Exploration Attempts
1795
c. 1803
• McGinnis, Smith, Vaughan
• 30'
• Logs every 10', Pick marks on walls
• Onslow Company
• 90'
• Logs cont., Other materials at 40', 50', and 60'
1849
• The Turro Company
• approx. 111'
• Varying layers of metal and wood
1861
• Oak Island Association
• 111'
• Bottom shaft collapse
1931
• WIlliam Chappel
• 163'
• Artifacts found at 127'
1965
• Robert Dunfield
• 134'
• Mass excavation, 100' wide by crane
c. 1967
• Blankenship and Tobias
• 181' (bedrock)
• Possible pictures of artifacts, but to blurry to positively identify
Oak Island is a 57-hectare (140-acre) island in
Lunenburg County on the south shore of
Nova Scotia, Canada. The tree-covered island
is one of about 360 small islands in Mahone
Bay and rises to a maximum of 11 metres (36
feet) above sea level. Located 200 metres
(660 feet) from shore and connected to the
mainland by a modern causeway, the island is
privately owned.
Oak Island is noted as the location of the socalled Money Pit and the site of over 200
years of treasure hunting. Repeated
excavations have reported layers of
apparently man-made artifacts as deep as 31
metres (102 ft), but ended in collapsed excavations and flooding. Critics argue that there is no treasure
and that the pit is a natural phenomenon, likely a sinkhole.
The history of the island and the ongoing search for treasure are the subject of the reality television
program The Curse of Oak Island, which premiered on the History Channel on January 5, 2014.
Early accounts
There are many 19th-century accounts of Oak Island, but some are conflicting or biased. Further,
physical evidence from the initial excavations is absent or has been lost. A basic summary of the history
of the pit is as follows:
In 1795, 18-year-old Daniel McGinnis, after observing lights coming from the island, discovered a circular
depression on the southeastern end of the island. Adjacent to the clearing was a tree with a tackle block
on one of its overhanging branches.[4] McGinnis, with the help of friends John Smith (in early accounts,
Samuel Ball) and Anthony Vaughan, excavated the depression and discovered a layer of flagstones a few
feet below. On the pit walls there were visible markings from a pick. As they dug down they discovered
layers of logs at about every 10 feet (3.0 m). They abandoned the excavation at 30 feet (9.1 m).
This initial discovery and excavation was first briefly mentioned in print in the Liverpool Transcript in
October 1856. A more complete account followed, again in the Liverpool Transcript by a Justice of the
Peace in Chester, Nova Scotia, the Novascotian, British Colonist, and A History of Lunenburg County, (the
last source based on the Liverpool Transcript articles).
About eight years after the 1795 dig, according to the original articles and the memories of Vaughan,
another company examined what was to become known as the "Money Pit." The Onslow Company
sailed 300 nautical miles (560 km) from central Nova Scotia near Truro to Oak Island with the goal of
recovering what they believed to be secret treasure. They continued the excavation down to
approximately 90 feet (27 m) and found layers of logs or "marks" about every ten feet (3 m) and layers
of charcoal, putty and coconut fibre[10] at 40, 50 and 60 feet (12, 15 and 18 m).
According to one of the earliest written accounts, at 80–90 feet (24–27 m), they recovered a large stone
bearing an inscription of symbols. Several researchers apparently attempted to decipher the symbols.
One translated them as saying: "forty feet below, two million pounds lie buried." The symbols currently
associated with the "forty feet down..." translation and seen in many books first appeared in True Tales
of Buried Treasure, written by explorer and historian Edward Rowe Snow in 1951. In this book he states
he was given this set of symbols by Reverend A.T. Kempton of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Nothing more
is known about Kempton's involvement in the Oak Island tale. The pit subsequently flooded up to the
33-foot (10 m) level. Bailing did not reduce the water level, and the excavation was abandoned.
Investors formed The Truro Company in 1849, which re-excavated the shaft back down to the 86 feet
(26 m) level, where it flooded again. They then drilled into the ground below the bottom of the shaft.
According to the nineteenth-century account, the drill or "pod auger" passed through a spruce platform
at 98 feet (30 m), a 12-inch (300 mm) head space, 22 inches (560 mm) of what was described as "metal
in pieces", 8 inches (200 mm) of oak, another 22 inches (560 mm) of metal, 4 inches (100 mm) of oak,
another spruce layer, and finally into clay for 7 feet (2.1 m) without striking anything else.
Oak Island Association and Old Gold Salvage group
The next excavation attempt was made in 1861 by a new company called the Oak Island Association
which resulted in the collapse of the bottom of the shaft into either a natural cavern or booby trap
underneath. It was later theorized that the imagined chests had fallen into a deep void and that the pit
may have been booby-trapped to protect the treasure. The first fatality during excavations occurred
when the boiler of a pumping engine burst. (Six people have been killed in accidents during various
excavations.) The company gave up when their funds were exhausted in 1864.
Further excavations were made in 1866, 1893, 1909, 1931, 1935, 1936, and 1959, none of which was
successful. Excavators did however pour red paint into the flooded pit which revealed three separate
exit holes around the island. Another fatality occurred on 26 March 1897, when Maynard Kaiser, a
worker, fell to his death. Franklin Roosevelt was part of the Old Gold Salvage group of 1909 and kept up
with news and developments for most of his life.
