Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 62

Hindsight history would say that Bob Alcumbrack didn't have enough evidence to support the claim the Cannonsburg cannon was buried close to town. He also hadn't practiced good dowsing skills enough to know how to discriminate the different signals between the bronze cannon and white brass that had fallen off old buggies and buckboards. Extra electromagnetic force fields, magnetic stones, electromagnetic power sources, ley lines and lunar cycles corrupted the signals from his brain to his rods. The last five things Bob wasn't exactly sure what he was getting into and during the two years after his first big failure. That's when he really caught dowsing fever and could decipher treasure from junk.

He did know how electromagnetic current was used in factory settings, but not outside when digging for the cannon. Once he could understand the principles of how ley lines work we charted and mapped ley lines outside of Cannonsburg that traveled for six miles distant. Native American Indians that inhabited Michigan had used ley lines to site cremation sites, burial and ceremonial sites more than 20 miles distant. Leys (electromagnetic straight track) travel in straight lines three feet above the earth and stay the course no matter what the terrain.

The biggest problem when using angle or divining rods to locate cannon or treasure is concentrating on the task without outside interferences like ley lines and a fattening or waning moon cycle. Being a nervous person is a negative reaction and is counter productive to finding cannons or treasures.

The dowser must have the ability to accurately envision what they seek in mind's eye. Guessing is not permitted. How accurate is your mind's eye? This is only a test. You are not graded. You are only permitted to do this sitting in a chair inside the house - not driving your car or flying a plane. This is my disclaimer. Deviate from instructions you assume the liability.

Close your eyes. Can you see the face of your wife, children, grandchildren or significant others? With eyes still closed take a trip from home to work using your mind's eye. It should take you 3-5 seconds using your mind's eye to accurately envision your ride to work on roads traveled year after year. The mind's eye is a fast traveler. A sharp mind's eye can see the same sights with open eyes at 2-25 miles per second. The mind's eye is a time traveler.

You probably take the same road trip each day for years. You shouldn't not in this world of terrorism and identity fraud. Taking the same route to work, school or gym, etc. makes it easy to track you. Pulling the window blinds close (vice versa) when you leave signals thieves your daily living routine. They know when you leave and when you return. They watch your automatic lights turn off and turn on. Thieves know how long it takes for you to go shopping and where you go. Thieves and terrorists know your patterns of living. Take different roads to work, church or play. If you are an important person pull several "Crazy Ivans" to see if anyone in particular follows you, but return to base course. Everyone jumps onto the expressway to and from work - don't someone might be watching you. Put a kink in plans.

Our brains and body is a powerful electromagnetic field of energy. A dowser's electrical current's supercharging races down from focused brain through nerves inside muscles that connect tissue to the dowsing rods in hands. Any interruptions will break this line of connection like dialup Internet providers where incoming phone calls bump off Internet communications or vice versa. Whether treasure or cannon hunting most angle rods point straight ahead until they sense an energy field leading towards an object and rods will crisscross pointing in opposite parallel directions when object is found. Mark the spot.

Every dowser worth his salt must walk silently, but ask questions subconciously while visualizing the object in the mind to help pinpoint the object. This isn't easy. Distractions break communication lines between mind and hands. The eyes, hands and rods must work in tandem within the framework of what you envision in your mind's eye. Sounds far fetched, but it works, but only with a positive mind.

Beyond crisscrossed objects, the rods will gradually open to the neutral position of straight ahead parallel to each other. Rods should never bump against each other and remain in level stance with sides of arms held alongside of body. Once the rods open straight after crossing over the object that is the depth of the buried object. Always must the dowser maintain a visual image in the mind of the object you seek. The picture must be sharp, not fuzzy distortions. Then measure distances and mark location of object. Then restart the entire process from two other angles to verify what you found.

Michigan's Native American Indians legends say, "That if you lose something picture what you lost visually in your mind, dwell on it for day and night. Then awake refreshed, go and find the first spot where your mind thinks you may have lost the object. You will find it, but only if you concentrate!" Most people won't try this because it takes too much time. They want instant gratification. They've become the "I want it NOW" generation. They never learn to appreciate getting it cheaper later.

If the first place wasn't successful go to your second choice spot and repeat the scenario and it should be in close proximity to your feet. Usually it within visual eyesight so look carefully using your "eagle" eye. Sounds even more far fetched, but if eyes are bloodshot red from party drinking it won't work. You aren't rested or focused.

Before I continue revealing Bob's newest secrets discovered during his two year practice sessions I want you to experience what all dowsers must practice to accomplish goals of finding treasures. I challenging you to a duel of brain cells. I'm giving you a chance to get in touch with your mind. If unemployed learn to focus and concentrate on positive matters. Constant negativity bombards the psyche and pretty soon you feed from the gutters of despair and don't see anything postive and you become the "doubting Thomas' of anything good. Keep your mind off the current economic woes and don't store negative results in your brain. Think positive thoughts and you'll discover what you never thought possible.

Seek and ye shall find how much electromagnetic power is stored in our bubble brains. Finding employment requires positive minds and human resource personnel are looking for positive thought minded persons. Negative talk at interviews is not a job producer. You must stay focused and be a "positive thinker. Impossible doubts "Be gone!"

You can find out how to dowse with angle rods easily on the Internet or library, but once you learn how to focus and concentrate you can use these skills to do anything. Two years of research got Bob to the point where he could "time" dowse objects. He literally went forth and used the "force within (him) you, but use it wisely." That's what Yoda said to Luke Skywalker in fictional Star Wars," but that's exactly what each of us has inside our brains. The art of concentration takes lots of practice. It just doesn't snap into your brain like teenagers think.

When you learn to time dowse coins you can time dowse library books searching for lost ancestors or other things of interest. Look, concentrate on numbers in your mind's eye and pull down books off shelves. Learn to open books to the exact page to meet your eyes as if by magic. I've done this many times and I heard you mumble "he's a lunatic dowser" practicing crap magic. That's a negative response.

Only after using dowsing principles could you appreciate Bob's dilemma of using dowsing rods to find a cannon. Using them to find treasures can be fruitful or pure frustration, but it depends on whether you are a positive or negative person. We all have doubts in life something won't work and that's the negative thought process that changes the brain cells communication.

Negative reactions prime your mind for failure rather than success. Don't tell yourself it won't work before you've tried with a positive mind. Dowsing requires positive thinkers and doubting before you've begun is the key that sets your mind on the wrong course. The molecular structure within the body is altered. Chemical imbalances cause brain cells to fight amongst themselves. The mind doesn't need a war. We've already got enough wars of brain cells fighting each other and killing each other because radicals extremists don't like democracy rule.

"Demand postive thoughts." That's the motto of job seekers and dowsers require.

Demand it like the church Vicker said to exercise a ghost apparition for Daisy and Rose's flatrow apartment in the BBC show "Keeping Up Appearances" on PBS. "Be Gone!" It wasn't a ghost, but an old woman daddy brought home from an over 60's club. Daddy has not much snow left on his roof, but he still chases skirts.

