River Rocks: A West Virginia Adventure Novel

by Steve Kittner

  “We should go fishing tonight,” Josh said. “Just off the bank down here.” He then gave his friend a “whatta ya think?” look.

  “It’d be a good night for it,” Eddie agreed, nodding his head slightly and turning both corners of his mouth down.

  “Mom!” Josh called.

  Emily Baker walked around the corner from the kitchen, wiping her hands with a small towel. “Yes?”

  “Do we have any chicken livers in the freezer?” He asked.

  “Not in here but there might be some in the garage freezer, if you want to look in there. Why?”

  “We might fish tonight.

  “Oh…OK” She paused. Don’t forget bug spray.”

  Nighttime fishing is extra fun for young boys who grow up along the banks of a river. The quiet of the night along the river bank is pleasant, the conversation among friends is always fun and the sounds of the animals are peaceful.

  They might hear the constant chirping hind legs of the crickets as well as the croaking bull frogs all around them. Sit there long enough and they will hear something scurry down the riverbank and into the water not far away. Most likely a muskrat, or a beaver or even a mink. They will hear it, but won’t see it. It knows they are there.

  If they make the mistake of leaving their bait too close to the water’s edge at night, they may find themselves contesting a 10-inch river turtle for what’s left.

  When they can find one, the boys will drag an old used tire down to the fishing spot at night, and light it on fire about fifteen feet up the bank from where they are fishing. A little motor oil usually helps initiate the inferno. The burning rubber compounds put off a heavy black smoke that the boys swear keeps the bugs away. It also burns very hot, so on the cooler nights it will even help to keep you warm. Elk River ingenuity.

  Boys will tend to be boys along the river at night, too. Many a boy has puffed his first cigar while night fishing…. just to keep the bugs away. And many a young fisherman has vomited his guts out after trying Red Man Chewing Tobacco for the first time in his life. They always swear they will never try it again.

  Peeing in the river is another thing that is exclusive to nighttime fishing for young boys. Pee and giggle. There is just something funny about it!

  The computer up and ready to go, Josh clicks on his browser button and waits momentarily for it to link up. He grabs a sheet of printer paper from underneath to make notes, and pulls a Bic from out of the penholder on the desk and lays it in front of his flat screen monitor.

  In the “search” box he types: southern jewel.

  Enter.

  “We need to take those livers out of the freezer right away,” Josh said. “Lemme go do that while I’m thinking about it.”

  The hard drive clicked and clattered and the bar started to fill up at the bottom of the screen. The search results were coming in. The search page flashed onto the screen and Eddie’s eyebrows went up and his eyes went wide when he saw it. 137 pages.

  Josh hurried back in from the garage and took his seat in front of the monitor.

  “Oh man,” he said. “This might take some time.”

  “Unless we get lucky and what we are looking for is on the first page.” Eddie replied.

  “We don’t even know what we are looking for, really. I guess something with the words “Southern Jewel” together in it and also we are looking for it to reference “West Virginia” in some way, right?”

  “Right. That’s what we need. Might as well start scrolling.” Optimist Eddie.

  Josh laid his finger on the scroll wheel on the computer mouse and slowly started to roll down the list of search results. The two friends glanced past “Southern Jewel Recipes” and the “Southern Jewel Flower” as well as the “Southern Jewel Seven Day Wine Tour.” There was the “Southern Jewels Tour of Stately Homes” and there was also financing available for anything you see at “Southern Jewel Used Car Lot” in Macon, Georgia. For nearly 45 minutes, both boys were glued to the screen.

  Page after page, they looked for anything that might catch their eye, and with each page that they eliminated, their spirits grew a little more somber and their hope began to diminish and Eddie began to think more about that night’s fishing plans than looking for some stupid “Southern Jewel” whatever on the vastness of the Internet.

  They rolled on past Jewelry stores, homemade Apple Butter and Palm Readers, all associating themselves with Southern Jewel, somehow.

  Josh’s excitement started to fall from his face and he was more going through the motions, after about page 60, than really trying to study what he was doing. His enthusiasm was beginning to wane.

  Eddie began to sigh and shift in his chair as the search began to get boring and monotonous. After a few more minutes, he wasn’t even looking at the screen anymore

  They were down to the pages where “Southern” and “Jewel” were often separated by about four or five other words. Often, but not always.

  Josh began to shake his head slightly, as if he were ready to throw in the towel on this adventure when something at the bottom of page 64 caught his eye. He sat up a bit and squinted at the screen, with a spark of newfound enthusiasm, as he read a small bit that made his eyes fly to the full open position.

  WWW.OURCONFEDERATEGOLD.ORG

  …..the true southern jewel of the south, supposedly disappeared from a freight train after all five crewmen were murdered in central West Virginia circa 1903.….

  “Eddie! Eddie, look here!” Josh said in an excited whisper. “Look at this!”

  Eddie’s head swung from its drooped down, rested position, as he sat on his chair with his forearms on his knees, to an upright sitting position once again. Eddie read the search result that Josh was pointing to, with a pencil, on the screen.

