1749 lead property marker in Allegheny river

I wouldn't waste the money, the gov't would probably seize it from you. Interesting read though.

http://www.remarkableohio.org/picture.php?/3047

Here's a map to help you!



And some more current info...

http://weelunk.com/priceless-piece-wheeling-history-never-found/

Interesting story. Welcome to the forum from Pgh. AT Pro a good machine to start with. HH Mark

As big as those rivers are, if it was in the flood plain, it's probably buried 20' deep or more in flood sediment by now. If it wasn't in the flood plain you may have at least a small chance of locating it if you could get a clue where to look, then get an eyeball or a coil over the thing. I know any detector will hit on lead sinkers, so anything you decided to hunt with should work out of the water.

MrNovice said:

I wouldn't waste the money, the gov't would probably seize it from you. Interesting read though.

http://www.remarkableohio.org/picture.php?/3047

Here's a map to help you!



And some more current info...

http://weelunk.com/priceless-piece-wheeling-history-never-found/

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Why would the government "seize it" from him if he did find it? That makes no sense to me...

I think a boy in the 1850s found one along the ohio near Baden and it is now in a museum in Beaver.

Anyway, welcome to the forum from a Gibsonia resident

BBsGal said:

Why would the government "seize it" from him if he did find it? That makes no sense to me...

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Historical value, they'll claim it as a national treasure or something.

MrNovice said:

Historical value, they'll claim it as a national treasure or something.

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I can't help but wonder when anything that was just honestly found has been seized as a national treasure. Seems like it would make the news and I don't recall ever hearing of it happening... although I have heard of things that were stolen and then recovered being seized, which does make sense.

BBsGal said:

I can't help but wonder when anything that was just honestly found has been seized as a national treasure. Seems like it would make the news and I don't recall ever hearing of it happening... although I have heard of things that were stolen and then recovered being seized, which does make sense.

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It could be seized under repatriation, considering they belong to France. I'm just saying, I wouldn't risk it. There are so many laws pertaining to artifacts, whether this be on private or public land. Then it also gets into lost and found monetary laws, while rarely enforced, they still stand in county, state and fed laws. No doubt, if found and made public, someone would be coming after it.

MrNovice said:

It could be seized under repatriation, considering they belong to France. I'm just saying, I wouldn't risk it. There are so many laws pertaining to artifacts, whether this be on private or public land. Then it also gets into lost and found monetary laws, while rarely enforced, they still stand in county, state and fed laws. No doubt, if found and made public, someone would be coming after it.

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Ok then...

My family has land in Imperial Pa....McNees is my last name... my father went to Allegheny high school. I have aunts and uncles that taught there too...HH

BBsGal said:

Ok then...

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Do you remember the show a year or so back called Curse of Oak Island? Even though the Lagina Bros outright owned the land they were working on, they still had to get permits and such to authorize their ventures. Many of which were environmental permits from the Canadian Govt, and that was on their own private property.

Assuming this plate would be out of reach for a normal metal detector, you may be looking at using ground penetrating radar and an excavator. If this is public (gov't) land, you can see how this would be an issue. It might be well worth it that if you could get the permits/rights to retrieve it, it very well could be worth the investment. I'd definitely talk to some lawyers first that could navigate such interests before investing money into it.

MrNovice said:

No doubt, if found and made public, someone would be coming after it.

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Here's the key operation sentence in everything that's been said. IF it were to be found, and IF outsiders were to learn it had been found, then "someone" would be coming after it. However, if it were found, and the finder kept it a secret to himself, then.......

Roger

Thanks to everyone

Hello everyone. I want to thank everyone for the welcome and input. My name is Doug Shreve and my family has lived along the Allegheny river for a long time. My ancestors were Quakers from Phillidelphia who moved to Pittsburgh-where I was born. One famous one traveled down the Ohio and worked clearing a river from Texas. They named Shreveport Louisianan after him.
I took an old Garrett Pro something out last year to several of the islands on the river (camped on one last week, incidentally) and either found beer cans or oil industry trash. For those who don't know Drake discovered oil up river in Titusville in 1859. As a result, there are tons of oil drilling stuff throughout the river and on every island. While in high school I lived in Petrolia and today drive through Greece City every day. Up river is Oil City. The names don't stop. On the bright side, there was a ton of money in this area in the late 1800s-beautiful old houses and things you guys would be interested in. On one island (covered with black walnut trees) I found my first nutting stone. Obviously, I didn't need my detector for that. I didn't know what it was but it made total sense when I found out.
As for the best way to find that lead marker..."ground penetrating radar"? Interesting. Could it also be "water penetrating radar"?? I'm going to look into it.
As for the legality of my keeping it?? I am the worst person to talk about the law. I watched something on TV where two older woman owned an actual state constitution. They inherited it and tried to sell it. It was taken during a battle of the civil war and kept in their house for a 150 years. Long story short they got nothing for it except threats of legal action. I would have thought it to be theirs but I was wrong.
As for the plate.. I am not above making a ground penetrating radar from scratch. Any information would be helpful.
I believe the plate to be 2-4 feet under gravel that is in 4-8 feet of water.
Thanks again to everyone and I hope this isn't too long.

dshreve --

Fascinating. I grew up in Beaver County, PA, on the Ohio River, and travel back home to visit my family several times a year. Though I am fairly familiar with the history of the area, I was unaware of these lead plates placed by the French. What fascinating history.

Steve

I love the colonial history here in PA.