Muddyhandz
Bronze Member
- Jul 1, 2012
- 1,226
- 1,955
- Detector(s) used
- Fisher's 1266X, 1270X & 1280X
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Hey,
I've been wanting to start a thread about finds and how some have romantic notions about them belonging to a Revolutionary / War of 1812 or Civil war battle, skirmish, camp, fort site to name a few, for some time now.
Unfortunately, I've spent energy explaining such things on other threads and don't feel like going into great detail here but I do have an experience to share.
The fur trade is my thing and I have a lot of experience in this genre. I am a hardcore relic hunter and have searched many 19th century homesteads and camps as well.
You'll see me comment if one has found a general 19th century find and attributes it to the civil war and I happen to have many such finds from my area that never saw any civil war action and is not even in the same country.
I have many experiences that help me keep an analytical mind and prevent me from jumping to conclusions.
Here's a story that represents the message I'd like to get across here......
Years back, I wanted to head two hours south of my city to try and locate an 18th century fur trade post that was supposed to be near an important junction of two rivers.
After my long drive, I went to the nearest town to try and locate the landowner of the property where this alleged fort site may be located. After an hour I finally secured permission and got excited when the landowner confirmed the existence of such a site. I spent most of the day searching where he thought the fort might be. I didn't like the soil as it indicated heavy flooding over the years and there was a rare period of time when the 1266X was actually quiet.
I decided to head away from the junction as evening was approaching and searched along the major river to the north. I found a couple of musket balls in this direction. I knew that musket shot meant nothing out here, as I find them everywhere but there could be a slight chance that I was getting close to a site.
After an hour of silence, I unearthed a jangler (tinkling cone) which indicates a Native presence. For those who don't know, a jangler was attached to a jingle dress or some other garment and is made out of kettle scrap. These sort of artifacts always show up in great numbers a trade posts or Native camps. I still wasn't excited yet as I was on a major trail that was several hundred miles long and it could be a random drop.
Even though it was getting close to dark and I was far from my car, I continued to head north. Finally, the nail chatter started to pick up and now I wanted to pluck out a non-ferrous item quick as time was running out. My first signal was a brass serpent side plate from a Northwest trade gun. I switched to reverse discrimination mode to see what kind of iron was there and dug up a flintlock hammer.
Then the lock plate! I was excited but it was getting pretty dark and I had a long walk back to the car and a long drive home.
I left vowing that I would return ASAP. At home I cleaned my finds and could barely sleep that night. The next day, I cancelled my schedule and headed back to that site.
I spent the whole day working that site only to find late 19th/early 20th century relics and not one more fur trade find! Wasted a whole day, gas, and work for a major let down!
The conclusion was someone who lived at an 1890 to 1920 homestead threw out their old musket gun. The other trade related finds belonged to the old trail. The area where the two rivers met would never have a fort built there due to the annual flooding. After looking at more research material over the years, the approximate location of the fort is now lying under the town site. I wrote that one off!
I've had many such experiences that makes me who I am today.
I don't doubt that some finds come from a known historic site and are what people say they are.
Not everything is a civil war find or a fur trade find or a colonial find, etc.
The more you dig up from that site, the more information you'll have to properly assess the finds.
Anyway, I've typed up enough for now.
Please share your experiences or opinions!
Cheers,
Dave.
I've been wanting to start a thread about finds and how some have romantic notions about them belonging to a Revolutionary / War of 1812 or Civil war battle, skirmish, camp, fort site to name a few, for some time now.
Unfortunately, I've spent energy explaining such things on other threads and don't feel like going into great detail here but I do have an experience to share.
The fur trade is my thing and I have a lot of experience in this genre. I am a hardcore relic hunter and have searched many 19th century homesteads and camps as well.
You'll see me comment if one has found a general 19th century find and attributes it to the civil war and I happen to have many such finds from my area that never saw any civil war action and is not even in the same country.
I have many experiences that help me keep an analytical mind and prevent me from jumping to conclusions.
Here's a story that represents the message I'd like to get across here......
Years back, I wanted to head two hours south of my city to try and locate an 18th century fur trade post that was supposed to be near an important junction of two rivers.
After my long drive, I went to the nearest town to try and locate the landowner of the property where this alleged fort site may be located. After an hour I finally secured permission and got excited when the landowner confirmed the existence of such a site. I spent most of the day searching where he thought the fort might be. I didn't like the soil as it indicated heavy flooding over the years and there was a rare period of time when the 1266X was actually quiet.
I decided to head away from the junction as evening was approaching and searched along the major river to the north. I found a couple of musket balls in this direction. I knew that musket shot meant nothing out here, as I find them everywhere but there could be a slight chance that I was getting close to a site.
After an hour of silence, I unearthed a jangler (tinkling cone) which indicates a Native presence. For those who don't know, a jangler was attached to a jingle dress or some other garment and is made out of kettle scrap. These sort of artifacts always show up in great numbers a trade posts or Native camps. I still wasn't excited yet as I was on a major trail that was several hundred miles long and it could be a random drop.
Even though it was getting close to dark and I was far from my car, I continued to head north. Finally, the nail chatter started to pick up and now I wanted to pluck out a non-ferrous item quick as time was running out. My first signal was a brass serpent side plate from a Northwest trade gun. I switched to reverse discrimination mode to see what kind of iron was there and dug up a flintlock hammer.
Then the lock plate! I was excited but it was getting pretty dark and I had a long walk back to the car and a long drive home.
I left vowing that I would return ASAP. At home I cleaned my finds and could barely sleep that night. The next day, I cancelled my schedule and headed back to that site.
I spent the whole day working that site only to find late 19th/early 20th century relics and not one more fur trade find! Wasted a whole day, gas, and work for a major let down!
The conclusion was someone who lived at an 1890 to 1920 homestead threw out their old musket gun. The other trade related finds belonged to the old trail. The area where the two rivers met would never have a fort built there due to the annual flooding. After looking at more research material over the years, the approximate location of the fort is now lying under the town site. I wrote that one off!
I've had many such experiences that makes me who I am today.
I don't doubt that some finds come from a known historic site and are what people say they are.
Not everything is a civil war find or a fur trade find or a colonial find, etc.
The more you dig up from that site, the more information you'll have to properly assess the finds.
Anyway, I've typed up enough for now.
Please share your experiences or opinions!
Cheers,
Dave.
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