Wall Street Journal

By Christopher J. Chipello

Oak Island, Nova Scotia -- FOR OVER 200 years, treasure seekers have been digging into this wooded island to find out what -- if anything -- lies buried in its reputed underground workings known as the "Money Pit." Theories range from vast riches deposited by Spanish conquistadors to the lost treasure of the Knights Templar.

So far, however, no one has discovered a treasure. But the two men who own three-quarters of the island, including the Money Pit area, have been sitting on an appreciating asset: 23 waterfront lots with about four acres each. Now, Montreal businessman David Tobias and his treasure-hunting partner of four decades, a former Miami contractor named Dan Blankenship, plan to sell the property. In June they asked a Nova Scotia court to oversee the liquidation of their joint company that owns the land.

TD U.S. vacation-home buyers have helped drive up property values in the picturesque area that is just over an hour's drive from the Halifax airport. Mr. Blankenship said he figured two years ago the Oak Island property could be worth 7.0 million Canadian dollars (US$5.9 million), based on information from real-estate agents. But Tim Harris, owner of Tradewinds Realty in the nearby town of Chester, said that price may be high because there aren't many buyers in the market.

Mr. Tobias paid 125,000 Canadian dollars for the Oak Island land in 1977, according to D'Arcy O'Connor, a former Wall Street Journal reporter who has written three books about the long-running treasure hunt.

The court-appointed liquidator, Derek Cramm, said he is in the process of lining up an appraiser and isn't sure whether a "goodwill" premium would be factored in for the property's fabled treasure trove. "We're hoping to have it on the market sometime here this fall," he said.

The two men, both in their early 80s, are ready to throw in the towel after squabbling for years over how to pursue their elusive goal of finding treasure. "I don't think we could agree if the sun was shining or not," Mr. Blankenship said in an interview at his bungalow on the island, where he has lived for the past 30 years.

Mr. Tobias said through a family spokesman that he has agreed to sell because "it's time to move on to the next generation of treasure hunters."

The turn of events has some Oak Island buffs worried that the island might fall into the hands of a developer who would carve it into condominiums, although no developer has publicly expressed interest. (The property has been in private ownership since the 18th century and remains largely undeveloped.) But the group, known as the Oak Island Tourism Society, also sees an opportunity to preserve the island's lore: It's urging the provincial government to buy the property and set up a tourism center at the site, which has been largely off-limits to visitors for the past decade. Mr. Blankenship, his son and Fred Nolan, who owns most of the rest of Oak Island, are the only people who live on the island or own a cottage there.

Rodney MacDonald, Nova Scotia's minister of tourism, culture and heritage, said that "Oak Island certainly has tremendous potential as a tourism development," and "we've been having many discussions about what might be possible." Judy Streatch, the provincial legislator for the area, said she hopes the government "will take a long, hard look" at purchasing the property.

Mr. Blankenship and Mr. Tobias both indicated they would prefer to sell to someone who will continue the treasure hunt, although not much actual digging has taken place in the past decade. But "obviously they have to take the most appropriate offer," said Mr. Tobias's great-nephew, Ephraim Cohen.

The Money Pit tale dates back to 1795, when a local youth is said to have stumbled on an unusual depression at the foot of a large tree. When he and two friends dug into the soil, they found what appeared to be a shaft with wood platforms at 10-foot intervals.

They gave up after 30 feet, but years later joined a consortium of Nova Scotia businessmen to resume excavating. That group encountered more evidence of wood platforms, as well as layers of charcoal, putty and a brown material later identified as fiber from coconut husks. At 90 feet, they are said to have found a flat stone inscribed with unfamiliar symbols, and at 98 feet, a hard surface that some took to be the top of a chest. They stopped digging because of nightfall, but by the time they returned in the morning, the shaft had flooded with 60 feet of water.

