Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1914-03-11
TRADITIONAL POT
OF GOLD LEFT BY
INDIANS UNKNOWN
(Continued from page y

lake to their new home. All OF the
women and children went this route
and several days were consumed in
making the circuit. Old John Wab-
asis was buried close to the river
banks with his head protruding above
the surface, and as the Indians depart
ed they passed by his grave and each
of them kicked the head as much as
his pent-up ire thought just.
After the exodus of the Indians the
white men of the community began to
search for the hidden treasure. Seanc-
es or circles were held and much con-
lecture made as to the probable loca-
ton. Groups of people were congreg-
ating almost nightly to consider the
proposition, and daily talk naturally
turned to this topic. ID. u. Chapman
x Son, gunsmiths at Ionia, became
interested and made a diyining rod 10
help in locating the box, but it's use
revealed nothing.
Some years after this, George b.
Race had a kind of vision in which he
saw clearly outlined the place of hid
ing. According to his dream there
was clump Of softwood trees border
ing the north bank of small lake
that he took to be Little Wabasis.
Back OF this clump of trees that ex-
tended about thirty feet the ground
raised abruptly for several feet. On
this elevation stood a lone tree OF six
inches diameter. At the base of this
tree the pot was buried to the depth
of four feet. This bit of information
was confided TO DR.. +. G. Coville, with
the desire that he assist in following
up the "clew." The matter was talked
over and over and after considerable
preparation the two men set out for
the seat of their operations with
liberal supply OF food and exploring
appliances. A boat had been hauled
to the lake and when they arrived all
the camp outfit was placed in this
boat and the search for the coveted
pot began.
Slowly rowing around the north
bank of the lake the supposed spot
was discovered. There was the small
patch of flat ground covered with
clump of softwood trees and immed-
lately behind it the abrupt rise OF
ground and the little tree. About
week passed during which the two
men drove rods down into the ground
in more than thousand places and
every time they struck a firm sub
stance hole was dug but always TO
lHu a StoHt OF Some nara ground
other than the iron box They consi--
dered II so thoroughly that 1t became
almost certainty with them that the
northeast part Of the box had rusted
away leaving only the southeast por-
ton intact. The money they could
see, in their minds, piled i'm a heap
at that end, and all corroded over. Az
ter "A weeks search they gave up the
work for the time heinz bi1t thaN n 70
firm in the belief that the pot of mon
ey is still in the hillside that borders
little Wabasis Lake.
one reason for belief in his vision, I'm
the mind Of Mr.. Race. is the fact that
when he was doing picket duty i'm the
army peculiar feeling came over
him one morning and a semi conscious
voice told him that If he would 20 over
the brow OF the hill that he was cir
cling that he would find pocketbook
with some money in it, He disregard
ed the voice for few minutes but it
finally said, Go over il is only half
mile" So he went across and sure
enough a pocketbook containing for
ty-three cents was picked up.
Many and long have been the search I
es for the gold of old John Wabasis /
by other citizens Of early days but /
none has ever been known to have 1
found IL. With the passing of the /
people that were familiar with the I
manners and customs of the Indian /
tribes living here the money pot af- 1
fair may become mere tradition to /
be revived by the children of these /
same people only at times when trad /
ftional stories are valued from an en-
tertaining standpoint