I've used time dowsing principles using brainpower to find lost information in newspaper morgues and books in libraries and personal collections, but I always do it best early in the day when fully rested. I stand, visualize dates for 10-30 seconds facing a whole wall of books and concentrate. The library staff thinks "I'm loose a screw" but I reply "No, I'll find it in a moment." Let them think I'm nuts! Time dowsing works!

Is this predestination or intuition?

Am I a warlock? NO! I'm using the inner feelings God gave mortal man to pull down a book and use hands and fingers to open it to the exact page and paragraph containing the missing information. I use the force from within. The text seems to darken and rise to meet my eyes. Some librarians think I'm spooky, but when I can run high-speed numbers (see them flashing past in mind's eye) subconciously and ask questions. Conincidence or predestination?

Yes, and Bob wanted you to know he thought I was "spookier" than him. Bob, the crew and I through many years of dowsing practices had delved into the fascinating world of Astro-Archaeological Sciences looking for the Cannonsburg cannon. The master key to expanding our search was concentration and focusing our mind to see the invisible accurate style cannon in mind's eye. That's the master key to being successful using dowsing rods. Time dowsing is rewarding, because of people seeking lost ancestors of missing tombstones in cemeteries. They pay huge rewards to dowsers who can locate unmarked graves with surprising accuracy. It's a scientific wonder. Many gravestones have been lost or stolen over time and its successful dowsers that find lost graves. Feeling afraid where I might lead you next?

Well I'm going to stretch your mind like a juicy chunk of delicious taffy. I'm not kidding. I'm serious and no I haven't been watching too much Sci-Fi or Discovery channel cable TV shows and movies, but that's for next time. I try to write only 2.5 hours each morning M-F. I have an outline, a script and my mind is full of information I'm downloading. Brains have to be downloaded too, not just computers so that it can retain more useful information. I want you to learn what Bob and crew discovered. History is fascinating and isn't as boring as teenagers tell mom and dad.

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 61

Dowsing for cannons and treasure takes skill. To be successful using angle or divining rods takes concentration and the ability to silently use the same mantra, that's precise mantra when trying to find the object of one's desire. Our human brain is a very powerful instrument. It's our own personal computer locked inside our skull. Our brain stores lots of memory, but not as much as a computer.

Since we only use one-tenth of 1% look how much trouble we get ourselves into when we don't use it correctly. Had we the ability to use our brain cells more efficiently just imagine how much easier it would be to find cannons or treasures. It's a good thing God has control over angels and limits that power over us. For those of us who are religious he controls our destiny. The plan is ongoing. Sometimes we stray from the right path, but He waits for us to return. Peter's waiting patiently at Heaven's gate and the south Cannonsburg area is known as the "Gateway to Heaven" thru Egypt Valley.

For now can you imagine the earthly pandemonium mortal humans could cause if they possessed a little angel power against those automobile and truck driving nuts that cut us off on highway lane changes? See the road rage and envision the damages to health and personal property caused by misguided dot signed angry finger movements. Dowsing requires concentration and the ability to focus one's mind.

Dowsing takes lots of practice before one can be successful in dowsing treasures. It's like practicing a musical instrument. Without practicing for perfection, the ear sockets can't take the mismatched notes and punctuation marks. People don't pay good money to see concerts with out of tune music. Dowsing is an art or craft many people take for granted, too, simply because they don't understand how dowsing works. Those who view dowsing as bunk or witchcraft miss a lot of fun.

Dowsing is a mental and physical skill which when used together can tackle any problem to find solutions. Dowsing fills the gap between using thinking tools of logic, analysis and scientific investigations and using tools of imagination, intuition and subjective meanings. The human brain is challenged to think outside the box. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Donald Trump thought outside the box to be successful. They took chances in life, but I doubt they used dowsing to trump up riches beyond their wildest dreams. Never in their wildest dreams could they imagine how far their destiny would take them. Still they must continue the sharp focus on their lofty goals and keeping the talent they hire employed.

A skilled dowser like Bob Alcumbrack could time dowse and perform map dowsing. Each branch lets you personally explore the unknown mysteries of the universe, whether earth or heaven sciences. It's you own personal relationship between man and problems associated with using dowsing rods. God plays a role in this relationship, too. You must have scruples and know what's right or wrong and the gut feelings of life.

Dowsing is a personal craft used to scientifically explore one's on mind and using the power of the human brain given by God to learn how to dowse. Moses and Aaron were dowsers. If you try dowsing don't expect to work miracles overnight. It takes lots of practice. Moses and Aaron had divine dowsing skills. Don't expect dowsing success too soon, because failure is part of the learning curve and you quickly learn what doesn't work. Through trial and error discover what you can accomplish. Medical scientiest have gone through lots of trial and errors when trying to discover treatments for cancer, heart disease and diabetes, but they don't give up, but they learn to overcome negative results with possibility thinking.

Hard to believe is that 90% of America has the ability to dowse, but 89% won't give it a whirl because they doubt how dowsing works to find buried objects. Learn the basics and principles of how dowsing works means you are more likely to focus your attention on the problems in your life and resolve issues to favorable conclusions. The brain and body must work together with no nagging negative impossiblity thinking challenging and draining power from the body's electrical current. Doubt short-circuits the brain. Doubt places a negative response in the brain's ability to focus which short-circuits the electrical distribution throughout the entire human body. Stay positive if job seeking.

First understand that a dowser (diviner) must start by working alone. Many medical scientists work alone so they can devote all their energies to one particular problem. As time goes by they add assistants to help them. To start they want no distractions from people talking, mechanical noises or cell phones jingling or vibrating in someones pocket and vice versa. Dowsing and medical studies is an art of silent concentration. Brain cells talking to each other silently with your eyes only on the goal. They remember what does or doesn't work so as not to make the same mistake twice and waste valuable time and money. I pay my employees to work. I don't pay employees to talk to non-business associates; family, friends and strangers or try to find a different job on my time. They get fired!

The biggest prerequisite for successful dowsing is you must be open-minded, well rested upon waking. No body aches or pain. Rods must be used within the first few hours of daylight for maximum power under non-stressful conditions. The best possible times for dowsing rod useage is after rain and during the dark cycles of the moon. Yes, doubters call dowsers "lunatics" but one such lunatic dowser in England in 2009 discovered a treasure worth 18 million dollars simply because he changed one word in his silent mantra after 17 years and struck the mother lode of English land treasures.

Another prerequisite of dowsing is warm air temperatures and gentle to nonexistent winds makes it easier to find buried objects surrounded or encapsulated with an electromagnetic electrical field whether using dowsing rods to discover water, treasures or lost cannons.

Bob Alcumbrack at his first big dig in 1986 found it extremely difficult to concentrate when he could hear the chatter from several hundred spectators that surrounded him. He was the center of attraction and he found it nearly impossible to be in touch with his inner feelings and have good interpersonal relationships between his brain and body. Outside interferences mean quick failures.

