Horse junk finds

[DavHut]

Me and my pal Hal took a little spin through a bulldozed old trailer park today. I'm sure there was an old house there at one time and so I headed to the parts of the property that were un-dozed. I managed to find an area that I guess was a shop/wagon/horse area there.

The pic shows what I found minus a few buckles which I gave to pal Hal. There was a bunch of other junk, but I discarded it. Hal had a great time, although this sort of stuff isnt my cup of tea - I like the shiny stuff! I'll mark this site as third tier.

 

[awhitster]

[quote DavHut] Hal had a great time, although this sort of stuff isnt my cup of tea - I like the shiny stuff! I'll mark this site as third tier.[/quote]I like the shiny stuff to but I also like relics. That bi would clean up real nice. I owuld hit the graded area. I did real good at a trailer paerk earlier this year.

 

[Blockade Runner]

I think you could find some good buttons in that area. I would move in there again and search carefully for deep targets in the midrange.

 

[DavHut]

The areas that encompassed the actual trailer park didn't produce anything for old Hal, for all his trying. He claimed that it was there back in the 50's and that may be - I dunno. But all he found was CladCrap. He kept saying, "There has to be silver here..."
I kept saying, "Why does there HAVE to be. When we see some then we'll know. Until then, well, 'same old crap shoot."

Like I said, I tried to stay away from all that and hit areas that I was sure was part of the older inhabitation. In this case, I found an outlying building at the back of the original house site. I've hunted enough such places to be sure of THAT, at least.

This was also the first time I've hunted with friend Hal. He's an internet 'tecting aquaintance of mine from a ways back. I did notice that my new friend isn't real thourough - much of what I DID find I found on ground that he had gone over already! You can guess his reaction, I'm sure -

"Dang, you found that stuff where? RIght where I was?? Oh man, there must be something wrong with my detector (it aint deep enough, the DISC isnt right, the Belltone drives me nuts, etc.) I'll do better when my Super Whammeroo gets here next week..."

He was using his backup, an ACE 250 ... so we know it wasnt his instrument. 'Problem is, he has wanderitis, right up the middle. He must have covered 3 acres in our 2 hours there. I suggested he stick to one area that can be nailed down by surface signs, but he couldnt see what I see, I guess. I suggested he worry the dirt real good around the large pin oak up front, the likely sight of the house. Next thing I know, he's way over by the graded dirt piles at the edge of the property. I'll have to work on my buddy's methods, I reckon.

I followed a different plan, as Ive outlined already. And while I did turn up something here and there that was promising, overall it doesnt seem worth the trade offs in time and effectiveness. It's like that sometimes. It strikes me as one of those sites that if anything is indeed there, it will take determined effort over the long haul to recover it. I'll go back, but I'll keep researching....

 

[DavHut]

I think you could find some good buttons in that area. I would move in there again and search carefully for deep targets in the midrange.

Thanks for the input, it's always appreciated. Actually, I was doing just that. My normal settings in an area I am first searching is well below nickle, even into iron DISC. Once I learn the trash/target suite, I modify that.

What you say is possible - it's always possible. However none of what I found is really all that old (I call "really old" a hundred years or more). This is horse country and folks still use the same horse tack today as they did a hundred years ago. Buckles, bits, rings, all the same stuff can be seen today on a working farm. I wish I could have found a rosette, reign tip, finial - something that could have helped to date things better.

This was the rural South and people used horse drawn gear well into the 50's, believe it or not - it's still a good way to move stuff around the farm, today.

I also know much of this area's history and that part, along that road, had no CW activity, midnight clan meetings, raucous picnics - or anything else, for that matter. Pure and simple, if it was anything, it was most likely a small farm. The most probable button to be found there is one that popped off someone's overall's! I'll give it more searching, just cause I like to be thourough. Ill clear more of this tack and iron stuff away and see what develops. I'll also give the house area a good once over. However, the collected finds of today dont hint at anything earthshaking.

 

[The General]

a couple of those are harness rings,,

look exactly like many I found in civil war campsites!
Were there any square nails around there,,, or you might have had them discriminated out?

 

[The General]

EXACTLY!! That is what I'm thinking. He may be on to something there, or on the edge of it!!

 

[DavHut]

a couple of those are harness rings, look exactly like many I found in civil war campsites! Were there any square nails around there,,, or you might have had them discriminated out?

EXACTLY!! That is what I'm thinking. He may be on to something there, or on the edge of it!!

Ahhhh, hope springs eternal, doesn't it? I really appreciate your hopeful comments, guys. But no, there were no square nails, no old brick, no purpled glass or pottery bits, no jacknives, no buttons of any kind, no "people" buckles, no rimfire cartridge casings or other old bullets to speak of, no lantern parts, no coal, etc., etc.

