FBI at site where Civil War gold rumored to be buried

March 16, 2018 at 2:41 p.m.

by The Associated Press

In this March 13, 2018 photo, FBI agents and representatives of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources set up a base off Route 555 in Benezette Township, Elk County, Pa., at a site where treasure hunters say Civil War-era gold is buried.
In this March 13, 2018 photo, FBI agents and representatives of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources set up a base off Route 555 in Benezette Township, Elk County, Pa., at a site where treasure hunters say Civil War-era gold is buried.

DENTS RUN, Pa. — A 155-year-old legend about buried federal gold appears to have caught the attention of the FBI.

Dozens of FBI agents, along with state officials and members of a treasure-hunting group, trekked this week to a site in remote northwestern Pennsylvania, where local lore has it that a Civil War gold shipment was lost or hidden during the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg.

The treasure-hunting group Finders Keepers has long insisted it found the gold buried in a state forest at Dents Run, about 135 miles northeast of Pittsburgh but said the state wouldn't allow it to dig.

The FBI is refusing to say why it was at the site Tuesday, revealing only that it was conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity.

Historians have cast doubt on the claim that a shipment of gold was lost on its way to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.

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