Sprinkle and Swift

     People have been searching for the lost silver mines for almost 200 hundred years,  The first mention in the papers about the Indian silver mines that I have found was in 1850’s.  The refractory industry  has mined the Lewis and Carter county area since 1850 for fireclay and coal and never once has come across a vein of silver. Every geologists I have ever spoken to has stated that conditions are not right in Kentucky for gold or silver,  beyond that of Glaser remnants. Is it possible that a stash of pirated  silver was hidden by Swift and found by Jacob Sprinkle who put thousands of counterfeit Mexican half dollars and the famous Sprinkle dollar in to circulation in the 1840,s. Sprinkle was sent to trail twice but never convicted on the Sprinkle dollar because it had a higher  bullion value than the genuine dollar. It was also crudely made with an owl on one side and a star on the other.  I think the silver mine was just an excuse for both men to steer people away from the truth.

I have done some explorations and research into the possibility of Swift being in the Grayson area. In the past year I have resumed my search and found several really good signs. Nothing that exactly pinpoints Swifts mines, but I did find several Indian silver mines that maybe the Swift mines…maybe not.  I have also received info and found some rocks that have turkey tracks and other animals carved on them, they are very, very, old, might be Indian, might be Swifts. Silver bars have been found in Carter County! Cinders too.  There has been volcanic activity in Elliott county, even some evidence of a Kimberlitic sprue, so it's possible that silver is there. There are also supposed to be some fault lines in the two areas.  So the Friend may be mistaken. Here is a picture of one of the mines.

In some of the photos I have seen of the colonional era mines, it seems that there is a transition of two types of rock with a thin layer between them. I guess it was in this layer they prospected for ore. at your site, see if there is a seperation of two different types of rock. Also, the lead in this area may be another way to find the silver. Maybe a geiger counter would work to put you in the general area, as some of the early lead mines had a problem with the silver content in the bullets clogging barrels of their guns...but where do you find a geiger counter these days? 

I wanted to dispel the theory Swift carried all that loot into Kentucky and melted it down and then packed it all back to civilization...that defies any logic. For one, many pirates freely spent their treasure. For another why would they need to melt it down? If you captured Spanish or French ships you were almost a British hero. This idea has no basis in facts, the technology at the time would let them melt-not smelt the coins down into bars right on the ships!  The French and Spanish coins were used by everyone in the world including the colonies! It was done until the US mint got going good in the mid 1800s. I challenge you to find an instance when anyone ever did the “melt the silver coins down into bars to avoid suspicion” there was no need to do it…why would you?

   I'm NOT certain, but I think today's KENTUCKY, was part of OLD Virginia
"back then";  wouldn't suprise me, if they utilized ALL waterways, and "frontier roads".   I can "see" former pirates/"outlaws" utilizing Chesapeake Bay, Potomac River, Ohio River, Mississippi River, etc.; then utilizing "Indian Paths/Roads" throughout "Kentucky" to hide, melt down stolen gold/silver, then smelting such into counterfeit coins for the "Royal" colonies to "redeem" former "outlaw ways"... DUNNO. 
 

Yes, KY was formed from parts of Virgina, and the Swift adventure predates that statehood date by several years. It was just to rough and rugged to haul several packtrains worth of silver allthat way risking life and fortune form Indians and the elements! Then haul it all back after all that work? Not a chance.

I agree...  The Indian threat was the #1 issue for anyone coming across the mountains until about the 1790's, and even then it wasn't the safest place to be..  I just wonder how he had so many packhorses and managed to elude certain pursuit buy the Shawnee those years he worked the mines...  If Gist was correct in reporting in his journal about encountering Swift and his crew, among them a Shawnee guide, then I see how this was possible. But with the way the indians felt about "most" whites, I don't see how Swift could have worked so freely without more reported trouble than he wrote of...  Sure they had their tough times but they took  boatloads of silver out of these hills with ease, literally...   Just a thought anyway....

In my research i have come across things I am not too sure about. One is that Swift like many early Longhunters/trappers had a Shawnee wife(in addtionto Desiree Ann). He was also suppose to have some Shawnees with him. Monday by some accounts was half Indian. Who really knows? But i think its highly probable that Swift had Indians (helpers whither guides or hunters for camp meat or just firends) with him. In fact I can imagine he encountered some and made friends with them and they showed him the "upper" mines. The Indians were a mixed bunch back then...some loved the whites, others hated them. Remember that th eSwanee and Cherokee were very hostile to each other. I would recommend to anyone that they start reading "That Dark and Bloody River" by Allan Eckart (the guy who also wrote the Frontiersman), to get a perspective of how the white men were perceived so differently by diffrent tribes. Once again I cannot help feeling that the Shawnees (later after they started working the first mine) showed their grub hole mines to Swift who then made them more productive.

