Need some help please

[Tarbaby]

I have the opportunity of a lifetime. I have the chance to detect approximately 15 old foundations that are buried deep in the woods in Northern Ontario and have been there since 1850's. There is even an old sidewalk type laneway there.

I have no experience about how to hunt in these type areas that may be full of old stones, nails etc. and not level ground, which is what I am use to

How is the best way to approach this and can someone give me some good advice on where to look first, I have only 2 days and then back home and the next trip will be next spring.

Thanls for any help

Tarbaby

 

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[Blind.In.Texas]

i suggest keeping the sensitivity down, because, it can include a large and deep area with the swing. if the terrain has lots of buried rock they can report a lot of falsies and make digging quite laborious. when you get there you can dig a couple of small holes at each new area just to sample the conditions. this will help you determine what your machine is looking through. nicely though, if the terrain is quite rocky, many of your finds may actually be quite close to the surface!! how nice would that be?

should a particular area be not-so-rocky, then, you can increase that sensitivity until your machine begins to report falsies...if you only have two days, i am not so sure i would dig everything in all-metall mode. not the first day anyway. maybe you could discriminate the first day if you are having really good luck and cover as much ground as possible. then in the spring run all-metal-mode and dig everything to see what you missed the last time!!

pay special attention to the house within about ten feet or so of the structure. this is where most human activity was, like, painting, repair, gardening, construction and playtime.

Good luck and now i am very excited to know what you will bring back!!

 

[Gypsy Heart]

If you only have two days,make sure you map and photograph the site. That way you will be able to do plenty of research on it over the winter. If you know what the buildings are now,try to hit where the most activity would have taken place...store..tavern...along that walkway.

 

[Mona Lisa]

If time was short, I, personally wouldn't bother hunting inside the cellarholes. I've never found anything great inside of them. Most of my great coins came from within 40 feet of the hole. Search the backyards and carefully search the path to where the outhouses might have been. Also the path from the house to the barn has been pretty good to me.

Good luck....Let us know how it goes.

 

[wayne]

tarbaby - treat an old town like you would an old mining area - keep your eyes open and watch for possible dangers. i was working an old town and happened to notice a hole about the size that a fence post would make if it was pulled out of the ground. i dropped a rock into it and it took a couple of seconds to hit the bottom. i went to the police station at the newer end of the town and got a policeman to check it out. it turned out to be the basement of an old hotel that was supposed to have been buried a number of years before and no danger to anyone. apparently the wrecking crew leveled dirt over the hotel floor and left. after a number of years the floor rotted out leaving several inches of hard dirt over the basement - a real booby trap ! the police had it filled imediately. ( it would have been a ten foot drop and it might have been days before anyone would have been found if they were unlucky enough to have fallen in.) i decided that whatever treasure was there could just sray there. wayne

 

[Blind.In.Texas]

Excellent point, Wayne. Keeping an eye out for a well is a good idea too. Many wells that old have toppled the land portion of their structures....check out the link below to a picture of a well that could be covered only with boards and leaves.

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,49154.0.html

 

[Tarbaby]

Thanks for the tips, I am leaving in the morning and I will post what I find. They are calling for snow in some of the locations I am heading so lets hope it goes somewhere else.

Thanks to all who gave me good info. Safety being the primary concern, I'm to Short to be trying to climb out of wells.

Tarbaby

 

[funkman]

Tarbaby,

Can't offer you any tips since I have not been that lucky yet and have not detected an old foundation yet, but I wish you the best of luck and look forward to your posts when you get back. And be careful out there!

HH

Funkman