William-NM
New member
I had just too much fun exploring a couple of ghost towns - well, a ghost town and a ghost ranch (the town itself is posted off-limits by a mining company). I hit the ranch first. This looked like a good spot to have lunch:
Tigger kept watch from a tree (having just barfed his breakfast all over the passenger seat - is it my driving?
Here's the old Corral and stone house foundation which I found by following the trail of iron trash up a hill:
Let's get to the finds (combined from both hunts) ! I found around 8 pounds of old lead, including a 5# ingot from the notorious "Bunker Hill" mine in Idaho. When they tested the kids in the area, they had the highest lead concentrations ever recorded. They've spent 10s of millions from the superfund cleaning it up. The lead could be worth about as much as Silver if it's pre-WW2 (low alpha)- if anyone can date the ingot, please let me know. I found an axe head at each site. The one on the right has a light but legible mark "Belknap Bluegrass / Louisville / USA / Trade Mark. These seem to go for $25 - $75 on eBay polished up. I'll keep it, though.
I found a Wm. A Rogers Nickel-Silver (German Silver) serving spoon, clock parts, ceramic doorknob, and winding key. The next photo shows a few old bottles - I'll do some more digging next trip. They have a nice iridescence that doesn't show in the pics.
Also a few fun finds - 3 Merry Widows condom tin, lingerie hardware, old miner's safety glasses, razor, harmonica reed, etc.
Old Wood Stove grill, disintegrated knife, & whatzits, and the second photo is a pistol or rifle part with some horseshoes and a cowboy button that you can't really see - has a horseshoe with a star inside it.
Some Iron tools, file, scraper, forged hook, etc.. and in the second photo, more iron stuff, spikes, handle, old car pushbutton lock & spark plugs....
Didn't find much coin goodness, just one 1929 Wheatie and a cool penny with bullet hole (modern- 1976). But, I did find quite a bit of Copper - the bar is solid and about 5#, around 8# all together. I also managed some brass, including a heavy old faucet, for about 7# of recycling. I didn't bother with photos of the tote of iron, aluminum, cartridges, etc., but taken together, it'll more that buy my gas, and that's my goal.
And I had a blast roaming around these old sites. Here's a photo of a hill where I found a surprise under one of the trees, including the better axe head, lead ingot, little curvy bottle and a bunch of copper. You just never know where it's going to turn up!!
Thanks for looking and Luck in the Hunt to ALL!!!
Tigger kept watch from a tree (having just barfed his breakfast all over the passenger seat - is it my driving?
Here's the old Corral and stone house foundation which I found by following the trail of iron trash up a hill:
Let's get to the finds (combined from both hunts) ! I found around 8 pounds of old lead, including a 5# ingot from the notorious "Bunker Hill" mine in Idaho. When they tested the kids in the area, they had the highest lead concentrations ever recorded. They've spent 10s of millions from the superfund cleaning it up. The lead could be worth about as much as Silver if it's pre-WW2 (low alpha)- if anyone can date the ingot, please let me know. I found an axe head at each site. The one on the right has a light but legible mark "Belknap Bluegrass / Louisville / USA / Trade Mark. These seem to go for $25 - $75 on eBay polished up. I'll keep it, though.
I found a Wm. A Rogers Nickel-Silver (German Silver) serving spoon, clock parts, ceramic doorknob, and winding key. The next photo shows a few old bottles - I'll do some more digging next trip. They have a nice iridescence that doesn't show in the pics.
Also a few fun finds - 3 Merry Widows condom tin, lingerie hardware, old miner's safety glasses, razor, harmonica reed, etc.
Old Wood Stove grill, disintegrated knife, & whatzits, and the second photo is a pistol or rifle part with some horseshoes and a cowboy button that you can't really see - has a horseshoe with a star inside it.
Some Iron tools, file, scraper, forged hook, etc.. and in the second photo, more iron stuff, spikes, handle, old car pushbutton lock & spark plugs....
Didn't find much coin goodness, just one 1929 Wheatie and a cool penny with bullet hole (modern- 1976). But, I did find quite a bit of Copper - the bar is solid and about 5#, around 8# all together. I also managed some brass, including a heavy old faucet, for about 7# of recycling. I didn't bother with photos of the tote of iron, aluminum, cartridges, etc., but taken together, it'll more that buy my gas, and that's my goal.
And I had a blast roaming around these old sites. Here's a photo of a hill where I found a surprise under one of the trees, including the better axe head, lead ingot, little curvy bottle and a bunch of copper. You just never know where it's going to turn up!!
Thanks for looking and Luck in the Hunt to ALL!!!
back in those days. Time for you to make a spoon ring, isn't it? 
