CREEK HUNTING

[joe dirt_1]

My hunting buddy and I went to a nearby creek today to see what we might find.
First off, this was our first time ever water hunting so we didn't have the tools for the job, like a scoop.
It was over 90 degrees and the humidity was about 95%...so the water sounded pretty good.

I used my Vaquero with the 5.75" concentric coil and my buddy used his Compadre.
This creek is about maybe 100 yards from a very old town that was settled in 1825 and was a major travel route
through the area. Grant's march during the Civil war came through here and according to a story I read, Grant took
his horse under the old covered bridge to get a drink of water from the creek we were hunting in.

No great finds, mostly rusty iron and some lead. My buddy did find an unfired small caliber round ball of about 36 caliber that was old.
I think we will go back later in the summer when the creek is dried up some and hunt for those old coins that are just waiting on us to find them......HH

Roger

 

[JimmyCT]

Great idea in hot & humid weather! You just never know what you may find in creek hunting. Look for bends, search around large boulders (stuff gets stuck if you know what I mean) bridges, and the land along the banks (look for old dirt roads, rock walls) and look for old stone bridge abutments. There may not be much left of them - some I see are just a big pile of, well, stone.. But they are pretty "square stone" that would go together nicely to support a bridge. Back in the early 1800's roads crossing over could of been in a total different place or more than one road went through the area and are usually hidden by trees and other plant life. Not to far from me I ran into this situation. There is "today's bridge" that everyone crosses over and many believe it was the original road....well, they are partially correct....about 3 tenths of a mile down on the left there is an old stone bridge abutment about 30 feet off the side of the road (down in the woods) So what many don't realize (except maybe the three local houses on the road) is that there was two bridges that use to connect the old settlement.

There is also a park not too far from me and hidden right in "plain sight" is the old stone work (only on one side of the brook) to an 1840's bridge. (I know about how old it is as what many don't realize there use to be a saw mill on this very spot ) That took quite a bit of research into the library archives. The other "plain sight" item is an old road that goes to the bridge. One would never notice it standing on the same side as the stone work but cross the river and stand on the other side and look over. I can still see the "lay of the road" (now grown in with trees) that cuts up through the woods and onto the present day road.


Keep at this as you may very well find great leads into the woods or along the creek.

look at www.historicmapworks.com and look for old maps of your area and "overlay' them with todays map with Google earth - Best of luck! - Jim

 

[mudpuppy]

That's a pretty fast moving creek there! We have these slow meandering ones here, you can tell how long they've been in their channel by the size of the trees on the bank. Theres usually lots of skeeters, deer flies, ticks, and stinging nettle, poison ivy, usually snapping turtles, muskrats, frogs and snakes as well, etc. But they are a wonderful thing to wade down through looking for stuff.
I hunted one last year, we have plenty of migrant workers come up and work the fields around here, and I found where they went swimming and got all sorts of Mexican coins. Theres a spot downstream a little that I need to check, an old RR track crosses it, they tore out the tracks long ago, and I'm sure the creek has not jumped the channel there for 100 years. I figure there might be a swimming hole or watering hole just downstream from that bridge. Probably lots of glass and scrap, from kids shooting at bottles they'd toss in from the trestle..but I'll get in there this summer and give it a go. Local legend says there was a hermit that lived in a hole he dug in the ground down in there on a high bank. I bet I can find it, It should be facing sort of South I would imagine. Yes, creeks are a real mystery, about all the traffic they get is from an occasional trapper wading them. I'm waiting for the water to go down a little. Great post, I hope you have a good adventure!
Mud

 

[kansa54]

I like hunting creeks too, but for Indian artifacts. Check out any gravel bar you come across, you'll probably find some nice stone points.
Clint

 

[fowlercharles]

Hi joe dirt 1, I enjoyed your post! Great Historic research tips too from earthly potluck!. Your creek being in such a Historic area and near such an old town of 1825, I believe any" older" creek crossing you could locate would pay off in some really old coins. Some very early creek crossings such as yours would sometimes have a "floating bridge" type ferry system in place before the need of a real bridge was needed. This system was handy for some crossings but when there was high water, folks would then have to find some high ground o camp on while waiting for the water to go down. Find that high ground and you just may find some really older goodies, back into the late 1700s'goodies. HH, Charlie

 

[SpiritRelic]

Creeks are always good!WTG

 

[tabman]

That creek looks refreshing compared to the hot muggy heat that I'm detecting in.

