An Ideal Yard To Start Treasure Hunting In!

[Charmin]

First, let me tell you a little background about this place. It was in the same family for 4 generations. Built in the late 1890's and has a huge yard that sits next to the Midland Valley railroad tracks. The house came up for sale in 2004 and my parents decided to buy the house.
I went with my parents to look at this place and thought "Oh my gosh, there are treasures waiting in the ground for me here!". As soon as mom and dad moved in, I started tilling up that yard--my dad said it looked like an armidillo had been there! I wasn't very good at digging perfect plugs , but I did cover all my holes!
My first place to detect in the yard was under the old clothesline--I found lots of buttons and snaps(Lee Unionalls, Round House, United Carr, Wheeler, True Blue), a Barber quarter(1905), buffalo nickels, wheat pennies, 2 old button hooks(?) with floral designs, and 2 thimbles. Next I moved to the old fenceline, a kind of banked up place in the yard(my dad had to redo all the fencing around this place as it was falling down--that was good for me!) This place was something of trial because of all the screw on pop lids! But it was certainly worth it. I would get a good signal, start to did and began finding marbles and old glass beads. I even found a piece of pink flint--did I mention the people that used to own the house were Native Americans? The first metal object in this bank was a Barber dime(1909)! I found old compacts, Pond's cold cream lids, a comb with metal cover, a "Korn" hat creaser(Pat'd June 1917), 12 spoons!, 2 forks--one is a baby fork, butter knife, a badge that says "Union Station, Kansas City, Mo.", lids for salt shakers, a whistle that has athletic looking figures on it, and TOYS--cap gun parts(Troope Safety? on the grips), little jalopy cars, part of a motorcycle, a little brass man with a top hat(he's the green one in the picture). The little cars are made of lead or iron. Next, I moved out along the railroad tracks and found pocket watch part--it has a beautiful bird in flight and scrollwork design on it. It is gold overlay! and has some numbers inside (6258??8). I found a flattened coin that had been smashed by the train.
After this I moved to the old maple tree and found some "Merry Widows" tins--I did not know what these were and wondered why the women(Agnes, Mabel, Beckie) were so happy?! After researching these, I will assume this was the "Romantic" part of the yard !
On the east side of the maple tree was a trash/dump spot where I found 15 old buckles(sash, shoe and belt), another Barber quarter(1908), a token for the "W&F Theatre Bar, 1449 Lawrence, good for 2 1/2 cents in trade". I wrote to W&ET "Ask Mark Parker" and he said it was circa 1911 from Denver, Colorado! Wonder how it got to Pawhuska, Ok?! A small ladies watch, and lots of pieces of other pocket watches. Digging down in the hole where the 1908 Barber quarter was recovered, I found the back of an Apex wrist watch--sterling! There were also lids for ladies face pomades, powder and creams. There was so much stuff, it would be impossible to list it all!
Up by the corner of the house I found a little sterling pocket knife-it has scissors, a file, pick, cork screw, and some blades. It has beautiful designs etched into it. Along the back sidewalk I found over 30 consumer's tax tokens!, a Kwiksolv soap token, a Mason penny(Horeb Chapter No. 63 R.A.M., 1909 Pawhuska), a 1918 Canada penny, 4 V nickels,3 more Barber dimes(1913, 1906, 1907), 45 wheat pennies, 2 Indian head pennies(1890, 1906), and a war nickel(1943).
I have worked this yard four 5 years and still find stuff everytime I detect it! It makes you wonder about the people who used to own the place and why they lost so much! But, I guess having 4 generations and lots of kids would account for that.
My White's Prizm III has certainly had a work-out here! When I thought about telling this story and started looking through all this stuff it almost boggled my mind and I know I didn't list everything. I did take lots of pictures and hope you will enjoy looking at this stuff.
A picture is worth a thousand words anyway, huh?!
Nothing found was worth lots of money but it has been a blast digging all this up! I wish I had listed it on here as I found it each time, but I didn't have a good camera so you're gonna get it all in one shot! I hope I put this in the right section of TreasureNet and if I didn't somebody let me know--enjoy the pics and thanks for looking! sandcreek4

 

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[pookie-princess of rust]

wow. nice digs.

 

[treasuredog]

Awesome Are you still finding stuff there? Anyhow,nice finds!!!

 

[Charmin]

Awesome Are you still finding stuff there? Anyhow,nice finds!!!

Yes, still finding stuff--I need to switch to all metal mode and dig everything I guess, there are just lots of nails that I don't want to dig :P. Thanks for the comments! sandcreek4

wow. nice digs.

Thanks!! sandcreek4

 

[curbdiggercarl57]

Beautiful collection of great finds. Would love to see the Denver token, as well as a close up of the silvery looking badge in the fifth photo, to the right of the Barber Silver. Looks like a "Crystal Palace" badge, from Leadville. Any time ya need help detecting, feel free to give me a hollar!
Carl

 

[Charmin]

Beautiful collection of great finds. Would love to see the Denver token, as well as a close up of the silvery looking badge in the fifth photo, to the right of the Barber Silver. Looks like a "Crystal Palace" badge, from Leadville. Any time ya need help detecting, feel free to give me a hollar!
Carl

Carl--here's the two things you wanted to see. The badge is from Union Station, I think it is a souvenir badge. thanks for looking~~sandcreek4

 

[Monty]

