OregonMike
Member
Ok, if you clicked on this, you already know you're not going to see any finds. So why did you click? Maybe you're interested in the backstory. Here it is:
When I say "I did everything right," what I mean is, all the preparation for this hunt was done "by the book." This past spring I decided to do some very deep research. In the course of doing that, I found some old newspaper articles from the late 1920's and early 1930's about a picnic area that on certain days attracted hundreds of people. It was on private property then, and is still privately held now. That whole process took a month. I drove out to the place where this resort was, and I found that the property was gated. I didn't want to bother the people who live there, so I took the address and wrote a "cold call " letter. The letter worked; the lady who owns the property called me and we set up a time for a meeting. At the meeting, I took some copies of the old newspaper articles and showed her that her property had a very interesting history. Together we walked the property and she said that I could come detect the next day. However, that very evening, I got a text message from her that there had been a family tragedy and that it might be better to wait a while. After almost a month, I re-established contact with her and was told she was going away for a couple weeks, but definitely after that I would be able to detect. Then we had a heat wave of days near 100 degrees, so I had to wait for that to end. Finally this past Saturday, a process that started in April or May was finally rewarded with access to the old picnic area.
The only problem was, there was nothing to be found, and when I say nothing, I mean nothing of value at all. The area is in three distinct parts. One part is lightly forested, one is now a cut hay field, and one is what I would call "untamed wilderness." In the lightly forested area, I had some good signals, but a lid with a pull tab, on it (modern trash) was typical of what I could find. In the hay field, I switched to a 13 inch coil but got no diggable signals at all. I went back and forth there for six or eight passes before I decided maybe it would be better to go into the wilderness, but there was nothing there either.
My research told me that the resort was closed in 1942 because of flooding, and that there had been other flooding there since the closure. I guess the flooding either scoured the area and took the top few inches of soil, and whatever was in it, away, way back then. Or, perhaps it the floodwaters deposited silt and dirt so deep that anything in there was beyond the range of my detector.
I will probably go back one more time to verify that I'm not going to find anything there, but what a sad result after all the research, salesmanship, and waiting. Oh, well, treasure doesn't always follow the rules.
I hope next time I post on this site, it will be to show you something I found instead of to talk about something that didn't work out.
Thanks,
Mike
When I say "I did everything right," what I mean is, all the preparation for this hunt was done "by the book." This past spring I decided to do some very deep research. In the course of doing that, I found some old newspaper articles from the late 1920's and early 1930's about a picnic area that on certain days attracted hundreds of people. It was on private property then, and is still privately held now. That whole process took a month. I drove out to the place where this resort was, and I found that the property was gated. I didn't want to bother the people who live there, so I took the address and wrote a "cold call " letter. The letter worked; the lady who owns the property called me and we set up a time for a meeting. At the meeting, I took some copies of the old newspaper articles and showed her that her property had a very interesting history. Together we walked the property and she said that I could come detect the next day. However, that very evening, I got a text message from her that there had been a family tragedy and that it might be better to wait a while. After almost a month, I re-established contact with her and was told she was going away for a couple weeks, but definitely after that I would be able to detect. Then we had a heat wave of days near 100 degrees, so I had to wait for that to end. Finally this past Saturday, a process that started in April or May was finally rewarded with access to the old picnic area.
The only problem was, there was nothing to be found, and when I say nothing, I mean nothing of value at all. The area is in three distinct parts. One part is lightly forested, one is now a cut hay field, and one is what I would call "untamed wilderness." In the lightly forested area, I had some good signals, but a lid with a pull tab, on it (modern trash) was typical of what I could find. In the hay field, I switched to a 13 inch coil but got no diggable signals at all. I went back and forth there for six or eight passes before I decided maybe it would be better to go into the wilderness, but there was nothing there either.
My research told me that the resort was closed in 1942 because of flooding, and that there had been other flooding there since the closure. I guess the flooding either scoured the area and took the top few inches of soil, and whatever was in it, away, way back then. Or, perhaps it the floodwaters deposited silt and dirt so deep that anything in there was beyond the range of my detector.
I will probably go back one more time to verify that I'm not going to find anything there, but what a sad result after all the research, salesmanship, and waiting. Oh, well, treasure doesn't always follow the rules.
I hope next time I post on this site, it will be to show you something I found instead of to talk about something that didn't work out.
Thanks,
Mike
