old florida railroad track??

[malady]

I just got a MD, found a site that had florida ghost towns, one was near me so took a drive. Found the area of the ghost town but stumbled up a side road that led to the woods. there was some fishing and frogging signs up and it was some kind of wildlife park of somekind. I spotted some tents and old campers trailers, looks like no one has been in them for years, kept driving a little further. Looked like a rangers shack. no one there. the rickety road went further into the woods but parked, took out my gear and saw some trails. the trail i took was like on a hill with gulleys on either side. my md was picking up something and pulled out a railroad spike. found several along the path. ventured down in the gulley and md picked up a rectangle shaped peice of metal. havent cleaned it yet to see what it is. all of this area is very heavily wooded. I am assuming the so called trail is an old railroad track. the gulleys was maybe once water the way it looked and saw a huge clam laying among the fallen branches and brush. also ran into a family of boars. mom, papa and quite a few babies. pretty scary place to me especially the spiders hanging in the trees. I would like to go back there, but would like to know about that roalroad line more. who built it, when was it in use. I am hoping maybe to find so old coins from the crew that built it and what i read there should be old campsites from the workers but dont know enough about this to know what to look for. also found some huge bolt along with the big metal thing and a peice of metal with an eye. anybody live near here that can go with me next time? its located near the van fleet trail in polk city, florida.
thanks,
malady ps, also been trying to research old maps of that area or railroads that used to go through there but havent found them yet.

 

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[warsawdaddy]

Try this site;

http://www.abandonedrailroads.com/

 

[ivan salis]

you may have found one of the old logging train tracks---narrow guage trains--the "ranger office" might have been a old CCC camp during the depression era --the CCC set up camps tp plant trees in florida to reforest areas that had been stripped of trees---if the "rail spike" you found was on the small side --you might have found just such a spot --the camps were set up close by the tracks for ease of movement--the camp buildings were often left intact when they left---in case they should return for some reason---Ivan

 

[malady]

thanks warsawdaddy,
Its interesting. The so called track i was walking on didnt seem to be wide enough for a train to run on it though. really wierd that all those spikes were there though and also saw some old wooden planks laying off in the gulleys. I didnt take a closer look at them though. I will do that the next time I go out there. I didnt go very far because it was getting late when we arrived. will go early next time. all i could think about was snakes, bears and rabid animals. ha. creapy. hope to go with more people next time then i would be less intimidated.
malady

 

[ivan salis]

the planks are the old rail road ties---when they pulled out the old tracks the rail ties were chucked into the ditches and may still have some spikes in some of them- the reason the track area seems small is simple ---it was a narrow gauge train or a logging train--trains in the old days were not nearly as big or powerful as modern ones---many logging companies had small private trains that hauled their lumber to saw mills for processing and such----the train tracks were on higher land or the land was built up higher that the surrounding area to keep the tracks from being flooded out in case of heavy rain---thats why the ditches are there to drain off the water---I hope this info helps you some---Ivan

 

[grinin]

I also just got a metal detector and live in Wesley Chapel.
I'd be interested in joining up with you next time. Just drop me a PM.

 

[grinin]

Ivan
btw, I grew up in Jax and did a lot of work in Callahan (actually all over NE Florida). I always wondered what it would be like to detect around Olustee. Are there many Civil war era or older sites that you can swing a detector up there?

 

[ivan salis]

very few areas around olustee to hunt--- the main battlefeild area is off limits as is the national forest osceola (all fed land is no MDing sadly)----however there is a few spots that are outside of the main battlefeild and national forest areas --just on the outside of the battlefeild across the road from the modern day enterance to the battlefield "park"--was where the end of the of the confederate forces was (the flank) there are items to be found along where the road edge right of way is ---also the confederate forces were camped back toward lake city a bit---the camp (finegan) was very close to the tracks ---and about 5,000 confederate troops (more or less) were there at the time of the battle--you might be able to get permission from some if you ask the locals "nicely" who knows you might get lucky--gals seen to be able to sweet talk folks better than most guys can---Ivan

 

[ivan salis]

oddly most folks don't know that on a % odds of getting killed or wounded that olustee was the 3rd worst battle of the civil war---it had a very high rate of loss and was quite a bloody and rather nasty battle---the sides were fairly matched numbers wise (about 5,000 each) but as the "trained" northern troops were ripped up badly --- the less trained black "union troops were brought in to cover their retreat ---many of these rather "green" black troops while very brave were poorly trained and had massive losses--they bravely drug a shot up train that had lost it steam all the way back to baldwin it was loaded with fellow wounded black troops that feared being killed if they were to be captured by the confederate forces--- the site "outside" on the other side of the road is where the confederate forces thatt "mauled" these troops was located at and were they were firing from---so I would expect to find lots of "stuff" there---Ivan

 

[malady]

thanks for the all the info and nice course on history. I never knew there was so much not that far away. I beleive it was some kind of state or county park of some sort. NO one was there though. The gate was unlocked and a sign saying it closed at 9pm. had rules about trash and does and donts but nothing about MDing that I saw. Just said dont destroy archaeological sites. Im not destroying anything. I kind of like preserving them if i found something. And if I found anything significant, I would share with the whole world. Maybe that would help them to bring more people there since it was deserted it seems. I didnt venture too far so who knows whats out there. But not to wise to go alone considering the widelife. I was lucky the boars just stood there and looked at me as I walked back to my truck. The babies were kind of cute though. If anyone wants to know where its at, its pretty easy to get to, just long country roads to get there. A nice drive.
malady

 

[grinin]

Well, if it was the vanfleet trail then the following applies:
"no person shall destroy, injure, deface, mar, move, dig, harmfully disturb or remove from any lands under the management of the Office, or facilities any archaeological or historical resources, equipment, soil, sand, gravel, rocks, stones, minerals, plants or animals, or other materials"

There is also another section basically saying no digging in grass.

