Searching for "Lost Treeclimber Mine"

Here's your chance to join Joe Maher (Joe of the Jungle) in a treetop hunt on Saturday, Sept. 11 along the Etowah River in the north Georgia mountains, as he searches for one of the area's most elusive treasures. The following paragraphs, from the annals of local history, should give you a clue:

“His name was Johannes Abram (or Abraham) Winterouton and he came from Bavaria to the beautiful mountains of northeast Georgia early in the year 1833, at the ripe young age of 24. He was in search of the precious yellow metal that had been discovered only a few months previously beneath the tree-covered slopes that led upward from the clear waters of the Etowah River. He was an arborist by trade in his native country, but he also had spent a few brief months as a brewer’s apprentice in the city of Munich.

“His knowledge of beermaking served young Winterouton well in the shanty towns called Nucklesville and Silver City and Dougherty that grew up along the post road that paralleled the river near the gold strike. The hard-sweating and thirsty miners appreciated the fine yellow pilsner that he brewed in a secret shaft near the other mens’ diggings. They soon began to call it the “Treeclimber’s Beer.”

"Alas, the gold ran out before Winterouton could amass a huge fortune, so he decided to head west to the bigger strikes in the Rockies and the far-distant California hills. Before he left, though, the young brewer hid the entrance to his mine shaft where his remaining beer supply was stored.

“He never returned. Winterouton was erroneously convicted in a Sacramento courtroom of claim-jumping and was hanged from a giant sycamore tree he hadn’t even had the chance to climb.

“Right up to this day, thirsty adventurers have scoured every inch of the land along the Etowah River in search of the Lost Treeclimber Mine (and his ice-cold beer stash) but nobody has ever found it."

All experienced treeclimbers are welcome to bring their climbing equipment (and a flashlight) and join Joe in his quest for the Lost Treeclimber Mine. It is a free, climb-at-your-own-risk event. You should meet at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 11, at the McDonald's restaurant on the southwest corner of Georgia 400 and Georgia 53 near Dawsonville. Don't be late, since we can't wait for tardy climbers.

The Lost Treeclimber Mine is still lost somewhere along the wild Etowah River in the north Georgia mountains. Somebody, it seems, forgot to check on the opening day for deer hunting in the area.

The gully where the mine is supposedly hidden, and where there are several dozen very, very large white oaks and beeches, was full of potbellied, camouflaged old men armed with their favorite crossbows and other instruments of mass destruction.

We climbed, instead, in a very nice white oak on a mountain ridge a few miles farther north. It had a fantastic view of the surrounding wilderness. We then explored along an old mountain trail and found dozens of excellent trees that would be worthy of a future expedition to the area.

Stay tuned to this station, uh website, for info on the next climb.