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Offline guncollector7Topic starter
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« on: February 25, 2010, 07:26:03 am »
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Twenty five years ago while doing some historical research for my uncle at a local library, I discovered a news article in the local paper from the 1860's. The article was about two guards who were responsible for delivering a payroll of gold coins to a lumbering camp on Swan Creek.

Apparently the guards had left Saginaw City by canoe to deliver $15,000 dollars (face value gold coins) in payroll to the camp. They travelled up the Saginaw River to the Shiawassee River and proceeded up the Shiawassee river towards Swan Creek. They had stopped near the mouth of the Flint River where it enters the Shiawassee and where once stood a trading post for a much needed break. Through conversation with some locals they discovered that a band of Indians camped nearby were threatening an attack on settlers in the area.

The guards upon hearing this figured they should expedite their delivery to the camp and proceeded up the Shiawassee and into Swan Creek. Just before night fall they passed a few downbound canoes who told of the rumored attack. A heavy fog had settled in that night and progress was slow. Having passed yet another canoe with bad news of the attack, the guards decided they should park their canoe and head inland to hide the payroll until things settled. They had just passed under a bridge over Swan Creek when they decided to head inland. Through the dense fog they travelled and figuring they were far enough from the creek, they dug a hole and buried the payroll. They covered it with forest decay and noted that a stump was nearby for reference. The guards returned to their canoe and continued to the lumbering camp. The fog lifted around noon and they made camp that evening without any sight or threat of Indians.

Upon reaching camp they explained the details to the boss, who became very furious and suspicious. The camp  boss gathered a group of loggers to escort the guards back to the retrieve the payroll and return to camp at once.

Travelling again through heavy fog they reached the spot at daylight the next morning. They searched in heavy fog for the stump that lay near the buried payroll. As the fog began to lift around noon they soon discovered that stumps were present throughout the forest floor for acres and acres. The group searched for the rest of the day then made camp. A messenger was sent to the camp boss who then returned himself and a crew of many. The search continued for two weeks but the payroll was never found.

I shared this information with my uncle and we did some further research. We discovered that during the 1860's there may have been up to ten bridges crossing the Swan Creek between the lumber camp and its confluence with the Shiawasssee River.
A few road bridges, two railroad bridges and several farm bridges. Most are gone now and ninety percent of the area is private land with the remaining being owned by the State of Michigan.

Life took its many twists and turns and my uncle has since passed away and nothing was ever done to continue a search. There is no doubt whatsoever that this buried treasure is still waiting discovery. The details should still be available to the public via the Hoyt Library in Saginaw, MI. Good Luck and Happy Huntin!



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Offline Sue
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« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2010, 11:22:05 am »
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Hi guncollector7, that's a good treasure tale. Enjoyed reading it and thanks for sharing. Welcome to thunting Do you plan to or have you searched for the payroll? Sue

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« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2010, 01:27:15 pm »
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Thanks for the excellent lead/story.  Very glad to have you here at THunting.com

BA in AZ

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Offline guncollector7Topic starter
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« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2010, 10:32:56 pm »
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Thanks for the feedback,
After I discovered this site, it brought back many memories of me and Uncle Henry coinshooting the old parks and schools around Saginaw County, MI. I used a three hundred dollar Bounty Hunter and he had a selection of six different detectors, one for every occasion so to speak. I sure miss him, maybe I will call my Aunt and see if she has any of the old machines. I can remember him sharing all his reference books with me trying to share his passion in life. thanks again, G7
Stay tuned for more when I have time. I spent some time Elk & Deer hunting Colorado in the late eighties. I may have discovered some gold there on the last trip. I retrieved one small piece from a mountain stream and took it to a jeweler in the neares town to see if it was actually gold. He held it and looked at it through his eyepiece and asked me where I had found it. I laughed at him as he handed it back and I walked out of his shop. After returning to MI I showed it to my Uncle Henry who than compared it to a piece his daughter had purchased for him from Alaska. They looked like one and the same. He suggested it was the real deal. I told him the Stream bottom was full of it. Most likely hundreds of pounds as it was very noticeable to my naked eye. I havent been back there to harvest any yet.
While residing in AZ in the early nineties I also had the priveledge to explore the mountains and hills while hunting, not really knowing it's history until I moved back to MI. There are a few spots in particular I found where white quartz exited the ground looking like an abandoned cemetary from a distance. Upon closer investigation it appeared that several veins of silver and gold may have been permeating through the quartz outcroppings. I have mentioned this one to a friend there about six years ago but he didnt show much interest. Oh well, when I have time I will expand on the stories. G7
haven't had the time to consider a search for the buried gold although I know the area real well. The issue of private property being the biggest hurdle along with my present jobs, finding the time would be very difficult....G7

