Rock Art

     One of the key aspects of the Swift treasure are the numerous natural landmarks and rock carvings.  Most serious minded modern treasure hunters have several locations in mind of markings etched into the rock, presumably to give a direction or a clue to the whereabouts of the mine. Turkey tracks, buffalo rocks, circles and initials all have been identified at most of the suspected silver mine locations.  Swift also claimed to have stashed large sums of the counterfeit silver coins in several locations and in fact, some hunters have claimed over the years to have found some of those caches of the sought after treasure. And nearly to the person, followed the signs, the rock carvings and, of course, the details of their version of the journal to their claimed site.
     If you are interested and seriously want to explore and try your luck at unraveling the 200+ year old legend you should arm yourself with a copy  of Rock Art of Kentucky that seriously takes an in depth review of some of the most notable rock carvings found throughout the state.  This is the most comprehensive look at rock carvings throughout Kentucky.  Fred Coy, Tom Fuller, Larry Meadows and James Swauger spent countless hours over the years visiting sites throughout the state to record and photograph them.  This collection, published by the University of Kentucky Press, attempts to bring all the known sites together in one volume.

The Legend is Still Popular

     There are many reasons why I have loved the John Swift Legend for most of my life, but perhaps the single most important reason is because it is without equal, the oldest legend still unsolved and persistent in all of Kentucky.  It was around, according to some historical documents, even before the Commonwealth of Kentucky was created in 1792, the young nation's fourteenth state.  John Filson wrote the first book about the land of Kentucke, The Discovery, Settlement and present state of Kentucke in 1784.  Though, Filson says in his book that no ore had been discovered yet, by 1788 he files a land claim for acres which would include some of this wilderness area and in the deed claim states contains the mine workings of a man named Swift.  This would be the earliest  record of the supposedly mine workings.

     Even today the legend lives on in many different venues.  There have been written numerous books and countless articles about the legend and, in some cases, the discovery of the fabulous treasure.  There have been special events devoted to the exchange of ideas the idea has been used in many business venture promotions. You can type in the the words John Swift Silver on Google search and come up with no less than a 100,000 sites that contain those words and many refer to this exact story. You will also find this blog site listed there in the top five spots!

     Back in the 90's, my friend Mike Steely, author of  Swift's Silver Mines and Related Appalachian Treasures, organized a Silver Mine Weekend in Jellico, Tennessee.   This was a great opportunity for researchers, collectors, treasure hunters and enthusiasts to come together and share information, swap ideas and take field trips to the local areas along the Pine Mountain,  a hot spot for the legend.
The event is no longer held but it would be nice to see some type of  gathering to keep the dream alive.   There is so much history and mystery surrounding this great story.   That is why I decided to write my novel surrounding this wonderful piece of our Kentucky heritage.

Some Notable Background

      The Warriors Path general follows the flat plain along the eastern edge of the Cincinnati Arch, the massive uplift that produced the amazing bluegrass limestone region of Kentucky.  One of the first maps produced of Kentucky, by John Filson in 1788 contains the Warriors Path in about the position as just described.  The trail passed very near the old Shawnee Town of Esskippithiki or Indian Old Fields.  This was the major, north- south route across Kentucky.   John Finley, used it to guide Daniel Boone and party back into the region in 1769.

The Warriors Path is indicated by the dashed line down the center of the map

Court house and county seat of Wolf Co. Ky

     Mentioned in previous posts, indeed the historical marker located on the court house lawn of Wolf County claims that the court house was built upon the old Swift camp site, used when the mining operation was well under way.  The headwaters of Swift Creek run through the town of Campton near this very courthouse.   Interestingly, the only other set of Indian stair steps found in the region is located just a short distance down the creek from the town.  With the Rock Bridge and several other notable landmarks a short distance farther down Swift Creek this area became a hot sport for silver mine hunters in earlier years.  Also, the entire area, including Indian Old Fields, Pilot Knob, and the Red River Gorge lie along the 83 degree parellel.  This latitude in mentioned in most versions of Swift's journal.  It is noted on the right margin  even on Filson's map above.
     There are also numerous Rock Carvings over the region, in fact, in nearly every region of the region.  Some are very early carvings or petroglyphs.  One very notable rock carving is the High Rock boulder that is now on display in the Red River Museum , in Clay City Kentucky.

Kentucky's Strange Rocks

Old mining workings in Elliot County

     Ask any geologist that knows anything about the geology of Kentucky and they will quickly tell you this state is composed nearly completely of sedimentary rocks, primarily limestones and shales, with sand particle sized stone in many places. The key word here is nearly.   There are exceptions dispersed through out the state. One such anomaly can be found in Elliot County.  Here an igneous intrusion surfaced exposing a ruby/garnet producing rock called peridotite.  This stone is known to produce diamonds around the world.  In fact, the
the Kentucky Kimberlite Diamond Mining

Peridotite found in Eastern Kentucky

Company established a mining operation here in 1907.  Over the years others explored the area until the last serious mining effort was conducted by the Kentanna Minerals Company in 1965-70.  For
 many years the remains of apparatus used in the mining operation set on the outcrop of strange and hopefully rich mother load of diamonds and rubies.  The rock is a black, dense rock, composed mainly of olivine with fragments of garnets and an occasional ruby dispersed throughout the  material. The workings are on private property, and since this post, I have discovered that this property belongs to the family of Matthew Sellers.  Mr. Sellers was one of the first pioneers in aviation.  In fact, he made the first powered flight in Kentucky in 1908.  And actually, flew a glider before the Wright Brothers!  Matthew Sellers' granddaughter, Barbara Sellers has written a wonderful  book entitled "A Moment in Time" that should be read by every Kentuckian.

     There were many other operations following specifically the trail of the legend including this one on the South Fork of the Red River.  Mr. Tipton, in the construction helmet, convinced that he had isolated the vein of silver ore thought to be that of Swift's. The site did produced silvery minerals, but no major discovery was ever reported.

Unidentified rock from the diggings above appears to be pyrite

     Out in western Kentucky deposits of fluorite have been mined for many years.  These deposits are thought to be the result of igneous activities depositing the minerals in the sedimentary rocks that comprise much of the area. People have collected many beautiful flourite crystals from around the region over the years.  The Ben E. Clements Mineral Museum in Marion, Kentucky is said to have the largest collection of fluorite crystals on display in the world.

Fluorite Crystals found in Livingston County

Basically, there are exceptions to the most common geological materials in Kentucky.  While the states' mineral resources are primarily coal and limestone, there have been unusual anomalies discovered across the area.  With that in mind, one cannot positively rule out the possibility that out there somewhere, hidden from detection, still remains buried treasure.  To put in Swift's words, "...don't ever stop looking for a peculiar rock that stands near a stream with three forks, it's near the richest mine I ever saw."