mark v said:
My brother got an old map that has 2 lumber or saw mills on it. We went looking for them. Even found the road intersection. But for the life of us we couldn't find any remains of the places. Needless to say, we didn't find a thing
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I apologise to smurf-42 for commenting so much on his thread but this subject is just too irresistible for me
When they tore down those early saw mills they usually didn't leave much behind. Anyway the mill site itself is not what you really want. You want to locate the camp "shanty" site or where the blacksmith work was done. They didn't have cars or trucks so there was constant need for the blacksmith. He also repaired broken mill equipment and just about everything else.
Once you have the general location of a mill, put on a larger coil and hunt out from the spot where the mill was. When you get to the right place you'll know it. Your detectors will blast off with the coil a foot above ground.
The 1st thing is to find the dump areas. All mills and/or lumbering camps had them. These were big holes dug and they simply pitched the worn-out stuff into them. I found one such hole back several years ago and I dug about 50 large logging horse shoes (giant), several saw blades, blacksmith tools, about 12 axe heads, and all kinds of scrap iron. At the bottom of the hole was some sort of large equipment that was too big to dig out. I think it was a farm wagon because I was able to uncover a wheel.
Also, keep an eye out for any sign of timbers. One day I found an awesome site when I came upon a 4-6 foot length of barn timber hidden in tall grass (that ground was loaded with relics).
I think that back during the Great Depression on into the 1950's the DNR (and other groups) torn down many lumber camp remains and buried the old rusted contents nearby.
You can be digging out a hole with bottles and lumbering relics from the 1870's and come upon a soda bottle from the 1940's. All of it buried nice and neat under flat topsoil--this is the work of the DNR.
By the way, if the land is now owned by the DNR, don't let them catch you digging on it. And don't tell anybody where you dug it even if you got it before the DNR took ownership.
In Michigan if you get caught on state land detecting they can (and often will) take everything away except your birthday. I heard of a couple not long ago in Crawford county who got arrested for trying to carry a stone off state land. Just imagine what they'd do to you for removing relics.
In fact the DNR is currently looking for the individuals who dug relics from a small "Ghost Town" up in the Traverse City area. I pity the doods when they catch them.
Just remember--ONLY hunt private land with permission. It just doesn't pay to mess with the law. My stuff came from church property which was once used by the Deward lumbering company.
The biggest problem with Michigan is too much state owned land. This is one reason I want to move south.
Badger
....kidding... 
