Iowa detecting

BAMACE350

Jr. Member
Jun 9, 2012
52
4
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
You and me both, I just North of Des Moines.
 

jmoller99

Sr. Member
Jan 8, 2010
294
109
Colorado Springs, Colorado USA
Detector(s) used
Whites GMT, Goldmaster Vsat, 5900, Bounty Hunter Discovery 3300 and Falcon MD-20.
Primary Interest:
Other
Do you have any places where a carnival sets up once a year? If there was a place like that from many years ago (or even recent) it would likely have coins from under any ride that moved fast or spun the occupants upside down. There used to a lot of amusement parks in Iowa that have shut down over the years (I had family in Spencer Iowa and we used to visit in the 1960's). Do some research.

Also look for places (get an old railway map from the 1920's thru 1940's) that were used as watering sites for steam trains - these sites are no longer in operation (as railway stops), but often have interesting finds. This type of railway stop is all over the country. Do some research in your area.
 

BAMACE350

Jr. Member
Jun 9, 2012
52
4
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Great idea on the carnival!

I did a few overlays from the 30's today, found 7 spots I doubt anyone has been, I'll post when I get a chance to check them out.
 

Deft Tones

Bronze Member
Mar 24, 2016
1,547
2,352
Hawkeye State - Area 515
Detector(s) used
Whites V3i, XP Deus, Minelab Sovereign GT, Garrett AT Pro, Whites TRX (2), Predator Raven, Predator Raptor, Lesche Sampson
Primary Interest:
Other
I'm very active in Des Moines (and surrounding). I can put you on a few spots where you will have a great chance to recover old coins, jewelry, and relics.
 

tamrock

Gold Member
Jan 16, 2013
14,930
29,748
Colorado
Detector(s) used
Bounty Hunter Tracker IV
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Many moons ago I did a book report at Ankeny high school and the subject had to be something on state of lowa. I chose a book title I believe, The Geology of Iowa? One of the chapters covered in the book was on the coal mining industry of Iowa and in particular a town called Buxton, Iowa was covered in the chapter. Buxton was a boom town of mostly Black coal miners that operated at it's hight from 1895 to 1927. To this day, I've always thought the location of the ghost town of Buxton, Iowa would be an excellent place to investigate with a detector. I got an A and a high 5 from the teacher on that book report. I recall she found my research the most interesting of all the reports handed in.
 

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Deft Tones

Bronze Member
Mar 24, 2016
1,547
2,352
Hawkeye State - Area 515
Detector(s) used
Whites V3i, XP Deus, Minelab Sovereign GT, Garrett AT Pro, Whites TRX (2), Predator Raven, Predator Raptor, Lesche Sampson
Primary Interest:
Other
Many moons ago I did a book report at Ankeny high school and the subject had to be something on state of lowa. I chose a book title I believe, The Geology of Iowa? One of the chapters covered in the book was on the coal mining industry of Iowa and in particular a town called Buxton, Iowa was covered in the chapter. Buxton was a boom town of mostly Black coal miners that operated at it's hight from 1895 to 1927. To this day, I've always thought the location of the ghost town of Buxton, Iowa would be an excellent place to investigate with a detector. I got an A and a high 5 from the teacher on that book report. I recall she found my research the most interesting of all the reports handed in.

Ha, I've thought the same thing about Buxton. Lots of important black history on that site. Another spot for military history detecting (including black officer training) is the park adjoining Ft. Des Moines that used to be part of the Ft.
 

foiler

Sr. Member
Mar 17, 2013
395
389
Kansas
Detector(s) used
Fisher, Wilson-Neuman, Whites, Minelab, Tesoro and others I've long since forgotten
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Van Cleve and Ormanville are two of several abandoned town cites that should be worth checking out.
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
watch out for that deft-tones fellow though. He's having psychotic delusions of having found old coins in that area. He's harmless as long as he takes his meds :laughing7:
 

Deft Tones

Bronze Member
Mar 24, 2016
1,547
2,352
Hawkeye State - Area 515
Detector(s) used
Whites V3i, XP Deus, Minelab Sovereign GT, Garrett AT Pro, Whites TRX (2), Predator Raven, Predator Raptor, Lesche Sampson
Primary Interest:
Other
watch out for that deft-tones fellow though. He's having psychotic delusions of having found old coins in that area. He's harmless as long as he takes his meds :laughing7:

Ha, I swear I'm not baiting someone to search deep in the woods for the crusty zinc pennies I seeded. Those coins were all pre-82.... :hello2:
 

JasoninIowa

Jr. Member
Nov 16, 2012
34
25
Ankeny Iowa
Detector(s) used
Fisher F2,Garrett AT PRO
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I have always thought that Buxton or Enterprise would make for a great hunt. Enterprise is mostly corn field now.
 

dirt_diver74

Newbie
Jan 8, 2017
4
2
Des Moines, IA
Detector(s) used
Gerrett, minelab go find
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I have a group on Facebook if anyone is interested in joining, here's the link. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1539530159636547/ I'd like to see other people posting other than myself the people in the group seem not to post much. Send a request and let me know you are from this site and I will approve. Thanks, and as all ways Happy Hunting and may the Tones be with you.
 

Cooper_Joe

Newbie
May 3, 2019
1
0
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I don't think this thread is still active, but Soldier Creek in Fort Dodge is pretty cool. It used to be a dump site, I've found bottles from the 1860's coins from the late 1800's too. However my spot is a secret but there's the clues for you.
 

Got-Good-Tones

Full Member
Mar 17, 2018
171
241
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
usehername,

Following maps will probably help you out some...:thumbsup: Dated 1885 & 1919...:headbang: :headbang: In case anybody out in Iowa was looking for some info...here ya go...:headbang:
 

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eyemustdigtreasure

Silver Member
Mar 2, 2013
3,601
5,581
California
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug Pro
Tesoro Cibola
Nokta Pointer; Phillips SHS5200 phones
Nokta Macro SIMPLEX +
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Try this part of our forum...
Iowa
 

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