Fish Pond or Wishing Well

seger98 · Feb 4, 2008

Traveling along Route 66 in northwest AZ I came along a pretty neat spot, looked around a bit first then thought I better get out the metal detector! glad I did, when I was all done digging an area no bigger then 5 feet square I came up with$9.62 all in clad! Looks like someone had dug out the bottom in the last couple of months & that's why it was all in the pile of dirt. It's a neat little spot, wishing well? it's up on the side of a mountain with stone steps going up to it. The wife is in the one picture (Luck be a lady) I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

MR----B · Feb 4, 2008

Way nice!!! any silver?

Noodle · Feb 4, 2008

Wow! That is beautiful country! Looks like you made a haul. Did you get down in the water at all? Must be an underground spring there, or river under the rock in the mountain. I LOVE the old Rte 66. So many out of the way spots to visit. And the road doesn't look any differently than it did in 1965 when I last traveled it! Pretty wife! What year are the coins, or did I miss that part? -Noodle

seger98 · Feb 4, 2008

Noodle said:
Wow! That is beautiful country! Looks like you made a haul. Did you get down in the water at all? Must be an underground spring there, or river under the rock in the mountain. I LOVE the old Rte 66. So many out of the way spots to visit. And the road doesn't look any differently than it did in 1965 when I last traveled it! Pretty wife! What year are the coins, or did I miss that part? -Noodle

I did metal detect in the water, only found 1 penny. My totals were;

202 pennies
16 dimes
15 nickels
21 quarters
9 prayer tokens

No silver though, all clad.

It is a spring hole coming from the side of the mountain that someone had dammed up, no telling when that was done.

Ferrous · Feb 4, 2008

Hey, is that the road between Oatman and Kingman Arizona ? Sure looks like the Bullhead City area behind your van. Looks like you guys are having a blast.

ROMEX · Feb 4, 2008

Very nice pics, great views, nice haul, find that gold out there.

ROMEX

Ant · Feb 4, 2008

Story has it that the spring/seep was dammed up by a dude named Shaffer

, nothing really special about it. I've been by there too, but never detected the place. Good clad count anyway.

seger98 · Feb 4, 2008

Ferrous said:
Hey, is that the road between Oatman and Kingman Arizona ? Sure looks like the Bullhead City area behind your van. Looks like you guys are having a blast.

OK, ya got me! It is between Oatman & Kingman, that valley would be Golden Valley, opposite from Bullhead City where we are RVing all winter...

Kas · Feb 4, 2008

Sweeeeet! Awesome spot. Good work.

Funny little story.

My Uncle had a house along a bust state route. Rt. 40 through Ohio before I-70 was built.
He built a cute little wishing well four foot deep and added blue food coloring to the water. The handle to crank up a bucket was actually hooked to a false bottom that was the same size as the well. The handle was locked during the day so you couldn't move it. Lots of people stopped and tossed coins in. He also had an icecream stand that cost a dime for a cone, homemade icecream. People paid a dime for icecream and tossed dimes and quarters and halves in the wishing well, go figure.
We're talking in the 40's and 50's and early 60's. To make along story short, he made more money from the wishing well than the homemade icecream.

You build a wishing well and someone will throw money in it. Dumb, but they do it. Silver coins were abundant then, so he never saved any coins.

He died and my Aunt wanted the thing torn down. Me and my Dad took it down and removed the water one bucket at a time. Guess what was under the false bottom. Yea, silver coins that had slipped around the false bottom. That was in the 70's. I don't know whatever happened to those coins. Dad more than likley sold them in the late 70's when silver was really high. Oh,—WELL.

HH
Ken