Dowsers must be healthy, free of pain. That's something of a fleeting thing when you are 57 years old like Bob. You must be capable of focusing an open mind on what you seek without feeling pain. See the object in your mind's eye. If you can't be without a cell phone that jinlges or vibrates on your body then you set your brain and body up for instant failure. Lose the phone out of ear shot. Accessible phones are interferences that place a negative response in your brain. Lose yourself in quiet places and focus. Silence is deafening. Lose yourself in the Canadian bush country a few days and when you return to civilization you'll find out just how much noise we live and play in daily. It's amazing how much noise we tolerate.

Look at how much people talk with cell phones. Ear to phone before they leave the driveway and constant chipmunk chattering while driving. Man can't concentrate when driving. Some people can't stand to sit and drive without two or three different noise pieces blaring away. Isn't it any wonder that we have so many bad accidents. What do so many young adults find so interesting that they must talk, talk and talk? I saw a young woman zip through a red light after two autos who had the green light passed. One hand was combing her hair, the other with phone to ear. She was steering with her knees. She was oblivious to traffic. I wish I had angel power - maybe its a good thing I didn't. God wouldn't approve of angel rage.

People interested in dowsing shouldn't listen to noisy negatives. Too many make the mistake of listening to opinions of others debunk dowsing methods. Read and learn without inteferences from others since they rob practicing dowsers of their ability to even try dowsing. Practicing the craft of dowsing takes patiences. If you don't forget even trying. Forget the theories about how dowsing can't possibly work and actually practice dowsing. Once you've mastered the rods and Bob Alcumbrack hadn't until the year after the first big dig then he made a big difference in how successful he had become. Those who figure it out can use them to find immense wealth, but the rods really do work best after a rain event or when wind is very light or absent.

As Dr. Robert Schuller, of the Crystal Cathedral, in California, would say, "Be a possibility thinker!" God gave us each wonderful, useful minds, but it's too bad we don't use what he gave us to solve the simplest problems.

Use of dowsing or diviner rods depends too on the longitutdes and latitudes of earth and certain phases of the moon cycle, which does affect the polarity of rod accuracies and buried objects. Military planes need dark night for electromagnetic radar targeting within the length of a gopher's whisker, so too, the best rod useage is during early mornings during dark cycles of the moon. The brighter the fattening or dieting moon, the more distortions and weakening signals.

Six days either side of a Full Moon, the polarity of rods change. The latest Gaza Strip War between the Israelis and Palestinians started on the dark cycle December 27, 2008 and ended near the Full Moon on Jan. 11, 2009.

Understand that rod useage has nothing to do with "witchcraft" or devil worship practices. and you aren't violating any of the Ten Commandments. Your own brain and its ability to concentrate (focus) is the only constant between success or failure. Dowsing is an ancient art of silent concentration similar to the TV word game show "Concentration." Using dowsing rods is again best after early morning rain or late evenings on calm wet days. If one standard is absent dowsing won't work as well and time in this short life is too valuable to waste with a challenged brain. You must devote all your energies to what you seek - that's any occupation.

Bob Alcumbrack mastered his rods in total darkness, but Bob had another advantage that most dowsers don't have and that is Bob's own electromagnetic field encompassing his body was very wide. He had an electromagnetic energy field of three feet (aura) outward from his core. Other people like him are golfers with golf clubs up or fishermen standing in a boat using graphite fishing poles held high who get zapped by lightning. Wide aura's make them lightning rods. Bob, golfers and fishermen you stay away from in thunderstorms. See lightning seek shelter. My personal energy field is only a foot in diameter, while Bob Markle, Bob's friend was non-existent. Dead tree stumps in the woods have wide auras, because the roots are charged with water and iron ore remains.

Well, until next time "Keep your stick on the ice. I'm pulling for you to try dowsing!" Sorry, I'm not Canadian! Until next time, "Have a Good Day" whatever your legally doing.

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 60

The original Cannonsburg seven the day of the Tompsett accident grew up watching their fathers and grandfathers fire off salutes at Fourth of July celebrations and dreamed of the day they could fire off several rounds. Bob hoped to resurrect the cannon from its grave 101 years later, but it wasn't to be at Fourth of July celebrations in 1986. Too many problems beseiged him until nearly July 28th when he came to the realization his dream day wouldn't materialize. We, his crew had to surmise that Tompsett's five friends might have just dropped off the cannon in a hidden location and disposed of it later say at the Blacksmith shop for recycling.

The thought that the cannon was recycled during the two World War's was a possibility, but surely if the men made a "blood oath to keep its demise secret" they would all have to agree to dig it up together like the Twin Sisters' of Texas. My thought was "the Cannonsburg men never would dig it up again." It killed a friend and community member and it wouldn't be fitting to dig it up and recycle it to kill someone else. Tompsett's death impacted all witnesses to silence. Bob always got bad shivers when someone mentioned "recycling." His complexion turned pale white and resembled Casper, the Friendly Ghost whenever a devil's advocate pulled the recycle chain. That's a dream injury, but Bob wasn't amused.

He didn't give up. It just drove him and us harder to find the cannon, but first we had to iron out a few kinks and make sure Bob investigated not just the Augustine property, but all the properties of the first township settlers, resigning township officials during the township name change, the elected officials in 1847-48 and all witnesses to the Tompsett accident including all township officials again. He had previously done the closest to town, but never really ventured outside of Cannonsburg with nuclear metal range finders.

Bob's big dig turned up more than just gravel, black sand with flecks of gold and magnetized stones. No diamonds except for ice cold water that made scuba divers chill out faster and it wasn't the water temperature that caused them the greatest danger. They didn't like diving and digging inside a coffer box. It caused coffin and tomb feelings.

The real problem divers had was digging in submerged sand. As scuba divers dug sand the soil would collapse on their arms and pin them to bottom. It became far to dangerous to let uninsured volunteer divers dig further so they pounded metal rods deeper hoping to strike the cannon. We placed stethoscopes like doctor's wear on the coffer box listening to metal strike metal, but alas it only yielded static tones and stone clinks. It is rather difficult to pound underwater stakes when totally submerged - downright difficult. Bob's mission was over, but not finished and until the next spring we were content to experiment with new technology and explore the other possible sites without spectators, but unexpected help would arrive from an unlikely spectator.

The crowd had an exploration scientist who had been watching us dig and offered to let Bob and crew test a new experimental photo-magnetometer, a new piece of equipment worth $250,000. It was the prototype device in early stage development at GVSU. This device had a probe that screwed itself into the ground and took side-scan sonar images of buried objects up to fifty feet deep underground with a radius of 10-30 feet outward. Bob was ecstatic for he was on the fast tract to finding the cannon. It would be the first field test used in the detection of lost or missing underground storage tanks and destined for Michigan's MUSTFA tank removal program. Bob was flabbergasted that an interested bystander sensed his frustrations and came to his rescue offering the latest technology for his historical cannon. The device was similar to the Geo-Probes used today.

