It was asked by one of the new members, as to who got the gold , treasure, etc., if one found it. To reiterate, under a treasure trove permit from the forest service, one can search legally for man made treasure, i.e. , bullion, jewerly, coins. If one was to get a permit, the law is very sketchy as to who gets what. I can tell you that it states under this permit that the booty will be held for one year by the feds to determine if there are any heirs to it. If none, as Joe said, your greatgrand childern may see something, which brings me to last friday. As of that date I met with the forest service and recieved the final paper work and the actual permit to start my excavation that i've been trying to get permission for four years. The forest service has issued September 2004 as my start up date. I hope to start on September 11, just as a tribute to that date.
Now, back to who keeps what, it is generally stated that if there are no heirs, the treasure is split about in half. The government gets half and the finder gets half. However, I was just told friday, that the government can keep it all. If there should be anything there, it sounds like shades of Mel Fisher, because the only route one would have is court. Thank God Fisher won. It may set precedent.
On the subject of the government maybe keeping it all, anyone heard that Colin Powell just won 290 million in the lottery? I haven't confirmed that, but someone just told me that.
Also in an older post, the trench at the Black Queen was mentioned. I have heard other sources say that the Dutchman actually worked a trench mine there. And he may have, not certainly the famous lost mine , but I'm sure he probaly worked around the Mammoth. He was a prospector, and certainly could of found rich gold around the Goldfields, but to equate that area with being the lost mine cannot be done by any serious researcher on the subject.
Also, of interest ,I have recently just purchased the Mammoth Mine, Black Queen, and other surrounding claims. I have been researching the history out there. If anyone has any material on these mines , I sure would like to hear from you.
Again , as to who keeps what, if that were my main concern , I would of never entered into this whole thing with the government. I'm interested first and foremost in the history of where I live. As I watched a special on National Geographic on Mel Fisher, his son was interviewed about the treasure they found, and his answer was it's not the treasure , as he swam to a timber of the old wreck and put his hand on it and said, " this is what is important to me, touching history. That is why I'm very excited about our recent purchase and the upcoming excavation.
who keeps it?
black queen
hi ron...i havent ever worked the black queen or mamoth but about 12 years ago i was on the golden hillside mine doing some treasure hunting (a guy by the name of bob durking owned it then)....i was very good friends with an old timer by the name of carrol ingle and he told me alot of the history of the mines in that area..(he had been hunting that area since 1948)...so if you need some info on the golden hilside mine i could probably help you .....also if john wilburn is still around ....ask him about the queen.....he used to own the black queen years ago........email me if i can help