kalpinro
Full Member
- May 25, 2006
- 122
- 13
I have been thinking about posting this story for awhile, but I have been relunctant as I fear that people would doubt the authenticity of the story. I spoke with a few of my local MD buddies and they said, "if they don't believe it, that's their problem." So anyway here it is. I wrote a story for myself in case I would have it published at some point in time. I trimmed it up, even though it is still very long. Sorry about that. Sorry about the pictures too, they are not the best.
During the second week of July I was doing some intensive research about a large city in the Midwest that is known for its great park system. I love hunting old parks so I searched a map of the city from 1894 using the Sanborn map service. I located an old park that existed from the late 1800’s to the early 1910’s in the center of the city. It had been built over with a reservoir system that remained functional until last year. The highway system in this city is currently being done. Parts of the highway are being torn down permanently. Part of the highway was built in the 1950’s and went right past the reservoir. Then it hit me, this site potentially has is virgin ground full of goodies. I would not have imagined what I would find in a few days.
Since it was being torn down and the reservoir is no longer used, I decided to take a look around. The area looked like the size of two football fields positioned side-by side. When I arrived at the site, it was obvious that construction crew removed all of the freeway structures and took away a lot of the soil that was once placed there when the highway was built. I hoped that what remained was originally turf from the late 1800’s. I walked around and met with the foreman to see what the plans were for the area. The foreman was kind enough to let me detect. The basic rules were that I could not detect when they were working, for safety considerations, and that all time I had was a week. They were going to put gravel and fill on top of the land and reservoir for new condominiums that were going to be built later this summer.
I could hardly sleep thinking about the possibilities I have in finding really good stuff. On Saturday of the same week I went to the site and I “worked” the area for about six hours. I decided to go slow and dig targets like nickels (pull tabs) and other coins that I would normally discriminate out. When I started detecting I noticed I was the only one there and much to my amazement no else was around. Also, I did not notice any marks from other detectorists. Anyways, I started out detecting and within the first five minutes I found three Indian Head Cents, all 3-4 inches deep. Awesome, since I had only found one of those ever and that happened the week before. Then I received a weird signal and normally I would just continue on. But, I stopped and dug it out. I did not know what it was at first, but then after removing soil I was able to determine I recovered my first of two Two-Cent pieces that day. I kept working the area, digging out fair numbers of trash but my patience was rewarded later when I pulled out my first Shield Nickel, dated from 1869. Wow, I was really excited when about a minute later I hit a hole and pulled out an 1899 Barber quarter. I rescanned the hole and I found that I was still getting another signal. I bent down and located a dime-sized object that after close inspection was an 1876 Seated Dime. Another first for me! I could not believe the luck I was having! I had been there over two hours and found a ton of goodies! I still had about three hours to hunt. Over the next hour I located four more Indian Cents and nice 1900 Barber Dime. I would later find another Indian Head and only my second Liberty Nickel of all time. I also picked up some really neat finds like a small girl’s antique silver ring, a silver spoon made from the Crown Silver Company and a Mem’ry cosmetic tin from Gordon and Gordon, based out of Chicago. All of these items could be dated to the early 1900’s. About an hour left to detect I picked up my pace a bit because I knew I was running out of time. Before I knew it I had a quarter to half dollar sized target about 4 inches down when I reached down and picked up what I thought was a token of some sort. After closer examination I realized I picked up my first Large Cent! I later learned it was from 1853! I could not ask for a better day! As I was heading back to the car my day became better when my last target turned out to be a 1900 Barber Half Dollar! I really did not want to leave, but all good things come to an end. So I thought.
When I got home I got a chance to really look at my finds and was astonished to learn that I found 17 coins spanning from 1853-1907. That means this park must have been deserted for whatever reason in the early 1910’s. I was pretty excited needless to say and I could barely sleep the next several nights knowing that I one last chance at the park on Wednesday.
Since I only had about three or so hours, I decided that I was going to change my game plan. I learned from the foreman that Friday the park would be recovered with fill and granite and I would lose my chance to detect it. I decided to set my discrimination higher and move at a quicker pace. I fully realized that I would probably miss Nickels and Two Cent pieces. But, I wanted to get old silver. After all, this is an old park and since it appeared I was the only one on it, at least legally, I better go for it.
