9 Indians and a Barber from the barrio park.

[staydetuned]

Hi everyone… Finally found some time to post a great hunt from last week. This is from the park where Dan (CAPTN_SE) just found a couple Barbers and an Indian Head; this is from a week earlier…

This is the inspiration we had going into the hunt last week…



The only problem was, this was a particularly frightening inner city LA park. We’d heard about it for a long time – that this seated half came out of here, as well as two gold coins and a good number of Barbers and Indian Heads. But we’d heard other stories – that it was filled with gangs, that one detectorist had been threatened with a beating if he didn’t give a ride to a local crackhead, and that the draining of the park lake had revealed hundreds of handguns that had been ditched after crimes. In fact, one detectorist that joined us this day told us about how he’d been surrounded by 5 gangbanger types. He froze, not knowing what to do, until out of nowhere an older man in a cowboy hat stepped between them until the youths backed off one by one. He didn’t go back.

So you can imagine our paranoia and tension in finally deciding to hit this place. The plan was to arrive at sunrise, hunt for a couple hours close to our cars, and then get out of there alive. I even decided to swap out my usual hunting shoes – red Converse – for a pair with a bit loss color, and my dad brought some extra protection as well.

Early morning arrival, scoping out the park.



We began by our cars but it soon became apparent that it wasn’t going to be overly dangerous; what people there were in the park were everyday joggers, women, and older folk; no gangsters or gunshots to be heard. After an hour or so we’d calmed down enough to concentrate on the signals. The only problem now was that the ground was a literal blanket of shallow clad and trash; the decades of blight had, apparently, scared away other detectorists as well. There was a lot of clean up to do.

oknorom at work.



Eventually my dad, Mike (oknorom), and myself made our way to a less trashy area where 20s to 40s wheats were coming up regularly. It was a relief after digging a good amount of deep clad earlier.

Some kids were getting arrested when we arrived on the scene… Hmm…



Here’s Yours Truly with what I consider one of my best finds of the day. For some reason I found myself swinging extra slow (thinking about something or other) and barely caught a ridiculously light whisper. It was solid from most directions, but just so faint that I laughed out loud that I’d even caught it. I called oknorom over to hear it but he couldn’t get a good lock. I thought it had a faint sense of iron, and opening up to all-metal I caught some iron a few inches from the target, which I dug out at six inches. When I rescanned the target was still there, still soft and deep. I showed Mike again, but he still wasn’t sure. Mike’s a great hunter, so I was beginning to doubt it myself, but I already knew I was going to dig. Finally, at 8.5” (almost to the end of the probe) I heard that great silver tone and pulled out a gashed (oops!) 1916 Merc. Ahhhhh nooo! But fortunately when I turned it over it was an S : )



A couple minutes later my dad called me over to get some pictures of this signal…



Digging the plug…



Meanwhile, oknorom brings over his latest (of many) silver…



What’s that in the hole?



Looks like a rim!



Nice!



It was a good call after all, and we got it all on film… : )



Part II to follow momentarily...

 

[staydetuned]

The boys were getting eager to move out of a potentially hazardous park and on to greener pastures. We were leaving the park, saying goodbyes, but then my dad and I decided to stick around for just a little bit longer and hunt by where we’d reparked the cars. And it’s a good thing we did. My first deep signal among the trash turned out to be a teens wheat. And the next would keep us there for the rest of the day. At about 6 inches:



This area was looking promising. It was a bit difficult at first, as there were a lot of low conductors, pull tabs, bottle caps, and shallow clad. I began to dig any hint of high conductor at a decent depth (4 inches or more), even if it was mixed with other signals, and it started to pay off as the machine was working well at separating the targets. A few feet from the Barber I got my first Indian Head of the day, a 1904. After getting a few more teens wheats in a row, a couple at only 3-4 inches, we decided to hit the passing fruit cart and enjoy a lunch of mango, pineapple, and watermelon with the locals. It was an amazingly delicious break on this hot summery day.



Here’s the dirt from this place – dark, crumbly clay that was kind to the silver. This kind of dirt usually bodes well for oldies, it seems… It, along with the coins, reminded me vividly of Iowa.



After our break I got a really strong zincy signal that read about halfway down the depth meter (6 inches); it was, in this spot, an unmistakable Indian Head tone, just a bit loud. I dug down about 6” and waved a handful of dirt over the coil. When I saw the coin, I was happy – an 1865 Indian, my oldest.



But I was even happier when, after covering the hole, I reswept and found there was still a strong signal. If there was an 1865, what would this be? I uncovered the hole and probed, and then retrieved not one but two more Indian Heads. They were later dates, but hell, with the rarity of Indian Heads around here, let alone in a pocket spill, I’ll certainly take them.



And just when I thought that was it, there was one more an inch to the side. Someone let these roll out of their pocket a long time ago…



Now it was just getting ridiculous as I was calling out Indian Head after Indian Head to my dad who was digging a handful of teens wheats just 20 feet away, both of us laughing every time. Soon he called me over to get a shot of a larger silver rim he’d just uncovered…



Man, the silver comes out of here pretty. MUCH better than most of our other southern California parks.



Later in the day I got a nice deep signal and thought I’d get a pic for posterity…



And it turned out to be pretty accurate… From about 7 inches:



So it turned out we kept at it the entire day. The original paranoia of the gang-infested park turned out to be only that as it was not only an uneventful day but one that was exceptionally beautiful. I met and talked to about 10 different, very nice and enthusiastic people who were curious as to what we were finding. I got to practice my Spanish and I took some pictures for a couple during the sunset who even offered me money (which I declined.) Some of the “regulars” even pointed out where older structures used to be, and suggested we look in the rec. center for some old photographs that might help. Altogether it was a great experience, both for the discovery that our expectations were far from the reality and in the coins by which we were rewarded for braving this “bad park”.



