Anyone ever hunt the water under an old but popular bridge???

Gary in Pennsylvania · Mar 1, 2009

In other words…..If a particular bridge, or bridge location (may have been wooden first, eh?) is pretty old and right next to a popular location (like a historical park or campsite, old hotel)…..have you or would you hunt it?

Granted…. if the water is deep or fast moving, there are common-sense safety issues to acknowledge! But if the water is shallow and flows lazily….I betcha countless of ‘wish makers’, kids, lovers, etc. have tossed plenty of coins down in the water.

I would imagine that the #1 issue would be “Pull-Tab Hell”!!!! Not to mention the possibility of broken bottle shards.

But I’d still like to hear – anyone ever try this?

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cntrydncr1 · Mar 1, 2009

our club hunted under an old bridge that was covered at one time and a swimming hole. Trash and more trash was found.

CWnut · Mar 1, 2009

yeah i tried under a bridge once also. I quit after about 10 minutes because the trash was so bad. And i actually knew an engagement ring was thrown off the bridge.

Siegfried Schlagrule · Mar 1, 2009

A four or five man team did this in reno with a dredge in
the seventies and found five gallon bucket fulls of goodies.
Locals told them that is where the divorced people pitched
their rings. They argued about the split so they put the entire
lot up for auction so that they could split the cash. Starting
bids were $50,000 but I don't remember how it panned out.
It was shown as a cover photo and story in Treasure magazine.
good luck, siegfried schlagrule

Gary in Pennsylvania · Mar 1, 2009

cntrydncr1 said:
our club hunted under an old bridge that was covered at one time and a swimming hole. Trash and more trash was found.

Yeah.....I'd worry about that as well.

deepskyal · Mar 1, 2009

Hey Gary...the Kinzua Viaduct was a killer for coins. Thousands and thousands on top of the ground where they could detect. Lots of areas they didnt detect because of marshy grounds and high weeds.

A guy told me how sore his back was from picking up so many in just a few hours. Could be just the place to detect now with the ground still frozen... :thumbsup:

Hmmmm...I just got an idea.

Al

Tom_in_CA · Mar 1, 2009

If the particular river you're intending to hunt beside, is a boom to bust type river (swelling in the winters, then going back low again each summer), then your odds of doing good for coins drops tremendously.

Here in CA where I'm at, we are in a "chapparel" type environment. Riversides become a swampy quicksand marsh during the winter rain season, and then recede each summer revealing new beaches. All the sand can get washed away during heavy winter rains, then new sand deposited with the incoming silt. It's a total waste of time to try detecting.

But I hear in some mid-western states, the water level is much more constant year round. It has to do with the water table depth in the ground or whatever. Like their lakes for instance, never vary more than a foot or so in depth. That would mean the beaches stay fairly constant. Unlike in boom/bust climates, where you merely wait for the lake to dry down way low, during a few years of low rain, and walk out on what was previously swim areas

Lowbatts · Mar 1, 2009

Tom_in_CA said:
If the particular river you're intending to hunt beside, is a boom to bust type river (swelling in the winters, then going back low again each summer), then your odds of doing good for coins drops tremendously.

Here in CA where I'm at, we are in a "chapparel" type environment. Riversides become a swampy quicksand marsh during the winter rain season, and then recede each summer revealing new beaches. All the sand can get washed away during heavy winter rains, then new sand deposited with the incoming silt. It's a total waste of time to try detecting.

But I hear in some mid-western states, the water level is much more constant year round. It has to do with the water table depth in the ground or whatever. Like their lakes for instance, never vary more than a foot or so in depth. That would mean the beaches stay fairly constant. Unlike in boom/bust climates, where you merely wait for the lake to dry down way low, during a few years of low rain, and walk out on what was previously swim areas

Actually Tom, we get spring floods. The river here, the Fox is about 75 feet wider than mid-summer levels in many spots and where I wade shin deep is now neck deep and fast, cold and icy too! But it's still not flood stage. That comes in April.

But if you're looking for late summer fun, August and September are the times to hit these rivers. When the parks dry out and you can't dig them anyway because you'd jsut kill the grass, hit the shallows at any one of the big rivers hereabouts because these were the crossings used for decades before bridges came into being.

First timers need to be tethered to a boat or something or someone so when you hit those holes you have a quick way out.