So I started on the opposite side of where I was on Saturday. I still saw the area undisturbed other than my own marks. I certainly was feeling like I was going to hit it big. I just had no idea how big! My fist target was a big one. At first, it sounded like aluminum can, or can “slaw,” as some say. I pinpointed it to be a round shape as in dollar coin sized. I reached down and dug about two inches when I looked in my hands and found an 1880 Morgan Dollar, pretty worn, but still a silver dollar! I knew it was going to be a good night. Over the next 30 minutes or so I picked up a couple of Indian Heads and another Seated Dime, this one from 1890. Then for whatever reason I must have hit an area that had nothing but trash because I found absolutely nothing the following 45 minutes. I almost panicked; because I knew that time was running out. But I just walked over to another area and started up again. Before too long, I had another large sounding target. I dug about 5 inches down and picked up what looked like a half dollar. I was not sure at first, but then I flipped it over and read the date 1854. Unbelievable, I found my first Seated Half Dollar (had arrows)! It could not have been a couple of minutes later when I picked up another half dollar, this time a 1908-O Barber. The next half hour was fast and furious as I picked up two more Indian Cents, including a nice 1881, one Barber Dime, and one Barber Quarter. I had about 30 minutes left to detect so I kept at it. After 20 minutes I hit a large target, much like the Morgan I picked up earlier. But as I traced it with my pin pointer it was clear to me it was not a round shape. It seemed like it was trash. But, I dug it anyways. I have gotten myself in the habit of doing that even though I knew I was running out of time to find things. I am glad I did. I dug the hole and located a nice 1897 Barber Dime. But, the reason I was getting that large signal is because about three inches next to the dime was last coin I would find at the site, and how fitting; a nice 1896 Morgan-O silver dollar. Unbelievable! The day’s totals included 13 coins spanning from 1854-1905.
Over a two day total I located 30 coins. One Large Cent, 12 Indian Head Cents, two Two-Cent pieces, one Shield Nickel, one Liberty Nickel, Two Seated Dimes, Three Barber Dimes, three Barber Quarters, one Seated Half Dollar, two Barber Half Dollars, and two Morgan Dollars
I went back to the park on Friday and the area was already covered with gravel and fill and I can only wonder what is still lying below the surface. I came to realize that I was most likely the only one to detect virgin park land that no longer existed in the 1910’s.
During the second week of July I was doing some intensive research about a large city in the Midwest that is known for its great park system. I love hunting old parks so I searched a map of the city from 1894 using the Sanborn map service. I located an old park that existed from the late 1800’s to the early 1910’s in the center of the city. It had been built over with a reservoir system that remained functional until last year. The highway system in this city is currently being done. Parts of the highway are being torn down permanently. Part of the highway was built in the 1950’s and went right past the reservoir. Then it hit me, this site potentially has is virgin ground full of goodies. I would not have imagined what I would find in a few days.
Since it was being torn down and the reservoir is no longer used, I decided to take a look around. The area looked like the size of two football fields positioned side-by side. When I arrived at the site, it was obvious that construction crew removed all of the freeway structures and took away a lot of the soil that was once placed there when the highway was built. I hoped that what remained was originally turf from the late 1800’s. I walked around and met with the foreman to see what the plans were for the area. The foreman was kind enough to let me detect. The basic rules were that I could not detect when they were working, for safety considerations, and that all time I had was a week. They were going to put gravel and fill on top of the land and reservoir for new condominiums that were going to be built later this summer.
