History & local legend
Seldom Seen’s buried-treasure legend concerns three unemployed miners from Hastings who robbed a widow. Her eldest son shot one of them in the arm, but the men escaped and concealed the money and jewelry in a disused part of a mine.
After boasting while drinking, they were arrested and then released for lack of evidence. They returned underground to recover the loot. In the story, that return ends in a collapse and flooding; neither the men nor the treasure is recovered. Later workers supposedly heard digging followed by cries for help from the abandoned workings.
The tourist mine known as Seldom Seen developed from Miller Run No. 8, opened under that name in 1939 and later called Chest Creek No. 1.
Sources
- The Shadowlands, Hastings / Seldom Seen Valley Coal Mine, widow, gunshot, boasting and sounds in the mine
- Seldom Seen Mine, History of the Seldom Seen Mine, original museum account, opening and mule haulage
- Showcaves, Seldom Seen Tourist Coal Mine, location, mine names and history
- OpenStreetMap, mapped Seldom Seen mine adit
