The "I've Been Searching!?" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in my swivel desk chair, watching my cute little gray and white cat, "The Gray Lady," as I prepare to type a story for today.  Many times I sit in my recliner in front of the TV, but today I chose to be with The Gray Lady in my office with the big screen iMac.  

The Gray Lady

She loves to visit with me on my desk to see what she might be able to push on the floor and then carry away for a future play thing. I have been reading several websites which tell the history of the state in which I live, Pennsylvania.  So many interesting facts that I never knew during my lifetime.  Things such as a lost silver cave in the Allegheny National Forest, an 1863 Union soldier hiding gold bars from the Confederates and a band of outlaws who were spies for the British in the Revolutionary War.  How could I have lived more than three-quarters of a century and not have known all these neat facts?  Well, after discovering them I thought I should share them with you so that you will also know about them and won't have to wait until you are as old as me to find out about them.  Follow along as I tell you about the 7 Lost Treasures that are hiding in Pennsylvania.  Now all I have to do is find where The Gray Lady pushed my computer's mouse!

#1 - Captain Blackbeard was a real honest-to-goodness person by the name of Edward Teach.  But, you probably already knew that, so I will tell you about the second Captain Blackbeard who was a British sea captain who salvaged the treasure of a sunken ship in the Bahamas in the early 1800s.  He brought the $1.5 million of silver bars to Baltimore, Maryland to be shipped back to London, however he was confronted by a French privateer and evaded capture by loading his loot onto wagons and moving the loot along the Susquehanna River towards Lancaster County.  He had plans to move the loot to Lake Erie by land, but wasn't such as good on land as he was by sea.  He buried his loot outside Keating Summit which is in Northern Pennsylvania's Potter County.  He then told a Colonel Noah Parker where he had buried the loot and paid him to guard his loot.  Parker kept a close eye on it.  So close that it disappeared from sight and Captain Blackbeard never got it back.  Parker never told anyone where he had moved the loot and took the secret to his grave.  So, to this day there is still a big pile of loot somewhere in the wilderness of Potter County.  Want to join me next summer and explore Potter County?  

#2 - The Doan's Gang was a Loyalist bunch during the Revolutionary War.  They acted as spies for the British and were responsible for several murders and robberies in Bucks County.  In 1783 the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed an act declaring them "robbers, felons, burglers and traitors as the gang stole horses and robbed tax collectors.  One Moses Dorn was said to have committed suicide by riding a horse off a cliff to avoid capture.  But, it just might have been possible for him to have found his way to one of several caves along the Delaware River near Point Pleasant.  The Doans Gang was said to have buried their treasures near the outskirts of Philadelphia at Point Pleasant.  Their loot has never been found so the alleged $2 million in loot might still be there.  Interested in looking for it?

#3 - In 1893 an unknown outlaw in the town of Palmerville, Pennsylvania robbed a stage coach that had a company's payroll of $40,000 of gold on it.  He headed into the nearby woods, but not before he was seen by a few local farmers.  Citizens searched the woods for a week and finally came across a violently ill man.  He died, but not before he muttered "see the bridge."  Doctors told that he also told of a "three-cornered rock" and glass bottles.  Many believe he was telling of the gold loot.  Where he had described was a location know as the Kinzua Bridge.  Well, many searched, but so far nothing has been found.  But...wait!  Hundreds of individual coins as well as silver and gold pieces have turned up.  Has someone found the secret stash and not told anyone.  Has the Kinzua Bridge Cache been found?  You wanna see if we can find it?

#4. - In the 1690s, French Canadian explorers carrying kegs filled with gold coins set out from New Orleans to carry their $350,000 treasure to Montreal.  They were going to go up the Mississippi to the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers and then cross Lake Erie.  But, they ran into a group of Seneca Indians and buried many of the kegs.  Two of the explorers were Jesuit priests who claimed to have carved a cross into the stone to act as a marker for when they returned for the gold.  But, they never made it back.  Over the years the marking has disappeared and the exact location has been lost.  But, a crude map revealed it may be in Potter County.  The fortune is known as Frontenac's Fortune.  Anyone ready to help me find it?

#5. - A Union Lieutenant escorted a wagon with a false bottom from Washington D.C. through Pennsylvania.  Several dozen gold bars were said to have been in the bottom of the wagon.  To avoid the Confederate troops, a roundabout path was taken through Pennsylvania.  But, a delirious Lieutenant, ill from travel, is said to have revealed the secret loot to civilians who were traveling with the wagon.  When they reached the Susquehanna River, the group vanished.  Then one of the civilians showed up in Lock Haven, PA and was interrogated by Army Generals.  He claimed to have been ambushed by bandits.  There was no trace of the gold.  Then in 1870 several skeletons turned up in the area.  It was also reported that the civilian who was interrogated had a habit of telling drunken stories at the local pub and he said he knew where the stolen treasure was.  But, the Army spent decades searching the area around Dent's Run without finding anything.  Do you live near there...and do you have a few extra shovels?

#6. -  Mr. David "Robber" Lewis, also known as "America's Robin Hood," was a counterfeiter-turned-thief in the early 1800's.  He robbed the rich to give to the poor.  Sound familiar?  The successful highwayman and escape artist was arrested at least four times, but escaped each time.  He had hideaways in caves where he stored his stolen goods; most notably in Indian Caverns.  He eventually was captured after being shot in a holdup.  He managed to write his memoir before dying of gangrene in the Bellefonte Jail.  His writings told of several hiding spots that were full of riches: $10,000 in a small cave near the Juniata River, another buried along the Conodoguinet Creek and one final one containing $20,000 in gold coins that he told his jailers could be seen from his jail cell.  None of the treasures were ever found, but maybe someday...just maybe.  Want to help my friend Jere and I find it?

#7. -  And the final treasure is known as "The Lost Silver Cave" and is one of the most famous treasure tales which just might be out there waiting for someone to discover it.  In the late 1700s a settler was lost in the Allegheny National Forest and sought shelter in a cave.  It just so happened to be filled with silver veins running through the walls.  He made it home safely, but lost track of exactly where the cave might have been.  It is said that many merchants traded goods with American Indians in exchange for furs and silver pieces, which suggests that such a spot would exist near where the Indians lived.  Treasure hunters for years have scoured the area around Tionesta, but a silver cave was never found.  Some believe the treasure was barricaded long ago near burial ground in Warren Country.  You ready to hunt for it?

All these stories could or could not be true.  Are you ready to try and find one or more of them?  Give me a call if you want some extra help.  I might be up for a good treasure hunt.  But, then again, I already have too much treasure hidden in them their hills around my house in Manheim Township and I have lost all my shovels!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.