A long time ago there were no pools to swim in, just ponds, lakes, rivers and creeks.

Look for a swimming hole. You may find some good lost treasures there.

tabman

 

[joe dirt_1]

Thanks for the comments and tips guys. I looked at a map of the area last night that was dated 1874 and on around the bend you can see in my picture
the map showed what looked to be a foot bridge crossing the creek maybe 150 yards from where I took the picture at. I'm gonna investigate more on this bridge next trip.
Another neat little story I heard about this place is bank robbers blew the door off the safe of the local bank with dynamite in the later 1800's some time and headed up the creek north
with the loot. A posse was formed and they caught up with the bank robbers, but they didn't have the stolen loot on them. The lawmen strung them up and hung them on the spot. So somewhere
up that creek might be a strongbox still hidden in the rocks that line the banks with the stolen money waiting for someone to stumble onto it. I'd be like Fred Sanford if I found something like that.....I'm coming to join you Elizabeth !....lol.

A friend lives in this little town and knows a lot of the history of the place. He told me recently of a neighbor that was plowing a garden or doing some kind of digging in his yard and found a jar of coins.
He didn't know what the jar contained, but he said not long after the guy found the coins he had a new truck sitting in his drive that he thought was purchased with the jar of coins.
He also mentioned that a couple other residents had found single gold coins while working in their gardens. I can't verify these stories as true, but he has no reason to tell a tall tale about the finds.
Anyways it was fun wading and detecting in the creek and a great way to cool off in the miserable Illinois humidity. Thinking about looking for a water machine that can take a dunking and not be fried like my Vaquero would be
if I slipped on the slick rocks and took the Nestea plunge.....lol............HH

Roger

 

[KVM2]

The house next to me had 30 quart jars of silver dollars buried in the basement.. I bought a burned out house, and in the course of rebuilding found a grey box, some silver dollars, pocket knives and other interesting items,,. There were some so, so rumors of about 21 pounds of gold and silver coins found recently..

 

[joe dirt_1]

KVM2, That would be a sweet cache to find. I'd love to find a cache.

Roger

 

[KVM2]

Here is my take on creek hunting. 1 Good old thick soled shoes..2 reasonably shallow, 3 Easy access both in and out. Animals would have used these areas for thousands of years.4 A non dangerous , rocky bottom. 5 A look down box. Narrow at the top, wider at the bottom to minimize buoyancy. Weights are usually needed . A Black head mounted umbrella, to knock out sky glare. Crazy, but works, inside painted black. Used walking up stream, so silt exits the looking area. We are in a flood mode. Thinking of where the local Mastodon molar was found... If I don't get off my hind end, I may exit this world not having found my mastodon

 

[joe dirt_1]

KVM2, This creek has a rock bottom in the area I'm hunting and the water was usually knee deep or less in most spots, although I did find a couple spots well over waist deep
that I avoided because I was afraid of dunking my detector accidently.

I had thought of something to view the bottom with in the shallow water..... might have to see what I can come up with for that project. One thing I can see that would be great to have is
something like the Garrett pick axe with a magnet in the end of the handle to grab on to the iron targets and to rake the rocks around to locate the targets in the creek bed.

I have collected arrowheads since I was pup and in this one sandpit I hunted I would find these huge teeth and large bones that washed out of the banks. I never had them checked out by anyone, always thought they were cow or horse teeth and bones.
They could have been mastodon possibly. I hope you find that Mastodon you are looking for.......HH

Roger

 

[Rainyday101]

I like the idea of creek hunting, but then again we don't have any poisonous snakes. I think that good finds/silver coins might be far and few between but when found should make all the effort worth it. You never know when you are going to find the old siver swimming hole unless you look. What you are doing sure beats another day of clad pennies in a park!

 

[KVM2]

Joe Dirt, Check with your local college and ask if anyone there would be interested in looking at old bones and teeth you find in streams.. You may be able to make some very interesting paleontological finds for the professors.

 

[kansa54]

Mammoth and mastodon teeth are pretty obvious when you find one. If you are finding large single teeth, they are probably horse, cow or bison.
Clint