Diamonds from doo-doo!

[goldchuck]

Well this may not be my best find yet but still working on it! I work for city utilities and we contracted a camera crew to check sewer lines in creek crossings for breaks and leaks. For them to be able to run the camera thing they have to jet the line with high pressure water to clean the grit out of the lines. The grit and rocks are forced back to the manhole where they used a long scoop to then lift it out and it was dumped on the ground. Many shiny things were visible, one in particular caught my eye and I reached down to pick up a three/quarter carat diamond, apparently lost down some heartbroken womans sink drain. My treasure hunting partner is also my boss and we immediately set out to collect all the piles of grit previously washed out and collected the rest in five gallon buckets and treated it good with chlorine before any handling. I had built a miniature yukon rocker for gold prospecting and we used it to make the first run of the grit and carefully panned out the heavies. Ended up with twelve diamonds that tested real and a couple of blue saphires and one ruby. There were also several badly deteriorated coins and rings, earrings, chain pieces and toys. Lots of worthless junk also. This was only from about 300 ft. of lines and we have thousands of feet to go. We have made our own scoops and have devised a pretty good working operation. Having contacted other city utilities workers we have discovered there are many great finds taking place in the sewer systems. Treasure is where you find it! Charlie

 

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[Darren in NC]

Great story, Charlie. I find it hard to believe people don't open up their p/s traps under their sinks. I guess many do, but apparently a lot don't. Let us know if you find more.

 

[True_Metal]

Interesting! Never would have thought about that as a source for goodies 8)

 

[goldchuck]

Type Sewer Treasure into your search engine, you may be surprised at the results. A word of caution to those who may try collecting grit either from manholes or your local treatment facility. Other than the obvious fecal coliform bacteria which can be treated with chlorine bleach or hth, there are very many sharpies in the sewer system like broken glass, stick pins, hypo needles, you name it. It's amazing what you can find. Any sewer collection system installed prior to the mid 70's will most likely be of a clay tile pipe which is usually in 10 ft. sections. every pipe joint has about a half inch indention which will trap heavies until a big wash comes through to dislodge it. The newer facilities use pvc pipe which has the same sort of gap but not as much as the tile. Modern treatment plants usually have some sort of grit collection which seperates the heavies from the doo-doo prior to treatment which is usually disposed of in local landfills. I have talked to people in the large older cities with collection systems dating back into the early part of the century. They are making some incredible finds. About the only metal which will survive the harsh chemical environment is gold. Many of them have been dumping their grit in the same spots for years and years. It would be worth your while to check into your local public works methods for grit disposal. They are governed by pretty strict EPA handling methods so getting them to give you the grit may not be easy but after they dump it somewhere most of them could care less. Some cities have jet-vac trucks which periodically go around and high pressure the lines while a long vacuum hose sucks up the stuff and they simply drive somewhere to dump it, usually a landfill. I guarantee they are dumping a treasure trove of goodies every time. I should state this for clarity...grit is the heavy solids, rocks, sand, gravel, treasure...not human wastes. A little soaking in a strong chlorine bleach or swimming pool hth will effectively kill all harmful pathogens. Don't worry about harming anything valuable, anything but gold and gems will already be pretty much damaged. Charlie

 

[lab rat]

It would be great to see a picture of that stuff (the treasures, I mean!)... are those gems you're talking about loose or in rings?

 

[goldchuck]

Hey Lab Rat, I think I can get a picture taken of a few of the diamonds we haven't sold yet. It will be a day or so as I have to borrow a camera. They have all been loose so far. I figure they pop out of the set and the poor ladies never even notice they're gone till it's too late. We are planning a big grit flushing of the entire collection system before our new plant comes on line next year so maybe we will (clean up!) Chuck

 

[BRINK]

Thanks Charlie ! Now my fiancee is making me check the p/s traps in my older home HH BRINK