  “Hmmm….,” he paused. “Click on it.”

  Josh clicked on the link that was hi-lighted and once again the hard drive went to work and the little bar at the bottom started to fill up.

  What popped up on the screen next would begin to change their young lives--a website entitled “LEGEND OF THE SOUTHERN JEWEL.”

  It was a very glitzy-looking home page with shiny gold bars for a background and little sparkles that blinked on and off as one looked at it. On the left side of the page was a row of tabs to various pages on the site: HOME, LEGEND, FACTS, IMAGES, and REFERENCES.

  “Legend,” Eddie said, directing his friend.

  “Yeah.”

  Josh clicked on the LEGEND tab and, once more, the hard drive and little blue bar did their thing. In seconds it was on their screen. What had consumed their thoughts ever since they had pulled the top off of that old milk can down on the sand bar. What had kept Josh thinking and dreaming since he and Eddie deciphered “Southern Jewel” on the animal skin document in Eddie’s garage and what had led them on a 10-mile bike ride only to come up empty handed at the library. The Story of The Southern Jewel read like this:

  The Legend of the missing stash of Confederate Gold has been around for about 140 years now and has been told and re-told many times. We, here at “Legend of the Southern Jewel” web site, have done extensive research and tapped an unlimited supply of resources that come in to us every day. Our most reliable and often-used resource is, most definitely, the Library of Congress and The National Archives which are all open to the public to educate themselves as much as they like. We also work off of tips and information from visitors to our site. (Feel free to leave a message on our message board.)

  The story goes that towards the end of the Civil War, around the winter of 1864, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and other top generals and government officials of the Confederacy, including the Secretary of War, gathered and discussed their realistic outlook on the war and what they should do about it. The south had lost a quarter of its population and farms and homes were now being looted and burned as the Union Army gained more of a foothold from every battle that took it further into the southern states. Even when losing a battle, the Union Army had the r
esources to re-provision what they had lost and continue their march into Confederate country.

  The Southern leaders agreed to fight on, but to put in place a backup plan to regroup in a matter of time and invade the north once again. For this they would need finances, and what the south had was a vast supply of old Spanish gold that had been “salvaged” from ships that had run aground on the barrier islands and reefs along the southern coast in the very early years of our country. The government had set up a “legally questionable” Naval operation to “rescue” stranded ships that were hard aground, and for payment, the cargo went to local and state governments in the south. Many times the cargo was very valuable. Sometimes it was gold.

  The Confederacy also had a pile of gold that was on loan from France for the purpose of supporting their Confederate currency. Printed currency, without gold to back it up, is just useless paper. This gold was supposed to be returned to France after the war. Maybe that’s why they don’t like us today.

  There are many rumors of where they decided to hide the gold. Some say it was stuffed into cannons and buried at the site of the Battle of Bull Run, around the Stone House, where Union General Pope made his headquarters. Judith Henry was the only civilian killed in the first battle, and some even say a portion of the gold is buried with her. Some say it was buried at Virginia Military Institute where it could be guarded constantly. Others say it was shipped to Georgia where it turned up missing after a wagon train hold up.

  The most common belief is that it was, in fact, scattered to several locations throughout the south to prevent the entire booty from being discovered all at once, should someone be lucky enough to discover its whereabouts. This is most likely the truth since it is backed up by hints and clues within the articles and documents left behind by the short-lived Confederate government and available in the National Archives, as mentioned.

  Josh and Eddie looked at each other and kept reading.

  One portion of the Confederate gold was discovered very easily near the end of the war in Vicksburg, Mississippi. In desperation, it was stuffed into one of the hand-dug caverns carved out in the sides of the hills of Vicksburg. The gold could not be transported out of the city due to the siege that was in place and was packed in the only place they could put it. Upon discovery of the gold, the Union Army put it onto a train and shipped it to a bank vault in central West Virginia, where it would be stored safely until after the war. This gold was a real prize for the Union Army and was dubbed “The Southern Jewel”.

  Josh Baker and Eddie Debord gasped in unison as chills ran up both of their bodies and their breath was drawn in short gasps. At that moment, their emotions bounced between fear, excitement, and an overwhelming feeling that they were in way over their heads on something they knew nearly nothing about. They continued on.

  This is where the strange part begins, as we have discovered here at “Legend of The Southern Jewel.

  The gold sat in the Hillsburg, West Virginia, bank vault for many years until a special section of the Smithsonian Institution was made ready for it to be temporarily displayed. The gold was placed on a train one night in 1903, along with armed guards, and was to run nonstop to Washington D.C. The gold never made it. As a matter of fact, it didn’t even make it to its second checkpoint. The train was held up, most likely by a large band of southern sympathizers who had some sort of inside information on the shipment in transit. Yes, the true Southern Jewel of the south supposedly disappeared from a freight train after all five men on board were murdered in central West Virginia circa 1903.

  The government denies the gold ever existed, most likely to avoid the embarrassment of losing it. They say they have no record of it ever existing, and call the whole thing a hoax. We know better.

