Any Active DFW Hunters?

[fishnfacts]

Well after weeks of research I finally made it out to do a visual and ground search. Pyledriver was right, it has been destroyed and is not a viable location anymore. The only thing one can do now is get permission to search some of the older homes across the river. I spent 3 hours and found nothing but pull tabs and beer cans buried between 4 and 6 inches. Not even an old piece of iron was found. I started my search by following the old route of Cold Springs road. I stood at the point where it was altered and made a search of where the road would have been and along the sides. I then moved to the area where the actual springs could have been located and did a grid search. Not even a clad coin was found as I crossed over the trails. I went all along the riverside since this appears to be the only part of the river that has not changed course over the years. Maybe because of the RR bridge.
Anyways I now am starting on some new locations from 1918 that are for a fact still there, not the history I was looking for but at least the property is still the same as it was in the early 1900's.
I will update everyone later as I took off a few days in hopes of finding something at CS but I will now focus on other areas.

 

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[pyledriver]

Dang. I was hoping there might be an untouched area down there.. I think you're on the right track though seeking out those old and obscure locations. Actually searching for old springs, river crossings and the like could be a great niche in the relic hunting aspect of the hobby. Along those lines I have a collection of maps coming to me that may help out with stuff like this. The hard part is overlaying and bringing modern context to those old maps...but it's do-able!

 

[fishnfacts]

Searched one spot and thought it was going to be at least clad heaven when I found four clad pennies within 20 foot of the parking lot but ended up being so much trash I gave up after about 1 1/2 hours to hit another area. Just scratched the surface of the other area but lots of evidence of a prior digger. I hate seeing that. But it tells me he is an amateur and that gives hope that he went for the easy stuff in on location and did not want to try the harder to search areas.

 

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

There is a lot of info on Cold Springs listed in this Fort Worth site:

Cold Springs - Local History - Fort Worth Forum

You may have already seen this, but I found it interesting.

Wayne

www.metaldetectingstuff.com

 

[VernonWalter]

Looking to become active, starting to do research into historical maps, trails, and other areas of interest. Right now strictly academic, as I've only got about $80 to spend on a detector so really watching CraigsList to find something within reasonable distance. I've lived in this area for nearly 20 years, mid-cities, downtown / Deep Ellum, and now North Dallas. Overall I'm geeking out on the local history - just visited Greenwood Cemetary and WOW, so interesting! - but also have an eye to make some discoveries and get some financial advantage out of this. Money is cool because I have so little of it, so anything helps, and I definitely just enjoy being outdoors as a general principle. Lots of sunscreen for my pale self.

Anyway, I'm going to start assembling a "binder" with divided sections relating to Native American, Civil War, Depression, and Modern Era timeframes. From here I'll plot potential areas to search with an eye for maintaining a list of accessible and legal prospects. Even things like abnormal conditions due to weather (lake levels, earthquakes in Grapevine, high winds in certain areas) can lead my curiosity. From my background in academia and research for writing fiction, the Internet has been a jackpot for tying together historical information and cross-checking with modern mapping. I was recently doing this for fishing but decided I'm not really as into that as I thought, but the techniques are holding up with respect to Google Earth.

Also, I just got a puppy and she's not quite ready but when the time is right I plan on taking her along to look around for sign trees, carvings, and other stuff along some of the various trails. She's got a great sense of smell so I'm joking around with the idea of trying to train her to sniff out silver. She already found a whole, salted peanut that a squirrel had buried several inches down, that impressed me pretty good. I used to be a Cub Scout but the Boy Scouts was too much work when I'd rather be creative, but I'm no stranger to the outdoors and can take getting bit by mosquitoes through the DEET as well as anybody. I'm not allergic to poison ivy or poison oak either, which may come in handy - certainly did during Disc Golf haha.

Looking forward to learning more and participating. Can't wait to actually find something!

 

[VernonWalter]

Got my Bounty Hunter detector yesterday! Hit the $80 mark and actually there was a person waiting to buy it if I didn't show up by 5pm (I'd asked the shop to hold on to it for me). He even offered me $100 on the spot, probably knew he could get $120-140 with more patience.

For now I'm going to start practicing in my backyard with various coins, some keys, some pull tabs, foil / trash, and a couple valuables. Half the reason I wanted a detector is because I have a funny feeling that something else might be buried in my yard, so that's part of the fun. Because of my music passion I have an extra set of DJ headphones and I'm really looking forward to training my ear to pick up tones. I actually have a really, really good set of ears that is hard to believe - I can sometimes hear a super high pitched squeal, a couple rooms down, from the occasional TV. Very excited to get up to speed y'all!

 

[PatrickD]

There is a lot of info on Cold Springs listed in this Fort Worth site:

Cold Springs - Local History - Fort Worth Forum

You may have already seen this, but I found it interesting.

