Tips for finding old sites along a river ** please share**

Toecutter

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Nov 30, 2018
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Looking for any tips you guys might have for locating old sites by a river like fur trade sites or sites that may not be on a map. Any tall tail signs as to the type of area along a river to look for, I always check areas with a bigger trees and I also check areas that have alot of stones....
 

ticndig

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Apr 17, 2009
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Cumberland Va
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I look for sites with very little grade to the water and shallow water which is a good place to ford the river. look for old timber dams and wharfs, stone bridge head walls. locks, canals , a mill and mill house. these are all things I've found and produced relics.
large trees along the river is not a clue to me because they are all large and it's against the law to cut along our waterways. I do run the detector around them though as hunters have sat under trees for hundreds of years and may drop a coin.
 

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ToddsPoint

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Mar 2, 2018
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I used to canoe the local rivers looking for ravines that dumped into the river. I'd go up the ravine and look for broken pieces of glass or pottery. If it's there, that means the top of the ravine was someone's dump. Work you way up the ravine with a potato fork and scratch up the surface. The farther you go up the ravine, the more you find. I got a few old bottles that way and also dug into a big crock full of snakes. Gary
 

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