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Ghost Places
- Thread starter LabradorBob
- Start date
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I think the same things,of how life was back then,how the family fared and got by.
what the people were like.
i guess thats why they call it the good old days!
LabradorBob
what the people were like.
i guess thats why they call it the good old days!
LabradorBob
Sentimental for sure...its just plain cool to see these old places and imagine who lived there, what they did for a living...and the stories they could tell...its quite an honor to sort of get involved with those "ghosts" when we explore with the detectors..amazing how many other people dont think about this stuff like we do when we drive past an old busted down house.
Mud.
Mud.
I sometimes lay awake at night after finding an old silver coin.
Wondering who the last person was that held it.
what their life was like,how they lived.
we take so much for granted these days.
Heck back in the late 1800's it was like a major thing to go to a fair by horse and buggy,to socialize after spending many months just working around the house or on the farm.
what are little things now,were major things back then.
what we consider household items,were cherished pocessions back then.
we just go to the store and get them,they had to do with what they could get on their own or from nature.
Many a craft has been lost to the rush and bustle of the modern day,even back in the depression people in the cities were starving,going into the country to find food.
i myself think i could survive in the wild,not many could say that anymore!
LabradorBob
Wondering who the last person was that held it.
what their life was like,how they lived.
we take so much for granted these days.
Heck back in the late 1800's it was like a major thing to go to a fair by horse and buggy,to socialize after spending many months just working around the house or on the farm.
what are little things now,were major things back then.
what we consider household items,were cherished pocessions back then.
we just go to the store and get them,they had to do with what they could get on their own or from nature.
Many a craft has been lost to the rush and bustle of the modern day,even back in the depression people in the cities were starving,going into the country to find food.
i myself think i could survive in the wild,not many could say that anymore!
LabradorBob
Well, you sort of can feel a piece of land, where folks would picnic or hunt squirrels or cross a creek..I find detecting satisfys that curious instinct that I used to get through trapping critters...you know, walking in the tracks of what you are after only a few hours behind, now we get to track things that happened 100's of years ago, or even yesterday...funny how much you can tell about a person by what they leave behind. Most Americans now a days have never experienced hunger or being outside in a pouring rain for the night...we have it pretty dang good for the moment.
Mud
Mud
Ah, i used to love trapping,brings back the memory of setting a dirt hole fox set.
i was done except putting a few drops of wily red 500 on the top of the hole.
unscrewing the cap i reached to apply a drop or two out of the bottle.
needless to say,the bottle slipped out of my hand and happened to hit the trap pan,setting the no.1-1/2 jump trap off and it shattered the bottle covering me with fox scent.
i will never forget that LOL.
LabradorBob
i was done except putting a few drops of wily red 500 on the top of the hole.
unscrewing the cap i reached to apply a drop or two out of the bottle.
needless to say,the bottle slipped out of my hand and happened to hit the trap pan,setting the no.1-1/2 jump trap off and it shattered the bottle covering me with fox scent.
i will never forget that LOL.
LabradorBob
Deusdigger
Member
mudpuppy said:
O.K enough already....you guys are bringing tears to my eyes. 
I thought that I was the only one that felt this way about these old places. There's not an old house that I wouldn't love to restore...an old boat that I wouldn't love to repair. I too used to trap when I was young...fur prices were good back then $40 for a jumbo coon...$70 for a red fox....$200 for a nice Coyote! Aughhhh...those were the days. 18 years old and I owned a 1963 Buick Riviera, a 1970 Buick Skylark and a 28' Trojan Cabin Cruiser that I had bought with money from trapping. Then life happened! College...girls etc...etc...
I should have just moved to the mountains and kept trapping and prospecting.
Bob fox urine stinks....lol
Not as bad as Fish Oil though.
Bought my first traps at 15-16 from the widow of an Allegheny County police officer (Tom Daily) who fell off of his horse and was killed; 110 traps of all sorts and stretchers for $70. They were heavy as heck and I had to carry them about 7 miles home in a huge box. Finally got a ride hitch hiking after about 2 miles (young and dumb). Sold them while I was in College...now I'm kicking myself....again!
Now to tie all of this into ghost places...I used to trap Pine creek around Wildwood Swimming Pool at North Park in Allegheny County, Pa. I also would metal detect the pool area.. 13 acres of grass. The pool was built in 1929 it was 66 yards long and 25 yards wide. At the time it was built it was the largest commercial swimming pool inthe country. Today it is condos....they don't know of all of the coins that they are sitting on top of. I found close to $2,000 face value in silver here as well as jewelry over a 3 year period in the 70's. Coins were just everywhere. It had never been detected.
I also worked there from 12 years old. Started at 50 cents an hour! 60-70 hour weeks in the summers. First thing I bought was a rubber raft to fish out of. Second thing I bought was a radio shack metal detector. Ed Kroll owned the pool...I learned a lot from that old man...fly fishing...woodworking....business. He used to work me like a rented mule...lol He left me his split bamboo fly rods when he died...Heddons, HI, and a Paul Young Driggs Delux! He knew Paul and Ed was actually written up in magazines for his fly fishing ability inthe 40's. Boy what I'd give to be able to see him again for just 30 minutes. Another relic gone but not forgotten.
