SWIFTS SACRED CAVE OF THE SHAWNEE

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there is a cave in west va. called organ cave swift made the statement it seemed as if the whole mtn. was hollow organ cave has 38.45 miles of passages could this be the cave where he stored his metals ? its near ronceverte wv. this could be on his trail back to alexandria there is also a town in va. near this area called new castle it was visited by george washington in 1756 it is also near new river . where swift mentions he visited castleman .

 

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[Rebel - KGC]

there is a cave in west va. called organ cave swift made the statement it seemed as if the whole mtn. was hollow organ cave has 38.45 miles of passages could this be the cave where he stored his metals ? its near ronceverte wv. this could be on his trail back to alexandria there is also a town in va. near this area called new castle it was visited by george washington in 1756 it is also near new river . where swift mentions he visited castleman .

The cave was mined by Rebel Forces (CSA) for Saltpeter, hence the network of tunnels. A family owns it.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

AND! There is a Castle Man Lake in northern WV, on Swift's journey home to Alexander, VA,

 

[Rebel - KGC]

NICE AREA!

 

[KY Hiker]

Organ Cave, West Virginia, A National & Historic Landmark with fossil hunt tours.

http://www.organcave.com/history/

Yep it is almost due East of Pikeville, KY... not sure of any traces that passed through that section, or if Cassleman's or Castle Woods would be on that route. It does provide a possible location as does the Pound Gap and Pigeon Water Cave as possible stash locations. Nice find!
Sad part about this is Pine Mt. has hundreds of caves in it too. The whole region is riddled with caves. Somewhere in the back of my mind I have come to the unsubstantiated conclusion that 'The Great Shawnee Cave' is probably a later add on to the story line. Mrs. Timmins' is the oldest documented searcher of Swift's mines and never once mentioned a cave or great cave in any of the newspaper articles printed about her...but she was in search of the mine(s) and not the stashes. I think the cave may have been added when the story of Swift killing everyone and then going blind because of it was going around...but that is just my conjecture. Extracting the truths within the various versions requires finding all the least common denominators...ask yourself what do they all have in common? That will get you closer to the root of the legend than any add on that is only found in 'most' or 'some' journals. The opposite of this line of logic is to pursue only one version of the journal, consider it the truth, and that all the others are alterations of it. But I think that path has been tried so many times...this is why nothing definite has been found and documented.

 

[Ryano]

On the organcave.com website it says:

“The caves houses the largest collection of Civil War Hoppers, V-Nats, left in the USA that are located in one place. We have remains of hoppers from the War of 1812. These hoppers are only accessible by an expedition tour.”

What is the world are “Civil War Hoppers and V-Nats” ? Some kind of storage units ?

 

[KY Hiker]

On the organcave.com website it says:

“The caves houses the largest collection of Civil War Hoppers, V-Nats, left in the USA that are located in one place. We have remains of hoppers from the War of 1812. These hoppers are only accessible by an expedition tour.”

What is the world are “Civil War Hoppers and V-Nats” ? Some kind of storage units ?

'Niter' mining was a process of soaking to leach the niter from the sand/soil of the cave and then cooked down to a cake or powder, I would assume these were part of that process.

 

[Ryano]

Thanks Hiker - it's misspelled on that website .. supposed to be "V-Vats" , not "Nats" !

 

[KY Hiker]

Thanks Hiker - it's misspelled on that website .. supposed to be "V-Vats" , not "Nats" !

Typos can get ya every time!

This might be of interest to some. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitre_and_Mining_Bureau

 

[KY Hiker]

Typos can get ya every time!

This might be of interest to some. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitre_and_Mining_Bureau

quoted from the link :

"Lead was also mined in North Carolina. The silver had to be separated from the lead ores,
which was an expensive process. The Nitre and mining Bureau took over the Silver Hill, North
Carolina mines production. "In the opening stages of the war, geologists and government agents
underscored the value and scope of Silver Hill's lead deposits, initially renting Mines for
six hundred dollars per month." ... "The Nitre and Mining Bureau also looked for
"lost silver mines" near Camden, Arkansas. These legends dated from the early years of the state,
but the Confederacy was desperate enough to try to find these legendary mines."

hmmm......

