Was Joseph Smith involved in treasure digging?

D.Michael Quinn wrote decades ago now,Mormonism Magic,and the New World View...he was excommunicated,but am not sure if that was only for his book or not.In 1945,Fawn Brodie,a niece of president David O.MacKay ,historian was removed from membership rolls ,for her one seminal book on the the detailed life of Joseph Smith,NoMan KnowsMyHistory,Alfred Knoff Publishers.
Both books detail and document the claimed activities of the Prophet using diviningrods,using at least two colored types of seer stones,and practicing magic.Joseph was a very charismatic person,(and inspite of having zero luck at retrieving buried treasures,such as that of Captain Kidd s silver mine, along the same Pennsylvania river where he also claimed to have been visited by John the Baptist),he was able to still form loyal partnerships with fellow diggers, who, inspite of never,ever finding buried treasures, these stayed with him several years throughout his 20s.
In 1826,Joseph was convicted by a judge Neely for peepseeking, and disorderly conduct,AFTER AND DURING THE 3 YEARS, in which he was conjointly having visitations with angels, as to where to find the buried ancient records of past American civilizations.
Even more interesting is the fact of a total of 6 years earlier than this trial in Bainbridge,NewYork,he MAINTAINED THAT HE HAD the foundational FIRST vision of the church ,where he said he actually saw God the Father, however which account varies among several others,and was YET not written down, and desctibed for yet 18 years after that event.
Would you not think that Joseph might not have told a few neighbors of the magnificance of seeing the ALMIGHTY IN 1830 ,WHEN IT WAS NOT EVEN DESCRIBED UNTIL 1838 IN MISSOURI,NOT EVEN IN NEW YORK STATE?
Before this described pivotal account, there were others stating rather, that ONLY JESUS appeared WHO ONLY FORGAVE HIS SINS,and DID NOT MENTION LOCAL CHURCHES,then to others of ONLY JUST ANGELS ,APART FROM JESUS appeared.
So to question reality here,I ask,"if for example you had witnessed a car accident on a wednesday afternoon ,at 3.05 pm.between a red, and a green car,and one person got a broken arm,but then,after reflecting more seriously, you declared in sworn testimony,that rather now you felt the accident was instead at 5.45pm.on a friday between a black,and yellow car,and the person really had a broken leg,and not arm ,then tell me,how well would you fare before the judge and jurors there?
Indeed,these digging activities with his father,and a couple of scribes to the Book of Mormon produced fully negative successes for over 5 years digging in two states,MOST WHO PAID HIM TO DIG at his specified locations,might we not really question,how well then could his success rate improve to locate sacred golden plates at almost identical time periods claimed?
We then have Kinderhook plates purchased at Kirtland Ohio,and a couple Egyptian mummies that formed the basis for his Book of Abraham.
In living down here in Latin America,I personally visited the city of Zarahemla did you know? Joseph himself affirmed in his Times and Seasons newspaper dated October1st,1842,Vol.Iii.No.23 at the City of Nauvoo,quoting him on the front page affirming that the odds of a recently discovered Mayan civilization ruins by one Stephens,at the place called Quirgua in Guatamala presently,"the city of Zarahemla STOOD UPON THIS LAND AS WILL BE SEEN FROM THE FOLLOWING WORDS IN THE BOOK OF ALMA,3rd edition,page 280-281...we are of the opinion,that IT WOULD REQUIRE MORE PROOF THAN THE JEWS COULD BRING TO PROVE THAT THE DISCIPLES STOLE THE BODY OF JESUS FROM THE TOMB,TO PROVE THAT THE RUINS OF THE CITY IN QUESTION,ARE NOT ONE OF THOSE REFERRED TO IN THE BOOK OF MORMON"
If one of us saw God would we not be rather humble and less hindered with magic ctivities,which included the killing of both a black dog,and a stolen black sheep to appease spirits...I'm sorry to be so detailed here,however the ruinsxdescribed for Zarahemla have produced no metal swords or weapons of war here,and an anthropologist is seen describing this place on site,in December2004,in a film called The Bible vs.The Book of Mormon by sourceflix.com

bobf

I think Joseph was involved in treasure digging, he was looking to get money from little to no work. He was looking into his stones and telling people where to find treasure, though they never found any - until he found his own. I think the hill cumorah story of Joseph obtaining the gold plates has changed over time and originally fits very close to treasure digging myths of the day. Over the decades the official church narrative has cleaned up and sanitized it - for example, in early recordings, he found the plates by looking into his seer stone (which he then used to translate the plates). The foundation stories of the church fit exactly into the folk-magic of his day.