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Bronze Member
Must not be real close to Charley, he had to buy his first detector.
Hereford man finds buried treasure beneath the soil
By Shar Porier
Herald/Review
Published on Monday, July 30, 2007
Sierra Vista — Nearly every Sunday you’ll see him out in Veterans’ Memorial Park sweeping the ground slowly back and forth, waiting to hear the beep that lets him know this is the spot to dig.
Michael Garrett of Hereford likes spending the day searching for lost treasures. It is his passion.
Sunday morning Mike Garrett of Hereford takes a count of his morning’s work …#8221; $2.63 in coins and a dog tag. Garrett makes a daily sweep of Veterans’ Memorial Park with a metal detector and trowel to see what he can find. (Suzanne Cronn•Herald/Review)
“You never know what you’ll find,” he says. “I’ve found old rings, watches, bracelets, gold chains.”
In a few hours, he has found a pocketful of change, thanks to the pulsating current that flows to the coil creating an electromagnetic field. That field interacts with any metal object in the ground, from bottle caps to gold nuggets. His machine, made by his cousin Charles Garrett, has a depth finder and a gauge that lets him know how deep and how big the item detected is. It can show a ring 12 inches down in the soil; deeper than that for coins or items with more metal content.
For the past 35 years, Garrett has been in the metal-detecting business, as well as the old bottle and glass business. He saw something on television about metal detectors and his lifelong quest began after he purchased his first detector for $1,200.
Back then, he did a lot of hunting in the state of Michigan. He would get permission to go on private property and search old outhouse and trash sites.
One site in Michigan, the ghost town formerly known as Stafford, gave up hidden treasure in the form of old, dirty glass in an abandoned outhouse. Lilac trees often give away such sites, he noted. The lilacs’ sweet scent cover the odor of the unpleasant little structure. A metal object, cylindrical in shape was noted. When he dug down, he found a treasure — old china, glass and bottles. While it may sound like that’s just junk, people pay a lot of money for old glass.
The antique glass business led him into developing a cleaning method that is his best kept secret. Glass that has been in the elements tends to cloud over from reactions with soil and rain. A cloudy crust forms on the glass. His method removes it without harming the glass and makes the object look like new.
“I’ll share it with anybody who wants to pay me the $235,000 I’ve made over the past 20 years. It took me five years to figure it out. But, it was so simple, it’s pathetic,” he shared.
His process works on all glass even twirling glass barber poles, though that takes some special equipment.
Garrett follows the rules of the trade, don’t go anywhere that you are not supposed to.
“There are many places that you can’t go hunting. Federal and state parks, private land without permission. You have to check with local authorities to be sure,” he emphasized.
Anything he finds that is over 50 years old has to be turned in to the state of Arizona by law. Federal law requires finders of antiquities 100 years old or older to be turned over as property of the U.S. government.
“It’s the Antiquity Law,” he notes. “It doesn’t matter if I dropped a quarter here 50 years ago and found it again, I’d have to turn it in.”
Another rule of hunting is return the ground to the state you found it. If you dig a hole, you cover it up.
“I carry some soil with me to make sure I don’t leave divots. Grass dug up is laid aside with the roots intact. We’re very careful,” he said.
After hunting in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Virginia and Florida, he has found Arizona gives him plenty of sunny days year round.
He moved here two years ago to be with his family. Back in 1956, he was stationed in Yuma and found he liked the climate and the weather of Southern Arizona.
“I’m out here at dawn and quit about 2 or 3 p.m. It’s a great pastime. I’m outdoors in nature. I meet people,” he says.
Not all people are intrigued by his hobby. Some say he has no business hunting for lost treasure; others get so interested they want to get in the business.
When he does find a watch or a ring, he looks for any identifying marks, a name, initials. If those are found, he has a chance at finding who it may belong to, but admits it’s a long-shot.
“Most of this stuff has no identification,” he says as he looks over a tiny baby’s ring that looks like it has been in the ground for a few years. “As you can see. There’s nothing to go on.”
He has found a few valuable pieces of jewelry, but most are not. Those are traded as scrap metal at a pawn shop.
He is a member of Detectors Unlimited out of Tucson, which provides members with the latest news of the treasure-hunting world and all the technological improvements in the industry.
For more information on metal detecting, go to the Detectors Unlimited Web site at: detectorsunlimited.org.
