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The Huron Expositor, 1963-09-19, Page 5I 0 • e • ti • Group �va 1Island While at Seaforth Fair • VISIT OUR BOOTH SEE . . . • Modern Furniture by Well -Known Manufacturers • Phillips and Philco TV and Hi-Fi • Small Electrical Appliances • • • Store -Wide Special Discounts ALL THIS WEEK Every Article Reduced! - • • G. A. WHITNEY FURNITURE FUNERAL and AMBULANCE SERVICE Phone 119 — Seaforth \%FOOD BUYS SPECIALS FOR Thursday, Friday and Saturday Nabob INSTANT COFFEE 6 -oz. Jar 830 15c Off Label Blue Bonnet COLOURED Margarine, 3-tb. Pkgs. 72¢ SAVE 24c Puritan BEEF STEW Large 24 -oz. Tin 39¢ Duncan Hines DELUXE CAKE MIXES 2 Pkgs. for 790 White, Devil's Food, New Deep Chocolate and Lemon Supreme — New From Proctor & Gamble DOWNEY—New Fabric Softener Giant Size 89¢ Regular Size 4,9,E Schneider's Crispy Flake SHORTENING • • • • 2-1b• Pkg. for 490 SEE LONDON FREE PRESS THURSDAY FOR ADDITIONAL SPECIALS Open 'til 10 p.m. Friday — 6 p.m. Saturday Smiths FREE DELIVERY Phone 12 By Murray' Barnerd in The Imperial Oil Review). One of the world's great treasure hunts could end in Nova. Scotia this summer. If the rigorous calculations of Ro- bert E.. Restall are effectual, the old motorcycle stunt man from Hamilton, who has thrill- ed three generations in Toron- to, Miami, Blackpool and Berlin, may bring off the biggest trick of his career on tiny Oak Is- land, 45 miles southwest of Halifax. With his two sons and wife, Mildred, an ex -ballet dancer, Restall has spent four years on the island bucking winter gales and crowds of summer sight- seers, trying to find a legendary hoard of buried gold. Ever since the curious earthwork of the Oak Island "money pit" was discovered by a local settler in 1795, dozens of expensive expeditions have sought trea- sure on the island, unsuccess- fully. Boli Restall is convinced now that he knows exactly where the treasure is buried, that it, lies within 25 feet of his present workings and, most important, is reasonably acces- sible, He says it's in gold bars worth perhaps $30 million. With heavy-duty diesel gen- erating equipment, Restall and his son, Robert Jr., 22, are spending 10 hours a day drill- ing laterally ' from the 125 -foot level of a renovated shaft, sunk by one of Oak Island's numer- ous former treasure seekers. The Restall shaft is one of some 200 shafts, tunnels and drill holes that honeycomb the east -end of the island with the dank archeology of 168 years of treasure hunting. In fact, it's the confusion of evidence from the diggings of previous searchers, their misleading maps and letters and the encrustations of local folklore, that has been the Restalls' biggest problem. For one thing, there is no firm historic evidence of any large treasure ever being bur- ied along the shores of Nova Scotia, though there are many tales of Spanish coin being found here and there. At one time treasure seekers believed they were digging for the booty of Captain Kidd. Later ideas are more fanciful: that it is Inca gold, the French Crown jewels, the treasure of Fort Louisburg, of the Acadiansettlers expelled by the ritish, of British priva- teers, ofthe pirate Captain Morgan,. of the pirate strong- hold of Old Port Royal, and of Panama. However, privateers and free- booters did frequently raid these coasts during the 17th and 18th centuries. And the complex earth and stonework of the Oak Island site is evi- dence enough in itself. The pit, perhaps 150 feet deep in the blue clay of the island, is tiered with intervals of oak planks probably cut on the site. Apparently to prevent penetra- tion of the pit, a complicated system of intake tunnels flood- ed it with seawater to tide level, about 30 feet from the surface. Engineers say the pit and its flooding mechanism would have required sophisti- cated engineering and several years to build. However, long before the Re - stalls took up residence on the enigmatic half square -mile of pebbled coves and saplings, they did something that few previous treasure hunters had done: they sifted a century and a half of puzzling and conflict- ing documents. When Restall first visited the island on vaca- tion in 1955, he believed, like most hunters before him, that with up-to-date techniques and a bit of luck he could take the treasure in quick time. How- ever, circumstances intruded: and we'll be there to meet our many friends with an outstanding exhibition of modern farm machinery. We will look forward to seeing you at Seaforth Fall Fair on Friday. McGA YIN FARM EQUIPMENT Gordon McGavin Phone 751 J 1 Neil McGavin Walton there already were treasure hunters on the island and it was four years later before he got search rights from the own- er of Oak Island, M. R. Chap- pall, Sydney, N.S. Under the Nova Scotia treasure trove law, Chappell• owns these rights and