Gilbert Hedden and William Chappell
In 1928, a New York newspaper printed a feature story about the strange history of the island. Gilbert
Hedden, operator of a steel fabricating concern, saw the article and was fascinated by the engineering
problems involved in recovering the putative treasure. Hedden collected books and articles on the island
and made six trips there. He even ventured to England to converse with Harold T. Wilkins, the author of
Captain Kidd and His Skeleton Island, believing he had found a link between Oak Island and a map in
Wilkins's book.
Hedden purchased the southeast end of the island. He began digging in the summer of 1935, following
excavations by William Chappell in 1931. In 1939, he even informed King George VI about developments
on Oak Island.
The 1931 excavations by William Chappell sank a 163-foot (50 m) shaft 12 × 14 feet to the southwest of
what he believed was the site of the 1897 shaft, close to the original pit. At 127 feet (39 m), a number of
artifacts, including an axe, an anchor fluke, and a pick were found. The pick has been identified as a
Cornish miner's poll pick. By this time, the entire area around the Money Pit was littered with the debris
and refuse of numerous prior excavation attempts, so the owner of the pick cannot be identified.
Restall family and Robert Dunfield
Excavation by the Restall family in the early 1960s ended tragically when four men died after being
overcome by fumes in a shaft near the beach. In 1965, Robert Dunfield leased the island and, using a 70ton digging crane with a clam bucket, dug out the pit area to a depth of 134 feet (41 m) and width of 100
feet (30 m). The removed soil was carefully inspected for artifacts. Transportation of the crane to the
island required the construction of a causeway (which still exists) from the western end of the island to
Crandall's Point on the mainland two hundred metres away.
Triton Alliance
Around 1967, Daniel C. Blankenship and David Tobias formed Triton Alliance, Ltd. and purchased most of
the island. In 1971, Triton workers excavated a 235-foot shaft supported by a steel caisson to bedrock.
According to Blankenship and Tobias, cameras lowered down the shaft into a cave below recorded the
possible presence of some chests, human remains, wooden cribbing and tools; however, the images
were unclear, and none of these claims has been independently confirmed. The shaft subsequently
collapsed, and the excavation was again abandoned. This shaft was later successfully re-dug to 181 feet
(55 m), reaching bedrock; work was halted because of lack of funds and the collapse of the partnership.
In the January 1965 issue, an account of an excavation of the "Money Pit" appeared in Reader's Digest
magazine. Over a decade later, the Money Pit mystery was the subject of an episode of the television
series In Search of..., which first aired 18 January 1979, bringing the legend of Oak Island to a wider
audience.
During the 1990s, further exploration was stalled because of legal battles between the Triton partners.
As of 2005, a portion of the island was for sale for an estimated US$7 million. A group called the Oak
Island Tourism Society had hoped the Government of Canada would purchase the island, but a group of
American businessmen in the drilling industry did so instead.
Oak Island Tours Inc.
It was announced in April 2006 that brothers Rick and Marty Lagina from Michigan had purchased a 50%
stake in Oak Island Tours Inc., for an undisclosed amount of money. The shares sold to the Michigan
partners were previously owned by David Tobias; remaining shares are owned by Blankenship. Center
Road Developments, in conjunction with Allan Kostrzewa and Brian Urbach, members of the Michigan
group, had purchased Lot 25 from David Tobias for a reported $230,000 one year previous to Tobias
selling the rest of his share. The Michigan group, working with Blankenship, has said it will resume
operations on Oak Island in the hope of discovering buried treasure and the mystery of Oak Island.
In July 2010, Blankenship and the other stakeholders in Oak Island Tours Inc. announced on their
website that the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources/Tourism, Culture and Heritage had
granted them a temporary Treasure Trove License, allowing them to resume activities until 31
December 2010. After December 2010, the department repealed the former Treasure Trove Act and
replaced it with a new "Oak Island Treasure Act". The new Oak Island Treasure Act came into effect on 1
January 2011 and allows for treasure hunting to continue on the island under the terms of a license
issued by the Minister of Natural Resources.
Information was taken from Wikipedia’s article titled “Oak Island”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Island
Analysis.
On the title page, I created a graphic to help draw a reader’s attention. Also, I used text colors
that matched the gold in the clip art from Microsoft word so that it created good contrast with the
treasure chest. This creates good visual variety. (p. 380) I made them large enough to take up the
majority of the page as to not leave too much white space.
Next, I created a chronological chart to show the many attempts to uncover the treasure. The
chart has arrows pointing down to the next year which helps give readers a direction when reading. (p.
380). This chart helps readers get an understanding of how many and for how long treasure hunters
have been going after the treasure on Oak Island. Before readers dive into the paragraphs of
information to follow, they are given a brief insight as to what to expect. Also, that chart would be
useful for reviewing the document to help remember the key points. The chart is easy to read, and is not
cluttered with unnecessary information.
I also made a few minor changes in the text itself. I used the picture that Wikipedia used in their
article, but placed it alongside the beginning of the text, aligned left. It is a map that will help readers
understand where Oak Island is in the world. I believe it is scaled correctly as to not be overbearing but
also give a sense of scale of the island. Throughout the text I also highlighted the section headings
because the color will help readers recognize the significance of the new section. This also makes it
easier if reviewing the document to go directly to the heading that a reader is looking for.