However, when the magnetometer device failed, the devices inventors joined our group briefly, but the bugs weren't worked out and the machine was returned to GVSU. They were saddened, but didn't give up and later perfected the device. Still even though it didn't work it still boosted our egos knowing that another individual wasn't skeptical of the cannon's presence. It would have been a greater boost to our egos or anyone's for that matter to see the underground image of a lost cannon, but it wasn't meant to be on July 30th, 1986 deep in the backwoods of Cannonsburg. Yes, Bob was saddened, too, but Bob and crew didn't quit. We pressed forward getting ready for dig site number two. Mistakes you make once or twice, but not three times.

The dream machine at GVSU was the pioneer technology of the future. Now we have side-scan fish finder sonar, side-scan search and rescue sonar that works on infrared technology that helps quickly locate drowning and avalanche victims, and yes, side-scan underground imaging to find lost or misplaced underground storage tanks partially filled with dangerous and toxic pollutants. Side-scan infrared sonar was donated to our township fire, search and rescue teams by Larry Squire's in memory of his father Lyle Squire's, my friend, who on his four-wheeler slipped uncontrollably down a steep bank, crashed thru the ice and drowned in his own Lake Serenity. The device has been used for many years and is the only such infrared sonar imaging device used in our area.

Smart bombs, missiles and stealth technology for military purposes originated from early field trials of new technology when exploring electromagnetic force fields, waves and energy fields in general. Bob and crew conducted many scientific studies on electromagnetic energy fields that magnify or decrease with during lunar cycles, but through our failures came successes for the future. We didn't quit because things went wrong. Hit a roadblock you go around it, over or under it and don't let roadblocks stop or impede progress. Your heart, mind and body must operate as one unit.

Today's used of treasure hunting electronic metal detectors can now picture brass objects where we couldn't in 1986. Brass has always been non-ferrous metal that was undetectable in 1985, but that is no reason to quit. Electronic metal scanners today use visual scanners that display the object so you can ascertain if its worth the bother and muscle to dig up the object. Lots of improvements have been made in twenty-five years. When was the last time you tried digging up your wildest dream? Never in Bob's life was his wildest dream easy.

Bob's failure to produce the cannon didn't mean he stopped digging or searching. His resolve was he had to look harder until he found it. He never entertained the thought of quitting. He needed some solid evidence and he found it in the most unlikely spot. It put the cannon in more proper size. Our first duty was to unravel the mystery behind the 'false positive' readings at the first big dig site. Time was of the essence to tackle the logistics and to take corrective and logistic methods easier and less time consuming.

The deeper Bob and crew experimented the stronger the energy fields rose, by day rather than night and sometimes it disappeared. Bob and crew had stumbled upon something so strange we had to figure out how to use the angle rods when the best electronic metal range finders and metal detectors gave false positive readings. The enrgy fields would expand and contract like a beating heart. Some energy fields would disappear as if the electromagnetic fields would disappear into the ground or some object became supercharged magnetically. We decided to keep this secret until we could figure out what corrupted Bob's usage of angle rods or all three devices.

Despite so many wrong assumptions on Bob's part and obstacles to success Bob never gave up hope he'd connect all the loose ends of his dream and produce the cannon. His crew was committed to him, but he also knew that crew spouses' were beginning to feel like "Cannon Widows." This weighed heavy on his mind. Bob felt so bad he apologized to the women for keeping their husbands interest to find the cannon. He understood the sacrifice the guys were making to him to forgo the honey-do-lists at home.

He had a core group of men he could trust with silence - to keep secrets from other prying eyes. That's what treasure, err, cannon hunters must overcome. I was skeptical of Bob's angle rod usage. I couldn't imagine how using angle or dowsing rods as metal detectors could find buried objects. It defied my imagination and even I classified him as a "bonafide nut." Through my own use of the rods the key to using both is mind concentration and using the power from within your own body with the electromagnetic energy fields to find the objects of one's desires.

Self doubting how dowsing for water or treasure works is the quickest way to failure. Any doubts or negative thoughts presets the stage for imminent failure. Dowsing is an art form for possibility thinking. Bob believed in his ability to find objects using his mind's eye which can be exceedingly powerful to picture anything including a cannon. However, what you seek must be a factual picture and not a guess. Visually see the perfect picture in your mind's eye. If you can't envision it that's where closed minds or open minds meet and the difference spells failure or success.

Whether using angle or divining rods for cannon or treasure hunting, the dowser must be able to differentiate between buried objects; stones, iron ore remains, white brass and bronze, magnetized stone deposits, water and Indian cermonial sites. Belief in yourself, mentally, physically and spiritually and use the power from within in combination with special and scientific equipment to overcome problems. Be bold and press onward against what seems to be overwhelming problems. Don't listen to negative naysayers. They put your mind in the gutter.

Bill Gates, the founder of MicroSoft believed in his abilities to invent computers, software and hardware when his father and friends thought young Bill was on a fool's errand and doomed for a life of poverty. The inventor of Facebook made $3 billion in 2009 and he's only 25 years old. Are you next?

Gates, like Bob Alcumbrack didn't care what others thought - it's what you think that's more important. They were successful what others thought impossible. The degree of success is what you feel you accomplished and not where others think you'd failed. Gates became rich beyond his wildest dream, too, while Bob Alcumbrack used what little money he had saved to try digging up his wildest dream, the Cannonsburg cannon.

I once asked Bob Markle, that Bob's friend, "How many holes id Bob dig after the first dig failed to produce the cannon?" None that I know, he replied. We had done out jobs as secret cannon hunters and he was astounded to learn that Bob dug two more holes before we found...

During the first year we were constantly harassed by a media circus. Our secret meanderings on dark nights and by daylight were a nuisance until one night we lost our shadows in a poison ivy patch. We had become the ultimate secret society and this reduced our stress. Stress is a killer in many forms. Remember the death of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop? Stress and pain killers were his enemy.

Well, Bob dug more hole in the Cannonsburg area than all the meteors that had struck Cannon township since the extinction of dinosaurs and was Bob surprised when he successfully found tangible evidence. We about swallowed our tongue when he dowsed... Oh, I could have given away an even bigger secret, but...

Treasure hunting is a good hobby and some make a career out of it, but it can be a reward in itself and be an enjoyable learning experience sharing history with friends and family. Some hunters get great rewards in returning lost treasures and jewelry lost, while others seek fame and fortunes. Its great exercise and keeps the body loose and provides good cardio exercise, but beware of those who sell trinkets to the highest bidders.

Now where o' where did Chief John Wabasis hide his stash of gold and silver coinage between 1836-1864? That ought to fetch a cool half-million dollars, too. That's all for today, except did you hear a man hid his marijuna stash in his son's knapsack who took it to school and then had the stupidity to call the school and ask that he retrieve the package from it during school. hours. The pricincipal pulled it from the knapsack before the man arrived, found the marijuna and called police who arrested him in the boy's school. Duh! Serves em' right for hiding it from his wife.

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 59

So if the Cannonsburg cannon wasn't a 6-pound cannon what might an "odd" looking cannon sitting on an ornate carriage resemble as opposed to a "standard" cannon?

