The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-07-18
A FABULOUS
SILVER MINE.
Said to be Located in a Cave on
Tinker Mountain.
AN OLD LEGEND REcALLED-How
THE MOUNTAIN GOT IT'S NAME.
AN OLD INDIAN FIGHTER FIG
UREs PROMINENTLY IN THE
EARLY HISTORY OF THE MINE,
WHICH IS JUST NOW CREATING
MUCH EXCITEMENT.


MUCH EXCITEMENT.
The people residing in the northern
part of Roanoke county, around Tinker
mountain and in Caryin's cove, are much
excited over the report that James RELY,
hard working, humble, industrious cit.
lien Of the cove, had actually discovered
the long sought FOR and much talked of
cave and silver mine, of which there Is a
legend which has been handed down from
generation to generation, but has prob
ably never before been written, which
will be remembered by scores of the older
citizens of this section, there being many
in this city who are familiar with the de-
tails as they have been handed down
from the earliest history of Virginia, and
especially of this section of the State
The Carvins were pioneer settlers of
this county, and they resided In the cove
just to the west of Tinker mountain, the
place having derived its name from the
early settlers. On the side of Tinker
mountain, facing Carvin's cove, this cave
with its fabulous mine of wealth is said
to be located The Carvlns are said to
have been great Indian fighters, in fact 1t
is claimed that an old Indian fort was To-
Gated on the north side of Tinker noun.
tiers OF the county can to this very day
point out the exact location of this his
toric spot.
Tradition has it that n strange man
lived on the side of this mountain many,
many years ago; what his name was This
same tradition does not give, but this
being of the mountain Businesses was
what was known to the early settlers as
a tinker He mcnded wares and did
other like things for livelihood. He
was supposed to have lived in n cave.
where he did his work to some extent.
This strange old tinker was said to al
ways have plenty of money. but it was
OF the white metal kind. He ronmed the
mountain side in quest of game and wild
Indians, and when tired of this kind of
sport would go to the settleme nts in the
cove and country round about and "tin.
ker" as long as there was work to be
done in his line.
What afterwards became of the old
tinker tradition does not say, but it is
supposed that he eventually died and
went to his final reward, but not until
the mountain had been named after the
queer old fellow. Following this the
creek, which has it's same source in this
mountain, was given the same name
IN order that the memory of the old 'tin.
ker" might he perpetuated
Weird stories have been told concerning
the existence of the cave in the mountain.
but it was not until about a score of
years ago that the matter was brought 10
the attention of the people of this sec
ton, and the newspapers made brief men
ton of it. 1t was when man named
PATTERSON was reported. to have found
keg OF silver money under ledge of rocks
on the mountsiE some twenty years ago
that the old stories about the place were
revived. Everybody said that the money
mad been the property of old "Tinker,''
VINO was almost forgotten, so long had
IL beer since anything of Importance had
happened to cause the old tradition to he
repeated.
Mr.. Patterson at once employed Mr..
Burger, who was county surveyor, and
others to run the line to ascertain who
the owner of the land was on which the
money had been deposited, land it is claim.
ed that these men were paid out of the
identical money found by him for the ser.
vices which they had rendered. 1t is sup
posed that this key of money was found
somewhere near the..entrance to this cave
put such was not positively known.
Ths old time excitement has at last
peeh raised again over a story told by
James Riley, who claims to have found
the cave and says that he has explored it.
Ihere is, according to his story. u column
OF silver which has been formed between
two Lodges of rock six inches n width and
which analyses so per cent of pure silver.
He further claims that there ale unmis-
taxable signs of where the white metal
has, In years gone by, been taken away
from the original ledge, which fact cor
roborates the tradition of cd thinker" and
makes one think that there is no doubt
as to the genuineness of the story as
told by James Riley.
The entrance, he claims, is under
huge ledge of rock and stone has been cut
to exactly fit the vacuum, which, when in
IT'S place, makes 1t matter of impossi-
6ility for the casual observer to discover
that there is anything peculiar about the
place This story il not given to the
public rs being stEctly true insegsary par
ticular, but it is written to the
oeSo ihlQrl fatlon oy the
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