Hunting for a buried farm tractor

[MI_hunter]

The tractor was buried before the trees were planted, the same guy planted all those pine trees.

 

[khouse]

Using a GPS might help too.

 

[chichimus]

Well, you might visit your local forestry office ( or college, university??) and see if there are any older air photos of the area. Even if taken well after the 'burial' you can occasionally pick the spot out.

No guarantees but worth a shot....

Chich

 

[treasurehound]

wow huge trees man ,, yea look for older maps of the area u might be able to pick out the spot ,, waiting to see the tractor
come out of the ground

TOM

 

[DJR]

MI_HUNTER

Here may be a wild shot.

If you can find aerials of that location. I would look for "signitures" of trees that have a "greener" or "larger" look to them. Iron as you know greens up vegetation well. The greener the better the plant may grow. It is a wild shot but hey it would not hurt to try. Maybe check several years as far back as you can go with colored aerials.

Good luck

Don

 

[Cliff KS]

I did not take the time to read all the previous replies, but here is my take on a buried tractor:

If the sand is dry most of the time, it may be in decent shape, but if the sand in that area is wet a lot of the time, then it will likely be pretty ate up with rust, especially if it did not have much paint on it when it was buried.

I doubt if they buried it deep... they probably just sort of heaped some sand up over it until the highest part was only about a foot deep.

It should be easily found with some dowsing rods made from brass welding rods bent into L-shapes. It should be somewhat simple to find unless they buried a lot of other metal junk on their farm as well as the tractor, then it could get more complicated;however, you could eliminate/reject some targets based on the size of the object (a lot of stuff just wouldn't be nearly as big as a tractor), but if they buried other large metal objects like cars or other types of farm machinery, it could get a lot more complicated.

 

[Cliff KS]

Just read your post with the pics. Do you know how to age the pines? That could help you eliminate some of the area. If some of the trees are older than the date the tractor was buried, you could forget about those areas. If all of those trees became established after the tractor was buried, of course that idea wouldn't help. If that is the case, then I think I would hunt the easiest stuff first (the open sandy hill areas) and eliminate that before I moved to the harder hunting in the trees.

 

[khouse]

Never really thought about how strange it was to bury a dead tractor. I could see a cow,dog or cat. He must have really hated it!

 

[treasurehound]

Never really thought about how strange it was to bury a dead tractor. I could see a cow,dog or cat. He must have really hated it!

Lmfao u got that right thats preatty strange i say , he wouldnt put the tractor 20ft deep if he did it by hand its only a few feet away
, like someone else said take a nice size pole and start pokeing away , start in sqauares ... or take yarn and golf tees and start
maping away .. thats what i would do .. map it off , with the yarn .. run it with the MDer , than try it with the pole see if that works ..
Tom

 

[flbowhunter]

Another good "tool" that no one has mentioned yet would be to use Google Earth, or google maps for arial photos of the farm. Overhead views may point out some starting spots for you to try. Good luck

 

[gtor72]

wonder if they ever had any luck finding that thing......
what part of michigan are you in.....i am in central lower michigan

 

[vapodog]

This may be encouraging.

A farm tractor made in 1938 was somehow buried at the White Earth Indian reservation in Northern Minnesota. How long it was there is unknown but possibly 50 years or more.....and just how it got there is also unknown.....but one day a visitor noticed evidence of a old tractor unearthed and went about digging it up.....

What he found is unbelievable......it was a Minneapolis Moline UDLX.....one of the rarest farm tractors ever made as only 138 of them were ever made. It was the worlds first production cabbed tractor and was a "go to town" tractor as well as it would do 40 MPH down the road.....It was based on the model "U" tractor and was very ingeniously cabbed for comfort. It was so expensive that sales were very poor and production stopped.....after # 138...

Now for the rest of the story.....It wasn't merely any UDLX.....NNNOOOOOOO...it's serial number was (are you ready for this?).....0001.....It was beautifully restored and sold at an auction for $98,000 in Iowa.

The new owner took it to his family farm in southern Minnesota where it's still pulling wagons in the farming duties. He refused a sale at the very auction for $140,000 so I doubt it's for sale.

Sorry....I don't have photos.....but could get some if needed.....

 

[khouse]

Cool story! Got a picture or link?

 

[vapodog]

Cool story! Got a picture or link?

This is a UDLX but not the one I wrote about.....there is no link as it was a first person post.

