Buried treasure buffs probably know – or at least should know – the name of Granville P. Swift. Way back in 1840, native Kentuckian Swift made his way to San Francisco, nearly a decade in advance of the approaching Gold Rush that would leave the city forever changed. In 1846, Swift was part of the Bear Flag Revolt, when 33 Americans captured Sonoma from Mexico. But it wasn't until a year later when Swift's place in history would really be secure, when he and a small party struck gold at the Bidwell's Bar gold mining camp "almost immediately" after setting out for it, according to The San Francisco Chronicle's recent story about him. And according to one of his fellow prospectors at the time, it wasn't just luck:
"Swift was one of the best miners I ever knew," a fellow prospector said. "It seems as if he could almost smell the gold. He made an immense amount of gold. When these three men had worked all winter and fall, I believe they must have made $100,000 apiece and maybe more."
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"The [cache] unearthed as a result of Lehrke's dream is believed to have contained one of Swift's hidden hoards."