My grandparents lived in a nicer part of Pawhuska when I was growing up. Grandad took care of the power station and reset the switches when a storm hit. Next door was a big two story house where some people named Lemons lived. Across the street was a two story frame house where the Crawfords lived. My Grandparents lived on the corner across the street from the PSO pole yard where they kept spare telephone poles. Under the RR track bridge and up the hill about a mile was the country club and a monastary. Back to the north was the Pigstand, a BBQ and beer joint and across from that was Whitey's service station. I spent a lot of my youth there and remember walking across the old Bird Creek bridge to get downtown and go to the movies and then stop off at Irby Drug for a coke. I use to go to the triangle building to look at the toys at the TGY store. And I remeber the city jail was in the basement of the Police Station by the drug store and movie theater. I recall the County Courthouse being up on the hill above town and the rodeo grounds being out on highway 99 where they held the Cavalcade every year. I drove up there a few years ago and they were getting ready to tear down my grandad's old house. The power station was gone as was the two story houses. The railroad bridge was gone and the tracks too! I barely recognized the place. Now it is a seedy part of town and the nice yards are replaced by trash and junk and a lot of inoperative cars. It made me sick. I guess it's true, "You can't go home". But I would like to go and detect the area as I can remember how it was and all the kids up and down the street and all the fun we had. Sigh. Monty Oh, I got carried away anf forgot to say, Really great finds!

 

[Charmin]

My grandparents lived in a nicer part of Pawhuska when I was growing up. Grandad took care of the power station and reset the switches when a storm hit. Next door was a big two story house where some people named Lemons lived. Across the street was a two story frame house where the Crawfords lived. My Grandparents lived on the corner across the street from the PSO pole yard where they kept spare telephone poles. Under the RR track bridge and up the hill about a mile was the country club and a monastary. Back to the north was the Pigstand, a BBQ and beer joint and across from that was Whitey's service station. I spent a lot of my youth there and remember walking across the old Bird Creek bridge to get downtown and go to the movies and then stop off at Irby Drug for a coke. I use to go to the triangle building to look at the toys at the TGY store. And I remeber the city jail was in the basement of the Police Station by the drug store and movie theater. I recall the County Courthouse being up on the hill above town and the rodeo grounds being out on highway 99 where they held the Cavalcade every year. I drove up there a few years ago and they were getting ready to tear down my grandad's old house. The power station was gone as was the two story houses. The railroad bridge was gone and the tracks too! I barely recognized the place. Now it is a seedy part of town and the nice yards are replaced by trash and junk and a lot of inoperative cars. It made me sick. I guess it's true, "You can't go home". But I would like to go and detect the area as I can remember how it was and all the kids up and down the street and all the fun we had. Sigh. Monty Oh, I got carried away anf forgot to say, Really great finds!

Thanks Monty for the kind words--I love hearing about other people who have ties to Pawhuska/Oklahoma! sandcreek4

 

[Charmin]

The collection as a whole is fascinating. It provides a good snapshot of American mid-west material culture during the early 20th century.

That place was loaded with stuff.

I have not seen that trade token form before. That is a beautiful example. I am crazy for Denver trade tokens, and yours in better than most.

Thanks Plehbah! I was so surprised to find that token here and tried to locate a theatre bar here in Pawhuska--but I was way off, since it came from Denver. The token was an odd shape, too--have you seen many oval ones? I can't help but wonder how it got here. I think my favorite stuff found here are all the toys(capguns, marbles, doll parts), and it does provide a good snapshot of Mid-west culture and what the people had during the early 20th century. regards, sandcreek4

 

[funkman]

holy crud!!!

That place is SWEET!!!!

congrats on the EXCELLENT finds from an EXCELLENT site!

Funkman

 

[Charmin]

holy crud!!!

That place is SWEET!!!!

congrats on the EXCELLENT finds from an EXCELLENT site!

Funkman

Holy Crud is right! That's what I thought everytime I dug another coin or something cool! I didn't know what a V nickel was until I started dectecting this yard and after finding one became interested in coin collecting--this was a great place to start metal detecting and now I'm kinda spoiled if I don't find lots of stuff at new sites! Thanks for the words Funkman! sandcreek4

 

[indydoberman]

nice find

 

[EddieR]

Geez...you're really racking up some awesome finds there! Congrats!

 

[HolyDiver]

Amazing haul How big is the property?

 

[john37115]

Wow that's alot of stuff to come from one yard. Great finds though some of the best I've seen. I also grew up in OK I was born in McAlester and grew up in Indianola down by the South Canadian River. That is where I started detecting with my dad. Alot of great memories there. I moved from OK back in 1982

 

[Charmin]

nice find

Thanks indydoberman! sandcreek4

Geez...you're really racking up some awesome finds there! Congrats!

Thanks EddieR! sandcreek4

Amazing haul How big is the property?

The property is about the size of 2 lots and has a huge house and a small garage. thanks for the comments~~~~sandcreek4

Wow that's alot of stuff to come from one yard. Great finds though some of the best I've seen. I also grew up in OK I was born in McAlester and grew up in Indianola down by the South Canadian River. That is where I started detecting with my dad. Alot of great memories there. I moved from OK back in 1982

thanks john37115---Oklahoma is a great place to live and there is some old stuff here. I have had lots of fun digging and am still amazed that the people who used to live here could have lost so much! sandcreek4

 

[Mona Lisa]

Holy Schmoley! That is a lotta stuff from one yard. What a great place to learn detecting!

The rings...tell me about the rings. What are they made of? One looks like an engagement ring with a diamond.

 

[Charmin]

Holy Schmoley! That is a lotta stuff from one yard. What a great place to learn detecting!

The rings...tell me about the rings. What are they made of? One looks like an engagement ring with a diamond.

Mona Lisa, the rings are all dime store material except for the one with the red set--its a U.S. Air Force sterling ring. It was found out by the street, in back of the house and the red stone looks like it has been in a fire because its so pitted. The other rings(5) are brass, gold filled--a couple of these have marks( ->U<- and <N>). Thanks for the comments! regards, sandcreek4

 

[birdman]

Nice!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Urban Grund]

Thanks for sharing your story.