requires a contract from the treasure hunters before digging begins. In the fall of 1959 Restall re- turned to the resort town of Chester, jumping off point for Oak Island, with his wife and their sons, Rickey, then eight, and Bobby, just graduated from high school. They were on holi- days and Mildred discounted her husband's enthusiasm for treasure hunting as a summer romance to be forgotten when they returned to the urban re- alities of Hamilton. "Oh, he talked about treas- ure hunting alright. We all talk- ed about treasure hunting the whole time, but I didn't believe for a minute that, we were ac- tually going to do it" she says. In October the Restalls built a toolshed near the site of their present shaft, stowed equip- ment for an early spring start and were preparing to winter in Chester when some of the equipment"was stolen. This tin - pleasant touch of modern piracy made them move to Oak Island where no one had lived for generations. Except for their toolshed no building were on Oak Island. But besides being a steelworker by trade, Restall is an unin- hibited handyman. He quickly turned the toolshed into a one - room cabin containing built-in bunks, dining nook, bottled -gas range and an oil space heater. Yet the first winter was far from cosy. Mildred remembers it well: "Boiled drinking water and an outdoor privy, ice mount- ing the inside walls, and the only warm place on top of the bed.;' A stocky man with crisp hair, fierce eyes and, by now, the burnished complexion of local fishermen, Restall holds to the treasure hunt with a tenacity approaching religious faith. In hip rubberboots and mud -splat- tered coveralls, he beats the bounds of the site interpreting compass headings and distaxices from ancient drilled rock to stone triangle, with unassailable conviction. At 56 years of age, he is plainly on the adventure of his life. During the first winter with the sniff of centuries on the wind and, on the doorstep, the ruin `of earthworks built by un- known adventurers arriving by sea maybe 250 years ago, it was impgssible to be aloof. By the light of kerosene lamps, the Restalls studied the records of the early inhabitants of the sea- coast, the history and legends of the place, and early charts of the bay of 350 islands which, in the 18th century was named Mahone from the French for a type of pirate ship. By day they explored 'the island yard by yard. They spent more . than three years on the island, up to last December, working on a level closer to intelligent beachcomb- ing than construction engineer- ing. They found the original "money pit," first discovered in 1795 but lost since the begin. ming of this century. Only this spring, drilling began. All the while they lived frugally on money they had saved from show business days and funds loaned and invested in the pro- ject by friends at home. Restall is digging for gold, of course, but more than that., he is trying, he says, to achieve something that no one else has ever been able to accomplish, though there have been many beautifully bankrolled attempts. What Restall wants most is to hold in his soiled hands the incredible. In another way he has done it before. As a youngster in New York, his pay cheques bought motorcycles for hill climbing and track racing until he became a professional stunt rider with his own show tour- ing Europe and Britain. Mil- dred was the featured dancer in the Blackpool Winter Gar- den when she joined him as wife and partner in the Restalls' famous Globe of Death, an act involving two looping motor- cycles which has never been performed by anyone else be- fore or since. But international tors, manufacturers, hard -rock changes in show business gra- I miners, groups of Nova Scotia dually put the Globe of Death' bilsinessmen and the late Frank - in storage leaving the Restalls lin D. Roosevelt. in need of new adventure. Although Restall's contract Restall chose Oak Island be. gives him sole rights to dig for cause he was charmed by 40 the treasure it does not dis- years of newspaper and maga- courage a wide variety of ama- zine stories about the place.', tear investigators, One day last Ever since boyhood in his na- ! summer while CBC television tive Toronto he has dreamed of crews were shooting film se - hunting the treasure himself. quences, scuba divers plunged But, if there was ever a pinch offshore, a lady diviner was of glamour in the current Oak practising in the bush, and an Island venture, it has disappear• unknown party elsewhere on ed for the Restall family. Re, the island exploded small charg- gardless of the shiny possibili- es of dynamite, ties of the future, the routine The serious expeditions of the after four years of unrewarded past, however, have all had ex - enterprise is unexciting. tensive financing—at least in Day after day in jeans and the beginning. Local