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(An Old Clipping) Found by James Taylor Adams and part of the WPA Project Papers, The Alderman Library, The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. In going through some old letters, February 3, 1941, Mrs. W. J. Kilgore, discovered one from Frank Monroe Beverly, the "Poet of the Cumberlands" who resided at "Bonnywicket" high up in the hills in Dickenson Co., VA, and who died in 1929. This letter had attached a clipping which Mr. Beverly said was from "The Wolfe County Journal", Wolfe Co., KY, and, as the letter was written eighteen years ago, and he states it was from an old copy of this paper, it must be at least twenty-five years old at this time. As the original will not be allowed to leave the owner s possession, I have copied it below. A chapter in the history of Wolfe co. is about to be reopened that has been shut for almost a century. The discovery of gold, silver and the possibility of radium, long since a dream of many prospectors, has turned out to be a reality. The present location of the gold discovery, along Tight Hollow has been declared to be the true lost "Swift Mine". The chapter dates back to the time of the first settlers of the section that is now Wolfe Co., but at the time our chapter opens was a vast wilderness when the early settlers of the state were drawn by adventure. Swift s Lost Silver Mine has been a legend in this section for over a hundred years, and prospectors have spent much time endeavoring to locate it. Swift was supposed to have discovered the precious metal somewhere "in the hills" in this section, long before any settlements were made here. According to the local tradition, Swift and his companions started back to Virginia from whence they had come, with a load of the silver they had smelted into bars and somewhere along the Big Sandy river Swift is alleged to have killed his two companions and buried most of the silver so that he alone might know the secret of the mine. According to the story, told by old people, after Swift reached Virginia, he went blind and was never again able to relocate the mine, although he made several attempts to do so. |
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