Smokemont, North Carolina Gold & Silver Bullion ! ?

This one

In Macon County, in southwestern North Carolina, there is a rich deposit of silver somewhere in the Nantahala Mountains that was known to the Cherokee Indians but kept secret from the white men.

The story goes that the first white settlers into the area found an old Indian whom the Cherokee called Sontechee, living at the mouth of a stream, now known as Factory Creek. At that point there was a large shelf of rock, partly covering the entrance to what was once a large cavern in the hillside.

The settlers wondered why the Indian had no squaw and lived apart from the other Indians, and seldom left the caves entrance. Sontechee was highly regarded by the Cherokee and was always supplied with whatever he needed. In tie the settlers learned why he lived alone and at this exact spot.

Sontechee had been selected by his people to guard the cave because somewhere back of the shelf in the mountain was a vast deposit of silver ore. This mine is believed to have been the source of supply for much of the metal used by the Cherokees in the making of various trinkets, which they prized highly.

Not wishing to stir up any trouble with the Cherokees, the early settlers made no attempt to explore the territory around the cave. With the passing of the years, other settlers moved in and took over the Indian lands. Sontechee, the old guardian, died and the mysterious cavern was forgotten.

A few years later a big landslide sealed up the entrance to the cave. Now this time, the finding of the remains of an old smelter, firebox, piles of cinders and large quantities of burned ore that had been buried near the caves entrance, convinced the settlers that the Cherokees had a large mining operation going on for years before the white men came to the area.

On Factory Creek, a short distance from where the entrance was is an ancient water wheel built by the Cherokee Indians, of large hand-hewn logs. It was used to furnish power for the crude crushing of silver ore to be smelted.

Silver has been found in the area in small quantities, maybe if the cave was reopened the rich deposit could be found. So far this has not been attempted by anyone.

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I've hiked the area in question extensively.

The Cherokee were not known for mining anything prior to contact w/ Europeans.
The Cherokee, being a large eastern tribe were one of the first tribes to assimilate, the only tribe with a written language, and the more wealthy of them, which included their leadership (the people hiding the cave), owned the land. They lived in houses with windows and doors, wore clothes, held political office, and lived much the same as the white settlers in their community. They built schools,banks, shops, textile industries, and traded their goods in NY, Charleston, Boston, London and Paris.

They were almost completely assimilated a hundred years before white men moved west from St. Louis.

Hiding a valuable silver mine -- not developing it?
Guarded by an "old indian," instead of employees with guns?

The Great Removal happened in Andrew Jacksons administration.

This sounds like many other "lost mine" stories I've read, and the most suspicious aspect is the depiction of the Cherokee as fools guided by some mysterious ethic that only an "Indian" could understand. A timeline would be valuable in estimating the storys merits.

One other thing, does anyone know of any mine, gold, silver, bauxite, etc that began as a cave? Ever?

It seems reasonable that someone might walk into a cave, see something, and start digging, but I'm not sure that I've ever heard of such a thing other than in a story.

Some of this is just my opinion of course, but the believability is based at least in part on the readers understanding of the Cherokee, or "Indians" in general, as though they are somehow different than everyone else. That makes it suspect (to me)

** Please keep them coming - I love these treasure stories . . . one of these days! **

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Hey Seldom...I HAVE heard that story in regards to Nantahala...as I live within 20 miles of the gorge.  The story came from a neighbor that heard it from an old timer. Now....in the Cherokee Cty Historical Museum....there IS a Conquistador weapon that was picked out of a well in the Maltby area in 1913.  This person donated/sold the CCHM 20,000 Indian artifacts that he collected over the years living in the Marble area.   Now in the digs of the Peachtree Mound...there were lotsa Spanish articles of interest found.  There is NO doubt that the Spanish were here!  I would assume you are in the WNC area??? 

It would make sense giving the short timeline prior to the Removal that the Cherokees would have hid their valuables and taken ONLY the necessities for travel.  Sure some made it back to reclaim there valueables....some unfortunately did not...

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