This has been an unusually LONG winter. One positive aspect is that I've had more time to research places to hunt than I usually have. One of the sites I've been researching was the first "fair ground" for this small community. I found a couple references to it while browsing some old local newspapers on microfilm at the local library. Nothing much was mentioned. Just the fact that it was held 1/2 mile from town, on land belonging to a specific individual. (you didn't think I was going to tell you his name, did you?) And that it was only in operation from 1858 to 1864. Based on that, I doubted many coins were lost during such a short period of time in this small rural community. But if I was lucky enough to find any, I was confident they would be 1865 or older! My kind of place!!!
Anyway, after spending a couple hours at the Courthouse last week, I found the original abstracts for land that was owned by this individual. One of them fit the description as outlined in the old newspaper. (timber, creeks etc.) By referencing plat maps, I was able to overlay the old map to a modern day aerial photograph. This allowed me to not only see what the area looked like today. But to also determine who is the current owner. (nice thing about a small town is that you know almost everyone). I contacted the person who owns it, told him of it's history and asked if I could like to run my metal detector over the 10 acre parcel. Permission was granted. So, this past Thursday, with temps in the 50's, I grabbed the X-70 (with the 3 kHz concentric coil), put on my waders and drove to the site. Upon arrival, I saw that about half of the area is timber and the other half is now farm ground. Knowing that the timber and grassy areas were still too frozen to hunt, I was glad I wore those tall boots for wading the field. Having been in soy beans this past year, there wasn't much vegetation to deal with. However, it was muddy! The top 3 inches of frost has melted, leaving a muddy, mucky, slick mess to walk in. Below 3 inches, it was still frozen solid. Keeping on my feet would even be a challenge. Once I got my "sea legs", my objective was to criss - cross the area, looking for signs of past inhabitation (broken glass etc). If I happened to pass the coil over some targets, I'd try to dig them. If I wasn't able to dig, at least I would know the potential for future hunts. About 15 minutes into the hunt, I started seeing old broken glass and passed the coil over some ferrous targets. I kicked a few shallow ferrous targets from the slop and confirmed they were square nails. Sweeping the coil near a small icy spot, I hit a solid 36. Sounded like a dime to me. So I pulled out the Lesche and commenced the digging process. Stirring process is more accurate. As with each scoopful I removed, muddy goop filled the hole. Regardless, after a few scoops of the slop were removed, I scanned over the hole and found the target had been removed. Pulling out the VibraProbe, I was able to retrieve my first coin of the year. I was surprised to find that it did not fall into the span of years I had anticipated. Twelve years "newer" than any coin I expected to find here. And it shows a lot of wear. I wonder how it got here?
Sure wish it would have been older. Regardless, it makes a good start to the new year. HH Randy
Anyway, after spending a couple hours at the Courthouse last week, I found the original abstracts for land that was owned by this individual. One of them fit the description as outlined in the old newspaper. (timber, creeks etc.) By referencing plat maps, I was able to overlay the old map to a modern day aerial photograph. This allowed me to not only see what the area looked like today. But to also determine who is the current owner. (nice thing about a small town is that you know almost everyone). I contacted the person who owns it, told him of it's history and asked if I could like to run my metal detector over the 10 acre parcel. Permission was granted. So, this past Thursday, with temps in the 50's, I grabbed the X-70 (with the 3 kHz concentric coil), put on my waders and drove to the site. Upon arrival, I saw that about half of the area is timber and the other half is now farm ground. Knowing that the timber and grassy areas were still too frozen to hunt, I was glad I wore those tall boots for wading the field. Having been in soy beans this past year, there wasn't much vegetation to deal with. However, it was muddy! The top 3 inches of frost has melted, leaving a muddy, mucky, slick mess to walk in. Below 3 inches, it was still frozen solid. Keeping on my feet would even be a challenge. Once I got my "sea legs", my objective was to criss - cross the area, looking for signs of past inhabitation (broken glass etc). If I happened to pass the coil over some targets, I'd try to dig them. If I wasn't able to dig, at least I would know the potential for future hunts. About 15 minutes into the hunt, I started seeing old broken glass and passed the coil over some ferrous targets. I kicked a few shallow ferrous targets from the slop and confirmed they were square nails. Sweeping the coil near a small icy spot, I hit a solid 36. Sounded like a dime to me. So I pulled out the Lesche and commenced the digging process. Stirring process is more accurate. As with each scoopful I removed, muddy goop filled the hole. Regardless, after a few scoops of the slop were removed, I scanned over the hole and found the target had been removed. Pulling out the VibraProbe, I was able to retrieve my first coin of the year. I was surprised to find that it did not fall into the span of years I had anticipated. Twelve years "newer" than any coin I expected to find here. And it shows a lot of wear. I wonder how it got here?
Sure wish it would have been older. Regardless, it makes a good start to the new year. HH Randy
Just about called to see if you wanted to get out for a few hours but darn sun didn't stay out so was too cold. Good find Randy.