I thought that I was the only one that felt this way about these old places. There's not an old house that I wouldn't love to restore...an old boat that I wouldn't love to repair. I too used to trap when I was young...fur prices were good back then $40 for a jumbo coon...$70 for a red fox....$200 for a nice Coyote! Aughhhh...those were the days. 18 years old and I owned a 1963 Buick Riviera, a 1970 Buick Skylark and a 28' Trojan Cabin Cruiser that I had bought with money from trapping. Then life happened! College...girls etc...etc...
I should have just moved to the mountains and kept trapping and prospecting.
Bob fox urine stinks....lol
Not as bad as Fish Oil though.
Bought my first traps at 15-16 from the widow of an Allegheny County police officer (Tom Daily) who fell off of his horse and was killed; 110 traps of all sorts and stretchers for $70. They were heavy as heck and I had to carry them about 7 miles home in a huge box. Finally got a ride hitch hiking after about 2 miles (young and dumb). Sold them while I was in College...now I'm kicking myself....again!
Now to tie all of this into ghost places...I used to trap Pine creek around Wildwood Swimming Pool at North Park in Allegheny County, Pa. I also would metal detect the pool area.. 13 acres of grass. The pool was built in 1929 it was 66 yards long and 25 yards wide. At the time it was built it was the largest commercial swimming pool inthe country. Today it is condos....they don't know of all of the coins that they are sitting on top of. I found close to $2,000 face value in silver here as well as jewelry over a 3 year period in the 70's. Coins were just everywhere. It had never been detected.
I also worked there from 12 years old. Started at 50 cents an hour! 60-70 hour weeks in the summers. First thing I bought was a rubber raft to fish out of. Second thing I bought was a radio shack metal detector. Ed Kroll owned the pool...I learned a lot from that old man...fly fishing...woodworking....business. He used to work me like a rented mule...lol He left me his split bamboo fly rods when he died...Heddons, HI, and a Paul Young Driggs Delux! He knew Paul and Ed was actually written up in magazines for his fly fishing ability inthe 40's. Boy what I'd give to be able to see him again for just 30 minutes. Another relic gone but not forgotten.
I started trapping when I was 13. Except for the past 3 years when I got hooked on metal detecting, it has come in very handy. I still have dreams about it in the Fall on those windy rainy nights. I dragged the trap box outside when my Wife was having a garage sale last year, more as a conversation piece, and to give me something to do sorting them out and unravelling the chains while waiting on instructions from the Boss to lift a couch or some thing..I did beaver damage control in MN, and AL what an amazing animal! They are the only other animal on this planet besides us that radically changes an ecosystem to suit their needs. I got very good at snaring, a fellow can carry 50 snares, a roll of wire, and some sidecutters under their jacket and nobody can tell what you are doing. Needless to say, there were a few people that had great interest in buying my traps, some young fellows had that fire in their eyes about trapping, it was good to see, and I sold about half of my traps. Funny how you can remember specific animals you caught when you pick up a certain trap you used. Where you set it, the circumstances and situation. I started fooling around with deadfalls back when I was a teen, and designed a "figure H" that is just superb! You can build the whole thing in a half hour with nothing but a machete. The compression trigger system is really geared down so you can hold up 200lbs.or more! .thats the beauty, you build the frame and trigger, then stack on the weight so a fellow doesnt have to lift 200lbs, just keep adding weight. Ive trapped for ranchers in WY, SD, MT. coyotes mainly. Hunting clubs and paper companies in AL, beaver. Trapped in OH, MI, WI, MN Its gotten my family through some hard times, I wrote a story called "The Christmas Fox" down on the other thread "20th Century Tales Forum" Detecting and even Sales is very similar to the skills you develop from trapping. Gotta read the sign, hit it hard, fast, early, and pay attention to the weather.
Mud.
Mud.
Hello Mudpuppy,
Great analysis of trapping. I was reading a journal written by a lady who lived in a ghost town that I'm re-discovering. There's a lot in it about trapping, hunting and fighting a mountain lion and the revenue men who came to bust the moonshiners but the thing that caught my attention was how the women would collect ginseng and dry it behind their wood stoves and sell it to get money to buy the family shoes every year. Now there is a forest treasure that I'm sure has gone uncollected for 100 years in this area. It's been selling around here for $450-$550 a pound as of late and a few years ago I believe it hit $1200 a pound. I figure since I'm going to be in the mountains anyway I might just look for this too. 20-30 pounds a year would really help the old retirement fund!
I'm always amazed at what I find in the mountains; towns in the middle of nowhere and foundations miles from anyone. It makes you wonder why they stopped there to build their homes. (probably for the same reasons that I like to go there) Some of these places were probably Revolutionary land grants. The wildlife is incredible, herds of Elk, deer, bear, fishers, bobcat, coyote, beaver ponds, fox and the most pristine trout streams that you can imagine. I'm even hearing stories of Mountain Lions being back in the area.