Oak Island buffs believe the excavators had discovered a booby trap engineered into the shaft through a flood tunnel connected to a nearby cove. Many also surmise that the intricate underground network must have been designed to contain buried treasure. Early theories about the likely depositor focused on Capt. William Kidd or other reputed pirates of the late 17th century; more recently, researchers have theorized about the possibility of riches from a storm-tossed Spanish galleon. Mr. Blankenship argues that whoever constructed the shaft needed extensive mining technology, manpower and loot, and "only the Spanish qualify."

Debunkers argue that the flooding and other supposed anomalies can be explained by natural phenomena. "I can explain almost everything they've seen in terms of natural geology," says Gordon Fader, an emeritus scientist with the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The Money Pit could have been a sinkhole that filled up partly with fallen trees -- a phenomenon not unusual in an area with limestone bedrock full of cavities. Bits of metal could have been left behind or purposely "seeded" by past searchers, or may have simply fallen into shafts, he says.

Besides, the amount of engineering and labor required for such an underground maze is so extensive that it's "absolutely ludicrous" to imagine it being carried out hundreds of years ago, he added.

More than a dozen treasure-hunting groups have tried to get to the bottom of the mystery over the past two centuries, with several predicting quick success. By the end of the 19th century, the east end of the island was a rabbit warren of drill holes and shafts. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then a young lawyer, invested in one treasure hunting venture in 1909, according to Mr. O'Connor. In the late 1960s, a syndicate of Canadian and U.S. businessmen -- including Messrs. Tobias and Blankenship -- pooled $500,000 to pursue the quest. Mr. Tobias unsuccessfully attempted to raise financing in the late 1980s for a $10 million archaeological excavation of the site.

Mr. Blankenship insisted that he has "many reasons to believe" buried treasure exists, and he still hopes to see it dug up. Some bits of metal that turned up deep within one borehole, for example, have been dated to before 1750, he noted.

David Mugar, a former Boston television-station owner, funded some testing by Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute at the site 10 years ago. Mr. Mugar said he initially planned to produce a documentary, but dropped the effort after concluding from the test findings that the theories didn't hold water. Pirate treasure "may still exist in various places in the world, but in my opinion . . . Oak Island is not one," Mr. Mugar said. "I think this is one of those situations where a lot of people wanted to be able to try to believe a wonderful tale."

Other researchers say the naysayers haven't come up with adequate explanations for all of the evidence. Les MacPhie, a senior geotechnical specialist with a multinational engineering firm in Montreal, has studied Oak Island for years "as a hobby" and co-authored a 1999 book about it. He said he believes that evidence, including carbon-dated wood, from a key series of drill holes indicates that man-made chambers exist in the bedrock below the Money Pit at a depth of close to 200 feet -- below where other searchers operated.

Mr. MacPhie and other engineers have suggested an exploration program using mining techniques that they say could resolve the issue. The plan involves freezing a broad perimeter of earth using a brine solution, then excavating a huge shaft within the ring. Estimated cost: about 15 million Canadian dollars.

Mr. Fader of the Bedford Institute said he and Mr. MacPhie disagree about the presence of man-made chambers in the bedrock. But he said he considers one finding "quite spectacular," though he doesn't think it is linked to the treasure-hunting holes.

In 1970, a large structure made of thick logs was found buried below the silt beyond the low-tide line during excavation of a cove at the island's east end. Each log was notched at four-foot intervals, with a Roman numeral carved beside each notch. Some experts believe the structure was an ancient wharf and slipway. Mr. Fader said he has a "gut feeling" that the structures were built by the British military, perhaps as a staging ground for an attack on the fortified French settlement at Louisbourg, over 200 miles northeast of Oak Island.

Docks are a hive of activity, so if ships were tied up for any length of time, artifacts are likely to have dropped to the sea floor, Mr. Fader said. With a proper archaeological study, the site has the potential to unravel the story of early European occupation of the island, he says. That revelation, he added, would be "the real treasure".