A six-pound cannon mounted would be 11-14 feet in length, but the piece no longer than 72 inches to be a "military" cannon. Bob's 9-foot long cannon didn't exist, but Bob insisted that's the size he was dowsing. Such a cannon might weigh 4000 pounds maximum and his backhoe could not lift that much weight unless he snared the cannon with chains and even then he couldn't lift a suction cannon out of its watery grave.

My biggest concern and one that didn't make sense was how could five men and unknown horses haul such a large cannon through Cannonsburg, then overland a quarter mile on a sandy trail into the bush, hide the cannon and return 45 minutes later? How Bob thought they buried it so fast was beyond belief. Burying it upland was too easy. Still not enough time so why not dismember or destroy the cannon and throw the pieces in a spring and piling stones on the pieces and sink in a wetland location. It would be impossible to place stones on it and sink the entire unit the size of a mini-van in less than one hour. Sounds similar to the tale of the Twin Sisters. Out of sight and mind within too short-a-time. These were Bob's most nagging mystery questions.

At Bob's first big dig we were getting skeptical when we found no large stones for weight to sink the Cannonsburg cannon. No stones larger than golf ball size and mining flecks of real gold in black sand wasn't going to deter us. That's when Maggie McCarthy asked me to research and investigate what Bob had missed. She felt those doing such hard work needed clarification to go forward with Bob's wildest dream.

The original accident story posted in the Rockford Register 1885 reported the men "were firing the cannon" and it never mentioned the word "military." Second and third postings were rumors that changed it to old "military" cannon." The smallest caliber in the US Army was 6-pounds so Bob never entertained the thought the cannon was smaller. What Bob didn't know was that a private citizen like Mr. Cannon couldn't purchase or receive military weapons and he couldn't buy or receive outdated or old military weapons. Surely the cannon he gave as a gift wasn't made within five months and moved from Troy, New York to Cannonsburg. Bob just knew the date given, but not the size so how could he envision the cannon when dowsing?

Yes, it was pre-Civil War, but what made Bob believe it was 9-feet long. Cannon's this size are 42-pounders weighing in excess of 5000 pounds. Two or three horses couldn't pull such a cannon through deep trail sand.

How could it be dismounted once before, then recovered from its demise and remounted within a few hours?

Bob based the cannon's size from his deductions he got from hardcopy evidences and oral history from several local residents who described it as a small military cannon. They never gave him clues to its dimentsions, size, shape, physical features or engravements, the country of origin or military.

The unique description of "relic" "odd" and "ornate" was told by shipping dockworkers in Grand Rapids. Three dockworkers could not themselves move a 9-foot long cannon on carriage from the HUMMINBIRD steamer up a steep bank , around the rapids without many horses. Wouldn't you think that such a heavy weapon on a shallow draft steamer would have sunk it if mounted on the bow going into a stiff low running current? It'd take 14 men, six horses and a caisson to move that big relic.

Still Bob believed in his rods accuracy to discern size. Alan Janose, Harold and Matt McCarthy used his rods, too, the dowsing rods acted just as favorably in their hands. The dockworkers in Grand Rapids one hundred years earlier were pitting their description of the cannon against Bob. The dockworkers couldn't recall seeing anything like the cannon and carriage and said the assemblage relic was worth the gawking. Big differences between small military ordnance and ancient relic ordnance.

Most ordnance carriages are standard issue and dated with the times of manufacture or models. Mechanisms change. Because the carriage was called "ornate" must have meant it was hand crafted, but could that have meant it was engraved wood with plaque. Since Bob didn't know if the cannon or carriage was engraved with or without a plaque I assumed it was. Finding cannon without plaque wasn't authentication. So too all carriages require maximum weight to minimize recoiling when fired. All cannons above 3-pounders needed recoil mechanisms. It surely wouldn't have arrived on a naval carriage. They don't roll in sand, but mire down and flip sideways.

Carriage description "ornate" indicated it must be foreign made. We can all picture a standard cannon on carriage, but try to imagine an strange cannon mounted on an ornate carriage and its difficult to imagine something so uniquely different. After Le Grand Cannon presented the cannon he left in haste. His ill health necessitated he return home. He yearned for his family. The long journey to get to Cannonsburg had taken additional toll on his health. He apologized to Ball and packed his bags, but before boarding a steamboat for Grand Haven and beyond he inquired whether he had found his missing land agent E. B. Bostwick.

Cannon had not been receiving the mortgage payments or tax receipts from Cannonsburg residents. Bostwick was seriously ill, his lungs collapsing with the littlest exhertion and could no longer travel his appointed circuit. Bostwick's doctor advised him to leave Michigan for California. He couldn 't take the heat and humid conditions. As a result of this Cannon advised Ball to start foreclosurers on all of Bostwick's land in Michigan. Bostwick obtained land for payment of his services, but he wasn't paying his property taxes and under agreement with Mr. Cannon he forfeited the property. Bostwick was bankrupt again. Shortly after Cannon returned home he wrote a letter to John Ball saying that Capt. Gillispie would arrive shortly to guard his timber property.

E. B. Bostwick left Michigan bound for California, but the altitude plus his breathing problems spelled his doom in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. He wouldn't have a chance to mine for gold and recoup his losses. Lots of folks were rushing to the California gold fields. Lots of dreamers were headed west.

On May 7, 1850, the aged Mr. Cannon died. Age 64. He had seen it and done it all. His son Le Grand B. Cannon took over his father's many businesses and disposed of Michigan acreages. In 1855, young Mr. Cannon still was trying to sell off the last 600 acres of Cannon Township land and hundreds of acres in Ottawa County. Both men onced owned the hilltop parcel now known as Cannonsburg cemetery, the final resting plots of Walter Tompsett, Bob Alcumbrack, Mathew A. Patrick, etc.

Well, a new day is dawning and like many folks I do pull a job. It's spring, the birds are singing sweet tunes, the air is fresh "cough, cough" and hack - too much pollen, but its going to be a nice day - warm sunshine for physical labor. See ya!

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 58

The old Cannonsburg cannon was older than 1885 writers said and the deadly description sure made a mess of Bob Alcumbrack's plan in his search for the missing Cannonsburg cannon. Small and military didn't describe the cannon, but the word's ancient, strange and ornate does give the impression the cannon was something out of the ordinary and not standard issue. Finding the cannonballs gave Bob a solid clue of what it wasn't - no six pound cannon.

The size of the cannonball indicated it was from a brass Falcon or Falconette. What is amazing is the fact that English brass guns were extremely rare after 1698 and such cannons were rarely made after 1635. Only for special occasions before a king or queen were such guns cast. Both are classed of "birds of prey" and known as 2 pound caliber.

