To tell or not to tell?

[horse]

I grew up in Northern Michigan in a deeply wooded area full of old logging camps. A friend of our family was a treasure hunter. The mafia in Detroit murdered her husband. I think he knew his time was up since he made cassette tapes explaining where he hid a large amount of money in a box. The widow had tons of treasure hunting magazines, a metal detector that never seemed to work, and knowledge of logging camps and trash holes.

I would stay at her house often to do yard work, go fishing, and best of all treasure hunting! We listened to the tapes of her late husband and searched for years. She has long passed now and never did find the money.

We would bottle hunt and even made money ate it. The widow sold one bottle for $7000 and this was back in the early 70?s. I just made a couple dollars here and there from bottles and old tins. It was sure exciting to find a new garbage dump or camp.

I had to swear to secrecy not to tell where the spots were. Now that I am traveling on horseback across the country I?ve found old battlefields, gravesites, wagon roads and old resorts near hot springs. I?m just wondering if it is unethical to tell where these spots are?

When I was about 12 yo or so and fly fishing the Ausable river in Michigan, I went up to this fellow wading to chat about how bad the skeeters were. I noticed he was hiding his bait or lure. When I asked him what he was using, he wouldn?t tell me and was annoyed I asked.

I continued on fishing and did well. When loading up my bicycle the same guy came up to the parking lot and asked how I did. I proudly showed him my creel full of browns and he excitedly asked me what I used. This lure-hiding fisherman didn?t do so well.

I didn?t hide my secret to him. If someone hadn?t told me about salting minnows and using a needle to string the treble hook through the body, I wouldn?t have known. I used the fly rod to get under the tree-lined bank and jig the minnow to imitate a live one. It was deadly in this fished-out river.

People tell me all kinds of local secrets because they know I?m passing through. I found quite a bit of gold in Northern California because people helped me. This pretty much paid for my trip for a whole year!

I met a true treasure hunter in Arizona who is searching for gold cached by Coronado. He lives by the Coronado Trail and his life is hunting. His wife supports the family of 5 children! One of his detectors is very expensive with probes! He showed me all kinds of signs and what to look for in the area. I?ve never met anyone so knowledgeable on any one subject! He is a real Indiana Jones.

Dane
www.horsebackamerica.com

 

[billiard rich]

Welcome to the forum horse! I checked-out your web-site - very interesting and well done.

I can't answer your ethical question. I think the reason you would want to disclose where these places are would be the determining factor. Cemetaries and battlefields should always be respected, but the other places (as long as they're not on private property) should be fair game. (Yet each state seems to have its' own rules on where you can and cannot search for treasure. And that even varies from county to county within each state and from town to town within each county.)

But I'll tell you what. After your adventure has ended, I'd sure get a Minelab Explorer and head back up to northern Michigan and look for that box of money.

HH

Rich

 

[Carol K]

Welcome to the forum horse, Great stories. People dream of living a life like yours. Are you packing a detector on your trips?

What would be the reason you would want to tell anyone about these places? Just to be helpful? I'm sure many locals have lots of stories to tell. Talking to the seniors and visting local hangouts is a good way to hear these tidbits of info.

Treasure stories are great entertainment. People love to hear stories of lost treasure, but few do anything about it. So I don't think telling anyone is really going to make any difference. I hope you are keeping a journal of your travels

 

[grinsebring]

Interesting posts

Horse, I read your posts and most of your web sight. Do you carry a detector with you most times? If you do, post pics of anything you find.
Also, I was thinking about your question about disclosing things confided onto you along lifes path. I thought long and hard and truly believe it would be ok to tell me, but not the others. Also, you have some beautiful horses. I think even city folks like me that really never got to know a horse
can really appreciate the beauty in these animals. Welcome to our forum, and keep the posts and pictures coming. Hopefully the next one will be interlaced with detecting......Gil

 

[horse]

I'm sorry I don't have much to offer about metal detecting. I will buy my first detector later today and it should get her in a week. I will be traveling soon so I'm not sure how much time I have to detect in some local hotspots. If I do, I will surely send a picture...even if it is of my first nickel!

I didn?t know about detecting in a battlefield except the big ones that have signs posted about removing items. I?m superstitious when it comes to graves, tombs or Indian artifact and wouldn't bother them.

I found a grave site of an Indian massacre. The graves are fenced off but I bet there are relics in the surrounding area of battle. Is it ethical to look in the area? This place is just a few miles away and hardly anyone knows it exist!

Someone found a saddle stirrup from a Conquistador?s saddle in a wash by Kingman Arizona recently and it is worth a fortune! Washes would be a good place to look since many were navigational routes. I used washes when crossing Death Valley. I will ride 1500 miles of the Rio Grande, 1200 miles of that will be along the Mexican border. Much of my ride in Texas is extremely remote. Forget about cell phones. I found a beer tapper in Mi while fishing a river and sold it for $50, who knows what lies in the Rio Bravo!

I rode a good portion of the General Crook Trail in Arizona. Most of the trail was along the Mogillon Rim, which is flat with easy excess. It is all on National Forest that combines to over 5 million acres. It is also legal to drive quads on highways and the Crook Trail. General Crook was into roads and this was a perfect route from Santa Fe to Camp Verde where I live now. He actually made roads into Mexico in search of Geronimo!

I spent the whole summer on the Crook Trail and didn?t see anyone with a metal detector that whole year! I visited several grave sites and battlefields. There are also many camps that the cavalry would stop during their travels. There are some designated battlegrounds but much of the forest has seen fighting of some sort. Is it legal to find war relics in such places?

I will post some pictures on metal detecting on the trail. There is one small town by Big Bend National Park that has Internet access where I should be able to get online. That?s a long ways off on horseback! The Mayor of the town is Clay Henry the III. Clay Henry can out drink any person while drinking Lone Star longnecks. His beer-drinking father, Clay Henry the 11, was also mayor. Did I mention Clay Henry is a goat? You must check it out! http://www.karlschatz.com/yearofthegoat/archives/000089.shtml

Thanks for the welcome and sorry I don?t have more to offer about detecting. Right now I need to read as much as I can. I?m downloading tips and such to read later on the trail when I have time. There is an incredible amount of information here! Thanks!

Dane