Is there a national archive for treasure maps anywhere? If so, would you please send the address? Thank you, Ken Owens, Commerce, Oklahoma,  kenlou@datalinkok.com

I was wondering if you could give me any information on lost buried missing treasure in my location or anywhere in Pennsylvania. I received a metal detector for my birthday in March and I take it out often near the Schkyill River and so far I found a lipstick that was in a metal case and I looked old and read Max Factor Hollywood USA. I asked around and a couple of people told me it was really old. I also found an old ceramic cork from a bottle that read Adam Schedit 1898 brewing company
not sure if it has any value but was curious if you would be able to tell me any history along the Schkyill River or surrounding areas. Thanks very much and hopefully I will be able to get some information on something along theses lines. Have a great day!  Thanks again, Michelle, Buttercup0707@aol.com

Enjoyed the newsletter. I would like to ask you if you know of any clubs in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Would appreciate an answer. Thank you. rudytoporsh@webtv.net 

I've seen part of the Relicman's collection several times over the years and it is the best I've ever seen. Better than Gettysburg or Richmond. It opens today in its new location the Old Courthouse. The old courthouse is located in downtown Winchester on main street. It is worth the trip especially on a rainy day.  Here are a few links.
http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinchesterStar/030522/Area_history.asp 
http://www.civilwarinteractive.com/fredch.htm 
http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinchesterStar/021005/Area_museum.asp 
http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinchesterStar/020906/Area_courthouse.asp 
www.relicman.com 

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Dragging a Town Forward to the Past
By NICK MADIGAN, NEW YORK TIMES, May 27, 2003
GOLD HILL, N.C., May 24 - When Darius Hedrick set out to restore this faded 19th-century mining village about a decade ago, he did not get a lot of encouragement. Some said he would never be able to pull it off. They questioned his sanity. A few wanted him to get out of town.     

Gold Hill, in the early 1840's the most productive gold-mining center in North America, was almost forgotten when the 1849 gold rush in California sparked visions of riches even more unimaginable. Its oldest buildings collapsed or were overgrown by shrubs and weeds. The population shrank to fewer than 100 from about 5,000 at its height. All that suited some people just fine.

But now that Gold Hill is assuming at least a semblance of its appearance of more than 150 years ago - even if it lacks the two dozen or so saloons and the brothel it once had - people from neighboring communities who for decades paid it no mind have begun dropping by for a peek. A few stores are springing up, along with businesses like Miss Ruby's Restaurant, operated by Mr. Hedrick's wife, Nina.

Most important, the mutterings are more muted.

"I don't think there's any problem now," said Edwin Hammill, a farmer and trucking business owner who more than once locked horns with Mr. Hedrick.

Mr. Hammill, whose great-great-grandfather sailed from England, to work in Gold Hill, 50 miles northeast of Charlotte, said the two sides in the dispute over Gold Hill's future simply had "different interests."

Mr. Hedrick, 57, grew up in High Point, about 45 miles northeast of here. His grandfather, Madison Nathaniel Hedrick, was a supervisor at a copper mine here before it shut down in 1913 and lived in Gold Hill. When Mr. Hedrick and a handful of his well-heeled friends began renovating some houses and buildings, they faced some longtime residents of the area who believed that the village should be left alone.

"There were some good ol' boys who kind of wanted things to stay like they had been for years, with no change at all," said John Yelton, a retired farmer who grew up here and who helped to fix up several buildings in town.

At the height of the acrimony, several years back, Mr. Yelton and Mr. Hedrick were voted off the board of the Historic Gold Hill and Mines Foundation after, as Mr. Yelton put it, "the rednecks took over."

"There was a little conflict there," said Teresa Earnhardt, treasurer of the foundation, formed 13 years ago to help create a park around two of the 15 mine shafts that once operated here. "Darius maybe wanted to commercialize Gold Hill more than the foundation really wanted."

The businesses that have opened recently in Gold Hill are low-key, mom-and-pop operations, like Nancy Atkins's Gold Hill Mint and Bake Shoppe, or Frankie Harrison's Gold Miner's Daughter, which sells flowers and wedding items and is a replica of Gold Hill's old post office.

Two years ago, Mr. Hedrick and his supporters formed their own fund-raising organization, the Gold Hill Historic Preservation Society. James H. Millis Jr., 55, a childhood friend of Mr. Hedrick, is president, and his first order of business was to restore a dilapidated, rat-infested wooden house with no plumbing in the center of town after buying out seven heirs for $16,500.

"When my dad first saw it, he refused to get out of the car," Mr. Millis said.

He spent $500,000 and five years restoring the two-story house, and likes the result so much that he uses it as a
second home, at least temporarily dropping his plan to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast.

"The people who were living there used to meet me at the door with a gun," said Mr. Millis, who also bought an abandoned general store in a neighboring town, had it moved here on the back of a truck and is returning it to its former function.

When he and Mr. Hedrick, who say they have spent about $1 million each so far on various projects here, urged the
 Rowan County Commission to change Gold Hill's zoning to commercial from agricultural so businesses could set roots, some residents feared that shopping malls and fast-food restaurants would take over the landscape. None have.

