By Harold Allison, Syndicated Columnist

The lure and aura of stories about los gold and silver mines in Indiana has caused many people to spend considerable time and effort in the search for these precious minerals. There is something about searching for lost treasures that makes total fools out of otherwise sensible persons. While none of these supposedly hidden treasure troves has ever been found by eager seekers, this does not seem to diminish their enthusiasm for the quest.

Gold, in fact, is found in Hoosierland, but usually only as small rounded or flattened flakes rarely exceeding three millimeters in diameter. The largest nugget found so far weighed 132 grains or only about one-third of an ounce, not a very large nugget. Indiana gold is known only from the streams that have glacial drift in their beds and thus our gold must have been transported from some other source, probably Canada.

Gold has been panned in Indiana streams since the 1850s and you can still experience the thrill of seeing flakes of gold in your pan in certain streams in Brown and Morgan counties. In fact, gold has been reported from 26 Indiana counties, but usually in only very minute quantities. Before you go rushing out to try your luck in some glacial stream, let me warn you that a hard day's work of panning gold will usually only add up to a few cents worth of gold in your polk at the close of the day so don't expect to get rich.

I have heard stories of lost gold mines in Dubois, Crawford, Perry, Orange, Lawrence and Martin counties and I'm sure other counties are also the site of alleged mines. Most stories are quite similar. One would deduce they came from the same source with only the location and a few minor details changed.

To me the most interesting story and the one which differs the most from the rest concerns the lost gold nuggets of McBrides Bluff. Located in Martin County about six miles north of Shoals, the McBrides Bluff is an imposing mass of sandstone that looms about 175 feet above the ast fork of White River. It is a very scenic area and one long-favored by picnicers and sightseers. It also is the locale of two legends about lost treasure. One concerns gold and the other silver bars which I covered in a previous article.

The story of lost gold supposedly begins in Arizons when the Choctaw Indian tribe was living in that western state. They found a large number of huge gold nuggets which became a prized part of the tribe's possessions. As a result they were closely guarded. The Coctaws then moved east to Georgia and finally came north to Indiana. They settled in the McBrides Bluff area, the huge bluff becoming their headquarters.

All went well until the white men began to invade the Indian territory. Conflicts started to develop. Soon scattered raids and killings became open warfare. A force of soldiers was sent to drive out the militant Choctaws. The Indians were defeated in the enusing battle and forced to flee from McBrides Bluff.

Afraid of being pursued and captured and the gold nuggets taken from them, the Indians decided to bury their gold horde. They chose a large boulder near the bank of the bluff. Here the gold was buried and the site was marked by symbols carved into a nearby beech and elm tree. The site of the cache was then covered the rocks, leaves, sticks, etc., and the Indians hurriedly left for greener pastures.

According to the story, the Indians were never able to come back for their gold. The trees marking the location of the treasure were cut by early settlers, unaware of their significance. The gold has never been found and according to various sources at today's prices would be worth well over $1 million.

It sounds like a chance to find a real fortune, doesn't it? But wait before you go looking for this lost treasure. I have done considerable research on the story and according to all known facts it just does not hold water.

Fact number 1. The Choctaws upon which the whole story is based are not known to have even been in Indiana during the time of early white settlement. If they were not here it's hard for them to have buried any gold.

Fact number 2. There is also no record of any great battle between any Indian tribe and white troops in the Martin County area.

So if there were no Choctaws, and no battles I'm afraid the rest of the story is also just that. So the tale of lost gold at McBrides Bluff must be relegated to the annals of interesting, but fanciful legends.

HOME

EMAIL: rking@indian.vinu.edu