Interesting First Dig

I tried a new spot in the park yesterday under an old oak tree out away from everything. Lots of iron hits but I knew I was really short on time so I only dug one really strong iron hit and found a round bar I think is off a railroad car. I also found a penny and just threw it in my bag. But just before dark I had a mid-range hit and dug down about six inches and found a fragmented fruit jar lid and some glass remnants. Right then my son called and I had to leave to pick him up :shocked04:verreaction: Will have to wait until next week to see if there was anything in that jar. And today I looked at the penny; it's a 1945 wheat. The park has only been there since the mid 80's so this might an interesting site to revisit.

Sounds like great potential! I love those old mason jar lids and the anticipation of a cache lol I've been disappointed every time... although I did find a tax token in the midst of a broken one and should have dug deeper in that hard dry hot summer day. Thanks for the reminder, I'm going back! :yes:

Check out www.historicmapworks.com and look at some old county maps of your area to see what was there! |:cheering:

Good luck next week :detecting:

tanacat link=topic=14096.msg148362#msg148362 date=1377778683 said:

Check out www.historicmapworks.com and look at some old county maps of your area to see what was there! |:cheering:

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip! I found the site on an old map at that website. Sweet! As for the jar, I know it's most likely going to be a bust, but putting it off for a week gives me time to dream and look forward to returning. :crossfingers:

Good luck with the fruit jar. I hope it's full. The park may not be too old, but they may have brought in dirt when they made it. Was there anything there before the park was built?

The oak tree right there looks to be at least a century old. The land (according to the map tanacat pointed me toward) was a series of private properties as recently as the 50's and I know nothing was there when I moved to the area in 1981. So who knows what lurks beneath the surface? Stay tuned...

Well I finally got back out to the oak tree. I found another broken jar about 30' from the first one, and unfortunately no untold riches in either hole, just broken glass and rusted lid pieces. crying01 crying01

that stuff could be from fill dirt brought in , believe it or not but a lot of parks were actually landfill dumps in the late 1800's . when the area became pretty full they would bring fill from other construction projects to cover or cap the landfill. . not saying yours is definately that , I grew up in the south west and some of our parks and municipal golf course were old dumps from the late 1800's to about 1920.

Dan

Don't give up! |:cheering: I've been hunting a 'new' city park where I found old house sites on mid 1800's map and was finding mason jar lids, as well as hinges, wood stove and lantern parts... I hadn't found any coins or good relics after many hours/days & was feeling disgruntled about that site when I found a Good for 5 cents At The Bar token! Amazing how 1 little find can re-kindle/ spark up the passion for a site lol