(That said, this place DID have some major problems throughout the 80s and 90s and probably really earned the reputation it had. I believe it was only through recent increase of law enforcement and gang crackdowns that the park has regained its image and safety.)

And if the gangsters do want to come back, they’ll have to take on these two badass dudes. Oknorom and CAPTN_SE, lookin’ tough.



Thanks for reading this LOOONG story, and sorry for using a lot of bandwidth... just seeing if this kind of post will work out here. Cheers!

Jayson

 

[UnEarthed72]

very nice finds 9 IH huh thats awesome

 

[ivy_walls]

Wow dude .... those are some GREAT finds and some GREAT pictures !! Way to go !!!!

By the way I am thinking of upgrading from my Ace 250 to a Minelab SE ...... What do you think of yours ? It seems to do a GREAT job !!!

Mark

 

[staydetuned]

Hey Mark, thanks for the comments... I've never used the 250, so I can't compare the two, but I've really come to love my Explorer II (or 11 as some people call it ). The SE in the pictures is my dad's, and from using it very briefly it seems to process signals faster, as well as have VCO pinpointing (but I don't pinpoint.) Also many SE users tend to prefer the Explorer II stock coil as the SE stock coil appears to be a bit noisy.

A lot of the southern California hunters that I detect with have come to use Explorers as they seem to excel in our mineralized, salty soil conditions. But ultimately it depends on your location, type of hunting you prefer, and local ground conditions. I would recommend the Explorer as an upgrade, though I certainly haven't tried out the entire range of brands that are out there.

 

[cheese]

Great post! I need to start taking my camera with me on hunts! Only problem is that most of my hunts are at night, and in areas where I don't want to advertise my presence with a camera flash. (bad parts of town or parks with occasional vagrants).

 

[Captn SE]

Jay, this is a great post. Lots of action pics, great finds, and well written......magazine material if you know what I mean.

I wish I would have detected that park a week earlier with you guys, but the reputation of that park kept me away until you told me your experience there was far from your initial expectations.

My buddy, Leo, called me today. He wants to film an episode of his detecting show at that park on Monday. If you can make it, come on out. I told him that he was a week or two too late...I guess he wants a chance to detect the park too.

One more week to go until "the Trip".....can't wait!!!

HH,
CAPTN SE
Dan

 

[Ratman]

Hey Jayson we had a fun time that day and you cleaned up on the oldies . Congrats on the finds and hope to see you guys on monday for the video shoot .

 

[Southern_Boy]

Very good story and some great pictures with the story. I really enjoyed how everything flowed! I was having flash backs to when I was in English...really cool finds and you are obviously very proud of them.

 

[SilverFox167]

Dang good finds!!!
Man you slaughtered those Indians.
Wow that was some coin spill hope to do as good as that some day with a Gold Coin Spill.
Great post, nice pics and it looks like you guys had a lot of fun.
HH

 

[dave-enc]

great story pictures and finds, thanks for sharing
hh
dave+bobbie

 

[low xtreme]

great post! you guys did good. the guy on the right in the last picture looks like adam sandler, just thought i'd share.

 

[Don In South Jersey]

Love the pics with all the finds, felt like I was there watching the whole time...

 

[Giant056]

Fantastic finds !!!!!!!!! a lot of the places I metal detect in city's are good for morning hunts only cause in the evening there's liable to be gunplay. In Michigan you can get a concealed weapons permit as long as you haven't committed any bad crimes yourself and I've been seriously pondering on it.

 

[Ridley]

Thanks for the excellent post, Jayson.

That was a great idea to hunt in a group. It's too bad about the gangs, but in a way they may have helped you guys out by preserving the finds in that park over the years.

It's the same as a property owner denying permission. They're saving the spot for some future detectorist. Property is changing hands so fast around my town, I can pretty much wait and ask the next owner for permission after the first one sells and moves away.

The photos are so pretty. The place looks like heaven. Congratulations on a wonderful hunt and all those great old coins!



Ridley

 

[JJS NEW ENGLAND]

GREAT FINDS. LOOKS LIKE YOU YOU WILL HIT THAT PARK AGAIN IN THE FUTURE.CONGRATS

 

[oknorom]

CAPTN_SE looks like adam sandler! that's funny. i love your movies CAPTN.

Jay, great post, as always. i believe there is plenty more in that park. there are a few more barrio parks around there that we need to check out. maybe next time we'll do half day there, then spend the other half at another one. i say we should spend the early hours at one of the other parks until we get a feel for it.

see you next time bud.

 

[j.d. in the usa]

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!!!!!!!! wtg

 

[John (Ma)]

Cool finds and awsome pictures! Looks like it was alot of fun.

 

[Colonial KirkPA]

Jayson,

Yo, buddy, I loved the thread! Your pictures were kicka$$ and definitely brought an already great post to the superb level. You guys have a great park there! It does suck that the gangsta jerks have to deal their business there.

Great job on all the wilver and the Injuns! Check my top 25 tomarraw, you may just be on it.

Kirk

P.S. Just think, if KirkPA was with you dudes, we could have put on some Cowboy gear and brought back the "Wild West" attitude. A bunch of datecting gunslingas would be on a quest to clean up the town.