Anyone know of any bottle digging sites around washington state?

[Detectingfreak]

Hey guys. Just was wondering how I can get started in my search for bottles that are located underneath the ground of washington state? JuJu said he can take me to some sites that he knows of but i am impatient. I would like to go on my own time and dig some old bottle but, I do not know where to look. Any advice would be helpfull! Or if you know of a dump where i can search through peoples trash for free?

 

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[lgadbois]

One of the big challeges in digging bottles is to figure out where to dig. You won't have much luck trying to dig in community landfills. These have been graded, topped with new soil, and in many cases built upon.

The best places to look would be in ghost towns, and on farms. Wherever you go, do not trespass. Try and get approval before digging.

Monte Cristo, Washington might be a good place to dig. Much of the townsite is private property, but I think you will be able to get permission to dig. The place to look is on the south bank of '76 creek. The creek ran behind the buildings that were built on main street. Most of them were saloons. With a little research, you can find books and other sources that show the locations of the buildings. The garbage was dumped behind the buildings and into the creek. The townsite is up a gated and locked 4 mile road that is accessed off the Mountain Loop Hwy east of Granite Falls. You will have to hike or bicycle into the townsite, and back when you leave. The best months to visit would be July, August, and September. Good luck!

 

[Paul in WA]

There are a lot of bottle dumps out here in Eastern Washington. Just cruise the back roads in farm country, you'll find them.

 

[Kilika]

Wouldn't it be great if we could dig at Monte Cristo? Unfortunately, I believe the whole area is off limits as a National Historic District.

Somebody - please..please post to this thread and tell me I'm wrong.

Kilika

 

[49er]

No your right Kilika....sorry. .

 

[lgadbois]

A deal was made by Monte Cristo Resorts, Inc. in 1994 to sell their holdings to the U.S. Government. The areas included are the parking lot, resort cabins, rail turntable area, and other properties that were owned by MCR. These areas are now under management by the U.S. Forest Service. A conservation group called the Monte Cristo Preservation Association has been working with the USFS and Snohomish County to maintain the road from Barlow Pass, and to help manage the use of the area. The road is gated and locked, and only useable by property owners and the FS. Like many conservation groups, the MCPA would like to keep the area as a museum to the past, and to limit public use. See: http://www.mcpa.us/history.html

There are many pieces of property at Monte Cristo that are privately owned and not managed by the Forest Service. The USFS would like to see these private land owners out of there. The land owners do have property rights, and not all agree with the management policies of the USFS and MCPA. There are valid mining claims in the area that are still being held by individuals and companies. Land use battles will never cease as public and government entities act to control the use of privately own land. The FS can not prevent bottle digging on private property.

Turn north onto the Index/Garland Hot Springs Road from Hwy 2. Keep an eye out for Trout Creek. A trail (used to be a road) ascends the mountain to your right and goes by Index Mining's Copper Independent Mine tunnel and mill site. There is not much there but the mill foundations.

Another area of historical interest is the town of Mineral Center. Continue ahead on the road until you see a concrete bridge on your left that crosses the North Fork of the Skykomish River. Park your car. You have reached the townsite of Galena, which was named for the galena mineral occurance that crosses the road just South of the access to the bridge. There are the remains of houses just up to the East on the hill overlooking the road. Bottles, insulators, door knobs, and other collectibles have been found around the remains of these buildings.

The road to Mineral Center crosses the bridge and runs along Silver Creek for a short distance until it is blocked by a berm. What is left of this road passes several mine shafts as it travels about 3 miles toward the site of Mineral Center where gold, silver, and galena were discovered in this area. The small town grew as ore was mined and loaded on mules for transport to the railhead at the town of Skykomish. Mineral Center was located at the end of the road. Towering above the townsite is Silver Peak and Silver Lake which are the headwaters of Silver Creek. The miners that discovered the minerals at Monte Cristo were working in Mineral Center at the time. A trail rises over the mountain and crosses Poodledog Pass, and then descends into Monte Cristo.

No, the mule trains from Mineral Center to Skykomish didn't travel by way of the road to Index. The mules followed a trail that went over "Jackass Pass." The continuation of the Index/Garland H.S. road takes you along the route of the old trail that descends along the Beckler River to Skykomish. The road across the mountain is now called Jack Pass.

Some of the property along the Silver Creek Road is still privately owned. The F.S. started destroying the buildings along the road and in the area in 1955. Homes, mill sites, and other properties were razed in the name of conservation. The road was damaged several times by fierce winter storms and was closed by the F.S. early in 1980s. This deprived property owners and mining claim holders access to their properties by motorized vehicle. The area surrounding Mineral Center and Monte Cristo is part of the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness Area, which was created by Congress in 1984, however the road and adjacent property is not.