residents shirt, carting water to do the think more money has been sunk in Oak Island than will ever be taken out. But Restall's biggest apparent assets were not money but intense enthusiasm and a way With machinery. But now, however, his sup- plies, machinery and living costs over four years, total about $70,- 000. This incltldl:s funds put up ' was. the leading _dancer in. a small ballet troupe playing the Winter Garden, in Blackpool when this guy came Aver want- ing girls to pose with his motor- cycle for publicity shots. "Ile made a big hit with my mother who was an actress and later, when he wanted me '6o tour Europe with his motor- cycle act, she persuaded me to go. We were married oh, so long ago, and that's how I came to Oak Island." But the hardships of house- keeping are a small part of the difficulties of the treasure hun- ters' domestic lives on Oak Is- land. For example, it's almost impossible to plan even for the immediate future because, win or lose, she says, they cannot imagine what the future will be like. "Today we are diggers. Tomorrow we may be broke or we may have a few million dol- lars. Either way the experience for us will be unique." Though the Nova Scotia Tour- ist Bureau calls this part of the country Canada's Ocean Play- ground and for thousands of summer vacationers from the United States and central Can- ada it is just that, the Restalls are at best indifferent to the outdoor life. Mildred's fondest desire is for a dress -up eve- ning of dinner and theatre but she makes do with the Phil- harmonic received on transistor radio from nearby CKBW Bridgewater. On summer weekends she and Rickey show up to 150 visitors a day around the. site of opera- tions and try to keep them from interfering with the work. "Some of the visitors are in- teresting, but they won't talk about where they've been," Mil- dred says: "All they want to talk about is Oak Island." It is the same with local residents, she adds. "The people here have been very kind and help- ful, but no matter who enter- tains or visits us, the conversa- tion always gets around to the same old thing, Oak Island. There's no escape." For their son, Bob, life is somewhat better: With the use of the family car, which is kept ashore, and the family outboard to take him there two nights a week, he does the rounds of dances and parties with his -age group in Chester and Bridge- water. But both boys, like their father, are unmoved by the lore of the woods and the sea. Instead of snaring rabbits and fishing pollock when there is time to spare from assigned chores and his correspondence studies with the Nova Scotia Department of Education, Ric- key prefers building model air- planes and playing chess with his brother. "Bob and I used to play cards with them," Mil- dred says, "but we stopped when we all got to know one another's next moves." In the long winter evenings the Restalls read vorciously— history, adventure, geology— and Mildred has started learn- ing French. Twice a week, win- ter and summer, they boat into Western Shore or Chester to shop for food, pick up the mail, and when necessary arrange with Virgil Mader, Chester Esso agent, for supplies of gasoline, stove oil and diesel fuel. Their meals are plain but good. So far they have had no illness nor accidents. Yet living in self-appointed exile amid an indifference of sand and brine and lonely manu- al labor, Mildred believes is more than average middle class families could bear, despite the possible fortune. However, Oak Island con- tinues to fascinate many men in many places. Mel Chappell has at least one would -be -treas- ure hunter standing by for his chance if the Restalls fail or give up. Restall's contract, re- newed last January, requires that he show Chappell tangible proof of having found the trea- sure by December 1963. If he does, he can have whatever time he needs to unearth the gold. Even if he doesn't find gold, he may be able to re- negotiate the contract if he has made acceptable progress. Over the years, individuals, syndicates and companies in- corporated especially for the search have probed the island. There were expeditions of Tex- as and New Jersey millionaires, engineers, professors, contrac- family wash outdoors in an im- provised gasoline -powered wash- ing machine, Mildred Restall feels more like a pioneer wife than the English ballet dancer she was in the 1920s. Mending her younger son Rickey's dun- garees she emphasized her points with jabs of the needle. VISIT OU$ BOOT= - T•.I R . FAIR 4t Get a Tleke� , on Our MEE DRAW for *10.00 Mer ha SEE THE LATEST 034IH THEsE In . . . • Ladles' Wear • Men's Wear • Sports Wear Come into our store after the Fair; we're open until 10 p.m., and look over our new range of Fall Ready -to -Wear Suits, for every age, taste and size. We have a grand range of suits for bigger men right now in sizes up to 48• 45.00 to 69.50 SEE OUR NEW RANGE OF Men's Sport Shirts •` • 3.95 to 6.95 • New Striped Dress Shirts • • 4.95 to 5.95 • New Fall Hats • • • • 6.95 to 9.95 • Kroy Wool Dress Sox 1.50 to 1.95 • See Us For BOYS' SUITS - SWEATERS SPORT SHIRTS - ETC. The BEST Values in Town! FALL SPECIALS FROM OUR LADIES' DEET, SPECIAL PURCHASE Reg, 18.95 Quality ' KENWOOl) All -Wool BLANKETS 95 • Reg. 1.35 -- 20 x 42 Cannon BATH TOWELS • WABASSO "MAORI" - Patterned FLANNELETTES • Reg. $1.00 — WABASSO PLAIN FLANNELETTES 22" PURE LINEN TEA TOWELLING SPECIAL — Red Check DISH CLOTHS • • • 990 ea. 5510 yd. 69,¢ yd. 39¢ yd. 2 for 350 Sale of Family Quality WABASSO COTTON SHEETS SAVE NOW ! 