Wayne

www.metaldetectingstuff.com

Hi Everyone,

I was intrigued about the search for Cold Springs. So, I scanned a few pages from one of my books. This is from Springs of Texas and is sectioned by county. Here is the section on Tarrant County. It lists the approximate location of Cold Springs on the property at 1301 Cold Springs Road.

Some of the other springs listed look like they are worth hunting as well.

View attachment 994042

This shows the approximate location of known springs in the county along with activities that took place there in the past.

I hope this is useful to you.

Good luck in your hunting.

Patrick

 

[VernonWalter]

Thanks for contributing; I read through the Fort Worth page and followed a couple links. This one looked promising: Down Historic Trails of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, Page: 9 | The Portal to Texas History - and there was a comment another person added later:

Remember that the article is 1949 and the picture probably predates that somewhat. The river as shown is narrow and has brushy banks. The bridge itself is easily recognized as the MKT/T&P (today Union Pacific) railroad bridge probably from the west side. Walking on the levees will get you an approximate sight line.

The publication date of 1949 is just before the massive channeling and realignment of the Trinity both for flood protection and subliminally to begin on part of the facilities for the Trinity Barge Canal which was still still under heavy consideration as late as the early 1970's. Both the West and Clear Forks, the confluence and the stream beds downstream as far as the park on east 1st Street were ripped open, smoothed, levees built, channels widened and curves straightened. by the end of the 1950's the Trinity and its bed looked nothing at all like it did before WWII. And the work was successful in that much of the flooding was controlled.

Before the channeling, Cold Springs road left Samuels Avenue and crossed the Trinity to connect with where the north Cold Springs road is today. Scars showing the old road can be seen on aerial maps. For a long time it was an important entrance to Fort Worth from the northeast. The Cold Springs bridge had been in place from early times. Originally, I am almost sure it was called Daggett's Bridge and probably was at or near the site of the low water cattle crossing and Daggett's Ferry.

So if we give any credence to this picture and its caption at all, the Cold Springs that has been described as convenient and pleasant picnic place in a grove of trees near the bank of the Trinity was somewhere around this area. There are other mentions that give some support to this as well.

Also another couple comments went like:

The old Fort Worth Belt Line RR ran east to west at the base of these bluffs.

and

Mentioned also in the immediate area were "Daggett Cold Spring", "Some" at Trader Oaks Park, T&P RR crossing, He mentions the "faintly bubbling"reference of 1949, but says that when he visited around 1977 to 1979, all was dry with willows marking the sites. ...Lots of other springs and ref. throughout the county if you are interested.
At any rate the springs in question apparently flowed from river terrace sand and gravel

So there's basically a plural of Springs for a reason - several creeks in the area. Terry Springs in Traders Oak Park is pretty well established. That general area may have been really something but sounds like time has done its business overall.

If the Cold Springs (Terry Springs) angle is a bit difficult, what about maybe something more like the photo from the 1949 clipping? That makes me wonder if Marine Creek - 32.784352,-97.338021 - could be a potential place to detect for relics?

 

[PatrickD]

If I remember correctly, Marine Creek runs along Angle avenue. The park there used to have a stage stop and a couple decades back, a rock marker was found identifying the stage stop then was subsequently stolen.

 

[VernonWalter]

If I remember correctly, Marine Creek runs along Angle avenue. The park there used to have a stage stop and a couple decades back, a rock marker was found identifying the stage stop then was subsequently stolen.

Yes, you're correct - there's a good stretch that is along Angle avenue, but that's further West than where I've been looking. The intersection where the Trinity and Marine Creek meet is right by Samuels Ave, just south of 23rd Street. A good bit of Marine Creek is south of 23rd Street but kind of parallel. I'm wondering if entering Marine Creek at that place, on the North bank, and walking West might be a way to see what's along that area of interest. Specifically, I found a little patch by an overhead railroad bridge that looks like it might actually have a little spring or creek running into it. Here's the coordinates from Google Maps: 32.78434,-97.342231 - also, over to the East of that railroad bridge, close to where a bunch of big machines seem to be at work, also looks like another spring / big rock edifice of some sort: 32.784498,-97.340871

Edit: So I'm still looking around via Google Maps, found the Delga Park. Used to be the dumping ground apparently. Now a park, has been for a longish time. What I found of interest though is on the other side of the Trinity. Check out the remnants of a "driveway" and foundation here: 32.783178,-97.322275 - anybody got a clue? Looking further West from that location, there's a patch of trees with what looks like a bit of a creek coming out into the Trinity, right by a railway overpass, the one running parallel to Cold Springs Road...

 

[Jolly Roger Blue]

Looking for detectorists to team up with for searches here in DFW. I have a few sites I'd like to search. If interested message me.