Abandoned Homesteads in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma

[Old Radio Tech]

The area of SE Colorado, Western Kansas, and Northern Oklahoma was homesteaded in the 1850's. I'm not sure how far the homesteaded area extends. Each homesteader was given a 1/4 section or 4 homesteads per square mile. Most of these were abandoned and bought up by the big ranchers.
I was in Lamar Colorado from 1979-1981 and roamed the area for many miles, and found many treasures. Oak Furniture, silver and gold jewelry, toys, cars and trucks (1920-1950), bottles, you name it. It's been a long time, not sure whether everything has been picked over by now, but only one way to find out.
The locals don't like strangers, especially trespassers, so get written permission.

Close the gates, watch out for snakes. Good area for Prairie Dogs and Coyotes. There was a $25 bounty on Coyotes back in the day, and the ranchers were more than happy to let you at the Prairie Dogs as long as you didn't shoot toward the livestock, homes, or roads. The guy I worked for told me that he and his son would go out east of Lamar to a rattlesnake den where they would sit in the back of the pickup and shoot snakes all day long at certain times of year when they were migrating. A waste of a good skin if you ask me. Ask the old locals.

P.S. I never MD anything.

 

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[arapahoscout]

Written permission is a must. I know first hand that they (read we) will shoot your a&^ for snooping around out there uninvited. It's like the wild west in those parts and lots of room for holes to be dug... We can see things amiss at distances most would need a spotting scope for. Ever known a rancher to not carry a gun in the truck? As far as yotes... yeah, they don't last long though. I take out about 40 yotes a year on average.

 

[jmoller99]

The metal detecting club in Colorado Springs has done a number of outings in that area, where they got permission to detect specific private property. Unfortunately, there is no website for the club to refer you to.

Getting with a detector club may help you gain access - otherwise, you would have many problems even starting to try to figure out who to talk to.

I used to detect old abandoned train stops (in the 1800's you need to a place to re-water the steam engines every 10 to 15 miles - as the trains carried more water, coal and supplies, some of these train stations fell by the wayside, and eventually, only 5% or so remained in use in any kind of populated areas). Getting an old train map of your area (late 1800's - early 1900's) will help you locate where these were. Many of these train stops also spurred development of homesteads, so knowing where these were may help you in your research for places that had a population a long time ago.

Getting permission to detect is not impossible, but it helps if you know someone that lives in the area - that's the hard part. Letting the people try to detect themselves (or have one of their kids join you) - which means you would need a spare detector to loan them, and your time and patience to teach them how to use the detector - will often go a long way in making new friends.

 

[gazmuth]

Northern Oklahoma was opened to the Cherokee Strip Land Run in 1893. Most of the farmers who platted their 160 acres were not able to make it, they were dirt poor and lost heir farms due to being broke (no money) and barely had a shirt on their back when they left the area.

There are a number of failed townsites in Northern Oklahoma, most which are now plowed under and turned into someone's farm. As the economy changes, Railroads are taken out, and the younger people in the small communities move away, those last small towns are slowly disintegrating into nothingness. About all that is there are a few abandoned houses that are falling down, and the grain elevators.

I visit the places in Northern Oklahoma, metal detecting and taking photos, and have found some coins, but not the riches you would think. A few silvers, coppers and relics, but nothing like you are talking about, and I have lived here in North Central Oklahoma most of my life.

Most of the old dump sites in this area are covered in many feet of soil, so looking for old bottles is quite tough. Most people until he 1960's burnt their trash here, so that makes it tough too. One old landfill in Ponca City Oklahoma has a Middle School built on top of it, another has a highway going over the top of it, and another had yards and yards of landfill brought in and it is now a farm.

Of course, the government liked to build lakes, and so the Corp of Engineers has control of the surrounding lake, and it is a $500 fine to get caught digging in the old townsites that were along the edge of the lake.

Like most of the world, area that is not a local city park is owned by someone, you have to ask permission, and cattle ranchers here do not like letting you into their pastures to go looking for treasures, even if you know the person. Then you have the heat and humidity..... but that is the way of life here!

Gazmuth