 

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SILVER AND LEAD I DO NOT BELIEVE SWIFT HAD TO SEPERATE LEAD FROM THE SILVER HE WAS MINING THERE ARE MANY REPORTS OF HIS SILVER ALONG WITH OTHER REPORTS OF PURE SILVER BEING IN MANY OF THE CONTERFIT COINS PRODUCED BY OTHERS I DO NOT BELIEVE THE OTHERS WOULD BE ABLE TO SEPERATE THE TWO METALS BEING BACKWOODS PEOPLE .

 

[marjam]

Just a point, no proof that this caused it, but as most of you know, Swift went blind. And lead is one of the metals if you are exposed to it that can cause blindness. A couple of others are cadmium and thallium. Now I am not saying that this caused Swift's blindness, but its worth noting.

 

[rgb1]

GUESS WHAT I HAVE BEEN SMELTING METALS FROM KY. I HAVE DONE MANY ASSAYS AND TESTING OF THESE METALS I DO MOST OUTSIDE WHEN THERE IS ATLEAST A SOFT WIND YES THAT SENARIO YOU DESCRIBED MOST PROBABLY IS WHAT CAUSED HIS BLINDNESS I AM GOING THRU THIS SAME SENARIO MY EYESITE IS GOING BAD ALTHOUGH IT COULD BE CAUSED BY A BLOOD CLOT ON MY BRAIN AFTER HEART SURGERY IT IS INOPERABLE BUT I KEEP GOING HOPEFULLY I CAN ATLEAST FINISH THE BOOK ON SWIFT.

 

[KY Hiker]

I just thought it was interesting that;

A) confederate soldiers were looking for lead (and silver) sources ... KGC?
And
B) there are lost silver mines in Arkansas, the legends of which come from the earliest days of the state. ... sounds oddly familiar to KY!

 

[KY Hiker]

Just a point, no proof that this caused it, but as most of you know, Swift went blind. And lead is one of the metals if you are exposed to it that can cause blindness. A couple of others are cadmium and thallium. Now I am not saying that this caused Swift's blindness, but its worth noting.

Very interesting point, thanks. That could validate that he did go blind, if of coarse, he did the smelting.

 

[rgb1]

in regards to seperating silverfrom lead if when smelting silver lead ores if temprature is brough to smelting tempratures by rabling in salt the silver turns to a chloride and comes to the top it is then skimmed off and smelted with sodium carbenate this brings it into the metalic state thus almost pure silver you now have a seperation of lead and silver two .seperate metals.

 

[KY Hiker]

in regards to seperating silverfrom lead if when smelting silver lead ores if temprature is brough to smelting tempratures by rabling in salt the silver turns to a chloride and comes to the top it is then skimmed off and smelted with sodium carbenate this brings it into the metalic state thus almost pure silver you now have a seperation of lead and silver two .seperate metals.

And I just thought you could heat it to the lead melting point and separate it out that way...it never can be simple can it? I could see them bringing in sodium chloride (table salt) but where would they get sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)? I would think with all the limestone in KY they could use calcium carbonate in it...but would that work? Oh so many years since high school chemistry...

 

[KY Hiker]

Not necessarily on topic for this thread, but I stumbled upon these links for anyone who may have interest.

https://wvexplorer.com/2019/09/03/lost-swift-silver-mine-big-sandy-west-virginia-wv/

https://wvexplorer.com/2019/01/24/s...me-to-naught/silver-valley-in-jackson-county/

https://wvexplorer.com/2019/01/24/silver-rush-west-virginia-came-to-naught/

 

[rgb1]

i read all tjree of the sights you posted above this is a good example how things are strecthed to or by the emagination of others there is very little truth in either of these post on swift thanks its always good to read something new on swift even though there is very little truth.