Just laughing to myself...

[BigDan]

...I'm so paranoid. Got to thinking about "my" ghost town. Problem is it isn't mine. The whole thing sits in a farm field, the last building gone by the 1930's. It's like a carnival of sites all rolled into one. A livery stable, salloon, several homes. All gone, just covered up. Around 200 people in the 1800's.

And, since the snow is starting to melt I decided I'd better be planning to hit the place hard and often before planting. Suddenly, I thought, "What if they say no!?"

So I made copies of a couple old photograghs of some of the towns buildings. Made a copy of the map of the town from 1910. Framed it. Then went out with presents in hand prepared to beg.

They openned the door, I said, "Remember me?". And the response was, "Yeah! We were just wondering if you were coming back this year."

Those people rock!!!! Happy Happy day! (They were happy as well at the stuff. But I didn't have to get so paranoid.)

[Skelly607]

How did it turn out?

[BigDan]

I'm not going to get rich out of my finds, but I've a nice hall table full of little artifacts from the town. I've yet to find one single old coin....but I've found horse shoes, square nails, an old blacksmith's hammer, metal parts of homes, horse tack.

I've gotten to know the town quite well...but I have become rather a part of the ghost town myself. I'm seeing the buildings now as they stood...not the crops that grow amongst them in the present day. After planting, my treasure hunting is over until harvest...but this year something remarkable (I think) happened. I was sitting around looking at the shards of pottery and pieces of broken glass from the town...and by circumstance I was low on stones for my tumbler...

...next thing you know I'm tumbling the pottery and glass (not together) and they came out stunning! My wife plans to learn to wire wrap...and we'll let the ghost town come alive again in jewelry.

Hmmmmm...I also got permission from several more farmers with land just outside the town, found another site some miles away where a country store sat in the 1800's, and met two gentlemen of some age who don't mind sitting down and remembering the past for me.

So, yeah, it turned out well....but I'm not getting rich (financially).