This last week has brought in some nice finds, and some relics from the past. A week ago Wednesday, I was hunting my fave park and dug up an 1883 IHP. The town was founded in 1882 so it was interesting to find a coin that was one year younger...although dropped much later. Its also my second oldest IHP.
Today I was back at the park, and dug up a nice 1943S merc, along with the Levis button.
During the week I was working a mining claim that Im a partner at in southern WY. Ive been here many times before, and Im interested in the history of this area as the Oregon trail runs near this claim. Part of this claim sits in a nice wide flat, with a couple of draws on the other side of the creek....
Ive always been curious if some wagons from the trail came over this way and camped for the night, then headed up the draw to rejoin the trail 3/4s of a mile to the west. I decided to metal detect in the creek where I thought the ford was in front of the draw, and dug down deep to find the broken iron strap that I believe was from a wagon. On the other side of the creek I found the musket ball by the draw about 7" deep.
Although I cant put a date on the broken iron strap, a friend told me that the musket ball belonged to a pistol that required the ball be tamped in with a device on the barrel...hence the markings on the ball. He also said that the ball would fit in with the dates of the trail. I was too busy digging and classifying material to run through our sluice, so I didnt get to detect as much as I wanted to. Next time I return, Ill hunt for more relics, and let the gold pans get some rest.
Thanks for looking, and HH!
Today I was back at the park, and dug up a nice 1943S merc, along with the Levis button.
During the week I was working a mining claim that Im a partner at in southern WY. Ive been here many times before, and Im interested in the history of this area as the Oregon trail runs near this claim. Part of this claim sits in a nice wide flat, with a couple of draws on the other side of the creek....
Ive always been curious if some wagons from the trail came over this way and camped for the night, then headed up the draw to rejoin the trail 3/4s of a mile to the west. I decided to metal detect in the creek where I thought the ford was in front of the draw, and dug down deep to find the broken iron strap that I believe was from a wagon. On the other side of the creek I found the musket ball by the draw about 7" deep.
Although I cant put a date on the broken iron strap, a friend told me that the musket ball belonged to a pistol that required the ball be tamped in with a device on the barrel...hence the markings on the ball. He also said that the ball would fit in with the dates of the trail. I was too busy digging and classifying material to run through our sluice, so I didnt get to detect as much as I wanted to. Next time I return, Ill hunt for more relics, and let the gold pans get some rest.
Thanks for looking, and HH!