Lost cannon from C. war...

[MDnoob]

In my county supposedly during the Civil War, some confederate troops were fleeing a distant battle and while coming over a mountain, hid at least one cannon. This is more than a tale, I have read about it in historical texts as well. 8)
Supposedly, some old guy my friend knows has seen these cannon (they are at the top of a mountain) and talked to the forest service about it; he didn't like the answer they gave him, so he never revealed the exact location to anyone. :roll:
Anyway, I know which mountaintop they are on, and I have narrowed it down to perhaps a square mile, and maybe further, through the study of old roads and topography.
The moral of this story is: Old tales like this are FUN, but probably not completely true Swingin' the detector on top of a mountain on an old road with friends will be fun regardless of wether or not we find cannons. (I think our chances are somewhere between .0001% and 0.0)

 

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[MDnoob]

Did some more research and found exerpts from an old book. Through this information and the study of old maps I have probably narrowed down my search area to one knoll and the small plateau beneath it. From what I have heard and read, the cannon were placed on this hill and later abandoned. The hill covers an important ford on the river and the location of an old River Station. It also happens to be exactly the location where this old timer says he saw it.

Now I just need to find a way to get to it without crossing private property or hiking 4 hours.

I estimate my chances of finding the cannon are now .001% to 0.

 

[Lowbatts]

If it's legal ground and it's a legal four hour hike, I'd take it, but I'd need better than a .001% chance of success. Sounds like a remote spot so you never know! If you're going to find a big time prize like a battery or even a single piece of artillery then it's not going to be in the local park or playground for sure!

I have rode my bicycle with all hunt gear attached for a couple hours into otherwise hike-only hunt grounds on lesser chances with smaller prizes for sure. Sometimes it's the hunt that matters.

Good Luck and let us know

 

[MDnoob]

Yeah mainly it is the hunt that matters, and the thought of finding will be nearly as cool as actually finding it. Some of my friends are in on this too, and just hiking and doing research with my friends is fun by itself.

The cannon is on national forest, and I could go over the top of a mountain from my parents house to access the site. Or I could go from the edge of a small town/large neighborhood to hike there in about 1/2 and hour, and still avoid crossing private property. However, this would mean parking a car in this town which I don't particuarly want to do. Still, we will likely end up doing that.

If the cannon is there, it is probably only one, and it is on National Forest. So, legally we would have to turn over our find to the Forest Service which is ok. Better it be in a museum than rusting away in the woods. Besides, I don't know where I would fit a cannon in my living room! Perhaps in exchange for the cannon's location, they will let me MD the site for old coins...?

The site is quite remote and as mentioned, hard to get to. Especially since it was directly above a very, very smelly and nasty industrial site, which is now closed.