Overview
Readers learn that indeed some of the gold has been found, and this should motivate them to get lucky and search on their own. -School Library Journal
A cedar chest that had been packed with gold coins robbed from a bank just south of Lexington, Kentucky in 1860 was recovered 50 years later by a fishing guide at King’s Mill Pond. Only a handful of coins were left in the chest, which had mostly rotted away. Is the rest settled beneath the silt of the pond today?
The Appalachian Mountains have witnessed untold fortunes gained and lost. The confluence and clashes of a number of cultures – Native American Indian, French, Spanish, pioneer, and Union and Confederate forces – often resulted in struggles over mineral resources or fights about stashes of gold and silver that were hidden for later retrieval. W.C. Jameson gathered his material from journals, maps, on-site research in the Southern Appalachian Mountains and from interviews with people whose lives have been entwined with the search for long lost treasures.
This book contains 40 legends with accounts of caves stacked from floor to ceiling with gold ingots; of caches guarded by skeletons and curses; and of Union payrolls scattered to the four winds. These Civil War era stories tell of courage, responsibility and resourcefulness that will teach readers as well as entertain.