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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III HOW JOSEPH SMITH BECAME A MONEY-DIGGER The elder Smith, as we have seen, was known as a money- digger while a resident of Vermont. Of course that subject was a matter of conversation in his family, and his sons were of a character to share in his belief in the existence of hidden treasure. The territory around Palmyra was as good ground for their explorations as any in Vermont, and they soon let their neighbors know of a possibility of riches that lay within their reach. The father, while a resident of Vermont, also claimed ability to locate an underground stream of water over which would be a good site for a well, by means of a forked hazel switch,1 and in this way doubtless increased the demand for his services as a well-digger, but we have no testimonials to his success. The son Joseph, while still a young lad, professed to have his father's gift in this respect, and he soon added to his accomplishments the power to locate hidden riches, and in this way began his career as a money-digger, which was so intimately connected with his professions as a prophet. Writers on the origin of the Mormon Bible, and the gradual development of Smith the Prophet from Smith the village loafer and money-seeker, have left their readers unsatisfied on many points. Many of these obscurities will be removed by a very careful examination of Joseph's occupations and declarations during the years immediately preceding the announcement of the revelation and delivery to him of the golden plates. 1 The so-called " divining rod " has received a good deal of attention from persons engaged in psychical research. Vol. XIII, Part II, of the " Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research " is devoted to a discussion of the subject by Professor W. F. Barrett of the Royal College of ...