Herald/Review reporter Shar Porier can be reached at 515-4692 or by e-mail at [email protected].
http://www.svherald.com/articles/2007/07/30/news/vertical_top_story/doc46ad8c7198461854090745.txt
kenb
Hereford man finds buried treasure beneath the soil
By Shar Porier
Herald/Review
Published on Monday, July 30, 2007
Sierra Vista — Nearly every Sunday you’ll see him out in Veterans’ Memorial Park sweeping the ground slowly back and forth, waiting to hear the beep that lets him know this is the spot to dig.
Michael Garrett of Hereford likes spending the day searching for lost treasures. It is his passion.
Sunday morning Mike Garrett of Hereford takes a count of his morning’s work …#8221; $2.63 in coins and a dog tag. Garrett makes a daily sweep of Veterans’ Memorial Park with a metal detector and trowel to see what he can find. (Suzanne Cronn•Herald/Review)
“You never know what you’ll find,” he says. “I’ve found old rings, watches, bracelets, gold chains.”
In a few hours, he has found a pocketful of change, thanks to the pulsating current that flows to the coil creating an electromagnetic field. That field interacts with any metal object in the ground, from bottle caps to gold nuggets. His machine, made by his cousin Charles Garrett, has a depth finder and a gauge that lets him know how deep and how big the item detected is. It can show a ring 12 inches down in the soil; deeper than that for coins or items with more metal content.
For the past 35 years, Garrett has been in the metal-detecting business, as well as the old bottle and glass business. He saw something on television about metal detectors and his lifelong quest began after he purchased his first detector for $1,200.
Back then, he did a lot of hunting in the state of Michigan. He would get permission to go on private property and search old outhouse and trash sites.
One site in Michigan, the ghost town formerly known as Stafford, gave up hidden treasure in the form of old, dirty glass in an abandoned outhouse. Lilac trees often give away such sites, he noted. The lilacs’ sweet scent cover the odor of the unpleasant little structure. A metal object, cylindrical in shape was noted. When he dug down, he found a treasure — old china, glass and bottles. While it may sound like that’s just junk, people pay a lot of money for old glass.
The antique glass business led him into developing a cleaning method that is his best kept secret. Glass that has been in the elements tends to cloud over from reactions with soil and rain. A cloudy crust forms on the glass. His method removes it without harming the glass and makes the object look like new.
“I’ll share it with anybody who wants to pay me the $235,000 I’ve made over the past 20 years. It took me five years to figure it out. But, it was so simple, it’s pathetic,” he shared.
His process works on all glass even twirling glass barber poles, though that takes some special equipment.
Garrett follows the rules of the trade, don’t go anywhere that you are not supposed to.
“There are many places that you can’t go hunting. Federal and state parks, private land without permission. You have to check with local authorities to be sure,” he emphasized.
Anything he finds that is over 50 years old has to be turned in to the state of Arizona by law. Federal law requires finders of antiquities 100 years old or older to be turned over as property of the U.S. government.
“It’s the Antiquity Law,” he notes. “It doesn’t matter if I dropped a quarter here 50 years ago and found it again, I’d have to turn it in.”
Another rule of hunting is return the ground to the state you found it. If you dig a hole, you cover it up.
“I carry some soil with me to make sure I don’t leave divots. Grass dug up is laid aside with the roots intact. We’re very careful,” he said.
After hunting in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Virginia and Florida, he has found Arizona gives him plenty of sunny days year round.
He moved here two years ago to be with his family. Back in 1956, he was stationed in Yuma and found he liked the climate and the weather of Southern Arizona.
“I’m out here at dawn and quit about 2 or 3 p.m. It’s a great pastime. I’m outdoors in nature. I meet people,” he says.
Not all people are intrigued by his hobby. Some say he has no business hunting for lost treasure; others get so interested they want to get in the business.
When he does find a watch or a ring, he looks for any identifying marks, a name, initials. If those are found, he has a chance at finding who it may belong to, but admits it’s a long-shot.
“Most of this stuff has no identification,” he says as he looks over a tiny baby’s ring that looks like it has been in the ground for a few years. “As you can see. There’s nothing to go on.”
He has found a few valuable pieces of jewelry, but most are not. Those are traded as scrap metal at a pawn shop.
He is a member of Detectors Unlimited out of Tucson, which provides members with the latest news of the treasure-hunting world and all the technological improvements in the industry.
For more information on metal detecting, go to the Detectors Unlimited Web site at: detectorsunlimited.org.
Herald/Review reporter Shar Porier can be reached at 515-4692 or by e-mail at [email protected].
http://www.svherald.com/articles/2007/07/30/news/vertical_top_story/doc46ad8c7198461854090745.txt
kenb
