Digger_O'Dell
07-13-2015, 09:52 PM
Well, I had high hopes for hunting an 1870s farm on Saturday. Long story short, it was the farm I had grown up on. Once the kids were grown, my parents divorced and my father got the farm. Not too many years later it was sold, and I only recently found out who was the new owner to get permission-the company I currently work for! Being an employee, I was able to get the OK since I was already covered by their insurance. But once I arrived, I found nothing was as I remembered. The house and most of the outbuildings were razed, and pretty much the whole site was bulldozed and regraded. I know where things had been spilled or dumped in the past, but there was barely even any trash to find, not even a nail! The only thing of significance I did find was my first wheatie MDing.
4882548824
On to the next site was a park next to a covered bridge built around 1870 I think. There was a lot of activity there with kids fishing, a bridal shower, picnickers, etc. Unbelievable, but after several hours searching I didn't find even a single coin!
Next I stopped briefly to survey the site of an 1840s ghost town. Last time I was out that way maybe 20 some years ago it was nothing but grassy fields and swamp. Now it's almost all high end lake front mansions. I did manage to find one area that granted access to the lake bluff, and fighting off the swarms of mosquitoes and biting flies I got to the lake bluff. The town itself I'm sure has had all traces removed due to the development of those new homes, but the bluffs and beach should still be untouched where the pier was and all the shipping activity took place. But once I got to the edge of the bluff, I found it was a nearly vertical drop of maybe 1/4 mile or more. Great view, but wasn't going to attempt it that day! I think I will reschedule it for fall after the first frost to kill off the insects and make a day trip of it.
Lastly I decided to go back to a large lake front park I had found a silver Rosie at earlier. This time I tried my high frequency DD coil to try to better get between all the trash. This seemed to work well for the most part, but even at higher sensitivity I was limited to maybe 4" depth. Got several clad I had missed before, but since the Rosie was at about 9", I think any other silver was out of reach with the DD, and the concentric was not able to separate enough. Changed coils to the concentric and went to another area of the park. I was amazed at how clean it was-barely even a pull tab! I was able to get numerous coins out of the new areas I went to, but nothing very old. I did manage a couple older memorial pennies that were actual copper yet. They were surprisingly deep at around 10"! Still better than nothing!
48826
4882548824
On to the next site was a park next to a covered bridge built around 1870 I think. There was a lot of activity there with kids fishing, a bridal shower, picnickers, etc. Unbelievable, but after several hours searching I didn't find even a single coin!
Next I stopped briefly to survey the site of an 1840s ghost town. Last time I was out that way maybe 20 some years ago it was nothing but grassy fields and swamp. Now it's almost all high end lake front mansions. I did manage to find one area that granted access to the lake bluff, and fighting off the swarms of mosquitoes and biting flies I got to the lake bluff. The town itself I'm sure has had all traces removed due to the development of those new homes, but the bluffs and beach should still be untouched where the pier was and all the shipping activity took place. But once I got to the edge of the bluff, I found it was a nearly vertical drop of maybe 1/4 mile or more. Great view, but wasn't going to attempt it that day! I think I will reschedule it for fall after the first frost to kill off the insects and make a day trip of it.
Lastly I decided to go back to a large lake front park I had found a silver Rosie at earlier. This time I tried my high frequency DD coil to try to better get between all the trash. This seemed to work well for the most part, but even at higher sensitivity I was limited to maybe 4" depth. Got several clad I had missed before, but since the Rosie was at about 9", I think any other silver was out of reach with the DD, and the concentric was not able to separate enough. Changed coils to the concentric and went to another area of the park. I was amazed at how clean it was-barely even a pull tab! I was able to get numerous coins out of the new areas I went to, but nothing very old. I did manage a couple older memorial pennies that were actual copper yet. They were surprisingly deep at around 10"! Still better than nothing!
48826