stangthang
Elite Member
I have searched the area around an old mine location, and found very little. This mine was open around the middle of the 1800’s. Found a few old bits of iron and copper, possibly old tools. Maybe an old file, and an old punch or die. Also found part of a carriage bolt and a large iron spike. Not sure how old these items are.
Well, at the bottom of the hill right by the old mine, there runs a stream or creek. This is the only water source, unless a well was dug. People must have walked down to the creek to wash clothes, take a bath, swim, whatever. I thought it might be interesting to check the bottom bed of the creek. I bagged up the electronics of my MXT , grabbed some water shoes, and headed out. It was a little bit of a walk to get to the creek. I was hoping to find some old coins. The dirt area around the creek is very soft. Earlier exploring revealed that coins and such sink very fast, pretty far down. The bottom of the creek is solid gravel and rock. I was a little afraid of stumbling and risking my MXT. I was not afraid of turtles, leeches, snakes, mosquitoes, or quick sand. I did find some deep muck that almost stole one of my shoes. Well, after 2 hours, I found 3 coins, and one more on the bank of the creek. Two dimes and two pennies. I was excited about the dime in the creek, but alas, they were all just clad, the oldest being a 1970 penny. It was pretty tarnished from the water. The dime was a ’90 something and looked like the clad I shake in salt and vinegar to clean them, sort of pink. What a bust. I am feeling pretty discouraged this year, finding only 3 silver coins and two Indian head pennies after over more than 100 hours spent searching old sites. I did my research, bought a better 10” DD coil for the MXT, hoping for more depth, but not much found so far. I could have found all the coins with my $90 Bounty Hunter Tracker IV. Next year will hopefully be busy with work, so I will have little to no time for detecting. I think I could do better by devoting all my detecting time to searching for gold and silver at the playgrounds, then buying some old coins with the profits. Not sure where to go from here……the ice and cold are only weeks away. -Jim from SW Wisconsin
Well, at the bottom of the hill right by the old mine, there runs a stream or creek. This is the only water source, unless a well was dug. People must have walked down to the creek to wash clothes, take a bath, swim, whatever. I thought it might be interesting to check the bottom bed of the creek. I bagged up the electronics of my MXT , grabbed some water shoes, and headed out. It was a little bit of a walk to get to the creek. I was hoping to find some old coins. The dirt area around the creek is very soft. Earlier exploring revealed that coins and such sink very fast, pretty far down. The bottom of the creek is solid gravel and rock. I was a little afraid of stumbling and risking my MXT. I was not afraid of turtles, leeches, snakes, mosquitoes, or quick sand. I did find some deep muck that almost stole one of my shoes. Well, after 2 hours, I found 3 coins, and one more on the bank of the creek. Two dimes and two pennies. I was excited about the dime in the creek, but alas, they were all just clad, the oldest being a 1970 penny. It was pretty tarnished from the water. The dime was a ’90 something and looked like the clad I shake in salt and vinegar to clean them, sort of pink. What a bust. I am feeling pretty discouraged this year, finding only 3 silver coins and two Indian head pennies after over more than 100 hours spent searching old sites. I did my research, bought a better 10” DD coil for the MXT, hoping for more depth, but not much found so far. I could have found all the coins with my $90 Bounty Hunter Tracker IV. Next year will hopefully be busy with work, so I will have little to no time for detecting. I think I could do better by devoting all my detecting time to searching for gold and silver at the playgrounds, then buying some old coins with the profits. Not sure where to go from here……the ice and cold are only weeks away. -Jim from SW Wisconsin