Finds without my detector

[fyrffytr1]

When the water drops to a certain level in the river we like to wade out and look for stuff that has been thrown off the bridge. We find a lot of trade tokens, amusement tokens and some coins and jewelry. We have even found guns, mostly pistols that were dumped many many years ago.
Well, this weekend the water dropped way down and we were able to hunt some areas that were previously out of bounds due to the depth and current.
Anyway, I was late getting there both Saturday and Sunday and ended up hunting behind the other guys.
They racked up the tokens with one guy finding over 200. I ended the weekend with several tokens, lead slugs, a Buffalo nickel and one wheat penny.
My best find was an Army Air Force Technician's badge dating between 1943 and the Korean War. It is marked Sterling and weighs 16 grams (5/8th oz.) It was covered with a black tar like substance as are a lot of the tokens we find.
The new looking nickel is for size comparison.

[Ill Digger]

Man! All kindsa nice finds! :cool:
The Army Air Force Technician's badge is a super sweet find! thumbsup01
And one of my favorite things to find (other than silver) is the old trade tokens ! You found some nice ones! :yes: :envious:
Congrats! :grin:

[OxShoeDrew]

Why did they throw tokens off the bridge? In any event, its nice for you. |:cheering:

[CODY]

Yeah, thats my question too! Why does people throw these things off the bridge? Or are they washing down from somewhere? Awesome finds. History please. You have us curious!

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

very nice medal!

[fyrffytr1]

History has it that back in the 30's several slot machines were tossed off the bridge to destroy them. Also, many tokens and lead slugs were covered in tar and thrown off as well. We occasionally find a glob of tokens but for the most part they have been broken up by the river current. One of the guys found about 20 stuck together this trip.
Also, there have been tales of criminal types throwing loot and weapons off the bridge as well. And, since this area was also used as a landing site for the ferry back in the mid 1800s there is no telling what we may find. While we need rain badly I am looking forward to next weekend when the water may be even lower.

[Fire Fighter 43]

Nice finds, WTG |:cheering:

[Rob L]

Nice finds without a detector. Have you tried a detector there? Maybe you could come up with a lot more. Your post is very interesting. :)

[fyrffytr1]

Nice finds without a detector. Have you tried a detector there? Maybe you could come up with a lot more. Your post is very interesting. :)

I don't have a water proof detector and don't want to chance dropping my DFX in the river. Besides, I have to use one hand and both feet to get a grip on the bottom. So, that only leaves one hand free!
We hunt in water from 1 1/2 feet to 4 feet deep.

[skrapman]

Thats a very interesting story, one can only speculate as to why the items ended up in the river, but for whatever reason its great
that someone can bring them back up. wonder how much got washed down stream? good job :perfect10: