New to treasure hunting

[elric1911]

Hey, i'm new to treasure hunting, i have a metal detector that's been sitting in my closet for a while and decided it's time to use it.

i want to take my kid out in a week or two but have no clue where to start. Could anyone point me to an area that would a decent place for a novice to schlub around for a bit? I live in the portland area.

[slow sweeper]

This would not be a bad place to start. Good luck and happy hunting.

http://otts.org/

[tinkb]

Welcome Elric, try any of the parks around the walkways and the tot lots. The tot lots seemed to get hit pretty good in most of our parks. I usually end up hunting on the outskirts of them. Around any of the ball feilds and basketballs courts will try up some clad for the kids to take home also. What type of machine you using?

[elric1911]

i have a white's eagle spectrum, i played with it for a while about a decade ago when i lived in hawaii but life got in the way of my adventures.

[Sixxgun]

Also check local laws there might be something there that might say you can't did or use a detector. Also if detecting in state parks you have to get a premit (free)

[elric1911]

I went to Seaside and walked around on the beach for a bit... i collected 37 rusty nails, 126 bottle caps, 14 tin cans and several bemused looks. I've decided that Seaside is not the beach to go hunting on.

[slow sweeper]

Don't get discouraged. Everyone digs their share of trash. And you're doing your part to help the environment.
The more you work at it the better you'll get at determining what's trash and what's treasure.

[Cynangyl]

Welcome! I see you have already found some very helpful folks with your question. Looking forward to seeing posts of you and the kid's finds! Keep at it til you find good stuff...never give up...you can always come here to tnet for encouragement after an especially Junquey day!

[Jeffro]

Hey there Elric- check out reply #42 in the "Too many leads" thread. Also, check out "Willamette river landings in Marion county". A little bit of a drive, maybe worthwhile?

Here's a few more, there may be duplicates.


#186- is an archeaological site, from 680 AD to late 1700's possibly early 1800's.

#85- Warrior rock. Conoe burial site, rock ledge against which Sauvie's island was formed.

#86- Clackstar- large village, up to 1200 inhabitants.

#87- Prehistoric village

#11, 12 and 13 are fossil sites. Mostly gastropods, fossil shells, and pelecypods (sp?)

All of the purple circles are villages, I won't detail them all. Not much for notes on any of them.

#1 (brown circle) is Corbelt or Corbelle warm springs. May be private land. NE 1/4 Sec.27 T 1N, R 4E Used by early travelers to the region.

#30- Portage for immigrants. Cascade locks to Bonneville dam.

#21 (the star) is an old fort. I have no notes on it, but its probably well known being so close to Sauvies island.

Then there are a couple treasure stories related to Portland. One is a cache, hidden near the old pike road. Its called the Sims or Simes treasure. there is also a cache of buried gems from a jewelry store robbery just south of Portland, but details are sketchy. There is the Flavel house cache, and the Coxcomb Hill cache in Astoria. All are outlined in Ruby El Hult's book, Treasure hunting Northwest. Another good one by her is Lost mines and treasures of the Pacific Northwest.

Unlike most other "Lost Treasure" books, Ruby was quite a researcher and she lists her sources and details extensively.

[elric1911]

went to sauvies this weekend, in addition to about 5 pounds of other people's trash i scored $.36!! the dime was from 1966 so maybe it's worth $.11!

[Jeffro]

Only time I was at Sauvies it was for a competition hunt in a farmers field. There was a gold coin found that was not planted! Not by me, unfortunately....

[Cynangyl]

We found a handful of wheaties this weekend and an 1890 Indian Head penny in a storage unit we bought at auction, does that count?? lol

[imafishingnutt]

WOW all the research.
the only places i know are around lincoln city but are all like 1850 on up.
i have dozens of photos so id know where to hunt.
im going out in the next couple days just had surgery so im off work for a couple weeks or so
iu work for the city of lincoln city parks and rec...guess i get to hunt parks LOL
Rick

[mil-hunter]

Here's a site that I stumbled on for old pics of Oregon. I haven't checked out any of these locations yet, but even if the pics aren't helpful the pics and history are still cool.

http://photos.salemhistory.org/

[Tom_in_CA]

Jeffro, you must know Chris Banniston, who was formerly president of the Portland club, right? He lives down here in CA now, and we've started hunting together. Has anyone from the lower Columbia River area ever hunted at the north end of the Astoria Bridge? There was a thriving indian village there that continued in existence into the European contact times. From the 1790s to the 1820s, the indians there canoed out & traded with ships that stopped for otter pelts, etc... Certainly the indians therefore got ahold of metals, buttons, coins, etc... in this trading.

Looking at satellite photos, seems that the land, aside from the road going through, and bridge abuttment, is still pretty much undisturbed. Not sure exactly where, on that promitory, the indian village was.

Later, a permanent trading post was built on Sauvies island (late 1820s?) and the indian trading village at the north end of the Astoria bridge fizzled.

[Jeffro]

Sounds like a great lead for someone up there in the Portland area, thanks Tom! As for Chris, I don't believe we've met, unless it was possibly at a trade show or something.