The legend of John Swift Silver Mines is most likely the oldest known legend in Kentucky and has been passed from generation to generation. According to the legend a man by the name of John Swift, along with a company of men, mined silver ore and smelted the ore into ingots and counterfeit silver crowns from 1761 until 1769. After a number of years and various setbacks, the legend goes, Swift became blind and attempted to write down in a "journal" a description and directions to the mines from memory. Numerous landmarks, some widely known and others that are more generic, are found across Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

In his journal Swift claimed to be a Captain of a fleet of sailing ships and claimed as well to do a great business on the seas. He was born in 1712 in Philadelphia and went to sea as a boy. He eventually settled in Alexandria, Virginia and supposedly retired from the sea in 1752. In the same year, 1752, a man by the name of John Finley traveled down the Ohio River and found his way overland to the Shawnee settlement known as Eskippakithiki (S-kippa-kee-ta-kee). Today this site is located in Eastern Clark County and is commonly referred to as Indian Old Fields. Historically, this was the last known Shawnee town in Kentucky.

John Finley befriended the Shawnee and opened a trading store, selling goods to the Shawnee until the store and town were burned in 1753 as a result of an Iroquois attack on the settlement. Finley returned to the east and eventually by 1755 ended up serving as a wagon driver along with Daniel Boone in General Braddock's army of British regulars and frontier militiamen. Captain John Swift also claimed to be in Braddock’s army where he met up with a George Mundy who tells him that he had been mining silver ore with the Shawnee in the western wilderness south of the Ohio River.

Most accounts of the Swift journal says that Mundy led Swift and to the mines in 1760 but they did not work the mines, instead, returning in 1761 to earnestly begin the operations.

"The creek the furnace is in heads southwest and then runs northeast. It is in a far and remote place in the west. It abounds with laurel. It is so rough and rocky that it is nearly impossible to get horses to the furnace. We built and enclosure of vines and brush on another creek six or seven miles away to keep our horses in."

"On our first trip, Mundy got lost but after following the creek in a southwest course he recognized the hills on the opposite side. He said if we were ever over there he knew how to reach the Indian Trace, which was some miles below, then he would know ho to get to the mines."

"He (Mundy) said we had to go through a myrtle thicket and then down a flight of Indian Stair Steps, then across the creek to the cliffs where the mine was located. We crossed the creek by a natural bridge and Mundy led us to a place the Indians used as a camping ground. One mile northwest from the rock bridge and just below where the creek forks we also smelted ore."

"Mundy finally found the myrtle thicket. He led us to the Indian Stair Steps. You can stand on the top of the stair steps and look across the creek at the mine and the cliffs are in the shape of a half-moon. We went down the steps and crossed the creek and climbed up to between the second and third ledge then went about

200 yards west and found the opening to one of the mines."

"Where the ore is, the cliff is in the shape of a half-moon, and we called it the Half-Moon Cliff. The vein of ore runs northeast and southwest. There are two veins, one thick and one thin. The richest ore is to be found in the latitude of 38 degrees and 57 minutes north."

Men and women have been searching over the years for this treasure. From the time of Daniel Boone to recent days, people have searched and some have even claimed to have found the location

The first evidence of interest in the Swift treasure could be considered the land grant obtained by John Filson and Robert Breckenridge for a 1000 acres in Lincoln County Virginia, issued in 1788. John Filson, who wrote the first book about Kentucky, published in 1788, though he never mentioned the mines in his book. The warrant states that about seventeen years earlier the land had been improved by a man named Swift and that Swift reports he has extracted ore and a considerable amount of silver, some of which he made into dollars and left near the mine.

Swift supposedly wrote down the directions and left them with a family in Bean Station Tennessee. The family’s name was said to be Renfro. Swift was blind by this time and using others as his guide, tried to follow his directions searching for the lost mines. Swift left tantalizing descriptions of rocks and landmarks. One version of the journal says, "on the right-hand fork is a large spring. Between the spring and the furnace you will find a remarkable rock. It hangs over a small creek and the water runs under it."

The legend of John Swift has been around for a long time. In 1792 James Harrod traveled to the three forks of the Kentucky River in search of a silver mine. Harrod never returned from this ill fated trip. Harrod’s body was never found. Harper’s Monthly magazine mentions the Swift mines in Kentucky in 1886; The New York Times had a short article in 1896 stating the mine may have been found in Kentucky. There have been countless newspaper and magazine stories about the mystery over the years. There have been many treasure hunters and prospectors spend fortunes and years sifting through the clues and searching for the fabled treasure that still remains hidden.