If I owned a metal detector, I would definitely try to go here.

[RookieDad]

Drought-dry Lake Mead recedes to unveil long-submerged Wild West town - SFGate


Don't know if it's legal or not to detect there, but it would be awesome to try.

 

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[AugustMoose87]

Definitely. I wish I would have been in to detecting a few years ago to take advantage of the low lakes around here

 

[Tom_in_CA]

National park service administers that lake . But I've heard of guys who plied the swim beaches . whether or not they got any flack , I dunno .

 

[Chris R]

Those towns were designated an archeological resource and are off limits to detecting. Already researched them.

 

[cudamark]

That's what I hear too.

 

[kingskid1611]

What if I am hard of hearing, do you think I could get away with it?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

What if I am hard of hearing, do you think I could get away with it?

Only till they saw you...

 

[cudamark]

You'd think they would be happy with us taking all that "heavy metal" out of our drinking water, now wouldn't you?

 

[AugustMoose87]

You'd think, huh Cuda? Plus I'd think if someone dove on it when the water was high, they'd have no way of knowing if you were detecting. But I suppose that assumes you are allowed to dive

 

[Tom_in_CA]

There's probably scores of places, that if you asked enough questions, of enough bored pencil pusher archies, using key words like "artifact", 'take" and "indian bone", that ..... yes: You'd be told "no". Then we md'rs spread the word around through our writings, posts, etc... that "such & such place is off-limits". Perhaps by specifics. Or perhaps only by ancillary wording regarding "cultural heritage" or "take & remove", etc.....

But sometimes I hear of someone who's gone to such places who simply didn't know any better. NOT TALKING ABOUT HISTORIC SENSITIVE MONUMENTS, but just regular routine beaches (that .... gasp .... are federal?). And lo & behold, they hunted for months or years, and no one ever said so much as "boo" to them. Yup, right in front of rangers, etc..... who never gave them anything but a friendly wave. Imagine their surprise when someone in the md'ing community said "I thought that was off-limits" ? At first they assume the person telling that must be mistaken. Because *certainly* if that were true, then someone would have said something by now, eh ?

 

[olprofessor]

It's my understanding from a veteran MDer that drained lakes and such might be great places to detect, but that due to the residual moisture in the ground, anything desirable is probably 10 feet down. Makes sense to me. Of course the shoreline is another matter..

 

[Tom_in_CA]

....., but that due to the residual moisture in the ground, anything desirable is probably 10 feet down.....

Depends on where on the lake bottom you are. If you're closer to the spillway depths, then yes, they'd be subject to silt. Because think of it: All the years of creek/river water flowing IN TO the reservoir, all bring their grit, silt, etc.... And the dam stops that from proceeding further. That's why, over the years, reservoirs loose depth afterall, is that they're acting as a "stop" to the normal path of silts, sand, grit, dirt, etc..... that comes in with the seasonal waters.

HOWEVER, it's not true of the entire lake/reservoir bottom. I don't know why, but it seems that if there's any sort of a slope to the grade, then said-silts seem to "keep going" till they reach the lower spots. At least from what I've seen in the lowered reservoirs I've hunted during the drought here in CA. The sedimentation is not "uniform" across the entire bottom, for some reason. We found some 1800's coins, and could actually see that the perpetual coverage in water (up till a year or two ago) , had actually served to pull soil OFF some areas. But when we ventured further out into the flats (the slightly deeper portions of hte lake), then yes: We were walking on dried mud. And then even aluminum was deep. Doh!

 

[basque-man]

Figures; another no by the feds!!! Uhhhg!!!!!!

 

[sandchip]

If the Corps of Engineers tends to the impoundment, they've been known to video arrowhead hunters from over a mile away, then make a case against them. Not for digging, just surface hunting. Good ol' gubment.