     I have read all of Eckert's books.  I know that there were indians such as Chief Logan who were friendly to the whites, among many others, but I think that even though some were friendly {and dependent} they still kept their mines very secretive among themselves.  In "The Frontiersmen" Eckert tells of how Blue Jacket played one of the biggest known practical jokes on the whites when he said he would take them to the secret mines.  To this day I know there have to be documents somewhere, on a reservation, that the Shawnee protect with their lives revealing the location of the famed Shawnee silver mines. On the other hand Im also sure that there were some of them who had revealed locations to certain whites and even adopted many that may have been in on some of the silver - [Munday??]  Who will ever know though...  There are so many un-answered questions.
     I would recommend all of Eckert's books to anyone on here so that they can get a little better understanding about the area we live in and the extremely rich history in which 99% of us are clueless about.  Eckerts new book "Dark Journey" is also worth the read..  It's an in-depth look at the Donner-Reed tragedy in the Sierra's in the mid 1840's.  He brings the story to life as only Eckert can...  definitely awesome book..   My fav. though is still "The Frontiersmen" - Simon Kenton was a bad-a$$.....


Casey

You are right on about the Indians having records of their mines and things. I mentioned in another thread once that the grandson of Cornstalk talked the son of Bluejacket into giving him a map so he could go to Kentucky and recover a bunch of silver coins. Bluejacket’s son gave him a map. Long story short the brave went there (south of Sandy Hook KY) spent week or so looking and after finding it was leaving when he was murdered. His map and coins came up missing they found his body a long time later. The family that was thought murdered him left quickly, and the matter was not pursued. I think I know what family the guy was from and where the coins were and if my theory is correct we have famous family that returned to KY a generation later rather wealthy. I would love to get a real experienced investigator to help prove this. What a book!

Hey guys, i see there has been alot going on since i last posted... Ive been researching alot these last couple of months, and have actually found a world of TRUTH hiding in the Swift journal, that no Swift researcher as brought to light as of yet. I am currently working on some posts to put up about these Truths, so please bear with me...

I see there is intrest in the Sprinkle dollar ... check out this story Boomer posted last year
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,248523.0.html

     Curtis..  wasnt' his name Peter Cornstalk?..  They said he was seen among the high bluffs around the area and came through town one day with saddlebags full of SOMETHING jingly and riding a nice horse..  I think they found some remains a year or so later that they thought could be identified as Peter Cornstalk somewhere among the bluffs..  Good Story..  Do you remember the name of the family that you mentioned may have done it?  My source doesn't mention any names...  Ive' also found that good copy of Brandts' directions so PM me when you get a chance...
     I was reading another topic under Best Finds, I think, and saw where someone had posted some pics of some coins they found around Maysville and had no idea of their origins..  They were very old and had a star on one side, and an owl on the other - very crude looking.  I am almost certain they were Sprinkles..  The guy had no idea who Sprinkle was and doesn't realize what he has found..  I would like to know if this is what they were.  Is anyone on here lucky enough to have found any of Sprinkles' dollars, or know someone who has??  If so, I would love to see a pic of one so I can find that thread and help the guy identify his finds possibly..  Ill try to find the post and put a link on here to it so you guys can be the judge....


Casey

Frontierman,
                It was Cheif Cornstalks grandson who found the silver coins and was killed by the whites.....also can you give us a link to the post of where the guy had found a sprinkle dollar....   -Ki-

Yes it seems it was Peter, they could only ID him because his skeleton had moccasins on it. His skeleton was in a doctors office for years. I had better not mention the name of the family yet, i need to make sure as there are some of them living and they are very famous in the Elliott County area...hint, hint. This would make for a great newspaper article: Murder mystery solved after 150 years.

Curtis I would love to know more about this incident because I live in Elliott County and have never heard about it. By the way I am the guy who has been trading emails with you about the waybill, just so you know who I am.

Cany anyone share a picture of a Sprinkle Dollar???  I've searched high and low on the internet and cannot find one.  I'd love to see one.

Thanks!

--Chris

would like to see one too...  I always heard that one side had an "owl" and the other a "6 pointed star"  roughly the size of a piller/milled dollar. pure silver

That's the same description that I keep running across........an owl on one side and a six-pointed star on the other.  I would just really like to see one!

Where did i read there is suppose to be a few in a bank someplace...Its funny that some think he may have found Swifts stuff....lots going on back in those days in the areas some of us are looking in!

The sprinkle dollars were in use for many years. He used a hand chop mould, with this process the silver had to be hot. hit once than put in another mould to do the back side. You had to be fast. One coin at a time, this was a long hot process. Than you had to remove the excess from around the edges. there was another man by the name of John Waite who mined and made coins near the time of Sprinkle. He had a small furnace on the Ohio side of the Ohio River across from the mouth of Kinniconick Creek in Lewis county Ky. they were known as the Waite Dollars. Below is a short story on Sprinkle if it comes out? and 2 maps showing were the sign of the five pointed star was carved near 2 old silver mines in Carter County Ky. One at Carter City and the other on a branch of Grassy Creek called negro hollow, Grassy creek is just northeast of Carter City. The mine on negro branch is on the left near the end of the hollow.

Hi oomer,

Do you have anything that tells where Sprinkle lived at the time he made the coins?

Sprinkle lived past the head of grassy creek on the ridge. if you use google map service, you can see a small clearing and what looks to be part of a foundation and parts of an old path going along the east side of the ridge. i have not been up there. i got has far has negro hollow and looked at the place where silver ore was mined. vary low grade, but when your broke anything looks good. most of what i found was in the old court records and news papers of lewis and greenup county. the john waite i talked about was with the group of counterfeiters that Boone's son arrested at carter caves. boone was the high sheriff of greenupsburg before they changed the name to greenup. at carter caves, in front of bat cave was the old furnace waite used to melt the silver out. you may still find some of the old slag from the furnace.