nearSettendown Creek ?
It was said that they brought canoes up the Etowah river and carried their gold in them to put in the tunnel

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Hey Rebel KGC-is the Waterhouse Treasure the same tunnel that the Cherokee stocked full of gold nearSettendown Creek ?
It was said that they brought canoes up the Etowah river and carried their gold in them to put in the tunnel

MAYBE...

 

[HCA1961]

There are so many silver and goldmines the Cherokee used. They learned from the Spanish miners by watching their every move. Then they learned how to work the ore into beautiful jewelry. James Addair wrote about them in his memoirs while living with the Cherokee in the 1700's. One tale I am looking into is a wonderful deposit of silver very close to the capitol city of Chota. The Swift Silver mines were discovered in the late 1990's and I know a gentleman who was involved in the find. This was in eastern Ky. There are stories of gold and silver deposites mined by the Cherokee in Loudon, Blount, Monroe, Polk, Greene and other nearby areas too many to mention.

Two Bear,

Can you provide any more information about the discovery of the Swift mines in the late 1990s?
I live in eastern KY and the Swift mines are my hobby, but I never heard of any of them actually being discovered.
Thanks, and Merry Christmas!!

--Chris

 

[Rebel - KGC]

LOL! There IS a SWIFT SILVER MINES sub-forum on TN, ya know...

 

[tbell]

its no legend there were two silver mines one on the rock creek side of Erwin and one in limestone cove,

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Hmmm...
Been there...?

 

[Ryano]

Spent a few hours at my library today and came across Michael Steely’s fascinating 1995 book Swift’s Silver Mines and Related Appalachian Treasures. I wonder if he posts here on TNet ??

 

[: Michael-Robert.]

This may be totally Garbage but this would be the place to find out i think so here goes.

I moved to east tennessee 23 years ago and was told this story by my brother in law who tried then to get me to go in with him and buy a metal detector and a couple pistols ( for the snakes of course ) and help him find the lost silver mine .
story goes, years ago a old man living up in the mountains claimed while he was out hunting he was following a rabbit he had shot and was crawling in some brush and found a small cave , thinking the rabbit went in he went in after it and found a good size cave , after further inspection found silver and set to minning it .
story says he even smelted and made his own coins to show people he was telling the truth, it was said many people tried to follow him but he took a different route every time and no one ever found where he went . when he died he had a bag of coins under his bed .

now i find it hard to believe this old man smelted and made his own coins , so it sounds like total hog wash to me . but stranger things have happend .

Has anyone else heard anything about this or like it ? just for my piece of mind ..lol

Yes. It's true. During the Civil War, it was learned later on, that the South's musket balls were about 40% silver. Numerous people have been search for the mine sources. Look for lead(Ph) mines.