Rule out The Philly Maridian !!

[Ken S.]

After some R&I, if Swift went 83 degrees west of Philly it will take a dive team to find the mines , Because 83 degrees West of Philly will put you in the Pacific not on the coast but near the middle. Guess we're going to have to go to a different meridian to start from with Swifts map that give the 38.2 x83 or 37. whatever x 83.

 

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[KY Hiker]

Please go back to the link to the map and observe the center top of the map. Above the horizontal line its says 5 degrees of Longitude from Philadelphia, below the line it shows 80 degrees 19 minutes. The increments continue from East to West (right to left) 81 degrees 19 minutes ...82 degrees 19 minutes and does not quite cover 83 degrees 19 minutes. I think this was placed on the map as a conversion for those using the other meridian. Now if Swift used this map or meridian AND the Big Sandy is just off the left side of the map (like the 83 degrees 19min) then the mine(s) are most likely not too far West of the Sandy River. If Swift did actually do his thing in the 1760s and this map was published 1755... this would be a modern map of his time. In today's mapping those longitude lines occur even further West than this map shows.

map link
Virginia 1755 Map of the Most Inhabited part of Virginia etc, Atlas: Virginia 1755 Map of the Most Inhabited part of Virginia etc Created by Fry and Jefferson in 1751, Virginia Historical Map

You can compare the rivers by a modern map to identify them.
https://www.mapsofworld.com/usa/states/west-virginia/west-virginia-river-map.html

So as you can see the Sandy is not on the Fry map but you can see on the western edge is the Guyondot River.

 

[Ken S.]

You are looking at and talking off the numbers from the London prime meridian . The single digits above the black and white line is the distance/ longitude from Philly meridian.

 

[KY Hiker]

Uh yea, that is what I was trying to tell you. I didn't mean to imply you should count 83 degrees West from Philadelphia, but rather, use the meridian from this map (since it was a modern map to Swift) to put the mines much further East than most would assume using current maps and their meridian marks. Whatever the coordinates were in the journal applied to a map of today, like Google Earth, will take you further West in KY than the Fry map. If Swift had or used the Fry map and its Meridian lines the mine(s) would be much closer to the Sandy River than, lets say, the Red River or Licking River.

 

[Ken S.]

I was reading a post the other day and they was talk about the Swift mines being much farther out west. They was talking of the different meridians . I didn't want to go back through all the pages of post to find it so I figured I'd start the thread. I have seen post in the past that implied that Swift might have used the Philly Meridian.
You are right in the 83rd parallel being farther east than by the Prime Meridian of today.

 

[KY Hiker]

I remember some chat about different meridians London or Paris or Greenwich that were all used at the same time by different countries.

Just as a quick reference these are modern coordinates... Grayson Lake is around N38.25(or 15min) W83.00.
Also N38.00 W83.00 is near where the county lines of Morgan-Lawrence and Elliott Counties KY meet.
Compare those to the Fry map and you'll see my point, it is way off.
But if you use the Fry map with the numbers from the journal your going to be in a completely different place, possibly the right place if Swift used the Fry map or its meridian lines.

 

[Ken S.]

Seems like I.ve read that Swift was a Indian trader for several years before he started his mining escapade and would have been familiar with the area . But it make sense that he might have used the London meridian since we've read that he was jailed there some years after his mining. I see your point and it would be very possible that the mines could be in the Lawrence, Morgan or Elliot County or a surrounding county if there were three sets of mines like some have suggested . That would also be very very close to the headwaters of Paintsville Lake/upper Paint Creek area. Guess that doesn't surprise anyone that another government project is close to possible Swift mining area.

 

[Ken S.]

I was reading a post Boomer had made about that very area a day or two ago. Had some very good info in it as Boomers post always did.

Come to think of the area, that's just a days ride for me on horseback.

 

[KY Hiker]

Seems like I.ve read that Swift was a Indian trader for several years before he started his mining escapade and would have been familiar with the area . But it make sense that he might have used the London meridian since we've read that he was jailed there some years after his mining. I see your point and it would be very possible that the mines could be in the Lawrence, Morgan or Elliot County or a surrounding county if there were three sets of mines like some have suggested . That would also be very very close to the headwaters of Paintsville Lake/upper Paint Creek area. Guess that doesn't surprise anyone that another government project is close to possible Swift mining area.

Yea, I am not into conspiracies but it is odd that just about every location that has any link to the Swift legend in KY now has a dam and lake. Paintsville, Grayson, Cave Run and during that same time frame they wanted to dam the RRGorge. Also from Prather's book, he suggests the Rough River area since Swift owned land there too. Is it coincidence ? Or is it because of the description of a very clifty area in the journal? You have to remember that up into the mid 1960s the Swift story was in KY history text books as fact and not legend, taught in many grammar/elementary schools across the state. I am pretty sure the Army Corp of engineers were in charge of all of those dam projects.

 

[Ken S.]

Hey ! ! Be careful . i'm old enough I can remember reading that part of my 7th grade Ky. History book. Yes and there was mound covered up by the Dewey Lake project. Of coarse all that has been done in the name of flood control. The same fault that runs through RR runs square through Paintsville lake. Imagine that !!

 

[Ken S.]

Yeah the Army corp was in charge. Just another government agency .