Three searchers were running out a treasure lead close to the Etowah
River. They worked on it for weeks. Finally they went back at night to dig
where the signs had said it should be.
They were in a cleared area. As they stuck
the first shovel in, they heard a woman sobbing in the woods nearby. After
investigating, and not finding the source of the sobbing they went back to
digging. The sobbing went on an on, and finally they reached a folded skin.
As they removed it from the hole and it cleared the top of the hole, the
sobbing ceased.
The skin was wrapped around gold dust. One of the searchers
told me it was the creepiest feeling he had ever had.
Did he find the buried equipment?
The Dahlonega Mint was in operation when the Civil War started. According
to Cain's History of Lumpkin County, the Officials' of the State of Georgia
took charge of the money on hand when the Civil War started.
An interesting question is what became of the molds, or stamps or dies
that they struck the coins with? There is specultation that they were
buried.
Twenty years or so ago a man was selling a few gold coins around the North Georgia area for keepsakes. One man bought two intending to have them put
in frames on chains for his daughters to wear as necklaces. When he took
them to the jewelers, he found they were counterfeit. The man was not out
any money as the gold in the coins was worth more than the purchase price.
The professional said the way they could tell they were counterfeit was that
they had too much gold in them. As the seller was a "treasure hunter" there
was speculation that he found the the old stamps and turned his gold panning
results into coins.