Expeditions
John Filson is the first person known to have referenced the mine following Swift's death. In 1788, Filson claimed a tract of land supposed to have included a silver mine worked by "a certain man named Swift." Filson disappeared, taking with him any knowledge he may have had as to the mine's location.
Kentucky pioneer James Harrod may also have believed in Swift's silver mine. According to Harrod's wife, a man named Bridges claimed to have found the mine, and asked Harrod for his help in developing it. Despite the fact that Harrod and Bridges had a dispute over land some years previous, these two and another man entered the wilderness of Kentucky in 1792, purportedly in search of the mine. Harrod did not return from the trip, and although his body was never found, his wife maintained that Bridges had used the story of the mine to lure him into the woods to murder him.
When Judge John Haywood was working on a history of the area around Clear Creek in Kentucky, he observed two "ancient" furnaces that he believed may have been used by Swift.
In 1854, Professor David Dale Owen was dispatched to Bell County, Kentucky as part of a geological survey of the state. As part of the survey, Owen examined a location reputed by the locals to be the site of Swift's silver mine. Guided by an explorer named Benjamin Herndon, Owen examined the area and found that it contained "some accidental minerals sparingly disseminated, such as sulphuret of Zinc and lead – which proved on examination to be hydrated silicate of alumina." Owen's survey did not find any significant deposits of silver ore in the area.
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