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Where Did Joseph Smith Dig for Treasure?
By
Mason
Before Joseph Smith was known as a prophet, he was known locally for treasure digging. An article written by Dan Vogelmapped out the physical locations connected to that earlier phase of Smith’s life. Drawing from court records, affidavits, neighbor testimony, and later reminiscences, Vogel was able to place Smith on specific hillsides, farms, and riverbanks across western New York and northern Pennsylvania.
(If you have issues on mobile, you can read the full document here)
The article itself is a valuable asset to anybody who wants to understand the treasure digging activities of Joseph Smith. However, due to the design of the maps provided it may be difficult to immediate tell where the digs took place. Which in my opinion, may limit the sharing of his research. As such, I took it upon myself to update the map in Google Earth using Dan Vogel's research as my guide. This gives us a bit of clearer idea of where these digs occurred.
Below you will find modern pin locations for each of the sites in Dan Vogel's article.
MANCHESTER, NY. SITES
Wow! That's a lot better. but lets put it into perspective a little bit... You'll notice that every single site is more or less right off the road, and the furthest is only 2.5 miles away from Joseph Smith's home. ( As indicated below by the yellow line)
1. Joseph Smith home.
2. Hill east of Smith home; location of digging for kegs of gold and silver. (Currently the site of the Palmyra temple)
3. William Stafford home site.
4. Possible location of Joshua Stafford home; general location of digging for money.
5. Clark Chase cabin site; Joseph Smith’s seer stone found in nearby well.
6. “Old Sharp” Hill; location of digging for treasure and sheep sacrifice.
7. “Miner’s Hill”; location of cave and digging for golden furniture.
8. “Hill Cumorah”; northeast side location of digging for gold plates.
9. Joseph Capron home; northwest of Capron home location of digging for box of gold watches.
HARMONY, PA. SITES
The Harmony sites proved to be a bit more challenging to fully line up. Vogel's map is definitely not to scale. Fortunately some of the sites are already clearly marked on Google maps. The hardest part was identifying the Jacob Skinner site.
1. Jacob I. Skinner home; southeast of Skinner home location of Spanish mine.
This was tricky. Again, the map was not to scale. But the home could potentially fit this location based on the property's relationship to the roads
Compared to the location on Vogel's map...
I feel even move confident that this is the location due the a large circular patch of ground. It appears to be a filled in hole that is the exact size that Vogel describes (~150 ft), complete with a drainage ditch which was also described.
The home, pond, and tree-line all align with other points on the map fairly well. Being the original home, pits, and fence line. It seems pretty clear despite the map not being proportional.
2. McKune Cemetery (Landmark, not a dig site)
3. Joseph Smith home. (Landmark, not a dig site)
4. Isaac Hale home. (Landmark, not a dig site)
5. Nathaniel Lewis Home. (Landmark, not a dig site)
Approximate location, but it appears to be farmland directly on a corresponding curve of the road so I might be close.
BAINBRIDGE, NY. SITES
Out of all the maps, this one was the most difficult due to the poor quality of Vogel's original. Other than the location of Stowell's home, I can only assume that these locations are approximate (Every though a few look like the perfect place to do some treasure hunting)
1. Approximate location of three
excavations attributed to
Joseph Smith.
Described as being in the hills to the West of Afton and immediately Northeast of Stowell's home.
2. General area of Charles Atherton
land; possible
location of digging for gold.
3. Approximate Location of cave in gorge on Abraham Cornell's farm.
Vogel's map might be indicating the South side of the creek in this area just East of Bettsburg. However, on the North side of the creek I identified what appears to be a a noticeable gorge. The cliff sides measured in at ~100ft in height, which seems like the place to dig a 30 ft cave.
4. Approximate location of Josiah
Stowell home; digging for treasure
on surrounding land, particularly
south along the Susquehanna River
flats.
You can watch my process for the Manchester sites here. I followed the same process for the Harmony and Bainbridge locations.
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