Treasure Quest
Junior Member
A Personal Big Cache Story...
Here's a little story of encouragement... It's out there.
When I was a kid growing up in the Midwest, I went metal detecting with my dad. (I caught the bug early!) It was 72'... maybe 73' and had one of the first metal detectors anywhere around. (We cleaned up, but that's another story.)
A buddy of my dads found out we had a detector and said "Hey, you need to check out Mr. (Insert Name Here) property. I picked up some fill dirt for my new hog shed a couple of years ago and found a $20 gold piece in the dirt. (Now that dirt is under a concrete hog building... ) Well, that peaked my fathers curiosity and he placed a call to the land owner asking for permission to look around the old farm. He told my dad, "Yea, come on out and look around." When we arrived, my dad told the farmer about his friend finding an old coin in his fill dirt. My dad asked if he remembered where that old fill dirt came from. He said, "Well, there was some fella that lived here long before we bought the place... He died years ago and we tore down his old shack of a house and (this is the part I love..) dug out the old cellar to build a full basement under the new house we were building. That dirt was piled up for some time and then we just dozed it out across the yard here." My dad and I looked at each other and thought could this be a cache??? The coin came from the dirt of a cellar wall! He had no idea what a metal detector was and left us alone. His brother hung out (unfortunately for us) and we got to looking with our White's Coinmaster (maybe it was a Goldmaster??) Anyway, after about five minutes we got a big signal. I dug down about a foot and pulled up the bottom half (or what was left of it) of a copper box. It appeard to be about the size of a glove box with a latch still intact 12" x 4" and about 2" tall. We kept it and kept looking... (the farmers brother in tow). Not TWO minutes later we get a strong signal. I dug down about 6" and pulled out a beautiful $20 double eagle gold piece! It was amazing the dirt just wiped right off like it was brand new. (I think it was 1873..) I stood up and handed it to my dad... The farmers brother waived over his brother who was working on the side of the barn. He looked shocked... I don't think he thought there was such a machine that could find a coin under the dirt. Then he said, "Well, you have a nice find there... I appreciate you coming out and sent us on our way... It was VERY obvious it was time to go. We couldn't believe it. We found a gold coin that had to be from a cache. My aunt lived nearby and talked to the farmers wife several years later and told my aunt a total of sixteen had surfaced from the dirt around the house mostly when it rained.
Ok... here's the down side of the story. These were not nice people. They had a reputation of being pretty unfriendly and kept to themselves. So.. we were caught off guard when about two years later this couple showed up at our front door demanding the gold piece. My dad, who was just a great guy said, "Hey, you handed it back to us and said, you have a nice find there!" The farmer then said, "Well, now we want it back! We don't want to have to go to court over this, but we will." (He claimed he told us we could keep it for two years to show to friends and then they would get it back!) Yea right... that was a big fat lie. *Bovine Scatology* if you will! Anyway, my dad, (who was a much better person than I) had even purchased a nice case for it... walked over and said, "Here just take it and go. If you're the kind of people to lie to get it back, we don't want anything to do with it." Now, that was my dad... I wouldn't have been so nice even if I had to go to court!
Now I live 1,000 miles from there and the old man and woman are dead and I have no idea who owns that property. Next time I go home, I think I will drive out there with a couple of crisp Ben Franklins and say... "These are yours if I can just metal detect here for one day. The money is yours wether I find anything or not. I'm sure the owners have to know what has been found there, but you never know!
I'll guarantee there are more gold pieces out there just waiting to be found.
It's a bitter sweet story, but thought I would share...
Here's a little story of encouragement... It's out there.
When I was a kid growing up in the Midwest, I went metal detecting with my dad. (I caught the bug early!) It was 72'... maybe 73' and had one of the first metal detectors anywhere around. (We cleaned up, but that's another story.)
A buddy of my dads found out we had a detector and said "Hey, you need to check out Mr. (Insert Name Here) property. I picked up some fill dirt for my new hog shed a couple of years ago and found a $20 gold piece in the dirt. (Now that dirt is under a concrete hog building... ) Well, that peaked my fathers curiosity and he placed a call to the land owner asking for permission to look around the old farm. He told my dad, "Yea, come on out and look around." When we arrived, my dad told the farmer about his friend finding an old coin in his fill dirt. My dad asked if he remembered where that old fill dirt came from. He said, "Well, there was some fella that lived here long before we bought the place... He died years ago and we tore down his old shack of a house and (this is the part I love..) dug out the old cellar to build a full basement under the new house we were building. That dirt was piled up for some time and then we just dozed it out across the yard here." My dad and I looked at each other and thought could this be a cache??? The coin came from the dirt of a cellar wall! He had no idea what a metal detector was and left us alone. His brother hung out (unfortunately for us) and we got to looking with our White's Coinmaster (maybe it was a Goldmaster??) Anyway, after about five minutes we got a big signal. I dug down about a foot and pulled up the bottom half (or what was left of it) of a copper box. It appeard to be about the size of a glove box with a latch still intact 12" x 4" and about 2" tall. We kept it and kept looking... (the farmers brother in tow). Not TWO minutes later we get a strong signal. I dug down about 6" and pulled out a beautiful $20 double eagle gold piece! It was amazing the dirt just wiped right off like it was brand new. (I think it was 1873..) I stood up and handed it to my dad... The farmers brother waived over his brother who was working on the side of the barn. He looked shocked... I don't think he thought there was such a machine that could find a coin under the dirt. Then he said, "Well, you have a nice find there... I appreciate you coming out and sent us on our way... It was VERY obvious it was time to go. We couldn't believe it. We found a gold coin that had to be from a cache. My aunt lived nearby and talked to the farmers wife several years later and told my aunt a total of sixteen had surfaced from the dirt around the house mostly when it rained.
Ok... here's the down side of the story. These were not nice people. They had a reputation of being pretty unfriendly and kept to themselves. So.. we were caught off guard when about two years later this couple showed up at our front door demanding the gold piece. My dad, who was just a great guy said, "Hey, you handed it back to us and said, you have a nice find there!" The farmer then said, "Well, now we want it back! We don't want to have to go to court over this, but we will." (He claimed he told us we could keep it for two years to show to friends and then they would get it back!) Yea right... that was a big fat lie. *Bovine Scatology* if you will! Anyway, my dad, (who was a much better person than I) had even purchased a nice case for it... walked over and said, "Here just take it and go. If you're the kind of people to lie to get it back, we don't want anything to do with it." Now, that was my dad... I wouldn't have been so nice even if I had to go to court!
Now I live 1,000 miles from there and the old man and woman are dead and I have no idea who owns that property. Next time I go home, I think I will drive out there with a couple of crisp Ben Franklins and say... "These are yours if I can just metal detect here for one day. The money is yours wether I find anything or not. I'm sure the owners have to know what has been found there, but you never know!
I'll guarantee there are more gold pieces out there just waiting to be found.
It's a bitter sweet story, but thought I would share...