Detecting Henry Fords farm

Xraywolf

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Feb 28, 2005
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Believe it or not, still largely intact.
This place is huge [by city boy standards I guess] ... Big as it is, used to be alot bigger, they have been steadily developing the grounds over the last couple decades, probably ate up about half of it.
He was actually born and raised right across the street in 1863, that area was turned into seniors condos years ago. A historical marker marks the site, and the cabin that he grew up in was moved to Greenfield Village decades ago, obviously anything interesting in the ground there is forever unrecoverable.

Across the street is the family farm, still an open field. I grew up in Detroit but we used to go by there now and then, I remember it because farms are very uncommon in the Detroit metro area. Used to grow corn as I remember, don't think anything is grown there anymore.
Living within a 20 minutes drive of it you would think that I would have detected it before, and I did - Twice. Both times the ground was hard as a brick and I gave up pretty quick. Not sure why because its been very hot and sunny, not much rain, but the feild is digging like a dream now, I was digging 6" plugs in seconds. There is alot of foliage there, not quite crab grass but something like it and taller ,,, But this brushes to the side easily, so I was able to swing the coil nearly on the ground most of the time.
There are a few thickets there, was thinking about venturing in, knowing this ground had been undisturbed in decades ,,, But it actually looked pretty foreboding with night coming on, and I figured for sure I would stir up every biting bug within a mile, plus the swinging would be limited, so I passed.

Managed to find a silver dime and a toasted wheat, a couple bullets and what looks to be a piece from a gun, possibly toy gun hard to tell.
Wasn't at it long, less than an hour. You could swing 8 hrs a day 7 days a week for the whole summer and not detect 1/3rd of this place, since the digging is easy I will be going back. Very clean too, I ran on full sensitivity and got very few signals. Thought I'd get chewed up by bugs but didn't get bit once, wish me luck.
Penny and dime were probably about 5" and rang up loud and clear, if there are any halfs or dollars out there they should ring like a bell.

Obviously, the odds of finding anything actually connected to young Ford are almost non existent, but its fun thinking its possible.
 

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Last edited:
Upvote 22

Obsessive

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Apr 16, 2017
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Sounds like a great place. And just knowing it has some historical roots makes it even more enticing!
 

Trezurehunter

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Those are the kind of places worth checking out. You just never know what you may find. Always that chance to pull a find out of the ground that has his initials on it.
 

SD51

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Glad you can detect there and good luck!
 

dirtlooter

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time will tell on the finds but you never know, hope you find something
 

Oct 5, 2014
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Good Luck on the Ford hunts! :icon_thumleft:
 

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Xraywolf

Xraywolf

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Initials would be staggering.
Probably not very likely people of that day had many personalized metal items ,,, Hell, I don't myself. Best I can hope for realistically is find some 1870/1890 coinage [always nice in any case], odds are it would have been dropped by Henry, a family member or associate.
Here is a passage from wikipedia, looks like finding an old pocket watch is a possibility too.

I revise my estimate that about half of the old farm has been eaten up by development, probably more like 3/4.
Amazed so much of it has gone undeveloped this long in this highly urbanized area - Its possible Ford wrote an edict that this parcel shall always remain undeveloped, he has done just that with other Ford owned parcels in Dearborn, including the massive nature preserve behind his mansion a few miles away and fields surrounding Ford world headquarters, also right in the vicinity.


[h=2]Early life[/h] Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863, on a farm in Greenfield Township, Michigan.[SUP][2][/SUP] His father, William Ford (1826–1905), was born in County Cork, Ireland, to a family that was originally from Somerset, England,[SUP][3][/SUP] His mother, Mary Ford (née Litogot; 1839–1876), was born in Michigan as the youngest child of Belgian immigrants; her parents died when she was a child and she was adopted by neighbors, the O'Herns. Henry Ford's siblings were Margaret Ford (1867–1938); Jane Ford (c. 1868–1945); William Ford (1871–1917) and Robert Ford (1873–1934).
His father gave him a pocket watch in his early teens. At 15, Ford dismantled and reassembled the timepieces of friends and neighbors dozens of times, gaining the reputation of a watch repairman.[SUP][4][/SUP] At twenty, Ford walked four miles to their Episcopal church every Sunday.[SUP][5][/SUP]
Ford was devastated when his mother died in 1876. His father expected him to eventually take over the family farm, but he despised farm work. He later wrote, "I never had any particular love for the farm—it was the mother on the farm I loved."[SUP][6][/SUP]
In 1879, Ford left home to work as an apprentice machinist in Detroit, first with James F. Flower & Bros., and later with the Detroit Dry Dock Co. In 1882, he returned to Dearborn to work on the family farm, where he became adept at operating the Westinghouse portable steam engine. He was later hired by Westinghouse to service their steam engines. During this period Ford also studied bookkeeping at Goldsmith, Bryant & Stratton Business College in Detroit.[SUP][7][/SUP]
 

Javadroid

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That's a terrific site! I wish you well in your hunt there -- keep us posted please! :icon_thumright:
 

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Xraywolf

Xraywolf

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Feb 28, 2005
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Went back for about an hour today, didn't find anything special.
Still impressed by the clean soil, I thought there might be can slaw galore, so far have only found 3 bottle caps and 2 globs of slaw.
Mosquitoes were biting tonight, word must have gotten out that there is fresh meat in the field.

Quite a few digs I gave up on, problem with me is I am a coin shooter, when I get to the point where I know its not a coin I give up, fill the hole and move on.
In this fashion I could be passing a relic gun or jar full of coins for that matter ,,, But I am after small metal objects, this field is probably better suited for a relic hunter.
 

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