About 1698 England had 323 naval ships. SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS and PRINCE were two mighty galleons built for Charles I at great expense. These were known as the king's Money fleet. SS carried 97 percent brass guns in 1637 and it was the biggest in the world. She was the first ship to mount 100 guns, but she carried no brass guns in 1698. Bronze guns were trophies of war. Another reason why the Sovereign of the Seas was so special was that she was the prototype for every English capital ship built for 200 years until 1860. It was possible the Cannonsburg cannon predates 1698. Naval guns aren't ornate, but rather plain, but Bob knew the Cannonsburg cannon had to be made of bronze in order for the original seven men to keep firing the cannon repeatedly without any accidents for 38 years.

The VICTORY was built in 1737 and the vessel was known as Sir John Balchen's Victory, because she carried his flag to her lost demise in 1744. Sir John was the greatest Admiral in English history. She was then the biggest ship in the world with 100 brass guns and several 3-pound naval cannons on her poop deck and nothing smaller. Built during the reign of King George II (1727-1760) she was of the TITANIC class a hundred years later; the unshinkable. She was a formidable sight on the open seas and stood 27-stories tall, as tall as the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier today. She was a tiger, a powerful ship going in harm's way and she carried things that changed just before her demise. The copper cooking kettles could date the ship were she ever found again.

No matter how powerful the sea claimed her within six years. She was lost in powerful seas off Guernsey in the Casquets on a dark stormy night and nearly 1000 men to the bottom. She was the only British first-rate vessel to be lost due to reportedly navigational error by Sir John Balchen and the English lighthouse keeper, who failed to keep the lamp lit that stormy night. She disappeared without a trace until 2008 when the deep-sea treasure hunting group known as Odyssey Marine Expeditions, Inc. found her. They were using towed electromagnetic sonar with GPS and solved one of the greatest mysteries of English naval history. We were the pioneers of this sonar in 1986.

Discovery of the world's mightiest and technically advanced warship of her time sank in 1743 carrying a compliment of nearly 1000 people aboard comprised of 900 sailors, a compliment of marines and 50 volunteers from the nobelest families in England. Gone to the bottom of the sea without a trace for 265 years.

Odyssey Marine Excavators, Inc. out of Miami, Florida, found the vessel some 62 miles from its original location of maritime coordinates. Mariners and historians said she sank in the Channel Islands, south of England near the coast of France. She was transporting four tons of gold to Portugal, but floundered by being overloaded off the northwest coast off Calais, France. She reportedly dove into a wave going straight to bottom like the EDMUND FITZGERALD in Lake Superior only she broke in three pieces between the gigantic waves. Gold and cannons are worth more than half-a billion dollars. The VICTORY wreck has one of the largest collections of lost bronze cannons in the world. They recovered two large cannons, a 12-pounder with the royal arms of King George II and a 42-pounder bearing the crest of King George I plus two copper cooking pots that date the ship before 1743. Just the copper pots alone proved OME's discovery of the Victory.

After 1743 copper cooking pots were removed because naval physicians had reason to believe that cooking food in copper pots caused scurvy. Scurvy actually was caused by the lack of vegetables and fruits in diets on long voyages. Discovery of the vessel carrying the largest consignment of bronze guns and the location of the Victory cleared Admiral Balchen and the English lighthouse keeper of guilt. History 265 years later found them innocent of all charges and family names lost their stains. Both were presumed guilty of dereliction of duty, but found innocent of charges by American treasure hunters. Never overload a ship or vessel.

During the Civil War the Confederates built the steamer SULTANA in 1863. In 1865 the vessel exploded in a horrendous blast near New Orleans while transporting Union prisoners who had just been released from Confederate prison camps. Over 1700 perished making it the worst disaster in steamboat history in America. The vessel was blown to smithereens, the cause unknown.

I've thrown out lots of cannon history, but its simply a prelude to help you discover what Bob should have been looking for in the correct size cannon. He had been wrong on what size cannon he had to envision. To find cannons using dowsing rods means the dowser must envision objects precisely. No guessing. Dowsing isn't witchcraft.

Can you imagine what Mr. Cannon's "odd looking cannon sitting on an ornate carriage might resemble as opposed to a standard cannon?" Cannons and carriages look basically the same or do they not? Ponder that until next time.

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 57

Search for secrets of a sunken cannon continues with a Great Lakes steamers arrival at Grand Haven in June 1848. Le Grand Cannon was glad to arrive for it was an eventful passage from Troy, New York, but no matter where you were in Michigan it was downright "Hot." Michigan was gripped in a furnace of excessive heat and barren trees.

The steamer had to wait outside the Grand River's mouth. It couldn't get over the sand bar to offload supplies, passengers and Mr. Cannon with a special cannon in tow and what many considered the strangest souvenir, the Cannonsburg cannon. A keel boat floated alongside and informed the lakes captain the Hummingbird would arrive shortly. It was coming down the channel. Le Grand Cannon had time to sit and prepare for the transfer of his baggage, fishing poles and cannon. Passengers waiting couldn't believe where Mr. Cannon was going with the bronze relic still lashed to her deck. No sense releasing the cannon's mooring when the vessel was being pitched by the rolling waves. It might roll off and sink. Mouth's of awe and the snickering was a little unnerving to Mr. Cannon, but he felt it was worth it. His name was already part of geographical history.

The HUMMINGBIRD's arrival meant the final leg of the journey was nearing completion. Being 62 years of age, this was not the longest, but it might seem so when dogged by illness. He was struggling with an ailment and try as he might he felt downright miserable, but still protected the gift cannon from others. He wasn't letting it be out of sight for he was on a mission.

The Hummingbird moved upriver and slowly picked its way through the delta and since the water was flowing so slowly it was difficult to stay in the mainstream. Several miles inland the temperatures soared to over 110 degrees F. and the humidity was unbearable. Those with lung problems couldn't remember when it was worst. The Hummingbird sat low in the water, because it was carrying a heavy load of fresh hay for farmers above Grand Rapids. Farm fields were barren of alfalfa and grass and Native American's that still lived along the river said they had never experienced such dryness. Forests and fields were tinderboxes ready to explode with sparks. The Hummingbird stayed in midstream so sparks from the stacks wouldn't drift on the wind.

Passengers crowded the bow to gawk at the bronze cannon lashed to the deck to the rear of the Hummingbird's cannon. It was a relic, no resemblance to a new cannon. Inquiring minds wanted to know why Mr. Cannon was giving the "ancient relic" with strange ornate carriage to a township community that bears his name? Big difference between "old, ancient or relic" in years. It was beyond "classic" and old is up to 90 years old, ancient unlimited, but when the passengers said "ancient relic" it could mean more than 400 years old and adding relic meant it was no longer in use or remains unuseful, but is still material evidence. The cannon in its prime was probably used militarily, but no mention of engravements on the piece. Because of its designation I believed it to be larger than a swivel or pivot gun, but what struck me was no commentary about gunpowder, cannonballs or tools to fire the cannon. It wasn't a Robinette, but more likely a Falcon or Falconette, but might be English or French.

Mr. Cannon was presenting a souvenir gift and because of its advanced age he didn't intend for it to be a live firing celebratory cannon. None of the passengers mentioned the word "military" cannon. Le Grand Cannon's ultimate secret was exposed. History books and newspaper articles didn't give a clear indication what caliber of cannon was given. Time and age forgotten.

