150 year old home site and a big NO!

Dasseldig

Jr. Member
Oct 26, 2012
80
36
Dassel, MN
Detector(s) used
Ace 350
Pro Pointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
It's kind of a long story with a big let down.
A buddy of mine has a house on 80 acres and his next door neighbor was an old grumpy retired gravel company owner. He owned 300+ acres that butted up to my buddies 80. Seemed like the only people he got along with were my buddy and I, (because we brought him his favorite Brandy monthly) and probably whoever sat at the bar with him daily. He lived on the home site that he grew up on, and he was definitely a collector of "things". He would tell us stories upon stories of his life, hunting, fishing, military, gravel mining, etc.. The most interesting to me now is the one about how he never trusted banks, and would rather bury his money. He always had thousands of dollars just laying around the house, along with guns and lots of junk. He was a bachelor for many years, and it showed in his house as you could imagine. He had one daughter who lived out of state somewhere, and he didn't get along with the man she married so they didn't see each other often.
He died about 8 years ago, and his daughter let some notorious scrapper thieve locals come in and pillage the place. He had lots of old mining equipment like, dump trucks, dozers and such, and more scrap metal than you could imagine. I know a relative of one of the guys, and he was told that they found a lot of cash stashed in the house. It still makes me a little pissed to know that this is how it all went down.
The land was sold to a road building company in Minnesota who kept mining out gravel from the pit and also I thought the site where the house and out buildings were.
To my surprise on Google earth the other day I noticed some buildings still standing on the home site. So I drove out there the other day and went for a little walk. It has all been abandoned of a few years now, but to my surprise they did not touch any of the home site. The house had been burnt down, but a few of the sheds were still up, and it was all virgin ground around the whole site. HOLY CRAP! 150+ year old site, rock foundation everything, with virgin grass yard, Jackpot.
I went home and did some research on who to contact about MDing out there after an Email, and a call, I got a heartbreaking NO! This one stings. I got the Big company spiel about liability and such. :evil5: Damn.
 

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AU Seeker

Bronze Member
Oct 14, 2007
1,332
992
South Carolina
Detector(s) used
E-Track, MXT, CZ6A
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Go in at night, Black ops style, Night vision and all

I wouldn't recommend this as it would put all metal detectorist in a bad light, I would try again to contact the owners and see if you signed a liability waiver releasing them from any responsibility if you were to get injured while on their property would make a difference.

I and other have used such waivers with hesitant owners with success to gain access to private property.
 

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OP
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Dasseldig

Jr. Member
Oct 26, 2012
80
36
Dassel, MN
Detector(s) used
Ace 350
Pro Pointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I will give this a shot for sure, it is to good to give up after one try.
 

Fixitdave

Full Member
May 11, 2012
219
183
I have found if possible need to meet with owner in person some people have a harder time saying no
 

scotty544

Hero Member
Mar 11, 2013
622
203
Arkansas
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX 3030 XP Deus Whites V3i
Tesoro Silver Saber
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Keep after them.
 

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