deathbed confession

[bfloyd4445]

Something that might give a little more creedence to the possible veracity of this story is that this confession was made while he and his son were on the way to dig up the buried bars. He was on a wagon pulled by a mule. The mule kicked him in the back and left him unable to move and bleeding from the mouth. Eventually another wagon came along and those people helped get this man to a doctor,he died on the way. The story comes from one of the men on the second wagon. They returned to search, but had only iron rods and stabbed them into the ground all along the corral perimeter. He said that the ground was too hard to penetrate more than a few inches. Years later in the 1950s ,that man related this story to a man he met who thd a metal detector. The guy with the metal detector went to search but he went alone and couldnt locate the remains of the corral. I mentioned this story since with the aid of google earth it appears to me at least that at the site that must be the narrows mentioned in the story, there seems to be the vague outlines recognized by a lack of,vegetation,or better yet vegetation and ajoining bald areas that might suggest to someone with imagination ,the perimeters of former existing manmade structures. Being a corral and livery stable, one should further be able to confirm that hypotheris by finding evidence oh horse activity ,such as horseshoes,nails and the like.

How do you know the son didn't go and dig up the bars before passing the story along? That seems the logical way it would have went.

 

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[KANACKI]

Hola amigo

That is one poss ability. Another could be it was never there in the first place? Or actually still there? You can have a hypothesis one million and one possibilities. And no guarantee that anyone of them are correct. It just one of these stories if your passing through with a little time...

Kanacki

 

[lilorphanannie]

[FONT=&quot]it would be interesting to know ,in this game of treasure hunting, which perspective is ultimately more successful. The pessimist, who finds a reason to eliminate every treasure lead,or the optimist, who chooses to run down every treasure lead within his reach. ... I think we all know the perfect treasure lead doesnt exist, if it did ,it would not be a treasure lead,it most certainly would not be posted on this site, and anyone could find it. We all have our own methodology,be it first order logic , or maybe the I ching ,that we use to reason and problem solve, and we have our parameters ,generally risk to reward, also expenses and timeframes. As Kanaki has said, one can find endless reasons to discard any and every treasure lead. I think those that are successful work with the knowns and see how far they can get. The unknowns are infinite, and unpursuable. IMHO this lead is as good as it gets ,for a story of this type. ... It was my intention in posting,that it would resonate with someone who lived nearby to this site ,and who was a weekend detectorist. That was looking for a new spot to detect,whit the hopes that they enjoyed themselves and possibly found something. [/FONT]

 

[CanSlawKing]

Gidday amigos the main settlement near treasure hill was Hamilton.

The town boomed following the discovery of rich silver deposits nearby. With a population of six hundred, it was renamed for mine promoter W. H. Hamilton. The post office first opened for business on August 10, 1868[SUP][4][/SUP] while the community was still part of Lander County, Nevada.

White Pine County was formed in March 1869, and Hamilton was selected as the first county seat. By its peak during the summer of 1869, Hamilton's population was estimated at 12,000. There were close to 100 saloons, several breweries, 60 general stores, and numerous other businesses. There were also theaters, dance halls, skating rinks, a Miners? Union Hall, and a fraternal order located in the thriving community. Close to 200 mining companies were operating in the area.

100 saloons it seems many miners like a wee drink amigos?

Makes one think how many coins fell through the floorboards of these makeshift saloons by these drunken miners?

So amigos as you can see in the historic photograph below the town was quite substantial in its hey day in 1869.

The four settlements around the treasure hill mining area. However, Hamilton's prosperity was not to last. It was soon discovered that the local ore deposits proved shallow. Subsequently, by 1870, less than two years after its founding, the community was already in decline. Once the shallow nature of the local ore deposits became known, many of the mining companies left the area. Hamilton's population and economy began a rapid decline. At the census of 1870, the population was 3,915, less than a third of what it had been estimated at the previous summer. On June 27, 1873, a large fire spread throughout the business district and caused an estimated US$600,000 (equivalent to $12,960,000 in 2020) in damage. Most businesses that burnt down were abandoned, and not rebuilt. By this time, the town's population was estimated to have shrunk to only 500. Another fire destroyed the courthouse at Hamilton along with all of the records in January 1885. County records began to be kept at the Ely courthouse begin January 5, 1885. Although Hamilton was the first county seat of White Pine County, the rapidly shrinking community lost that designation to the town of Ely in 1887.

So regardless of the story of missing bars the site is well worth detecting. Especially the saloon site and buildings that burned down. Who knows what may turn up amigos.