The last straw, for some, was the passage of a county ordinance sought by Mr. Hedrick and his friends that forbade abandoning trailers, mobile homes and cars in front yards.

"There was a lot of resentment that `here comes Darius,telling us what to do,' " Mr. Hedrick said. Shaking his head, he went on: "These people are ignorant of  history and of what we're trying to do." 

Mr. Yelton, the retired farmer, said Mr. Hedrick had "made some enemies" when he suggested the vehicles ordinance, which relies on complaints from the public.

"It's a dangerous thing here in the country to go reporting people," Mr. Yelton said. "There are still a few nuts around here. They could retaliate against you with a burned-down building or something."

Mr. Hedrick, who made his money in a veneer business, had not planned to build a village. In 1988, while visiting
 Gold Hill for the first time in five years, he decided to fix up his grandfather's 150-year-old house, in which his
 father, John Robert Hedrick, was born and raised. Once that was done, he restored the Mauney's store next door, a
 building so unsound it was held up by a chain tied to a tree. He then spent $350,000 turning a former doctor's
office into a restaurant.

"People ask me, `Do you hope to make money here?' " Mr. Hedrick said. "I say, `Hell, yes.' "

People still pan for gold around here, in places like Dutch Buffalo Creek. Sometimes they find a piece or two the size of a thumbnail.

"We're still very hopeful we'll find a 25-pound nugget," Mr. Hedrick said, laughing. "It might get us through another year."

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GOLD PANNING
GOLD PANNING CONCENTRATES $7.50 per bag. Send check or M.O. to: Joseph Sokolski, 541 Alter St., Hazleton, PA 18201 (570) 459-1275 10/03

ACCESSORIES 
SLING your detector. Purchase a shoulder sling to carry your detector. Sling is 36” long and will fit up to a 1” diameter shaft. Get one for your sand scoop, too! Send $11.95 each, check or M.O to: “Leonardo”, 101 Austin Ave., Old Bridge, NJ 08857

TAPES
TREASURE TAPES FOR SALE- All States. For more information call Carroll Basil at (812) 282-9986 or send a letter requesting information to 226 Short Street, Carksville, IN 47129

TREASURE WEBSITES
TreasureBoards.com  Visit Treasure Boards for treasure hunting forums, research links, clubs and more. 09/03
FREE Twice monthly newsletter for treasure hunters!! Stories, prizes, research database, forums. www.LostTreasureUSA.com 09/03

EDUCATIONAL 
For sale: RESEARCH compiled by Michael Paul Henson (deceased), 20 pages per U.S. state, all 50 states, $5 per state. Send check or money order to Mrs. M.P. Henson, P.O. Box 980, Jeffersonville, IN 47131-0980. 

DOWSING
LEARN TO DOWSE $5 POSTAGE PAID. Will dowse lost items, send complete description. Rechey, 10040 Private Road 3814, Quinlan, TX 75474 or recheyd@hawkpci.net 10/03
FREE VALUABLE BROCHURE Dowsing rods, books, map dowsing. Fred Stewart, P.O. Box 267, Johnson City, TN 37605 09/03
MAP DOWSING 40 years experience. Gold, silver, all metals, guns, water. If it’s in the ground, I can find it. Send $40 money order to: Map Dowsing, 1347 Elkhart Circle, Tavares, FL 32778 or mapdowing@cs.com 12/03
WOULD YOU like to have a topographic map dowsed for a treasure cache site? Be sure to include information on treasure. It’s $20 for one map. Mail to: Mr. Francis Zarnowski, Mod 9, 1 Veterans Drive, Spring City, PA 19475-1241 10/03

COLLECTIBLES
JESSE JAMES POCKET WATCH made 1889. Given to Jessie Edward James on his 15th birthday 1890 in honor of his father Jesse Woodson James by his mother. I can prove the watch is real. $25,000 OBO. Must sell. I am 74 and retiring. Samuel Nokes, Sr., 5200 Buffalo Pass, Austin, TX 78745 or (512) 326-9956.

PUBLICATIONS
THOUSANDS BACK ISSUES MAGAZINES. TREASURE, DESERT, TREASURE HUNTING BOOKS. SEND $1.00 FOR LISTS. BILL HENDRICKSON, 2019 CENTER, CORTEZ, CO 81321. 11/03
LARGE COLLECTIONS OF OLD TREASURE MAGAZINES. SEND $1 WITH SASE TO MERLE KELLY, 794 LOCHAVEN, SPRINGFIELD, OR 97477 

EQUIPMENT
DOUG’S LOST-N-FOUND METAL DETECTORS New and used. Buying metal detector finds. Write 507 Irvine Ave. NW, Bemidji, MN 56601-2926. Call (218) 751-3819 after 5 p.m. 11/03
PREDATOR TOOLS, The highest quality digging tools made, designed by6 George Lesche. For information contact Pamela Lesche Enterprises, Inc., 35 South Woodruff Road, Bridgeton, NJ 08302, phone (856) 455-3790, fax (856) 455-6604, web www.predatortools.com 09/03

WANTED
MINELAB LONG SLEEVE JACKET XL Excellent condition, Give price. Call Bob (301) 390-6022.

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Featured Tale:
SHAN CREEK BURIAL SITE : “Exterminators,” heard of their presence in the area and ambushed them.