Evening star., 1932-10-04
OZARK RESIDENTS
STILL HUNT GOLD
Despite Weird Tales, Men
With Divining Rods
Make Search.
ay the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
BALD KNOB, ARK, October 4.-They
still hunt gold in the crypts Of the
Ogarks with divinmg rods, shovels and
shotguns.
Far back In the hills where distances
are measured by 'whoop and hol-
ler," men spend their lives digging for
treasures they believe Spaniards buried
during the stark days when slave trad
ers sailed the bloody middle passage.
Tales Handed Down.
Tales handed down from father to
are responsible for the unconfirmed
conviction Of many mountaineers that
fabulous wealth lies behind some OF the
bald boulders of the Ozarks. They
hunt it at night with divining rod
q homemade instrument, that Is sup
posed to do funny things when 1t
passes over buried metal.
Some folks say they will work. but
then some folks also tell in whispers
that the moaning wind in deep caverns
OF the mountains is the voice OF a
"ha'nt"-the wall Of some luckless fel-
low who lost his soul. Science merely
shakes its head at both beliefs
Equipment of the gold hunting par
ties usually is divining rod, a lantern,
pickax shovel and shotgun-the shot
gun to keep away marauders like bad
men, wolves and wildcats
Still at 1t.
They have been hunting easy gold IN
the hills since ante-bellum days and
are still at it. Many accept the stories
that Spaniards came up the Mississippi
Rivers tributaries to hide their fortunes.
Tales that rich families buried gold ana
valuables In the mountains during the
war between the States also are believed
by persons who do not go in for the
'ha'nt stuff"
Strange markings like a. P. F. A.
r. M. N. o o o." have been found on
boulders and fortune hunters are con-
vinced they mean something. Acres
and acres have been searched. but II
any one ever found any loose gold 1t Is
not generally known
Carved Slab Found.
A large stone slab on which was
carved Il S $4,000 Jon 1877 Is the
incentive for many hunts. The slab
was found years ago and bands OF
hunters continuously seek the gold II
is supposed to refer to. One man IN the
Ozarks has spent 80 years looking for
treasure. Some treasures buried near
graves in days when banking was done
with shovels have been found. The
fortunes were buried near graves on
assumption gold hunters would. not
disturb the dead. ;,
The fortune hunting business reached
a new high when Spaniard appeared
in the Ozarks several years ago and SAID
he was there to seek buried bullion. He
said he knew something about mys-
terious treasure, and several business
men Joined him in the game. They
found a lot of signs and eventually
started digging. Fourteen feet down
they found gold.
Word Of the discovery spread through
the hills and everybody got excited.
They didn't all know that the gold was
put in the Ozarks by nature and not by
man. and that il would have to be
mined.
The adventure of the Spaniard and
his associates resulted in full-f1edged
gold mine. The mine produced about
$50 to the ton of ore. and the metal was
easily separated from its ore by free
milling"
The mine is~closed now. but the
glamorou5 game of, creeping over the
hills at midnight with smoking Ian
tern, a shotgun and hope goes on.