Harness rings are harness rings, CW or otherwise. Buckles havent changed much and neither have bits. It's quite a leap to say they are more when every acre of land around here has had horses or still HAS them on it.

Did I mention all the modern trash that was with this stuff, which I tossed as worthless after examination? And I aint talking pulltabs, here.

It was like a dump in some places with light bulb bases, spring loaded hinges, one .22 caliber slug and one modern shotshell base (shotshells are EASY to date), modern warded keys, electrical receptacles, one still in it's melamine housing (melamine went out of use in the 60-70's) and various other farm-oriented equipment "rusties" all turning up at the same level as these other things. One thing I didnt find were tin cans or any sign of them, which leads me to believe I was on a one-time working site.

Oh, I also found one britches snap and enough plumbing slag to sink a small ship. The oldest coin was a 1967 MemCent.

I, too, had hoped for a multi-use, multi-span site knowing as much as I do about local history. The possibility does still exist. I side with you guys, make no mistake.

But, we are basically detectives at the core of what we do. I have searched many a house or former house, many farms, fields and vales over the years and I try to stick to what I can prove. Hope is for the lottery.

If something is there, tell-tale signs of that something more are always there, too, leading you on. So far, I haven't seen them in this place. The search continues...

 

[Blockade Runner]

Well David I guess we are gonna just beat you up on this one.
My favorite new 3 acre site is the "reale" site as I like to call it now. I have been digging some of the modern junk and similar stuff and I was again ready to call it quits and move on this weekend.
BUT: Last night it struck again - double pop ding snap. I dug an R&W
Robinson 1836-1848 morning glory "sports" button. Found a broken bit and four halved horse shoes in the immediate. That's two 1780
1790 reales , four 1880's coins one WU button posted last week @1880's mark and now this pre CW high grade button. So I am captive
again and just gotta keep working it because I know that Johnny Reb left me a button here. Yankees didn't come around the site because I couldn't find any of the equipment that normally dropped everywhere.
I got an idea - put the word out that you found a good CS relic on the trailer park site. By the end of the weekend every relic hunter in a 70 mile radius will get word and come clean out all that junk for you!!
Best regards, Dave

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah there's bound to be related goodies there.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

In Illinois my grand dad farmed with all horse drawn equipment well up into the early fifties. I cut my teeth on that stuff when I was a kid. During a hay season or two I pitched hay from a horse drawn hay rack to a stationary baler powered by a steam tractor. Loved those old steam powered tractors. The hay was cut by a horse drawn mower and furrowed by a horse drawn hay rake. Those were the good old days. Kids nowadays don't know what living is all about.

How many have seen or used a hay hook that lifted loose hay from a hay rack up into the barn loft and ran on a rail the length of the loft to drop the hay ( via a trip rope ) wherever. That hook was powered by a horse on the ground. One of my early jobs was leading that horse back and forth.

Bill

 

[DavHut]

I got an idea - put the word out that you found a good CS relic on the trailer park site. By the end of the weekend every relic hunter in a 70 mile radius will get word and come clean out all that junk for you!!
Best regards, Dave

Good idea on letting the word out, Dave! And it might actually be a good plan, especially if I wanted to ruin the reputation of detectorists among the straight citizens. I dont think anything might do that as well as causing a barbarian horde to descend on the place - many of those relicheads are downright brutal. Here's just one example.

We have a really nice area here for detecting, that has seen a lot of human activity over the years. All woods and undeveloped. It's a privately owned endowment and managed by a foundation, but it's open to the public. Well, I guess I should say that it MIGHT be a really nice place for detecting, except for one thing:

It is OFF LIMITS to detecting because of them CW relic hogs.

Several years ago a CW encampment was discovered there and the horde swooped in. These fellows literally took over and formed their own little city-state. They accosted anyone who came near while out walking the trails, cursed them up and down and ran them off of 'their site.' I was told by one of these guys who was there, that they had actually brought in a back hoe and used it to tear up large tracts of the place to help them "recover historical artifacts". Some of them were camping out there too, so as to stay close to the dig and protect their find from sneaks and thives. I guess they forgot they were on private property without permission.

Eventually the foundation put them off and the place has been closed to detecting ever since - and they wont change their mind. Ive tried.

So I believe I'll not let that word out.

Me and pal Hal will probably keep hitting the trailer park, at least until it goes into development. Of course, "You never know, Lady Luck sometimes favors you." But, I dont really like that as a motto. I prefer, "Know the Area, Know the Odds and Know Why you're there."

We shall see.