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« Reply #4 on: May 30, 2010, 07:49:09 am »
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Dear Guncollector7,

First, are you at liberty to tell me where you did your research on the Swan Creek Cache (what newspapers you consulted, where you found 'em, etc.)?  We're planning a little "staycation" in the Saginaw area and wanted to follow up to see what more we could learn.

Second, do you or any of your treasure-hunting buddies have any experience in negotiating with private-property owners (i.e., folks who have property on which a hidden treasure might lie buried) and striking some kind of sharing deal with 'em, should any actual treasure be found?

edshaw (ed@kitsinc.biz)

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« Reply #5 on: May 30, 2010, 08:28:14 am »
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Hey Ed Welcome from TEXAS

Guncollector has not been around much lately, you might thy to pm him. Hope he is out digging up the big one.

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« Reply #6 on: May 30, 2010, 09:05:20 am »
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Hiya, Seldom . . .

. . . thanks for your heads-up in re guncollector.  But I'm entirely new both to treasure hunting and to this site, and really don't know much about participating in forums and such.  So I'm curious to know how you know about guncollector:  Is he/she in Texas or up here in Michigan?  Have you communicated with him/her before?  And what's a "PM" and how do I send one to him/her?

-edshaw (ed@kitsinc.biz)

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« Reply #7 on: May 30, 2010, 09:19:37 am »
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Ed
Go click on gun's name in his last post it will take you to his profile at the bottom of page it has a linl marked  personal message click it and send him your request 
Heres what little I have on this cache

A lumber camp payroll was lost in the 1800?s on Swan Creek because of a rumored Indian uprising. While being transported by boat the men responsible for bringing the camp payroll became jumpy and decided to pull to shore and bury the money. They retreated back the way they came once the money was safely buried. They returned several days later to retrieve the payroll, only to discover that they could not find the burial site. They had buried the money during hours of darkness and took for granted that they could find it later. All they remembered that night was it was buried near a bridge. There are two bridges on Swan Creek, which one was it?

As for news papers I would start at the Saginaw City Library

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« Reply #8 on: May 30, 2010, 09:26:50 am »
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Thanks, Seldom!

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« Reply #9 on: May 30, 2010, 04:28:29 pm »
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I am familiar with this story, and have all of the listed information.
kinda funny you mentioned it, as it has just popped up 'again' with the recent increase in precious metal prices and MDing resurgence.
However, it is believed to be a hoax. At that time, all known lumber camps in that area paid with company script which was accepted in Saginaw, and Bay City, (known as lower Saginaw, and then Bay city during the era.)

There WAS a payout of balance against overhead (like as in a company store in mining towns) at the end of the season, but this was RARELY, if ever in gold, and mostly in notes and silver, and handled at the main camp.
I can find no instances (in original documents from Mcmanaugh, Castor, Hoyt, Chippewa, Cass, Sage and the New Wirt in Bay City) of gold coin deliveries being made to camps in the area.
Most Wanigans also functioned on the "bill me" system, which negated coinage.
Unfortunately, most of the loggers blew what they had on "Hell's Half Mile" In Bay City and Houghton st. in Saginaw.
At that time there were a lot offices in Mt. Pleasant, and Saginaw.

Swan Creek was the name of several waterways in the Saginaw, Chippewa and Shiawassee watershed as well as a small community located between Merrill and Saginaw.

It is speculated that a few stories got confused and twisted in the mid 1900s, and this was the result.

I did find references to some 'labor problems' in the area logging camps in the Bay City Tribune ( A very short lived publication)

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« Last Edit: May 30, 2010, 06:57:52 pm by Spooky »
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