It all started about six years ago. My cousin, Lucky Larry,
and I decided to hunt arrowheads on the shores of a local North Carolina
lake where I found very nice arrowheads from time to time. A drought had caused the lake levels to be lower than
I had ever seen them. We were excited at the expectation of hunting so
we were at the boat ramp to launch at first light.
As we traveled up river to hunt one of my favorite spots,
I noticed a sand bar in the middle of the river that I had never seen
before. I mentioned to my cousin that we should hunt the sand bar on the way out.
We hunted until just about dark, then headed
back to the boat ramp. As we made our way back to the boat ramp, I noticed
the sandy island once again. I suggested we stop and hunt, “one more push.”
Over the objections of my tired cousin who wouldn’t get out of the boat,
I jumped ashore and immediately found two really nice arrowheads. It
was so dark I could barely make out the rocks on the sandy beach. I reluctantly
left and anticipated what it would be like the next time I returned to this
site. The water rose over the next month and my work got in the way of my returning to the site. 
Fast-forward, six years, to the summer of 2007. I have often
thought of the sandy island and the five minutes it took me to find two perfect points that late evening back in 2001.
I finally decided to make a dive expedition to the site. The
only problem was that the island was in the middle of the river and I didn’t have
good landmarks. I just wasn’t sure if I could find the submerged spot again.
My dive buddy, Loy, and I made the trip. With
my depth finder, I made out what appeared to be
an underwater ridge. I got rigged up first and
dropped under the water. The bottom was sandy
and flint chops were plentiful. I was hot on the
trail of points. In the first ten minutes of the dive,
I swam about twenty feet from the boat. As I was
swimming my fingers touched what felt like the
edge of a point. I fanned the bottom with my hand.
What appeared took my breath away. There, before me, lay a perfect seven-inch
spearhead. I said a prayer of thanks and decided not to put the point in
my goodie bag but take it back to the boat for safekeeping.
As I approached the boat my buddy was just about to dive in. I held the
spearhead up and he couldn’t believe it. I handed it to him to put in
the boat for safekeeping. He asked me where I found it and I pointed in the direction I had come from.
With hast I dropped down and swam back to my spot. I didn’t
want him to jump my claim. When I arrived back to the spot, I found 5
more spearheads this time putting them in my goodie bag. I thought to
myself, “this is going to be a great day!” Then more and more appeared
as I fanned the sandy bottom. I laid my bag to the side and started very
gently making a spear pile beside my bag until I had thirty-three.
I found all of them in the area the size of a car hood. The last few I
found, I noticed that they were stacked on top of each other. I stayed until
I was just about out of air, then reluctantly; I packed my bag, very gently, with spears and started back to the boat.
When I reached the boat I attached the bag to a cleat line
letting the bag hang in the water and unseen. Loy asked me how I did as
I crawled in the boat. I told him okay trying to hold back my excitement.
I got in the boat and was having a drink casually inspecting the one spearhead I had handed him earlier.
The others still unseen and dangling below the boat. Loy
asked me if I really had found the large spear and questioned weather
I had brought it with me to get the “find of the day.” I admitted that
I had salted the head and brought it with me to impress him – he laughed.
As he laughed, I reached over and pulled up my goodie bag filled with
pounds of spearheads. His look of amazement was priceless as I laid
all the heads out on the boat deck, one by one, in front of him.
The total cache consisted of thirty-four large spearheads.
The longest was nine inches and they average seven inches. Two spears
had what appeared to be Savannah bases. It was an unforgettable day
for Loy and me.
Since I made the cache discovery, I have returned and
found several Yadkin heads in the immediate area. These recent finds,
leads me to wonder if the spears are associated with the Yadkin Point culture.
I feel privileged and humbled that I was able to find these treasures
hidden by an ancient Indian that had stashed these treasures and for some strange reason, never to return to retrieve them.