 

[FatCat1]

Hi all!! I am new here, Just ordered and got today a new CX hunter with the big "treasure hound" coils.

Here is the story and why we just ordered the dectector.....

In the early 1900's a young boy named Cecil lived on his fathers farm. They had a 8-16 Mogul Kerosene tractor to till their land, and it worked good for a while. Something kept repeatedly breaking on the engine and Cecils father eventually had enough and had young Cecil and a hire hand bury the tractor in a sand hill just where it sat when it broke down. Cecil lived on the 120 acres for the rest of his life until he reached the age of 89. My father would go over to his small 10x16 ft house in the late 80's in the woods to check on him and help him with firewood about every couple days. I remember Cecil when I was a young boy as a short-white haired old gentleman, very kind, but scary to me when I was so young. When he passed on, My uncle who bought the 120 acres from Cecil gave the original tractor manual to me and told me the story. My father had also heard old Cecil talk about burying his fathers old tractor in a sand hill.

Right now I have the location of the tractor narrowed down to about 5-8 acres. There are some red pines in the area on rolling sand hills. My question to you all would be, Do you think there would be much left of the tractor after all these years? We think it may have been buried in the 1930's as the tractor was made somewhere between 1915-1919.

I was wondering if anyone had any tips on looking for large metal objects? Any advise would be great for a first time user! Thank you! Don

Is anyone else thinking that this story is farfetched? Very little of this makes any sense to me. Ok, for one, was burying a tractor a common means of disposal in Michigan? Here in New England, we leave our old tractors out in the elements to rust away. Sounds like Cecil his his Pop didn't have a large amount of money, seems very unlikely that they wouldn't have sold the tractor for scrap or better. Oh no, Cecil's Dad got all hot and actually paid some jack a s s to BURY his tractor with his young kid. I mean I have been upset before, but that just sounds stupid. It might be more plausible if Cecil's Dad did the burying in a fit of rage. Why do you think it was buried in the 1930's??? If it were buried in the '30's that would make Cecil in his late 20's or early 30's..... definitely not young Cecil. All this sounds kinda silly to me. Did they ever get another tractor? Did they ever farm the property again. It appears that these folks might be neighbors of yours. Do you, your father or uncle remember anything about the property? What's wrong with your uncle.... s h i t, if someone told me this story, I would have asked Cecil where the hell he buried it. Your father heard the same story and never thought to ask??? Did Cecil have any siblings, or a mother? I ask because my bedroom is 10x16... Hard to imagine a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom etc in that small of a space. I guess it could be done, but folks who live like that probably don't bury their equipment. Does the property have anything else but a 10x16 house? A barn or something? The only interesting thing is the the owners manual. That clearly is real. Don, please make a total jerk of me by finding it... and posting pics.

In addition to what others have said.... if you (or uncle or father) knew of an area that should have plowed/tilled, but wasn't for many years, I would start there. Since it's hard to find good labor, I would think that they didn't bury it very deep (or my guess, at all). So Cecil or his genius dad would have to circumnavigate that area. Also, here in RI we have lots of sand. I would guess that heavy items would sink rather quickly in sand. See, that 's why we wait for big storms to strip away and erode the sand so we can find older coins on the beach.

Faticus

 

[FatCat1]

This may be encouraging.

A farm tractor made in 1938 was somehow buried at the White Earth Indian reservation in Northern Minnesota. How long it was there is unknown but possibly 50 years or more.....and just how it got there is also unknown.....but one day a visitor noticed evidence of a old tractor unearthed and went about digging it up.....

What he found is unbelievable......it was a Minneapolis Moline UDLX.....one of the rarest farm tractors ever made as only 138 of them were ever made. It was the worlds first production cabbed tractor and was a "go to town" tractor as well as it would do 40 MPH down the road.....It was based on the model "U" tractor and was very ingeniously cabbed for comfort. It was so expensive that sales were very poor and production stopped.....after # 138...

Now for the rest of the story.....It wasn't merely any UDLX.....NNNOOOOOOO...it's serial number was (are you ready for this?).....0001.....It was beautifully restored and sold at an auction for $98,000 in Iowa.

The new owner took it to his family farm in southern Minnesota where it's still pulling wagons in the farming duties. He refused a sale at the very auction for $140,000 so I doubt it's for sale.

Sorry....I don't have photos.....but could get some if needed.....

