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Info for Land Owners
Hunt is delayed pending foundation appprovals.
Morrisons Hill cemetary cleanup event Canceled !

Full Background Story

Two years ago, the British Parliament released Lord Pride’s 1658 Will on the Web. In it, he left 4,000 British Pounds Sterling to his fifth-born son Joseph Pride who settled Prides Corner as a fugitive two years later in 1661. In 1968, two hunters from Windham found 300 Coins in a half-melted lump in Suckfish Brook at Highland Lake. The unaccounted for 3700 pounds sterling would be worth $234 Million Dollars if calculated at recent auction valuations as a rare coin. All the same or different types of pound sterling coins is unknown, but its a lot of money in any case.

Lord Pride had become fabulously wealthy as a supplier of lumber and building materials used to build the British Fleet and the beer, victuals and supplies to sustain it throughout the 1650's. Lord Pride, a commander of soldiers of foot (Marines), was so central to the British Navy Establishment that he was to be named Commander of the Entire Fleet if Admiral Blake had not survived the fever in 1653. In 1649, the year of the execution, he purchased the entire Nonsuch Forest for shipbuilding materials for the fleet, and immediately stripped it of 6000 trees in a few years. It was likely his crews of puritan civil war veterans that began the harvest of Duck Ponds old growth in the early 1650's. Duck Pond masts were the lowest hanging fruit and Masting had really taken off in the 1640's. In 1652 there was a Naval Mast crisis resulting from the Baltic crisis of 1652-53. The fleet dispatched its own Mast ships to meet the emergency, likely crewed by the experienced and available lumberjacks from the Lord Prides recently denuded Nonsuch Forest. They returned every year for a decade before the Mast Agent system began.

Whomever cut it, Highland Lake Masting created safe, extremely remote, cleared land of the finest farming quality, functional transport both out for lumber and masts and in for supplies, not to mention 1000 pounds of silver coins. Masting was done in winter and would require wells to water the animals and work crews involved, hovels for the Oxen, and thrown up lodgings for the crew. The history of the Masting industry makes it clear, this area was already masted and vacant in 1661, and most likely masted by people the fugitive Joseph would have known well. Joseph spent his teenage years on the Nonsuch estate while it was being logged. Duck Pond was the perfect hideout for the most wanted man in the world in 1661, and it may have come with an established support system.

There are no records of such a vast fortune ever being spent here or in the UK.

Many Local Residents heard the tale in the 1960's.
It was the talk of the town.

(Silver Tales of 7 Witnesses)

(Silver Tales of 7 Witness)

The hunt is delayed pending Foundation Approvals.

Landowners please call, I would like your input and views
before this is all set in stone.
605-777-0491

No outside personnel will be involved in the project. Landowners will need to provide a carrier or do it themselves to do the search. Carriers simply carry the sensor in a straight line back and forth every 24 inches while I analyse the digital signals generated from a comfortable chair :). Landowners/Carriers share in a common labor pool of ten percent of the realized value based on percentage of acres searched (an almost sure thing vs a long shot,... the coins are obviously there somewhere). Rare coins are going up big time lately so $100,000,000.00 is probably very conservative. So if your Grandson carries for one morning for a couple of acres and we find it at 100 acres on somebody elses patch, thats a cool quarter million or better and it's ... HELLO HARVARD !! The solid identification of the cabin's location has reduced the primary target area from 650+ acres down to less than 200 and they are the most easily searched. A walk in the park verses a slog in the swamp, or a tortuous tic laden thicket trudge! Statistically 75% of hordes are found in sight of the residence. Fortunately the most promising of which is open easily covered fields ! Areas outside the Prime area will be searched after the Prime areas if the hunt is still on, or if there are gaps in the schedule for the Prime locations. Previously Owner searched properties will be searched Last. Skill level will matter a great deal, making offering secondary searches ultimately advisable.

605-777-0491

Email: DanPride@Gmail.com
Note:I always respond same day, but reception can be problematic so text or call if no response

Found Treasure Tax Ramifications

The Project's Prime Area

*Completed means a verified comprehensive double box search on 24 inch paths.

Searches require 2 to 5 hours per acre depending on terrain. If you have an active 15 year old, who doesn't mind plowing through tic infested brush thats a pretty good fit. Skills required are pay attention and walk in a straight line at 1.5 mph. Pay rate is a quarter million a day if we hit at least. If we find it on your neighbors land, the kids or grandkids efforts will still pay for a silver plated college fund and probably a house !!

The project will be set up as the Joseph Pride Foundation which includes a Blank Check for the Highland Lake Association for water improvement, donations to a lot of churches, improving kids nutrition, majior donations to Libraries, donations to promote the pubic good etc. The landowner with the goods automatically becomes chairman of the board of the Joseph Pride Foundation of course, with a second member randomly chosen from the participating landowner group. Whatever the decision, I expect it will be made in the glare of a World Wide spotlight worthy of the Execution of the King of England by a twelve year old the moment even one of these coins go on sale. Forever to be known henceforth as the greatest, the first, and the last Americana story of America's history. Your great grand kids will probably watch and learn about your role in a movie in 150 years,... and I do own the copyright and am writing the script as we go so be nice ;)