Great analysis of trapping. I was reading a journal written by a lady who lived in a ghost town that I'm re-discovering. There's a lot in it about trapping, hunting and fighting a mountain lion and the revenue men who came to bust the moonshiners but the thing that caught my attention was how the women would collect ginseng and dry it behind their wood stoves and sell it to get money to buy the family shoes every year. Now there is a forest treasure that I'm sure has gone uncollected for 100 years in this area. It's been selling around here for $450-$550 a pound as of late and a few years ago I believe it hit $1200 a pound. I figure since I'm going to be in the mountains anyway I might just look for this too. 20-30 pounds a year would really help the old retirement fund!
I'm always amazed at what I find in the mountains; towns in the middle of nowhere and foundations miles from anyone. It makes you wonder why they stopped there to build their homes. (probably for the same reasons that I like to go there) Some of these places were probably Revolutionary land grants. The wildlife is incredible, herds of Elk, deer, bear, fishers, bobcat, coyote, beaver ponds, fox and the most pristine trout streams that you can imagine. I'm even hearing stories of Mountain Lions being back in the area.
Interesting about 10 years ago i was on a lake fishing and had an emergency that called for hitting the bank and finding a spot,LOL
anyway up in the woods a ways i ran onto a fairly large patch of Ginseng.
did not pick any and have never been back to that spot.
Thinking i may have to get there again someday!
Charles,beautiful picture of the deer,That reminded me of another thing i think of sometimes.
Even if you are around an old ghost homeplace.
Ever see what is left of an old Tree Stand someone use to Deer Hunt out of,that is no longer useable and wonder what sights whoever built it saw
when they were using it to hunt out of?
I do.
I had found an opening like a cave on top of a ridge way back in the middle of nowhere, i actually found it while deer hunting onme cold morning as i could see warm air coming out of it making a fog in the cold morning airl.
There were stones stacked around it like part of a foundation, and you could tell they were very old.
You can still make a few hundred a week digging snake root also.
LabradorBob
anyway up in the woods a ways i ran onto a fairly large patch of Ginseng.
did not pick any and have never been back to that spot.
Thinking i may have to get there again someday!
Charles,beautiful picture of the deer,That reminded me of another thing i think of sometimes.
Even if you are around an old ghost homeplace.
Ever see what is left of an old Tree Stand someone use to Deer Hunt out of,that is no longer useable and wonder what sights whoever built it saw
when they were using it to hunt out of?
I do.
I had found an opening like a cave on top of a ridge way back in the middle of nowhere, i actually found it while deer hunting onme cold morning as i could see warm air coming out of it making a fog in the cold morning airl.
There were stones stacked around it like part of a foundation, and you could tell they were very old.
You can still make a few hundred a week digging snake root also.
LabradorBob
Yessiree! following the seasons, detecting, hunting ginseng, mushrooms, maybe a little trapping of varmints for pay...maybe hole up as the handyman on some rich young widows farm and build a boat or two, selling walking sticks, interesting rocks, bones, feathers, fossils, carvings, etc. at the flea market or art shows. Being one of those colorful characters that comes and goes. The more this world spins, maybe some of these skills or pastimes of ours will pay off in the end? Speaking of wandering the wastelands, have any of you accidentally tripped across a "grow?" that sure happens a lot, makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up and you have to really concentrate on looking like you dont notice a thing and get out of there!
Mud
Mud
I was at Gazzam ghost town. I spoke with a guy that claimed to own the ground. His brother and nephews lived on the other side about 1 mile away. He gave me permission to search and then about 30-60 minutes later came to find me and tell me he had changed his mind. As I was leaving a car of 4 young men pulled up with guns (rifles or shotguns). They got out of their car but never approached me. The owner walked over to them. I assume they were his nephews. Yes there was a garden in the woods. That was this last Summer. I haven't been back....still contemplating my options.
Oh boy, Charles again with the snakes.....lol. I have always thought I was born a hundred years to late, and I also put myself back in time with an old find. As I have gotten older, history has gotten allot more interesting. Only wish I paid more attention back in high school.
Great pictures all, except the snake Charles.
Great pictures all, except the snake Charles.
It only take 2-3 generations before the old skills are lost. In the Georgia mountains I've heard that families have worked the same ginseng patch for generations and they have rip-offs hit their patches and don't care about leaving anything for the next year. My grandparents trapped and hunted but didn't pass the skills along to our generation. They taught my dad, but he booked up when I was two. What I have learned and it isn't much, I learned on my own and by trial and error and with me it's a lot of error. Someone wrote a book one time called: The People of The Deer and it was about a tribe of people who became dependent on traders and lost the old skills and their people died off when the traders quit coming. Whether it's fact or fiction, I don't know. Makes sense tho to survive on your own talents and not depend on others to live. Be interdependent, but not dependant on anyone for your survival.