“There was a company there in that neighborhood, who were digging for money supposed to have been hidden by the ancients. Of this company were old Mr.  Stowe -I think his name was Josiah-also old Mr. Beman, also Samuel Lawrence, George Proper, Joseph Smith, jr., and his father, and his brother Hiram Smith. They dug for money in Palmyra, Manchester, also in Pennsylvania, and other places. When Joseph found this stone, there was a company digging in Harmony, Pa., and they took Joseph to look in the stone for them, and he did so for a while, and then he told them the enchantment was so strong that he could not see, and they gave it up.”

Joel Harris – Martin Harris Interview, Tiffany’s Monthly – Volume 5, Number 4 (New York, NY: Tiffany’s Monthly, August 1859), 163.