  Josh and Eddie were numb. Their bodies were covered in chill bumps and Eddie even felt a little nauseous. Josh’s right hand was shaking at the mouse as he stared at the screen with a blank expression. Eddie shook his head slowly and tried to say something, but no words came out. The boys had found what they were looking for, the meaning of “The Southern Jewel.” And it was way bigger than they could have ever imagined.

  Josh leaned back in his desk chair and looked straight ahead. “The article at the library…. do you remember?” He asked quietly.

  “The train robbery in 1903...the one that we laughed at.”

  “We have to go back.”

  One thing was for sure, there would be no fishing tonight.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Eddie showed up at Josh’s house just before 9:00 the next morning, ready to make the ride down the old railroad bed again to the library. The boys would need to find the microfiche once more that had the article that, just yesterday, they had dismissed as a “coal train hold-up,” and gotten a chuckle out of.

  It’s true that coal had been hauled out of these hills for many years, and it would be easy to make an assumption like that, but this particular train on that particular night was a freighter, or at least had one freight car, and was carrying very special cargo. If they could find that article again, and the story matched what they found on the Internet, then they would have a very interesting little prize in that old milk can in Josh’s garage.

  Off the boys went again, out of the neighborhood, down the dirt trail, through a couple of ditches. They pulled a couple nice wheelies, landed on their back tires and got back on the old black railroad bed that would take them the five miles to where they needed to go.

  The boys pushed their ride a little harder because they knew there was some information at the library that could possibly be very beneficial to them. They stopped only once for a drink and when they pulled up to the front door of the library again, both boys turned up a 16-ounce bottle of water and killed it. They caught their breath for a moment and proceeded into the library.

  Elton Mansfield recognized the boys right away and said, “Hello boys. More school work?” He smiled, looking up from his paperwork.

  “No sir,” replied Josh. “All pleasure.” He smiled too.

  “We need the films again,” Eddie said.

  “Well, you know what to do, right?” Elton answered, looking over his glasses and turning both palms up.

  “Yep. Go see Giselle,” Eddie replied.

  “She’s downstairs.”

  The boys started to walk toward the stairs and Elton Mansfield said, “Uh, fellows?” He paused and his expression turned curious. “Is there something in particular that you are researching in the early part of the century that I could help you with?”

  Josh and Eddie paused and glanced at each other once again.

  “No,” Josh said. “We’re just looking up genealogy stuff.”

  Elton didn’t buy it for a minute, but whatever they were doing was none of his business anyway, as long as it was within the rules of the library.

  “Feel free. Help yourself. If we can help you in any way, let us know.” He smiled again and went back to his paperwork.

  Josh and Eddie bounced down the stairs as before and walked towards the newspaper archives.

  “He’s a little weird, huh?” Josh commented.

  “Naa, he’s just an old guy who spends too much time in a library.”

  The boys thought no more about Elton Mansfield when they saw Giselle.

  Long, straightened, auburn hair and green eyes, and looking much more made up than yesterday. She was returning books to the shelves off of a cart when she spotted the two boys looking her way.

  “Oh, hey guys.” She said, as if they were old friends. “Back for more, huh?”

  “Umm, yeah.” Josh paused. “Could we get those early 1900’s films again? The ones we had yesterday?”

  “Sure,” she said happily, “let me get them for you.” Giselle paused and looked at Josh. “Is your last name Baker?”

  Josh nodded his head. Giselle smiled softly and turned to get the films.

  Eddie elbowed Josh and both boys gave a side-mouthed grin to each other, Josh raising his eyebrows a
bit.

  It hit Josh at that moment. Giselle O’Conner. Josh’s father was friends with Tom O’Conner, Giselle’s dad, and Josh remembered her from three or four years ago when the dads got together for a trout-fishing trip up on the Cranberry River with another mutual friend. Four years ago Giselle had been all knees and elbows and looked very little like what he saw in front of him. The O’Conners were a good family and very nice people, as Josh remembered.

  Josh told Eddie the story while Giselle was searching for the films that the boys needed.

  This Giselle O’Conner was 18 years old and just out of high school. She lived within walking distance of the library and planned to kill a couple of months this summer working there until she started college in August at the University of Charleston.

  She walked back over to where the boys were standing and handed the microfiche to Josh and said, “They hadn’t even been put away yet. Still over there on the cart.” She paused. “Pretty soon these will all be on hard drive and microfiche will be a thing of the past. The library is in the process of it now. But it’s expensive and money for us, is not a big priority for this county.”

  “That’ll be cool when it happens.” Eddie said.

  “Yeah, then you will be able to log into our site and do your research at home. What are you guys looking up, anyway?” she asked nonchalantly.

  Eddie and Josh looked at each other and then back to the very cute Giselle. They hadn’t told a soul what they had found and had planned on keeping it that way but isn’t it amazing what pretty eyes, gorgeous hair and a gentle smile can make a young boy think of doing? Reveal the biggest secret of his life! Giselle was looking at them, and slightly cocked her head and half grinned when the boys hesitated.