This is basically the same verbiage as all the state parks (except the beaches) and many of the municipal parks I have checked out recently. I was actually very surprised and never even thought about it until I visited a dealer and told him I took my MD to one of the county parks the first day I got it and he asked if the cops threw me out!

"The Gen. James A. Van Fleet State Trail is officially designated as part of Florida’s Statewide System of Greenways and Trails. This rail-trail is one of Florida’s most rural" from http://www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/guide/regions/eastcentral/trails/general_james.htm

 

[ivan salis]

its a park area near the van fleet trail she noted this in her first post --not the van fleet trail its self--she didn't name which park it was however---find the name find out what it is

 

[grinin]

It definitely didn't sound like the maintained trail from the first post but later it sounded like it could be state park, in which case it's just not worth it. It is very disappointing to find out that so many places are considered off limits. I never even considered it until the dealer told me that the local playgrounds were closed to MD and the police were often called.

Can you believe that you can't even pick up fossils laying on the ground in lots of places in Florida. That is just crazy, when I was a kid we found tons of that stuff and not just sharks teeth on the beach!

The thing malady has going for her here, is that if it is a county or city park, there is hope since the area is far more rural than over here by tampa. Just have to find out.

 

[ivan salis]

state parks thatr have beaches normally can be detected from water line to dune foot---the inland ones with the park managers ok ---can't really see them saying no and stopping you unless theres indain mounds or battle ground area in the area----Ivan

 

[malady]

I will have to go out there and look again. There was no one there. It was near the van fleet trail but was not the trail. I got there by going North on 27, if your coming from where I-4 is, then i turned left on Deen steel rd, follow a ways down until you get to 33, turn right, go a few miles, then turn left on green pond rd.( green pond was the ghost town i was searching for in the first place, town that was there in the 1800's, if you look up ghost towns of florida you will see the story of all the towns that dissapeared and why.) follow green ponds road for a bit and i found the park or whatever it is on the right. wouldnt think it was much of a park from what i saw. i didnt drive further back into it though. looked pretty desolate dirt road leading back deeper into the woods was pretty bumby. Thats all I know about it for now.
malady

 

[godisnum1]

Where's Polk City? Is that north Florida? I've heard of Polk County, but not Polk City? I'd love to go along and explore around that area with ya'... but I'm in Central West Coast of Florida (Saint Petersburg area), so I'm not sure how far that is from here. Anyway, let me know...

Bran <><

 

[malady]

it is north polk county, not that far from I-4 really. north of it. it is central florida, pretty much in the middle, west of disney. north of haines city and davenport. look on mapquest or google earth.
I need to check out first to make sure MD ing is permitted. wouldnt want you to drive all the way out here and then someone says we cant. maybe I just got lucky because no one was there. it was a sunday so seems like somebody would be there. but you can take the trip if you would like. I think i would want to be searching the beachers of st. petersburg if i was you. your right there. thats awesome.
malady

 

[godisnum1]

Oh, ok... so you're not all that far off. If anything, I could always "explore" ('cause that's another thing I like to do to unwind) and take pictures of the area with my Digital SLR camera.

I'd DEFINITELY be out on the beaches, but I only have an Ace 150 (which I've heard is bad on the sand, especially the wet sand and the water) and I don't have one of those beach scoops that I see other people using. My detector was actually a gift from a couple of awesome guys off of this forum because I haven't had the money to buy one, since I'm still in college. Maybe if my schedule is clear sometime, I can come over there....

Bran <><

 

[ivan salis]

easy --$7 beach scoop---buy a heavy duty plastic feed scoop ($5) at a feed store for horses or big animals then get a wood type bit drill bit ( a couple bucks) to drill holes in it (for drainage) --use one smaller in dia. than a penny requires bending over but it works as good as the $20 dollor ones ---same thing with their label on it---- p.s, you can check the dry sand where people sunbath at the beach and lose stuff at the beach---the main thing is unless your machine is "adjustible "---the minerals in saltwater in the wet sand and surf areas tends to make them go "beep --beep--beep" all the time---believe it or not the simple bounty hunter tracker IV can be by adjusting to work on the beach in most cases---turn the the sen way down and the disc way up to work on a beach so it isn't as sensitive--- thus stablizing it so it will work---it may not work not as deep of course as the big high dollar jobs but it can be used----Ivan

 

[godisnum1]

Thanks for the ideas Ivan!

Bran <><