63 x 100 Size , 6.25 pr. 72 x 100 Size 6.95 pr. 81 x 100 Size 7.50 pr. 42" Pillow Slips Special 1.55'pr, Newest FAL: MILLINERY FELTS VELOURS VELVETS • New Shapes • New Fall Tones 4.95 to 14.95 Feather Whimsy's 1.95 to 3.95 Stewart Bros. WITH THE BEST VALUES 'IN TOWN ! by friends who in return will receive half his percentage of the treasure. Restall splits ev- enly any discovery with the owner of the island, after the Nova Scotia government takes its five per cent under the treas- ure trove law. This means that if he succeeds, after paying his backers, Restall will have 23.7 per cent or about $7 million. It's a fair entrepreneur's pro- fit considering tl}e risk. And the Restalls -have made some important finds: remnants of the tons of West Indian coco- matting, originally used as fil- ters over the water intakes, and a paving stone inscribed— "1704." Hebelieves this is the date that privateers, probably employing slave Iabor, built their North. Atlantic Fort Knox. Far from being a fly-by-night pirate's cache, he thinks Oak Island was a stronghold of pir- ates or privateers for more than 20 years. Similar systems of underground ' tunnels and pits, flooded at- will by seawater, he says, were used for the safe- keeping of treasure in Panama and the West Indies during the 17th and 18th centuries. He be- lieves such an elaborate con- struction would not be left un- attended and has discovered three stone piles, possibly the ruins of early sentry stations. The immediate practical im- portance of rediscovering the in- take turinels, however, is that Restall was able to pump in con- crete and partially curtail the flooding that has been going on probably for more than 250 years. In addition, Bob is op- erating gasoline and diesel - powered pumps 'of 1,000 gal- lons a minute capacity to bail his shaft which drops nearly 100 feet below tide level. ' These were the engineering solutions earlier expeditions were unable to apply. The success the Restalls ex- pect, however, is pinned at pre- sent to a close reading of the records of some spectacular 19th century expeditions, ra- ther than recent ones. Restall's lengthy studies and explorations indicate that drilling bits— which picked up parchment and apparent traces of gold in 1897 —were actually deflected north and that the,vault lies between 15 and 25 feet north of the present shaft. If they take the treasure this summer as they thoroughly ex- pect to do, Mildred Restall in- sists on a good two-month holi- day, maybe in Australia. After that, her husband says, "with the experience we've gained treasure hunting on Oak Island, we might try somewhere else." HENSALL LAC and. Mrs. Earl Tittering - ton of New Westminster, B.C., took up residence in the Fink Apartments on Monday of this week. Their pet cat, Perry, three years old, weighing 20 pounds, was flown by plane from Comox, B.C., leaving there at 6:30 p.m. Monday evening and arriving in London at 9:40 Tuesday morning, a distance of 3,000 miles. LAC Titterington will be stationed at RCAF Sta- tion Centralia. Mrs, Agnes Williams of Bar- stow, California, is -visiting with her sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Earl Campbell. • Mr. and Mrs. Earl Neeb and Ricky of New Lowell, N.O., Mrs. Ellen Adams, Seaforth, and Mr. and Mrs. Ward Neeb and fam- ily, Dashwood, were weekend" visitors with Mr. and Mrs. Glen McKenzie and family. Mr. and Mrs. Don Rigby, Mr. Bill Knights and Mr. L. C. Rum- ble of Blenheim were Sunday guests with Mr. and Mrs. Harry Snell, Mr. Bill Knights, Stewart and Jane returned home with them. - Mr. Clendon Christie under- went surgery in Clinton Public Hospital Monday of this week. WANT ADS BRING QUICK RESULTS — Phone 141 Read the Advertisements — It's a Profitable Pastime! Bagged Fertilizer NOW AVAILABLE AT THE NEW Harriston Fertilizer Plant 4 Miles West of Seaforth — 1/4 Mile South of Highway No. 8 .. IN STOCK . , 3-15-9 — 5-20-10 — 5-20-20 — UREA (Other Analysis Available on Request) WIB HOEGY—Monkton 347-2378 or Dublin 38r25 FRANK PEARCE — Seaforth 396 DON HOCKING — Kirkton 155r20 PLANT — Clinton, HU 2-9133 We Deliver Bulk Spread Service