This explains why Bob Alcumbrack never had a true description of the cannon. "Awesome blast" in no way meant it was a 6-pound cannon. He confined all his research to oral evidence and the cannon's timeline disappearance and when the five cannon burial men returned. The passengers brief commentaries about the cannon gave up the ultimate secret as to why Walter Tompsett was shot in the knee and not chest high.

When the Hummingbird approached Grand Rapids, her cannon's foudroyant sound announced he imminent arrival. Workmen were already constructing the shipping vessel locks for upriver and downriver shipping traffic. Workers were carving rocks out of the old quarry hole between the Sixth Street dam and Bridge Street. My cousin Mitch Idema, age 26, drowned while fishing for Steelhead trout in the 1990's, when his fishing boat capsized on a small cofferdam below Bridge Street. He stayed with the boat but succumbed to coldness and his body recovered from a deep section of the east quarry hole.

The locks were five months from completion when the Grand Rapids and Indiana Rail Road pulled into town from Ft. Wayne, Indiana in 1855-56. Cheaper and faster transportation was going to go northward. Steamers were for passengers traveling to Grand Haven, Chicago and Milwaukee. The quarry hole sections along the east wall range up to 55 feet deep. Men with dynamite blasted with men excavating bedrock.

The Hummingbird docked and supplies and passengers were offloaded, but something else was afoot, too. The entire vessel was being dismantled. Being stripped the vessel was moved back and gangs of horses would pull it out of the water into drydock. Work commenced during the night to cut the steamer into two pieces. Couldn't find where Le Grand Cannon spent three days, but he paid for dockworkers to protect the cannon. He might have stayed at a hotel, but because of his friendship with John Ball and since they were reportedly going fishing a few days I assume he resided with Ball. Cannon was going to foreclose on Bostwick's property. The stress of foreclosure proceedings against his friend and land agent was stressfull.

At daybreak with a shift switch, the dockworkers retired with the cannon, while the newest workers started pulling the Hummingbird's two pieces up the bank and around the rapids to the rollaway above Sixth Street dam. It took them a day to remove it from below the dam and another to move it around the rapids and a third day to reassemble the vessel and slip it back into the Grand River. The fourth day July 3rd. all hay, the cannon and Mr. Cannon resumed upstream travel to Austerlitz. Buckboard and men were waiting for his arrival. He was a wealthy man, but his illness was getting worse.

Passengers, spectators and dockworkers were amazed how Americans had the skill to cut steamboats apart, move them overland in large sections, then restore and make them seaworthy, but couldn't forge a decent cannon.

The Hummingbird was built in Ottawa County in 1847. She was brand spanking new, but small compared to other steamers who weren't running in 1848 because of drought and low water. They were pressed for business and ran freight between Chicago and other ports. The Grand River originally fell 21 feet between Leonard and Fulton Street and known as the "grand rapids" of the Indian version "Owashtenong River." The original river roared in a freshet and the fragrances of rushing misty water rose into the sky. On moonlit nights the ghosts and departed spirits of earth rose into the heavens.

Passengers boarded the Hummingbird and before noon it docked at Austerlitz, the Hummingbird's cannon blast arrival was heard the first time. Waiting patiently at Austerlitz were Plainfield and Courtland township farmers with oxen wagons in front of Hall's Hotel. Rations of fresh hay sorely needed to fend off cattle starvation. Normally they had to pick hay up in Grand Rapids, but the cannon made it a special maiden voyage for river travel from Ionia to Grand Rapids. No more would they have to ferry supplies or drive oxens across the Grand River in the shallows ahead of Grand Island.

Due to local dryness hay was being imported from as far south as Ohio and Indiana. Michigan and Wisconsin were both dry and area cattle were starving to death. Those without food were being slaughtered. Fifty days of upper 90's and low 100's made the Grand River valley the driest in memory. Local Indians said they had never experienced such excessive dryness. Pioneers and settlers had to be tough. No airconditioning or window screens for thirty years (screens 1876) to keep out bloodsucking insects. Hordes of black, blow and deer flies and squadrons of mosquitos were the bane of living. At sunset the drone of mosquito wings sent people and animals inside homes and barns. Conditions like these prevailed on the Great Plains, too, at other times in history.

To save blood people rarely took a bath with perfumed soap, but in high heat it was amazing how business owners could stand the smell of human bodies shopping when they hadn't had a bath for three days, a week let alone fifty days. The only ones that arrived with lilac water were skunk oil salesmen, gamblers, saloon women or relative visiting family and friends.

If former VP Al Gore knew this he'd take the credit for and say its "global warming". Clinton convinced him the importance of staying in the public eye as Clinton taught generations of young students how to lie and not get punished until courts proves you wrong. Everything is right no matter how much you lie.

What in life never changes? Our bodies progression from youngster to senior is change. Life is a progression of change for better or worse and what Mother Nature gives us we must endure. What we see as change is opposite of Mother Nature's law. We all live to die. Some will spend eternity in Heaven, while others spend eternity regretting Hell. This is our heritage for being born. Bad weather observations seen in the past were only revelant to those living in their day. Those living today, the weather is as dangerous past to present. Constant flights of high altitude corporate and commercial jets cause immense disruptions in jet streams. Al Gore continues his tirade, but he himself can't win browny points for green energy when he consumes more above earth. Global warming doesn't exist - he doesn't want to go peacefully into the night, err retirement. Clinton didn't do his afterlife any good - without his stance on global warming he's without cause. Oops, I'm straying myself.

When off loading supplies and cannon at Austerlitz the farmers were awestruck by Mr. Cannon's cannon. It was the oddest-looking cannon and none had ever seen such an ancient cannon on the strangest ornate carriage. Cannon and carriage wasn't standard issue so it would have been a souvenir gift. The relic status meant it was never intended to be fired. The cannon was confirmed as ancient and I found the cannon's upriver travels through bits and pieces of conversation in newspapers and some personal memoirs while researching and writing "ALGOMA: IN HONOR OF A STEAMBOAT 1989. The reference "ancient relic" dates the cannon before 1748 and old at (1768-1848). Dare to venture a guess of age "ancient relic?"

It might fall somewhere between 1373-1743 a spread of 400 years. Bob definitely had to find physical piece of evidence to narrow the time period. Old, small, cannon or military cannon didn't describe the cannon, but the addition "ancient relic" made Bob's energy level rise to new levels and when he found cannonballs "OH MY" were we excited and we kept our mouths shut. We weren't going to tip off any other flyby treasure hunters with dollars signs for eyes get a clue. Got a secret treasure hunt? Keep silent, scribble notes and burn them. Voice, lip movements and fingers share secrets.

Next time we go deeper into the mysterious disappearance and secrets not shared since 1885.

