Willie, I lived in Cherokee Co., GA when I did that research about 36 years ago. I have forgotten what the document was, but a lot of what I found was at the library in Woodstock, GA. I was surprised to find that a lot of the Cherokees had big plantations. They functioned as a nation in the world market. They mined stone (I think marble) in the mountains and sold it worldwide. They had big lumber mills. They owned a lot of slaves. They had their own government patterned after the US Government model. It included a congress. They printed their own newspaper in their own language. They had big sawmills. They were mining gold. In my opinion, that was the last straw, giving a huge incentive for taking their land and forcing them out.
There was an old story about the Cherokees hiding their treasures, including a very large amount of gold. They were given a year's notice of the impending move and were invited to leave on their own, but the ones who visited OK brought back word that it was not suitable for their style of life. They used the remaining time to hide their treasure, because they thought the soldiers would rob them on the way. Many buried theirs in a private place, but some used a collective site to bury theirs. A part Cherokee, Jacob Scudder, was allowed to be the go between the US and the Cherokees, and he got to stay. He was put in charge of the collective treasure and informed which treasure belonged to which family. It was agreed that after the move to OK family members would drift by to collect their treasure and Jacob would take them one at a time at night to the hidden spot and show each which was his. Jacob's fee was 10% of the treasure, and the family took all the keep sakes, of which there were many. Eventually Jacob died, but he appointed a replacement person and explained which treasure belonged to which family. Eventually that appointee died leaving no successor. In the early 1900s occasionally a lone Cherokee would come looking for the treasure, and he would follow the turkey track marks on rocks and trees with an occasional one being successful. Disappointment grew as the Cherokees realized that almost all the marks were gone. The trees had been cut, and the rocks had been moved. Finally one Cherokee gave up and told a white man what he was after. The hunt was on, but no one found the collective treasure.
I read enough about that collective treasure that I thought then that I could find it, but I also considered it a Cherokee secret, and I had no right to make the discovery. Every time I met anyone who said he was a Cherokee, I told him the story and offered to take him back there and help him find it. Every single one turned the offer down without giving it a second thought. Finally I decided that maybe it was meant to be a Cherokee secret for the rest of time.
If that depository was found, it would be the discovery of the best kept secret on this continent. It would also become a national monument.
I think one farmer found it, but he never returned home. It was booby trapped.
WA
