The Western Treasure Hunter

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FrontierWest

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I don't know how to get the images to appear on here..just follow the boomspeed link to see the images.

John

I apologize to the readers of the detecting internet community for not keeping up on the editions of the Western Treasure Hunter.? I am in the National Guard and our unit was alerted in February and now activated, with us leaving on the 28th of this month.? For awhile, this will be the final edition as I doubt I will have time to write from our duty station and my focus in life will be to search for insurgents, not for coins, relics, and the great treasures I?ll be dreaming about on my return.? Most of all I will miss my family!? In a few years I will again be able to come home with that US belt buckle, or old coin to hear the kids exclaim ?WOW, that is old.?? Better yet, the kids will be almost two years older and will be able to come with me on many of the adventures.? I?ll keep those memories close to me for a while, and will look forward to the time I can spend with them again. So, with that all said, thanks for all of your support and let?s get into this ?final? edition of the Western Treasure Hunter.

About 9 months ago I had run a contest on a few of the forums inviting a two some to come out to Montana for some treasure ?relic? hunting.? Jim and his Son Chris from New York City were the first to respond and accepted my offer?.there were two more that I owe a response to, but because of internet troubles, and the military alert, I lost their email address and did not get back to them?so, if it is one of you, I have not forgotten and in two years, I?ll be back, and you can cash in on my offer then.

Plane reservations were made by Jim to get out to Montana and my offer was to show them Montana the way a tourist would never see it!? The goal was simple, dig lots of treasures and provide them a life experience, and to hopefully make two new friends!
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Jim ready to head to the Treasure State!!!

Jim and Chris arrived on a Saturday morning, and they were shown some of my collection to hopefully get them the ?fever? and soon off we went to an old town site that I had recently recovered an 1877 S seated liberty quarter in XF condition from.? We headed out to the site, and I am not sure they were secure with the fact that I had already obtained permission for them to hunt there, but shortly there after the landowner came out and introduced him self to them.? I think they were at ease then.? I wish I could say that we dug hoards of old coins then, but sadly we did not recover a one.?
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Jim in search for that special something

We did dig up plenty of ?indicators? and suspender buckles, cartridge casings and other mementos of the old western town.? We cut our day short as we had dinner reservation at the famous ?Oasis? restaurant in Manhattan, Montana.? Known for their awesome steaks and prime ribs, they gained more notoriety for actually telling Ted Turner and Jane Fonda? that they would have to either wait for an opening, or reserve dinner reservations?the story that many have read said something to the effect that the owner would not serve them because of Jane Fonda?that is entirely erroneous.? Sorry folks.

After a more than full belly, we all headed for Ed?s (my detecting partner) and loaded up the RV for our Montana adventure.? I knew going into the hunt that we were pushing the envelope of opportunity, as relic hunting out here is mostly a spring and fall undertaking to hunt around the farmers and ranchers schedule, not to mention life?s little pesky critters!? ?A few weeks before I had gone to one of the sites that we had planned on hunting and the owner had the animals locked out of the area to get one good cutting of grass hay, and I knew that by the time we got there, the grass would be too high to hunt in.? So, plan ?B.?? We arrived at the large ranch on the Missouri and checked in with the owner, permission was again granted and also some other hints of where things may be were also discussed.? I had map spotted a possible location for us to begin, based on an 1871 Indian agents hand drawn map, and after a quick coaching of what attire to wear?we were off.? It only took about a minute on the river bottom for me to wish I had put some bug dope on around my neck?the mosquitoes were absolutely terrible!!!? I looked down to my uncovered hands and must have seen one hundred of them apiece on each hand.? Quickly my gloves were put on and I still wished for something on my face and neck as those critters were terrible.? I made a bee line for what I suspected the location of the site to be, but struck out entirely, wasting perhaps an hour in the search.? As it turned out, we never found the site.? The following day while having dinner with the owner, he said we were perhaps a mile away from it going upstream.? He remembered some old buildings there when he was a kid.? Searching in vain and with none of the entourage being seen, I headed back to where they were hunting.?
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Mosquito bottoms I will call this place!!!

They pretty much stumbled right into something and were digging Henry cartridge casings and .50 caliber round balls from the get go.? Who know, the round balls could have been from some old trapper during the fur trade era, even pre dating what we were actually looking for.? I never did see a total count of the relics recovered, but I think I recovered only 5 Henry casings and the 50/70 casing, a pair of scissors, and a heart shaped ?Union Made? trouser/suspender button.? I think we still had a great time, minus the bugs.? I did locate the remnants of an old dug out cabin loaded with broken stove parts and other metal debris associated with the old structure.? All that remained was a depression in the side of the riverbank and the pieces of metal strewn around and on the flood plain.
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Chris walked into an area where these unfired round balls were located.? Perhaps the legendary Jim Bridger dropped these??