I could hardly sleep thinking about the possibilities I have in finding really good stuff. On Saturday of the same week I went to the site and I “worked” the area for about six hours. I decided to go slow and dig targets like nickels (pull tabs) and other coins that I would normally discriminate out. When I started detecting I noticed I was the only one there and much to my amazement no else was around. Also, I did not notice any marks from other detectorists. Anyways, I started out detecting and within the first five minutes I found three Indian Head Cents, all 3-4 inches deep. Awesome, since I had only found one of those ever and that happened the week before. Then I received a weird signal and normally I would just continue on. But, I stopped and dug it out. I did not know what it was at first, but then after removing soil I was able to determine I recovered my first of two Two-Cent pieces that day. I kept working the area, digging out fair numbers of trash but my patience was rewarded later when I pulled out my first Shield Nickel, dated from 1869. Wow, I was really excited when about a minute later I hit a hole and pulled out an 1899 Barber quarter. I rescanned the hole and I found that I was still getting another signal. I bent down and located a dime-sized object that after close inspection was an 1876 Seated Dime. Another first for me! I could not believe the luck I was having! I had been there over two hours and found a ton of goodies! I still had about three hours to hunt. Over the next hour I located four more Indian Cents and nice 1900 Barber Dime. I would later find another Indian Head and only my second Liberty Nickel of all time. I also picked up some really neat finds like a small girl’s antique silver ring, a silver spoon made from the Crown Silver Company and a Mem’ry cosmetic tin from Gordon and Gordon, based out of Chicago. All of these items could be dated to the early 1900’s. About an hour left to detect I picked up my pace a bit because I knew I was running out of time. Before I knew it I had a quarter to half dollar sized target about 4 inches down when I reached down and picked up what I thought was a token of some sort. After closer examination I realized I picked up my first Large Cent! I later learned it was from 1853! I could not ask for a better day! As I was heading back to the car my day became better when my last target turned out to be a 1900 Barber Half Dollar! I really did not want to leave, but all good things come to an end. So I thought.
When I got home I got a chance to really look at my finds and was astonished to learn that I found 17 coins spanning from 1853-1907. That means this park must have been deserted for whatever reason in the early 1910’s. I was pretty excited needless to say and I could barely sleep the next several nights knowing that I one last chance at the park on Wednesday.
Since I only had about three or so hours, I decided that I was going to change my game plan. I learned from the foreman that Friday the park would be recovered with fill and granite and I would lose my chance to detect it. I decided to set my discrimination higher and move at a quicker pace. I fully realized that I would probably miss Nickels and Two Cent pieces. But, I wanted to get old silver. After all, this is an old park and since it appeared I was the only one on it, at least legally, I better go for it.
So I started on the opposite side of where I was on Saturday. I still saw the area undisturbed other than my own marks. I certainly was feeling like I was going to hit it big. I just had no idea how big! My fist target was a big one. At first, it sounded like aluminum can, or can “slaw,” as some say. I pinpointed it to be a round shape as in dollar coin sized. I reached down and dug about two inches when I looked in my hands and found an 1880 Morgan Dollar, pretty worn, but still a silver dollar! I knew it was going to be a good night. Over the next 30 minutes or so I picked up a couple of Indian Heads and another Seated Dime, this one from 1890. Then for whatever reason I must have hit an area that had nothing but trash because I found absolutely nothing the following 45 minutes. I almost panicked; because I knew that time was running out. But I just walked over to another area and started up again. Before too long, I had another large sounding target. I dug about 5 inches down and picked up what looked like a half dollar. I was not sure at first, but then I flipped it over and read the date 1854. Unbelievable, I found my first Seated Half Dollar (had arrows)! It could not have been a couple of minutes later when I picked up another half dollar, this time a 1908-O Barber. The next half hour was fast and furious as I picked up two more Indian Cents, including a nice 1881, one Barber Dime, and one Barber Quarter. I had about 30 minutes left to detect so I kept at it. After 20 minutes I hit a large target, much like the Morgan I picked up earlier. But as I traced it with my pin pointer it was clear to me it was not a round shape. It seemed like it was trash. But, I dug it anyways. I have gotten myself in the habit of doing that even though I knew I was running out of time to find things. I am glad I did. I dug the hole and located a nice 1897 Barber Dime. But, the reason I was getting that large signal is because about three inches next to the dime was last coin I would find at the site, and how fitting; a nice 1896 Morgan-O silver dollar. Unbelievable! The day’s totals included 13 coins spanning from 1854-1905.
Over a two day total I located 30 coins. One Large Cent, 12 Indian Head Cents, two Two-Cent pieces, one Shield Nickel, one Liberty Nickel, Two Seated Dimes, Three Barber Dimes, three Barber Quarters, one Seated Half Dollar, two Barber Half Dollars, and two Morgan Dollars
I went back to the park on Friday and the area was already covered with gravel and fill and I can only wonder what is still lying below the surface. I came to realize that I was most likely the only one to detect virgin park land that no longer existed in the 1910’s.
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I wanted to be a history teacher, but I was told there's no future in it. 
I use Sanborns and vintage topos all the time and have had some good hunts.