Crow

Crow,
Thanks for all the great info. Is that a late-twentieth-century single-wide manufactured home on the right side of hamilton04.jpg?

 

[Crow]

Gidday Canslawking

Old Crows eyes are no as sharp amigo. Possibly but I do not know? Even the most hardiest back in the pioneering days said the 4 towns was a terrible place to live extremely cold barren and windswept at high altitude. There was a competition to see which was going to be the most important town? I think Hamilton won out in the end even when many buildings burnt down. Shermantown was more sheltered in valley from the winds. Hamilton was south facing and got more sun.

Crow

 

[thormchammer]

Gidday Canslawking

Old Crows eyes are no as sharp amigo. Possibly but I do not know? Even the most hardiest back in the pioneering days said the 4 towns was a terrible place to live extremely cold barren and windswept at high altitude. There was a competition to see which was going to be the most important town? I think Hamilton won out in the end even when many buildings burnt down. Shermantown was more sheltered in valley from the winds. Hamilton was south facing and got more sun.

Crow

Hello Mr. Crow,
May I inquire how you did all the research on this site? The old maps that you found are incredible and as someone who really enjoys the research side, but is new to all this, any direction would be amazing. I hope to travel to this area sometime soonish as I have family close by. Who knows, maybe one day I will disappear from these chats like so many others who have posted before me. Thanks for the posts and intrigue and keep it up!

 

[crashbandicoot]

Gidday Godeep

In essence I would agree in part.....

In short the story is what it is...

And certainly not worth traveling half away around the globe for? Or spend a life time obsessing about either.

But for some one who is retired with time on their hands passing through and a love of scrounging around old abandoned mining town sites an hour or two spent searching is perhaps a treasure in itself amigo?

The mining area in question has 4 abandoned mining towns that houses are gone but traces of streets foundations are still there. Regardless of the above story being true or not. the treasure hill mining district in its heyday took out 20 million dollars in silver. Shows at least at one time the people living there had money? Some indeed living in these four settlements may of hoarded some of their money then died before revealing the location. The houses are gone...but what relics lie in the ground?

Here is picture of map of the now abandoned settlements.

Crow

I know this is an old one but I got to compliment you on the map and pics.I love maps as info sources and works of art too.Thanks.

 

[heartslayer2001]

take a week and lets go. get a group together and head on out there. seems we have an area to search and besides what would be more fun than going detecting for a few days?? its the thrill of the hunt and the what if.

 

[ADHD_Outdoors]

Gidday amigos the main settlement near treasure hill was Hamilton.

The town boomed following the discovery of rich silver deposits nearby. With a population of six hundred, it was renamed for mine promoter W. H. Hamilton. The post office first opened for business on August 10, 1868[SUP][4][/SUP] while the community was still part of Lander County, Nevada.

White Pine County was formed in March 1869, and Hamilton was selected as the first county seat. By its peak during the summer of 1869, Hamilton's population was estimated at 12,000. There were close to 100 saloons, several breweries, 60 general stores, and numerous other businesses. There were also theaters, dance halls, skating rinks, a Miners’ Union Hall, and a fraternal order located in the thriving community. Close to 200 mining companies were operating in the area.

100 saloons it seems many miners like a wee drink amigos?

Makes one think how many coins fell through the floorboards of these makeshift saloons by these drunken miners?

So amigos as you can see in the historic photograph below the town was quite substantial in its hey day in 1869.

The four settlements around the treasure hill mining area. However, Hamilton's prosperity was not to last. It was soon discovered that the local ore deposits proved shallow. Subsequently, by 1870, less than two years after its founding, the community was already in decline. Once the shallow nature of the local ore deposits became known, many of the mining companies left the area. Hamilton's population and economy began a rapid decline. At the census of 1870, the population was 3,915, less than a third of what it had been estimated at the previous summer. On June 27, 1873, a large fire spread throughout the business district and caused an estimated US$600,000 (equivalent to $12,960,000 in 2020) in damage. Most businesses that burnt down were abandoned, and not rebuilt. By this time, the town's population was estimated to have shrunk to only 500. Another fire destroyed the courthouse at Hamilton along with all of the records in January 1885. County records began to be kept at the Ely courthouse begin January 5, 1885. Although Hamilton was the first county seat of White Pine County, the rapidly shrinking community lost that designation to the town of Ely in 1887.

So regardless of the story of missing bars the site is well worth detecting. Especially the saloon site and buildings that burned down. Who knows what may turn up amigos.

Crow

I can't help it. I read your posts with an Aussie accent.