How do you research?

Diggum

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I'm with my family, getting passports at the county clerk's office, and it struck me, as i looked through giant books of 150 year old mining claims, that i am in the place i need to be to research old mining camps. However, i haven't a clue as to how to go about it. Does anyone know, and are you willing to share, what needs to be done to find those old, lost locations that might yield some good finds?
 
No one has any suggestions?

How about what I should ask at the county clerk's office so that I don't freak them out by saying, "I'm researching old mining camps so I can find old relics and coins."

Where do I start, at least?
 
I honestly have no clue, as I've never done it, but...

I would try and figure out how they are sorted, and try and find one or two close by to where you live. Maybe get (buy?) a copy of the claim, then go and scope them out, and see what's there.

I wouldn't be surprised if, when you approached the clerk and told him/her your intentions, they helped you in the right direction.
 
When I research, I usually go on google earth and go on the historic aerials but some shots aren't really that great and very blurry!

Sometimes I just do some research online, i.e find Wikipedia articles about the place or places surrounding your location. Other online articles have given me clues about the place.

You could also drive to the place/s where you think the camps were. If they were mining gold, look for mineshafts and dirt mounds. The camp would usually be close to the shafts and mounds. You could find the camp by looking for clearings within trees, however, they may have already been overgrown. Broken glass might also indicate where the camp was.

If you find a large pile of scattered glass, you may have come across the camp's dump. Camps are usually close by the dump.

If the town has a museum, it might be worth visiting it, maybe you can learn something there.

Or you can just ask at the office if there is some way for you to find out some more about the towns history. Say you are interested in learning more about this town's past.

Good luck! :)
 
I drive around and say to myself "that place looks old, I should knock it".


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I honestly have no clue, as I've never done it, but...

I would try and figure out how they are sorted, and try and find one or two close by to where you live. Maybe get (buy?) a copy of the claim, then go and scope them out, and see what's there.

I wouldn't be surprised if, when you approached the clerk and told him/her your intentions, they helped you in the right direction.

Very possibly. I might try this frontal assault, and report back. :yes:
 
I have little to no experience actually metal detecting. I have two detectors, one was a Christmas Gift, and one I bought second hand off of Ebay (maybe from a member here, who knows? Silver Sabre II Tesoro). But, I know that research is key to searching in the best possible locations. Then it's up to me to learn and practice and keep at it.

Of course we all want the most valuable objects we can find, and the older the better, if it's going to be a coin, button, door knob, belt buckle, etc.

So my thinking is to get some books from the local library and read about the history of the community I live in. I live about 45 minutes from Cooperstown, and an hour or so away from Albany and Utica. The books will lead you down the trails and rivers and creeks the early settlers used to get to this location.

This area was once the edge of the frontier during the 1700's, so there are some interesting locations and history. And I have been using what I have learned to start making a list of areas I want to investigate. There's a creek called Butternuts Creek that the town is on. The upper section is where the first settlers of the valley came in and started their homesteads. Below the town is where a General Morris build his estate, complete with mills and several outbuildings. Most of which are still there. Below him is where the creek meets the Unadilla River and there are several towns like Bainbridge that have a great history with French/Indian raids, British/Indian raids where the settlement was burned to the ground.

I then have been hunting down the oldest maps I can find, and trying to locate where some of the actual locations are likely going to be. I'm cross-referencing the old maps with modern ones and of course our pal Google Earth, and now have some really interesting locations that I will be hunting as the weather breaks and I can get at the sites. There's lots of farmland around here and I'll be asking owners if they are ok with me walking around with my family looking for artifacts. I am hoping to find arrowheads and whatnot from the Seven Nations as well as try to locate Trapper, Colonists, Soldier relics.

Along the way there have been some other interesting distractions like old school houses, fair grounds, parks, etc that have been used since at least the 1850's. The areas near water are always nice during the hot summer days. The last time we took the kids down to the creek they would have stayed there until dark except we lured them away with ice cream and dinner.
 
Think like a Human 150yrs ago...use the satellite images to find old tailing piles up some gold heavy draws...You know a Human would be camping on the Southern exposure of those deep draws... Comfortable places a Human would typically camp or build a little nest 150yrs ago...Use all the resources available then get in there and track them down!
 
Started something new recently on a tip. Got a subscription to newspapers.com and started searching for old local newspaper articles about fairs, gatherings, chautauquas etc.
 
I went to the Historical society for my county yesterday... I now have more hunting spots than I can possibly get to in a couple of years.... several of them private individuals that the ladies called up for me because i'm willing to give / loan any relics I find to the museum. The coins and precious metals are mine to keep unless the are directly significant to a historical individual or company.

Beyond that I looked for the Sanborn fire maps of my area. VERY helpful.
 
When looking up claims you need to go to the blm LR 2000, if you want to find very old claims and prospects topo maps have the shovel pick cross. In our area there are a lot of books that talk about many of the popular or producing claims. However most of those areas are full of trash and iron. If you can find theist cabins and camps you might have a better chance
 
Researching! That's what I've been doing for that last two years. I find that online there are some great resoucres. Historic old newspapers online. You don't have to read them all, just think up some search term.

I know that you folks are not interested in big gold nuggets, but I am. I went to school for geology, so forgive me.

I get a kick out of going to chronacling america and typing in "big nugget". You could put in
"revival meeting" or "mining camp" the research never ends. I like to search for "wire gold" a desirable form of gold that was mined in the old days. My research comes up with 180 occurances of wire gold found in Colorado. That's just Colorado. Every state has an online newspaper data base you could search with what ever.

I think I'm addicted to searching old newspapers online, and have described my struggle here. https://reportscoarsegoldsilver.wordpress.com/
 
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