Fact, Myth or Urban Legend You Decide?

I've heard about this since i was a child myself. I found this on an old post.

Is there really a lost cache of silver hidden somewhere in the hills back there, as I remember hearing in my youth, or is that just a tall tale? -- D.S., Virginia Beach
No doubt you're making reference to John Swift's lost treasure, the story of which has been passed down for two centuries in these parts.
Whether the story is true is anyone's guess. All I can say with any authority is that I couldn't find a single reference to anyone ever having found it.
That very fact may be what's kept treasure hunters on the trail to this day.
Swift was a seafarer whose home port was Alexandria at around 1757, according to one account. He met and befriended a man named George Mundy, who had been held captive by the Shawnee and the Cherokee.
Mundy told Swift of accompanying his captors to mines with vast deposits of silver ore.
In 1761, Swift, Mundy and a small party set out into the wilderness, found three silver mines and pulled ore from them for the next eight years.
The silver was so abundant, Swift called it "the richest thing I ever saw."
But Swift supposedly left much of his fortune behind. He is said to have buried it and left the mountains empty-handed, driven out by Indians, rival traders and dissension within his mining party.
"On September 1, 1769, we left between 22 and 30 thousand dollars in English crowns on a large creek running near a south course," Swift is said to have written in his journal, of which many versions have circulated. "Close by we marked our names: Swift, Jefferson, Mundy and other names on a large beech tree."
Swift went back to England but reportedly returned years later, elderly and nearly blind, to try to rediscover his mines and the fortune he'd left behind. He found nothing and is said to have died penniless.
If the story is genuine, perhaps one reason why no one has found the cache or the mines is that they've been searched for across a very large geographic area.
The treasure is said to be in the Breaks Interstate Park area in Southwest Virginia, but place names in Eastern Kentucky -- Silvermine Branch, Silvermine Arch and Swift Camp Creek in Wolfe County -- hint that it could be there.
The hunt even stretches into Tennessee, where folks gather in Jellico the third week of September every year with metal detectors in tow. Jellico is just over the Kentucky line due north of Knoxville.
It would seem to me that if the story were true, someone would have found the treasure by now, or at least one of the mines. These hills are full of tall tales; this very well may be one of them.
If you're still interested in the legend, you might consult the 1995 book "Swift's Silver Mines and Related Appalachian Treasures" by Michael S. Steely. It's published by the Overmountain Press in Johnson City.
The book's for sale online at Barnes and Noble and at Amazon.
Steely was a skeptic until, while searching for the mines himself, he found a metal arrowhead. He had it tested, and it turned out to be 85 percent silver.

This was posted just this past August on another board. I found this somewhat interesting.

I have a stone map about 10" x 15" ,about 2" thick,with many markings on it.It has the year 1760 - 1769 on it,also a S:B(The B faces the other way though):M
It has a left hand,looks like a glove and a nswe directional on it.
It was given to me by an old timer in jackson county.He was a close friend of my family down there.He hunted for the treasure his whole life but never found it.I used to love listening to his stories.He passed away 9 years ago.I've had the stone for about 12 years now.The bottom of it seems to have ancient writing on it.
I've been trying to research it so it can be deciphered.
The mines are real ....theres too much proof

John Swift

Thought i would update this. Found it quite interesting to. The man who wrote the first article on John Swift, he was a reporter, with the Bristol Hearld.
The other article was also from a man in TN. both are quite creditable. I remember years back a few tourist locally wanted information about the mines, the maps they obtained, showed the area from Jellico Tn. to Cumberland Gap, to Pound a possiblity for John Swifts treasure.
I remember hearing some about it when i was young and the stories of silver in the mountains, never thought much about it till i was older and actually in a class, in elementary school we read about it. The subject for that month was myths or facts. We read and then decided. Some very odd things proved to be very factual and some that seem very easy and factual were myths.
Just thought i would see if anyone else had heard of this or knew about this story. Sure seem a little more interesting finding those two articles. And one just posted this past August.

[imported_MoonlightGraham]

okay so here is the deal, when Brand is exercising in the recliner, we are all gonna jump on him and tie him up with his stupid exercising thing. Chunk make sure you get on first to squash him. Then once he is securly tied up, Mouth you go and let the air out of his tires of the bike that he mowed 300 yards to raise money for. We'll get on our bikes and ride down to the country club, allude ourselves past that old lady and her two convict sons, and make our way to One Eyed Willie's gold.

[SunTzu]

I had to read that twice to get it . First time....right over the top of my noggin. I don't think my cerebral cortex was turned on .

Moonlight what is your problem? We listen to your junk all the time. Yet all of a sudden anything i post you become a critque of? What up bro.
Having a down year or just bored? Either way i dont' care for your comments. I don't get on here and tell you to stop posting about baseball that runs almost 10 months out of 12 do i? So what's the deal? I didn't ask for comments or smart A@@ comments at that i just posted a topic. Get over yourself or whatever your problem is.
I honestly figured a few might find it interesting that some find this area interesting other than for our hill billy heritage as we are thought of as. Or as in the movie Dukes of Hazard. Appalachia Americans. Wow what a way to be thought of.
Sorry i thought a little mystique might make a few think or actually wonder, could hillbilly land be more, than them folks that say, heck and yeah and golly gee.
My bad i guess.

Its from the movie the Goonies, it was a very funny reply and very relative to the topic in a round about way. I too have spent many a minute on the study of Swift and his silver mines. The elaborate cave systems running through the Almira section of Pound into Kentucky, along with the sides of the mountain seprating Pound and Jenkins have under great scrutiny. I for one, am not sure that it is the place of mention or maybe just a hope that it lies in our area. The funny thing is before the construction work on that mountain was done, you could have maybe had a better chance at finding out if the "legends" are somewhat truth in respects to our area. I do know that a military camp was set up atop that mountain during the civil war, many have went seraching for relics of that camp. Some have found pieces that have generated alot of intrest to that community of people.

[Gotch]

Yeah, I was going to mention that the Pound area was one of the most often mentioned possible locations.

Exactly my point. Swift may of been a con artist but his trail was used by many. Some have used the maps to find many articles.
The one article above from the man who posted from the Bristol Herald, his finding of silver goes back to some of what Gotch says.
However, some who have searched the maps have come to find other historical artifacts.

As far as the other comment i know about the Goonies myself. Have seen the movie, just basically posted this in the idea, that others may of found some of this interesting.

I know we have began to get some tourist lately who come looking for more than the Appalachian Heritage. Some actually believe now, that this is a factual account, of a man who buried something here deep in the mountains, but never got the chance to return to get it.
In all honesty i was hoping to draw some attention to the fact, that this area is known for more, than our Trail of The Lonesome Pine Drama, and maybe get a few thinking of what could be.
We have the Daniel Boone Trail we don't promote, so why not promote all we have legend, myth, or fact. Many do it and make money. I figured either way. This would be something some would find interesting and who knows. Some still think the man hid a lot here from his days on the seas. But the Indians run him out, before he could return to get his treasure.
Sometimes you have to build on what little you have. If it gets a thought or two going and keeps people coming and looking, well so be it.

[SunTzu]

Here's a link to several stories concerning Swift

Swift

[Gotch]

I spend ALOT of time on the study of local history. I have come to believe that Swift was a con-man who made up the stories to sell maps. Which he did, he sold a load of them.

The rumors of the local Indians having worked silver being the only thing that keeps from being 100% sure of it.