My first target was an unfired 50/70 military cartridge.? My hopes were very high then, almost forgot about the bugs!? After a few hours of hunting I realized that this site was a bust and we moved to find another.? We decided to do some arrow head hunting for a few hours, re-hydrate eat some snacks, and then proceed with some relic hunting.? The nice part with moving to a different location was that the wind had come up and it blew hard enough to keep the little pests at ankle level.? No arrowheads were found, and the field we were going to relic hunt in was planted in grain.? The owner said it was still alright to hunt it, so off we went.? We were pretty spread out and we all met up about dinner time.? I think Justin and his dad fared the best as Justin found 3 eagle buttons and a nice white stone arrowhead and a white trade bead.? His dad found a nice staff cuff button.? I know the rest of us only came up with 45/70 cartridge casings, many of which were of civilian manufacture.? ?We took a few pictures, but unfortunately the close ups of the goods did not turn out.?
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Justin and his dad showing the owner the ?goods? of the day!? Chris was still hunting!!!
We found out the owner is really into arrowheads and he showed us a few he has found the next day.

We did encounter some nice wild life to include a frog, horny toad, deer, and a Charlis bull that looked like he did not need our help!!!?
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Perhaps one of the smallest horned toads I?ve seen?he had a bad right wheel.? Pesticides have pretty well done them in!

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We stayed out of his way..he was probably protecting those arrowheads and relics!!!

Justin and his dad left us that night as they only joined us for a one day trip.? ?Ed, Jim, Chris and I soon began to fix our dinner when the owner showed up and we invited him for some steaks and hamburger.? ?One thing we did learn was that Wal Mart does not have the best steak on the menu and they were so tough that the owner felt sorry for us and invited us all for dinner the next night!? We almost declined, but I am very happy to report that it was one fantastic dinner and feel like we kind of duped him as we were taking relics off his land, fed him a sub par steak, and he turned around a fed us a kings ransom that melted in our mouths!!!!? I am being deployed with his son, so I know I will return the favor?either through the father, or his son, or both when I get back!!? That night I hoped that the coyotes would serenade us like I have experienced in the past.? True western sounds that would give Jim and Chris the real Montana experience.? I am not sure they serenaded us or not, as I was asleep about the second my head touched the pillow.? I am quite sure my snoring serenaded everyone enough!? ?:)? I do know that more than a billion stars stretched across the sky that night taking me back to the memories of my youth.
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Sunset the first night

The next morning we awoke to hamburgers, sausage and eggs for breakfast replenishing our tired bodies for yet another day?s experience.? The day proved a little better with all of us finding artifacts, but still nothing great like belt buckles, or military insignias.? We hunted the field for part of the morning and I managed 4 eagle buttons and Jim managed to lose his pin pointer.
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Jim telling us the way it is!!!

I sure wanted to go back and look for the pin pointer, but the field was pretty large.? Jim said don?t worry about it, it was 7 years old.
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A view of the river channel.

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I spied this one on the surface!? ?It was perfect!!!

After a quick lunch, we decided to float the river in search for the old encampment depicted on our map.
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Due to a faulty gas tank, the motor did not work!? Knowing the inevitable, we went anyhow.?

We soon discovered what Lewis and Clark went through on their trip up the Missouri.
In reality it was not that bad of a pull, but definitely faster walking than paddling!? Not too many relics were found on the excursion, but the scenery was fantastic!? One never knows when looking for an undiscovered site, but when it is found the rewards are usually great!?
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View of one of the Missouri hillsides.

The spots we had already been to, proved not too productive and after the great dinner that night, we decided to drive to another location that proved to fill the ?relic? ticket a little better.? I really hoped that Jim and Chris would come home with some fantastic relics on this trip so we drove to the new location.? Ed and I have found numerous buttons and belt plates there before, and surprisingly the ground conditions were not too bad.? There was just enough moisture in the ground to separate the iron from the brass a bit better than the spring time.? I took the time to show Jim and Chris where we had found items before and then I hunkered down to a tight search pattern with a 7 inch coil.? My main goal was to locate a nice coin, but in the end 17 buttons appeared?and one decent model 1858 infantry insignia, no coins.?
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Some of the relics recovered on the 3rd day.

In another part of the field, I located a model 1876 prairie belt buckle that will make a nice addition to my collection.? Jim managed 4 buttons that day and Ed managed 5 towards the end of the day.? I am not sure what Chris turned up?? All I know is that by the end of the trip, we were all pooped!?
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Strike a pose Chris!!!!

I will not forget that trip, one that saw us driving the RV up an incline so steep that I thought we were going to flip over backwards, one that saw us portage the boat up river due to a faulty motor, the fantastic dinner with one of the landowners, and the two new friends that Ed and I made in Jim and Chris.? That is what this hobby is all about folks, making and meeting new friends!

John?
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JARMAN

Bronze Member
Jun 10, 2004
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John,Go with Gods Speed and return with the same.Served myself,Thanks for helping to keep our freedoms we all love secure.I am sure you will have lots of tells to tell your kids when you return.Thanks for taking the time for your edition.Bless you and your faimly,for both will be in alot of prayers. JARMAN
 

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