kellyco books

[rfmarshall]

Has anyone ever purchased the kellyco books that have directions and gps coords to your state? I so were they worth it. My state of illinois has over 500 MD sites in it.

 

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[Sandman]

These books could list every square foot of ground and be fairly accurate in having a coin there. If that is your bag to look for places that hundreds of others have searched, go at it and have fun. If you knew of a place where a treasure or cashe was hidden, would you tell everyone where it was at before you recovered it?

 

[rfmarshall]

No, I really wouldn't say that is my bag, I am brand new to metal detecting and I really don't know what my bag is yet. I live in Springfield, Illinois and there is very little in the area in the way of clubs to join so that I might learn from the pros. I have searched the internet high and low and have found very little on how to research places to MD. You always get the generic answer of go to parks, old schools, churches and look for places at the public library like old maps. I am going to the library tommorrow and try to research some places but I have no idea what I am doing. I would greatly appreciate any comments on how to research things such as old home sites, the basic answer of look at maps at the library really doesn't help me much, thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Hemisteve]

I started treasure hunting late in the 90's and know I missed out on a lot. It gets harder and harder every year to find fresh ground, but it is out there.
What is there now was'nt there there a 100 years ago. Also, what isin't there now could have had something there a 100 years ago.
Read that last sentence carefully. That is the key to finding good hunting. Compare old to new and talk to all the old timers you can. You will learn more from chatting with people than you will learn in any web search. Most spots listed in a publication will have been hunted hard years ago, because those spots were made known to the hunters long before you.

Hope this helps
Research, Research, Research
Steve

 

[deepskyal]

My advice to you rf is,

check out the old map sites on here under maps. There are several really good sites you can view and download maps from the 1700's, 1800's, and 1900's.
Sanborn maps is a good start. Find your area and see what used to be there. Maptech is awesome if it's still up and running. They've sold to someone and have been on and off line for a while now. Last time I checked they were up. It's their maps I use for Google Earth overlays.
Compare that to what's current on Google Earth or MSn Virtual Earth.

You can download Google Earth for free and have the advantage of doing map overlays. They really show you some MAJOR differences in towns, roads, houses, etc.
It takes a little practice but once you figure out the map overlay, you have one really fantastic tool.

I found a group of maybe 6 houses on a map from 1900 and overlayed it....there is no signs of anything now but a section of bare ground.....PRIME DETECTING!!!!!

Now figure this...how many past metal detectorists accidentally stumbled onto this place in the middle of nowhere? It's not like a house or park in the middle of town. This is the stuff you want to find now if you want to make finds. From viewing the overlay on google earth, I can tell I have almost a mile to hike to the spot.....I really doubt its been hunted at all...NO ROAD TO IT!

If you go to a library, check the old survey maps if they have them. Not every library has an archive...you may need to find a historical society nearby for those.

But either way, a good librarian or historian would help you find information on settlers in the area, when schools were built, local history, etc.

You just gotta figure out your niche. Do you want to do parks and schools and places that have been hunted. You know, none of us believe a place is ever really hunted out. Some of us enjoy the challange of finding that one elusive piece of silver in the ground everyone else missed.

OR...you can get into some pretty cool research and find the elusive sites like I just did....compare old to the new....Look around, what do you see around you thats old...any buildings with cornerstones with dates, like old churches. That'll help you begine to date an area. But some areas, people were there before the towns and their homesteads just got swallowed up by the landscape. All it took was a boomtown close by to drive homesteaders into a nearby town, their place crumbles away...but on the old survey maps and topo maps, even some of the rough, hand-drawn maps show great detail of what houses used to be where. Houses from the 1800's no longer on current maps = good hunting grounds....maybe.

I used to do Historical societies for newspaper articles and various town projects and check out older maps...now I can do most that on line. But old news about fires, floods, any kind of disaster may have left a undetected spot somewhere....where a house, church, school...who knows.....

Maybe the place was heavily logged and there were old towns loggers stayed at.....

And take history into consideration. The depression...everyone pulled money from the bank and stashed it...some in the house, some outside....thats how caches turn up...people die and the moneys lost forever...til we come along.
The civil war...money was also hidden a lot...

The history of your area is key to good hunting.

While the weather's nice...it's good to go coin shoot for a few hours til your too hot or tired...but on those rainy days.......research, research, research.

Al

 

[jeff of pa]

Back to your Original Question,
I purchased the Pennsylvania Book.

It mainly Lists Ghost Towns, Near Ghost towns & Historical Sites.

Then it lists Where it is located.

Then about 50% also have Coordinates.

It does not give GPS directions to a particular Treasure spot
Just to the Towns

It's sort of like Historical markers.
some are Spot on some are a mile away
from the Location because of Access Problems.

The book only has 1 Ghost town Location within my hunting area
I was not aware of because it's on the Fringe.
. I Havn't followed up yet with a Visit.

as far as "Worth" I consider research Very important.
Because of that, Any book on my area is Very Important
Even if only one Paragraph Tells me something new I
feel I got my money back.

 

[elecuyer]

Maptech is awesome if it's still up and running. They've sold to someone and have been on and off line for a while now. Last time I checked they were up.

The various assets of Maptech most interesting to readers of this forum are Terrain Navigator CDs, the free online MapServer, and the online Historical Map collection. These are being transitioned to MyTopo.com. During the final months of Maptech's control, some of these web sites went down. We are now working to bring them back online. The historical maps will be accessible at: http://historical.mytopo.com, the mapserver at http://mapserver.mytopo.com, and Terrain Navigator (and Terrain Navigator Pro) will be available for purchase from www.mytopo.com.

Thank you for your interest in our products. We ask you for your patience during this transition.

-Ed Lecuyer
Product Manager: Maptech/MyTopo Terrain Navigator

 

[rfmarshall]

Hello and thanks guys for the lengthy replies I know that took awhile. I will take all the advice and try to learn to do research. When i bought the detector I thought you learned to use it, go to the park and dig quarters, I didn't realize there was way more to it then that. I have Camp Butler National Cemetery near me and during the civil war the ground there was used to train troops and it also housed around 2000 confederate prisoners. I know i can't hunt in the cemetery but i am going to scout the ground around it, hope it works out and thanks again.

 

[Sandman]

Charles Garrett has a book out called "Successful Coin Hunting," that gives good ideas for where to search. Your local library can help if you ask the attendant about books on the history of your town or area. Old newspapers may list where town meetings, church events, etc took place years ago. Even the research can be fun.

 

[Kellyco]

Hi Everyone...

I went out to the warehouse and saw a Site Locator Book for Illinois copy written 1998. I didn't see any else like it update.

http://www.kellycodetectors.com/accessories/books.htm#general
http://www.kellycodetectors.com/accessories/GPSSitelocatorbooks.htm

Thanks,
Kellyco Chick