A reproduction of Carson's treasure map, as it appears in the typewritten transcript of his testimony.
This is the third installment of James Carson's account of hiding the gold of the bank of North Carolina in a safe place at the close of the Civil War. He and three other men have successfully conveyed it to a secluded spot out of town. Here he describes the steps they took to conceal it.
After leaving the place where we had halted for about an hour we were fortunate in meeting but few people; the road was firmer and our pace was faster than the night before. There was[sic] but few farm houses on the road, and few openings or cleared fields, and we were getting to a place where we thought we might find shelter and concealment. We had made some five or six miles when we reached what appeared to be a good hiding place, out of sight of any habitation, and no one being in sight, we left the road and struck for the thicket.
Our driver being an expert, managed to get through the undergrowth with but little difficulty, some of us going ahead and removing any obstructions that might be in the way, and it was not long before we were out of view of anyone passing the road. We continued our journey thus for a half a mile or more when fortunately we came to a branch, just the thing of all others that we were looking for. It was not very inviting it is true but it was water, and something we were obliged to have. We halted, and after a careful examination, we concluded it would do; so we went to work with the only shovel we had clearing out the bed of the stream, and also cleaning out the spring at its head. It was not long before we had it running nicely, and knew it would supply all the water we wanted for man and beast.
After this work was successfully accomplished we began making preparations for dinner, which was enjoyed by all. The next thing after our repast was to see what was to be done with our precious charge. To leave it in the wagon would never do. We had to make some disposition of it, and that quickly, as we did not know when the soldiers might come upon us, well concealed as we thought ourselves to be. So we made a careful survey of our surroundings, and found good hiding places for some of our plunder.
There had been a fire some years before in these woods which had burned some of the pines (the dead ones) entirely up, leaving round holes in the ground where the trees had stood. These holes were just the thing for the kegs, which contained the silver, and were much larger and harder to hide than the boxes containing the gold; but these holes made it much easier, and it took but little trouble or time in getting clear of them. After accomplishing this task we still had the gold to dispose of. This was a much more difficult job, as we found no ready made holes for them. At last we dicided that we must make holds for them, but where? was the question. Finally we concluded to dig a hold about six feet square and two feet deep, large enough and deep enough to hold all the boxes except two or three, which we thought could safely be buried in the branch. So, after coming to this conclusion, as night was coming on, we had supper, fed and watered the stock, and all hands got ready for the night work that was ahead of us.
We marked off the ground that was to be excavated, and with but one tool for us five, we went to work, digging by turns, and carrying away the excavated earth in the bucket for watering the stock, and dumping it in the bed of the branch some hundred yards below. The ground was not very hard, and we met with no rock or roots in digging, and by ten o'clock our pit was sunk, and ready for the boxes. We covered the bottom with them and then packed in the earth around them until nearly level with the surface, when we carefully replaced the turf which we had first removed, and gathered up all the loose earth that remained around the pit and dumped it in the branch, and this most difficult part of the work was done.
We still had two or three boxes to dispose of but we soon found a good hiding place in the bottom of the branch for them. About midnight our task, so far as burying the quarter of a million of treasure, was accomplished, but before retiring for the night we collected some old logs and trash and placed them over our pit and set them on fire, in order to obliterate as soon as possible, any marks that might exist to show that the surface had been disturbed.
After this the three that were not on guard found places rest, and the camp was quiet.
Next morning we had every tell-tale vestige of our work of the previous night removed, so that in the event of having a visit from anyone, nothing could be seen to indicate that anything had been buried by us.
We also made careful measurements from a given point giving the courses, as near as we could determine without a compass, and the distance, and made a chart or plot of the same, so that any one of us could locate the kegs and boxes in the future. The Chart was something like this. [See picture at beginning of entry]
On account of the number of grasshoppers, we gave the name of "Grasshopper Springs" to our Camp.
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