Red Bank Cherokee Petroglyph Gold

The Red Bank Cherokee band near the confluence of Bruton and Red Bank Creeks rejected the Treaty of New Echota and refused to use Jacob Scudder's tunnel. Instead they buried gold at 25 sites marked by a granite petroglyph boulder. In October 1932, Roy Tippens, Bob Struman, and Jack Struman excavated the largest cache — 37 pounds of gold in a Cherokee clay pot — after deciphering the stone. Georgia Court of Appeals records confirm the find; the landowner lost his claim to the boys. Forest Wade's "Cry of the Eagle" lists the other 24 deposits. The marker stone now resides at the University of Georgia, complicating modern searches for remaining Red Bank hoards.