THE OAK ISLAND ELDORADO COMPANY
Event Number: 6
Contributor: Paul Troutman
Oak Island Company Name: The Oak Island Eldorado Company
Also Know By: The Halifax Company
Company Formation date and location: May 3, 1866
Initial Company Shares per Price: $4,000 - 200 shares, $20 per share
Oak Island Leased by: Anthony Graves
Years Active on Oak Island From 1866 to 1867
Deaths as a result on Oak Island: 0
Names of Company Members (location extra):
Henry George Hill - President
Augustus Oliver Creighton - Treasurer
James McNutt
W.J. Vieth - Secretary
Summary of Activity:
Incorporating with the same officers of The Oak Island Contract company, this group proposed to investors to “build a substantial wood and clay damn seaward in Smith’s Cove to extend out and beyond the rock (drainage) rock so as to encompass the whole within the dam, to pump out all of the water within the area and to break up the inlet from the sea; the cost of which [the directors] expect will not exceed 400 pounds. There cannot be any doubt but this mode of operation must succeed and will lead to the development of the hidden treasure so long sought for.” According to James McNutt who worked on the island that year, the cofferdam was 375 feet long, 12 feet high and was situated 120 feet below the high-water mark in the cove. But like the one built in 1850, this dam was soon destroyed by Atlantic storms and abnormally high tides. The group then resorted to exploratory drilling to try and locate the treasure, which was thought to have dropped down in the collapse of The Money Pit in 1861. Three holes were drilled over a six-week period from November 26, 1866, to January 7, 1867. Significantly the drill holes were cased inside a 3 inch diameter meter sleeve. This was the first time casing had been used in an Oak Island drilling program and it ensured that whatever material was brought up on the bit was something found at its original level rather than something that may have fallen into the hole from a higher position. McNutt logged a day-to-day report on the drilling program with the pumps holding the water at bay, the first hole was started from a platform at 108 feet. It entered near the northeast corner of the put and was angled to the northeast. Measured from the pit’s surface, Spruce wood was stuck at 110 feet, then several feet of course gravel, soft clay, and blue mud. Water mixed with ships of wood, coconut fiber, and charcoal were brought up from 128 feet. At 132 feet there was no water but still pieces of wood and fiber. Water was struck again at about 140 feet, followed by soft clay and fine sand; then more water at about 150 feet. The next 2 or 3 feet yielded a dry reddish soil that had never been disturbed. The second hole was drilled from a platform 78 feet and was angled to the Southeast; the third probe began at about 30 feet and slanted northeast. They were drilled to 103 feet and 160 feet respectively from the surface without striking anything of interest. If this group did any additional work is uncertain. They may have dug a shaft 175 feet southeast of The Money Pit and run a series of tunnels toward the pit But there is no original record of this work, although in early 1940’s tunnels were found that appeared to date from the 1860’s). By late 1867 the group had definitely abandoned the search and the company was dissolved. By then, the east end of Oak Island was full of pits and tunnels. In the seventy-two years since The Money Pit’s discovery a total of 11 shafts (including The Money Pit) and hundreds of feet of tunneling had been excavated and two cofferdams built at this point since 1795. The search at that point had cost one life and estimated total expenditure of $50,000 (which would be well over $2 million at today’s labor and material costs): and still no treasure had been brought up. Both the mystery and the treasure appear to be deeper than ever, and twenty-six years would pass before another serious effort was made again on Oak Island, and the Money Pit was refilled to the top of the last drilling platform, and some of the other shafts were also filled back in.