Search for Secrets of A Sunken Cannon - 56

Search for secrets of a sunken cannon today is dedicated to the memory of Fess Parker, the actor, who passed away in California, March 2010. Disney's Classic called Davy Crockett and The River Pirates was my generational action hero, whose adventurous life stirred many Americans to seek adventure and explore America beyond their wildest dreams. Be risk takers. Parker, Ebsen and York portrayed the legends of America's most beloved folk heroes. Davy Crockett knew the value of bronze cannons.

Bronze guns are the most valuable trophies, the ultimate weapons in times of war. The raised and sunken decoration reliefs plus the legends of reigning families makes any cannon a trophy. Iron cannons carried the family crests of kings. Queen Mary, the Queen of Scot's father-in-law was so proud of her tenacity he emblazoned her crest over that of England's Queen Elizabeth's crest.

Elizabeth was furious, the maddest queen on earth at the time, when she found out that Mary's cannons were engraved over her marks. Elizabeth was Protestant and Mary was Catholic. When Mary fled Scotland and set foot in London Elizabeth had Mary captured, arrested, imprisoned and beheaded. Elizabeth feared Mary could start a religious war in England. Mary was dangerous, but future history would reveal that Queen Elizabeth was paranoid of Mary and she wasn't as bad as feared and still lives on in the hearts of a few English. Still the placement of Mary's crest over Elizabeth caused much of Elizabeth's indignation. Ever wondered what happened to Mary's cannons. Could it be Elizabeth sent Mary's cannons to the Lost Colonies in America.

The Lost Colony cannon recovered in a commercial fishing net off Virginia in the 1980's had decoration reliefs nobody in America could decipher. The historian at the Tower of London didn't understand the decoration. It may have been a decorative combination of the two queens. He dated the cannon the late 1500's. Most of England's cannons were made by the Dutch. Smaller specialty cannons with inscriptions were cast in pairs by master gunfounders in the presents of royalty outside of England. England had to import copper and lead.

Swivel guns were 44-65 inches long. Mike Fink's bronze peashooter was fictional, since most swivel guns weighed 500 pounds at 45 inches long. Fink's two-foot long cannon weighed 150-200 pounds and shot an 8 ounce stone or shot. Loaded with pea stones or buck shot it could do lots of damage. Half pound cannon's were the smallest, and yes, if this bronze cannon were cradled in your arms and shot it's recoil could send you for a loop or in the drink. Crockett was only in New Orleans to sell his furs for the best price and wasn't there long enough to have a bronze cannon made, because cannon founders never existed so who had the expertise to engrave it personally for Mike Fink. That's a mystery!

Now Bob Alcumbrack didn't think the cannon would be that small and he hadn't planned on what he was seeking to weigh 3800 pounds. Another wrong assumption was how could township elders permit the firing of such a large cannon shooting cannonballs weighing 4-8 pounds over Cannonsburg. Too populated in 1880's.

Small military cannon in Bob's mind meant it was a six-pounder, but there was never a mention the cannon was American and most of the guns in America were captured English cannons. The most logical was a captured 6-pound English cannon, but these cannons were made only by the Dutch for England before the Civil War.

Cannons for English armament were the heaviest in the World. For every pound of projectile shot the piece must weigh a minimum of 310 pounds. Iron was heavier than bronze, but bronze guns were two to three times more expensive to cast and that's why so many kings and queens stopped purchasing them, because they became highly sought trophies of war. It was never Bob's intention to mislead the public what size cannon he was hoping to find, because he didn't know precisely.

What caliber was the Cannonsburg cannon? He had no idea except the clue "awesome blast." Should he have launched such an expedition to recover the lost cannon on a whimsical clue or would you have mounted a search praying you would find it. All Bob knew was that old age maladies were starting to increase, the aches and pains of getting older. He knew in his heart and mind it was time to start digging up his wildest dream just like it was Davy Crockett's dream to explore and fight for the freedoms of others. Never in Bob's wildest dream did he ever get the feelings it'd be easy. Never in his wildest dreams were the feelings so strong. Now or never!

So what's your dream?

If you can't catch your dream, keep on dreaming, but don't wait until it's too late to try something of your affection or the dream will die of old age maladies called "I can't or I forget." Once you get here you no longer have the stamina and driving force from within to make your dream reality. Is it a dream or goal? Will you achieve both? Don't listen to noisy negatives. Do it! Is your destiny calling? Will it make a difference in the lives of others or just you? Will you stand in the spotlight or shadows?

Le Grand Cannon kept many mysterious secrets from his family, relatives, friends and associates who thought his trip in 1848 was his last chance for wilderness fishing with his friend John Ball. He planned to go fishing, but first he had chaperone his cannon and take the long passage by Great Lakes steamboats to Grand Haven. He couldn't chance someone stealing it.

A Rensselaer County Historical Society volunteer researcher in Troy, New York in 1990 said he was absolutely astonished how well Mr. Cannon kept his secret cannon out of the public realm. He wasn't aware that the names Cannonsburg and Cannon Township is an honorary name and that he gave the cannon to town elders in 1848. Cannon kept this secret. He didn't want the world to know of all his achievement just as men today don't list all their achievements either because the paper trails could fill warehouses.

Searching through history is like remembering our past life. The older we get the more we fill in the blanks when we can't remember old memories; places, things, dates and deaths of our mentors. This is probably the number one reason why the newspaper writers in 1886 said Tompsett was killed by a prematurely discharging cannon or small military cannon and never mentioned an approximate age of cannon. Many newspaper accounts second and third hand posted it as a military cannon (6-pound). Failure to remember minute' details we as humans tend to embellish or glorify details to the point when they become legends and rumors.

As Mike Fink said the Davy Crockett, "Your a foot shorter than you oughta' be."

Crockett replied, "It's mighty hard to live up to legends sometimes." This shows how legends and yarns expand with time. It's how legends are born, but it was never Bob's intention to become a legend. He was the 'shy guy' in a camera viewfinder. Legendmaker historian's like me must keep factual and fight truth decay. My mind and your mind is aging, too.

Bob became a community legend in 1986 of his own accord. He grasped the neck of his wildest dream and was glad he started the biggest expedition of his life. However, when his first big dig was a failure, yes, it did make him very sad, but his crew and I wouldn't let him quit. We kept going against the odds and helped him figure out what went wrong and why and how to correct and push onward. I

f you quit because you struck a wall someone else will pick up the pieces and make it work. They'll be rich! I was Bob's historical researher and his catalyst to the future. You'd be wrong to assume he didn't achieve his wildest dream. Don't construe this as Bob didn't find the cannon. Bob discovered what the absent man (Fred Thomas hid before the second cannon burial. Two others shine like stars in the spotlight of history.

Bob and friends will cast a bright spotlight on the secret caliber of the missing cannon. Fred Thomas' grandfather James Thomas kept the ultimate secret silent, but not discovered until almost 150 years into the future. The mysteries of the Cannonsburg's lost cannon stretched our imaginations and broadened our horizons as ultimate cannon hunters and scientists just like the dreams of Davy Crockett.

Next time Le Grand Cannon's journey to Michigan, his last before his death in 1850, will expose what he was transporting up the Grand River.