The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-10-31
CODHEAD ISLAND.
Vain Search For Treasure Supposed
To Have Been Buried.

To Have Been Buried.
North Searsport CMe.) Cor. N. Y. SUM-
Men who place their faith in the oc-
cult powers of divining rods and other
men who want to get rich with small
effort have been digging in Codhead
Island for the past century The hid
ing place of great treasures is an is
land in name only. It is an aIluvial hill
about so feet tall, which stands in the
middle Of a great tract of mucly marsh
land, through which the muddy waters
from Half-Moon Pond drag their idle
course to Penobseot Bay. The hillock
gets it's name because it bears a close
resemblance to the heavy lead or sink
er which fishermen attack to their lines
when they go out for cod. As there is
no other formation of the kind in East
ern Maine, and as the nearby residents
| think that the Greater never did any
! work that was not intended for pur-
/ pose, the belief prevails that Codhead
island was built expressly for the con-
cealment of gold and other vaIuahles.
Therefore it was a place to be dug into
and shOVeled about until the treasures
were unearthed and put to some prac-
teal use.
Diggings were begun on the hin be-
fore the war of 1872 After England had
owned up to having enough a squad of
deserters from the British garrison at
Castine settled near the COdhead get
l4AAS lAG1t living ny Selling may anu
muskrat skins and employing their
spare time in OVerhauling the soil of
the hill. In the course of two years they
had excavated about a million feet of
soil, thereby moving the entire hill some
six feet nearer the stream. Between 1915
and 1880 a colony Of skunkS took up
homes in the loose earth, from which
the hunters derived a good income by
selling the pelts. In 1880 Captain James
Boyd, who had lately returned from sea
with a chest full of English and copper
coins went out and threw a handful of
his wealth into every open skunk hole
he could find. Three weeks later his
house was full of bOarders who had
come on to dig out the wealth which
Captain Kidd had buried before he went
to Boston and gave himself up to the
hangman. BY throwing about about IS
worth of copper currency, Captain
Boyd was enabled to make nearly 500
taking boarders.
Men with witch hazel and sweet ap-
pie limbs came every year after this,
boarding at Captain BOyd's and plying
the pick and spade until their hands
were sore and their money was gone.
During the Civil war the innocent and
much vexed hill had a short respite, but
the labor was renewed with Vigor in
1868, the miners getting plenty of skunk
pelts, but never finding the coin which
they sought.
and wet The waters Of Half Moon
Pond, which find their way to the sea,
emerge from this pond between two
steep hills While the slopes were wood
ed no treShet could disturb them, but
when the trees had been cut off for
timber, and the stumpS had been rotted
away the spring rains often made land
slides that came down and clogged the
outlets, causing the water In the pond
to flow back until the outflow dug a
new channel. On the night of May II,
1872, the side of the hill to the south of
the outlet let go near the summit and
came roaring and sliding down, filling
the valley so feet deep with a mass Of
earth and powders. The pond emitted
no water for four days. The floods
which poured in were held back by the
dam of dirt and swelIed constantly I'M
til the farmers along the shores of the
pond were compelled to move out, and
houses and barns were lifted from their
foundations and went to call on their
neighbors across the pond.
On the morning of May p a muddy
little stream began to trickle over the
earth which had come down the hill.
1t flowed gently and without noise for
a few minutes, digging a channel for
itself in the mud. The stream grew
bigger every minute. At first it was no
bigger than a jet from a faucet. Five
minutes later it was as big around as
a water pail. In another minute it was
larger than hOgShead, and then the
great mass of mud gave way as if it
had been fog, and $50, 600 cubic feet
of water moved down the channel. up
roofing trees, grinding great stones to
powder, and roaring so loud that the
noise of the waters was heard 10 miles
away. 1t kept within high banks for
two miles, and then spread out over the
Half Moon marshes, sweeping across
the grass lands in pillows SO feet high.
By the time the flood had reached the
lower meadows it's fury was spent, and
the waters continued on to the sea
without infiicting further damage.
A week after the stream had got rid
of it's congestion three men came up
from NOrthpOrt and applied to Captain
Boyd for board, saying that they were
going to dig for riches in the Codhead.
They went away with their picks and
spades. early in the morning, but return
ed IN two hours and reported that they
could not find the hill. Captain Boyd
volunteer to show them the place, but
when he reached the intervale he found
that the entire hill had been washed
away in the flood, leaving a fiat surface
on a level with the marshes. Half of
the residents stin believe that more
than 1000, 900 in gold and silver was
washed out to sea by the flood. The
other half have ne yer ceased to lament
the killing of so many valuable skunks.
Before the food the trappers used to
take $500 worth of pelts every season.
Since then not more than a dozen
skunks have been killed in the neigh
bOrhood.