Treasure Trove.

Year
1880
Month
9
Day
11
Article Title
Treasure Trove.
Page Number
3
Article Type
Language
Article Contents
(Windsor Mall) Stories of the fabulous wealth concealed by the piratical Kidd or the exiled Acadians, along the shore of the Maritime Provinces, have found believers with faith strong enough to invest their time and money in attempts to recover the lost treasure. A few years ago, a farmer on the Avon, within a half hour’s walk of Windsor, erected a fine two story dwelling, and immediately the community was filled with the rumor that the wherewithal had been supplied by the discovery of buried Acadian gold. Some persons of very sanguine dispositions, giving credence to the story, began excavations in places supposed to have been the site of the old French dwellings, and carried on their operations as long as their means permitted. No pot of gold rewarded their labours, but their faith in the existence of these treasure troves was not shaken, for they are quite willing to undertake another search, which would certainly prove as futile as the first. Attempts like this have not been confined to one locality. There is not a section of county from Cumberland Basin to Cape Sable that has not been the scene of similar undertakings. Wizards, with the divining hazel, have indicated the spot under which the treasure would be found, pits have been dug according to the direction of the oracle, but something has usually interfered to prevent success – either unaccountable illness of the workmen, or uncanny manifestations that compelled human beings to abandon the vicinity, and at least a score of times has the promising box or cask been exposed to view, when it suddenly sank out of sight. That the Acadians were the possessors of much wealth it is possible, but this possibility is greatly overshadowed by the probability that like the early settlers in every country they were not overburdened with this world’s goods. As for the tales that are told of the plethoric condition of Captain Robert Kidd’s piratical coffers, they are no more than shadowy traditions unsupported by any authentic evidence. It is likely that such a person existed, but that he was the possessor of such “gold and silver and jewels,” as is vulgarly reported, has never been proved. The Isle of Haute, at the entrance to the Basin of Minas, is regarded as the probable site of Kidd’s secreted stores, but no explorations have yet unearthed anything of value. These wild goose ventures after visionary treasure will afford amusement to sensible people, but it is hardly likely that such schemes will soon be abandoned, and fortune-hunters will continue their labors with the same result as hereto-fore.