Key Events:
[1866 to 1867]:
Contributor: Paul Troutman
Oak Island Company Name: The Oak Island Eldorado Company
Also Know By: The Halifax Company
Company Formation date and location: May 3, 1866
Initial Company Shares per Price: $4,000 - 200 shares, $20 per share
Oak Island Leased by: Anthony Graves
Years Active on Oak Island From 1866 to 1867
Deaths as a result on Oak Island: 0
Names of Company Members (location extra):
Henry George Hill - President
Augustus Oliver Creighton - Treasurer
James McNutt
W.J. Vieth - Secretary
Summary of Activity:
Incorporating with the same officers of The Oak Island Contract company, this group proposed to investors to “build a substantial wood and clay damn seaward in Smith’s Cove to extend out and beyond the rock (drainage) rock so as to encompass the whole within the dam, to pump out all of the water within the area and to break up the inlet from the sea; the cost of which [the directors] expect will not exceed 400 pounds. There cannot be any doubt but this mode of operation must succeed and will lead to the development of the hidden treasure so long sought for.” According to James McNutt who worked on the island that year, the cofferdam was 375 feet long, 12 feet high and was situated 120 feet below the high-water mark in the cove. But like the one built in 1850, this dam was soon destroyed by Atlantic storms and abnormally high tides. The group then resorted to exploratory drilling to try and locate the treasure, which was thought to have dropped down in the collapse of The Money Pit in 1861. Three holes were drilled over a six-week period from November 26, 1866, to January 7, 1867. Significantly the drill holes were cased inside a 3 inch diameter meter sleeve. This was the first time casing had been used in an Oak Island drilling program and it ensured that whatever material was brought up on the bit was something found at its original level rather than something that may have fallen into the hole from a higher position. McNutt logged a day-to-day report on the drilling program with the pumps holding the water at bay, the first hole was started from a platform at 108 feet. It entered near the northeast corner of the put and was angled to the northeast. Measured from the pit’s surface, Spruce wood was stuck at 110 feet, then several feet of course gravel, soft clay, and blue mud. Water mixed with ships of wood, coconut fiber, and charcoal were brought up from 128 feet. At 132 feet there was no water but still pieces of wood and fiber. Water was struck again at about 140 feet, followed by soft clay and fine sand; then more water at about 150 feet. The next 2 or 3 feet yielded a dry reddish soil that had never been disturbed. The second hole was drilled from a platform 78 feet and was angled to the Southeast; the third probe began at about 30 feet and slanted northeast. They were drilled to 103 feet and 160 feet respectively from the surface without striking anything of interest. If this group did any additional work is uncertain. They may have dug a shaft 175 feet southeast of The Money Pit and run a series of tunnels toward the pit But there is no original record of this work, although in early 1940’s tunnels were found that appeared to date from the 1860’s). By late 1867 the group had definitely abandoned the search and the company was dissolved. By then, the east end of Oak Island was full of pits and tunnels. In the seventy-two years since The Money Pit’s discovery a total of 11 shafts (including The Money Pit) and hundreds of feet of tunneling had been excavated and two cofferdams built at this point since 1795. The search at that point had cost one life and estimated total expenditure of $50,000 (which would be well over $2 million at today’s labor and material costs): and still no treasure had been brought up. Both the mystery and the treasure appear to be deeper than ever, and twenty-six years would pass before another serious effort was made again on Oak Island, and the Money Pit was refilled to the top of the last drilling platform, and some of the other shafts were also filled back in.
Key Events:
[1866 to 1867]:
- Another Coffer dam was constructed on Smith's Coves but was destroyed by Storms and the Tide.
- A drilling program for three holes with a 3 inch diameter casing sleeve was used in The Money Pit, along with pumps to keep the water out. The 1st drill hole was positioned on a platform at 108 feet down in the Northeast corner struck Spruce Wood, then Course Gravel, Soft Clay, and Blue Mud, along with water and chips of wood, coconut fiber and charcoal, and then undisturbed dry reddish soil up to total depth of 130 feet. The 2nd hole was drilled from a platform 78 feet and angled to the Southeast without striking anything of interest down to 103 feet, along with the 3rd drill hole slanted Northeast, which was drilled to 160 feet, again without striking anything of interest.