The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1906-07-27
FINDS LIQUOR MINE.
FARMER UNEARTHS WEALTH
OF APPLEJACK.
Buried Intoxicant Recalls Interest
ing Epoch Closely Unidentified
with Civil War-Big Guam
titles In Earth.

Clayton, Pa.-While Adam Wieder
was digging for gingseng root In a
spot which so years ago had been q
charcoal pit, located on the mountains
between Old louisville and Pillingers-
vile, his pick came in contact with q
barrel about four feet beneath the
surface. He Immediately proceeded to
excavate the barrel and was surprised
TO find three more close by. Unfor-
tunately the slaves Of two of them had
broken, allowing the former contents
to leak out, but, In spite of the many
years that had elapsed since they were
cached, there remained sufficient of
the aroma about them to indicate that
those receptacles had 43 years ago
been filled with applejack.
Mr.. Wieder had the two sound bar
1cls taken home, and on examining
their contents he found that they CEN
tanned about five gallons of applejack,
the rest having evaporated and con-
densed. The liquor was Of the con-
sistency of sweet oil and of a rich, tan
ny yellow.
A man who sampled It said one glass
painted roses on the landscape OF the
brain" and the second sent him into a
dreamless slumber, which lasted four
hours
The discovery of this buried apple
Jack recalls to memory an interesting
epoch closely identified with the civil
war and lends additional color to the
tradition that II one only knew where
to dig a large quantity of buried liquid
treasure would be unearthed.
In 1863, when Gen. Lee started his
long threatened invasion Of the Key.
stone state, which eliminated In the
battle of Gettysburg, it was every.
where known that his objective point
was Philadelphia. The fear that Lee
might prove victorious in the baptism
of blood which Pennsylvania was des.
tined soon to receive spread panic
through the agricultural districts OF
the southern part of Lehigh.
II Lee was to strike Philadelphia
his victorious legions would sweep
through the rich counties of York,
Dauphin, Lebanon, Lancaster and
Berks, striking the at that time ia.
nous Philadelphia turnpike in the
southern section of Lehigh. Before
the war nearly every farmer in the
fall of the year converted a portion
Of his apple crop into applejack. Many
others put a portion Of their rye and
corn to the same use, but applejack
was the staple commodity.
There being no internal revenue tax,
whisky and applejack were cheap, but
even at the low price, particularly for
the former, It was more profitable to
convert apples into jack than to let
them rot, for in those days apples
had practically no sale or value.
When the war broke out hundreds
OF farmers had their cellars and barns
stocked with barrels of applejack and
rye and corn WHISTLES. 1t did not
take them long to realize that II the
war continued for any length OF time
there was a fortune in those stored
wines, as it were. Hence the burial
of many well-filled barrels.
More than one farmer and distiller
enlisted in the war and sleeps his last
sleep in Dixie land. His family, I'M
familiar with the spot where the ap-
plejack or whisky had been buried
and ignorant of It's real value, made
no attempt to recover it, and much OF
this stock, which would now be almost
nriceless remains buried