Court battles still occur around the country based upon RS2477 which requires that public roads built before 1996 be kept open for public access. Unfortunately, most government agencies have little accountability to the public they are supposed to serve. Federal agencies write their own regulations, and the regulations become law when entered into the Federal Register. The road to Monte Cristo should never have been closed, but it would take a lawsuit to get the road opened to motor vehicles.

 

[Kilika]

It would be nice to only blame the government lack of accountability and the special interest groups for the loss of vehicle access to this area, but as much as I have been frustrated by the road closures, I would have to admit it is not due JUST to government manipulation. I've tried access from Index - hiked in from the washout area. After the initial washout took out the road, and as the issue seemed to be about to be resolved, another flood season drastically changed the course of the river so that the two main bridges further up the road are now left high and dry and the river has cut a new course that bypasses these bridges. I've tried access from Granite Falls - last summer, in September I hiked up from the gate at Barlow Pass and had to climb over and around the remains of two major avalanches that in September were still at least 10 feet deep with snow, ice, and debris. In fairness, that year the road crews completed two projects on the Mountain Loop Highway, one a huge sinkhole on the way to Big Four, the other a major fill and grade project to fix a washout just past Barlow Pass in an effort to keep the Mountain Loop open between Granite Falls and Arlington. I've tried access from Jack's Pass - hiked a couple miles past the locked gate that only property owners can get keys to, each time getting a little farther. My main problem with each of these trips (and I've been up all three routes several times) is that I keep getting sidetracked by the river and end up panning! Also, it would be better if I had someone to go with because around dusk I start getting freaked out about bears and end up turning around and heading back. After my rig was mauled by a bear in that area (with me sleeping in back!), I just haven't had the nerve to sleep out there, unarmed, in a tent, by myself. So I guess I either need a big gun, or a partner in adventure that can keep me out of the river till we get all the way up to Monte Cristo! But my point is that it is not only the governments' unwillingness to fork over the money to fix these roads, and yes, it has been frustrating, but it 'may' actually be fiscally responsible of them to not spend a ton of money to fix the road for a few property owners when Mother Nature continually wreaks havoc with the roads in that area. I'm not saying it's right, and if I owned property there, I'd be more than frustrated with the situation. But on the other hand, it does also limit alot of other people from getting there, so maybe when I finally DO get up there, maybe there'll still be something left to find?!! If someone on this thread knows which areas are off limits and which are huntable, maybe we should have the group hunt up there?? What do you guys think? Anybody willing to go with? (especially now that I've voiced a probably contraversial opinion?)
A group hunt up there would be fun... I promise to keep my opinions to myself...

HH - Kilika

 

[lgadbois]

You make some good points. Yes, keeping the roads open has been difficult when there are years of flooding and bad weather.

The other side of the coin is that the Monte Cristo road was closed and gated before the road was damaged. The road up Silver Creek was used for logging after most of the mining stopped, and most of it was driveable until they put a berm across it. The FS also gated the road to Garland by the bridge long before there was any problems on that road. The FS also tried tried to force the owner of the historic cabin just below the Troublesome Campground out while he was still living there full time. He had legal right to be there as it was a patented mill site for which he had a deed. He won in court and the FS had to buy the property. After he died, that log cabin was torn down and removed.

When the bridge went out on the Mountain Loop Hwy just South of Whitechuck, no maintenance was done on the road North and South of the bridge. The road received no attention for over ten years. Most of the money for roads is spent in King County while the more rural areas in the State get little or no maintenance. And now with a severe budget shortfall, the State and Seattle are talking about spending $5 Billion to build a two lane tunnel below the city to replace the Viaduct. Meanwhile, over 50% of the bridges in the State are in desperate need of maintenance and repair.

As we are spending millions of dollars for traffic cameras, photo redlight cameras, Internet camera support, sidewalks, bus shelters, enhanced roadways for the buses, light rail (that will serve only 1% of the commuters), bicycle trails, flower and tree planters, park-n-ride lots, and other urban improvements, the environmentalists (that don't want you to MD or pan gold) are happy to see more and more of the public's access to scenic areas reduced or eliminated. If it wasn't for GPAA and some other groups, we would have lost the right to pan, prospect, and MD in Washington State. Enjoy your hobby while you still can!

 

[Seamuss]

I find old privies once in a while that have bottles in their sites. Some privies are from the forties and early fities and some go back to the twenties and earlier.

 

[Seamuss]

I have a friend that gave me an invite to bring my metal detector over to see if there's any relics around there property near the bottle sites.

Sounds like fun to me. Maybe there's a jar of silver dollars on the property.

 

[vanoldschool]

west seattle

 

[Metal Detecting Seattle]

Where in West seattle

 

[vanoldschool]

wooded areas