And now the REAL story. Here is a link to the interview of the actual first owner of a Moline UDLX, As you can plainly read, the tractor was bought and used in Iowa, and not "somehow" buried. It was not fully restored, but sold to a local that sent it off to a junkyard. Where do you guys come up with such nonsense? Tractors are very expensive pieces of equipment. Not the type of old c r a p you bury. You need to question these stories vigorously, or spend an enormous amount of your time digging manhole covers etc.

http://gasengine.farmcollector.com/Tractors/Bluffs-Man-Bought-First-UDLX.aspx

 

[khouse]

That is so cool! Much nice design then current models. Thanks for the picture.

 

[vapodog]

This may be encouraging.

A farm tractor made in 1938 was somehow buried at the White Earth Indian reservation in Northern Minnesota. How long it was there is unknown but possibly 50 years or more.....and just how it got there is also unknown.....but one day a visitor noticed evidence of a old tractor unearthed and went about digging it up.....

What he found is unbelievable......it was a Minneapolis Moline UDLX.....one of the rarest farm tractors ever made as only 138 of them were ever made. It was the worlds first production cabbed tractor and was a "go to town" tractor as well as it would do 40 MPH down the road.....It was based on the model "U" tractor and was very ingeniously cabbed for comfort. It was so expensive that sales were very poor and production stopped.....after # 138...

Now for the rest of the story.....It wasn't merely any UDLX.....NNNOOOOOOO...it's serial number was (are you ready for this?).....0001.....It was beautifully restored and sold at an auction for $98,000 in Iowa.

The new owner took it to his family farm in southern Minnesota where it's still pulling wagons in the farming duties. He refused a sale at the very auction for $140,000 so I doubt it's for sale.

Sorry....I don't have photos.....but could get some if needed.....

And now the REAL story. Here is a link to the interview of the actual first owner of a Moline UDLX, As you can plainly read, the tractor was bought and used in Iowa, and not "somehow" buried. It was not fully restored, but sold to a local that sent it off to a junkyard. Where do you guys come up with such nonsense? Tractors are very expensive pieces of equipment. Not the type of old c r a p you bury. You need to question these stories vigorously, or spend an enormous amount of your time digging manhole covers etc.

http://gasengine.farmcollector.com/Tractors/Bluffs-Man-Bought-First-UDLX.aspx

It always amazes me how many folks need reading lessons.....now for the rest of the story.....

While Mr. Tuttle may in fact have been the first buyer of a MM UDLX, it wasn't serial No. 0001

 

[marmota.monax]

Click here for SN 0001...

This may be encouraging.

A farm tractor made in 1938 was somehow buried at the White Earth Indian reservation in Northern Minnesota. How long it was there is unknown but possibly 50 years or more.....and just how it got there is also unknown.....but one day a visitor noticed evidence of a old tractor unearthed and went about digging it up.....

What he found is unbelievable......it was a Minneapolis Moline UDLX.....one of the rarest farm tractors ever made as only 138 of them were ever made. It was the worlds first production cabbed tractor and was a "go to town" tractor as well as it would do 40 MPH down the road.....It was based on the model "U" tractor and was very ingeniously cabbed for comfort. It was so expensive that sales were very poor and production stopped.....after # 138...

Now for the rest of the story.....It wasn't merely any UDLX.....NNNOOOOOOO...it's serial number was (are you ready for this?).....0001.....It was beautifully restored and sold at an auction for $98,000 in Iowa.

The new owner took it to his family farm in southern Minnesota where it's still pulling wagons in the farming duties. He refused a sale at the very auction for $140,000 so I doubt it's for sale.

Sorry....I don't have photos.....but could get some if needed.....

And now the REAL story. Here is a link to the interview of the actual first owner of a Moline UDLX, As you can plainly read, the tractor was bought and used in Iowa, and not "somehow" buried. It was not fully restored, but sold to a local that sent it off to a junkyard. Where do you guys come up with such nonsense? Tractors are very expensive pieces of equipment. Not the type of old c r a p you bury. You need to question these stories vigorously, or spend an enormous amount of your time digging manhole covers etc.

http://gasengine.farmcollector.com/Tractors/Bluffs-Man-Bought-First-UDLX.aspx

It always amazes me how many folks need reading lessons.....now for the rest of the story.....

While Mr. Tuttle may in fact have been the first buyer of a MM UDLX, it wasn't serial No. 0001

 

[marmota.monax]

Current owner info:

Click here...

SN 310-001x - X is for experimental, Could there be a 310-001 without a X. Maybe there are two 001's ?