🥇 BANNER Gold Miner’s Starter Kit

Hendo0601

Sr. Member
Jul 30, 2014
257
455
California
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX 3030
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I live in and detect mostly in El Dorado County, California in search of early Gold Rush camps and settlements. The other day I was detecting a new area down on a creek and it was clear that no other detectorists had ever been there before me, great success!! Period 1850s targets began coming out of the ground and then I got a MONSTROUS overload signal on my CTX...I figured it was a cast iron stove door or something similar. I dug down and about 8” down I began unearthing a sluice rake, and next to it was an upside-down gold pan! Those who detect in the mother lode know how hard it is to find an intact gold pan as they are extremely brittle and disintegrate in the ground. I got these out of the hole and underneath the gold pan was ANOTHER gold pan! Two intact gold pans in one hole doesn’t happen...it just doesn’t...but there was still more. Underneath the gold pans were three intact pick heads, a sledge hammer, and two axe heads. In the same hole next to the gold pans was two intact period shovels, and underneath those was what I thought was another gold pan, but it turned out to be an upside-down long handled skillet. Underneath the skillet was two intact 3 prong forks and two spreader knives....and yet there was still more! Beneath the silverware was a small cooking pot with lid, a coffee pot with lid (sadly destroyed during the trip home), a broken pewter or Britannia metal spoon, 2 metal dinner plates, a fully intact JW Hunnewell condiment bottle, and the extremely brittle remains of what I can only assume was a rubberized tarp or tent material all folded up at the bottom of the hole. It took several hours to dig it all and 2 trips (2.4 miles each way) to carry it all out. It is literally a gold miner’s starter kit all in one hole! Truly one of the most epic finds of my life and I will never forget what it was like unearthing all of this at once!
Total contents of the cache:
1 sluice rake
2 gold pans
3 picks
2 shovels
2 axes
1 sledge hammer
2 forks
2 spreaders
1 spoon
1 skillet
1 small cooking pot with lid
1 coffee pot with lid (Destroyed)
2 metal plates
1 JW Hunnewell condiment bottle
1 folded up tarp/tent (destroyed)
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unclemac

Gold Member
Oct 12, 2011
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the bottle is a J.W. HUNNEWELL and Co patent medicine bottle (universal cough remedy) (Boston). It would have been morphine or opium based and very effective at stopping a cough. 1860's to 1880's but from the look of it on the later not earlier end of that range. Clean it up and re-post it and put it over in the bottle forum and you will get more accurate info.
 

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Hendo0601

Sr. Member
Jul 30, 2014
257
455
California
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX 3030
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
the bottle is a J.W. HUNNEWELL and Co patent medicine bottle (universal cough remedy) (Boston). It would have been morphine or opium based and very effective at stopping a cough. 1860's to 1880's but from the look of it on the later not earlier end of that range. Clean it up and re-post it and put it over in the bottle forum and you will get more accurate info.

While it is true that these bottles were originally intended for use as medicine bottles, this particular style and shape of bottle really caught on and was popular here on the west coast in the mid 1800s as a spice or condiment bottle. They usually had ground dried herbs or spices such as black pepper, mace, cinnamon etc. It would make sense that this is a condiment bottle since it was found with other cooking and kitchen items. Here is a link to a similar bottle recovered in California.

https://historysmc.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/D498CCB9-CFAB-4F08-8D3E-068805030790
 

Tesorodeoro

Bronze Member
Jan 21, 2018
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There was an F.W. Hunnewell and J.W. Hunnewell attending Harvard University in 1862

I suspect if some research was done, we would find out J.W went into business shortly after graduating from college. The contrary could also be shown.

Here is an interesting article regarding that style bottle being used for spices.

Western Bottle News

Is your bottle pontil marked on the bottom?
 

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xaos

Bronze Member
Jul 3, 2018
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I have to wonder if the bottle was for mercury! That would be cool!
 

unclemac

Gold Member
Oct 12, 2011
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While the bottle could have been re-used to hold anything, it is also true that TB was a rampant disease in the west and all over. I find "cure" bottles in every post contact spot I hunt.
 

Timbermaster

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Oct 21, 2018
373
1,654
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AT Pro, Nokta Makro Simplex
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That is just an insane find! Belongs in a museum if you ask me. What a piece of gold rush history. I am always fascinated with these types of discoveries, that you know they intended to return later to retrieve it but for some reason they were not able to make it back. It’s a mystery.
 

Tesorodeoro

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Jan 21, 2018
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That is just an insane find! Belongs in a museum if you ask me. What a piece of gold rush history. I am always fascinated with these types of discoveries, that you know they intended to return later to retrieve it but for some reason they were not able to make it back. It’s a mystery.

It was not uncommon for miners to drop everything and hurry to the next big gold strike.
That almost looks like too much gear for one man to carry without a horse.
 

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Hendo0601

Sr. Member
Jul 30, 2014
257
455
California
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX 3030
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
It was not uncommon for miners to drop everything and hurry to the next big gold strike.
That almost looks like too much gear for one man to carry without a horse.

It’s not too much for one man to carry, I can promise you that! My back still hurts LOL. My theory is that this stuff was cached with intent on returning to dig it up and continue mining when the weather improved or when there was water in the creek. Perhaps the fellow got sick and needed to convalesce somewhere a little more hospitable and he never made it back? It was all deliberately stacked and buried it wasn’t a haphazard trash pile....and whoever buried it had intentions to return. I’ve carefully studied the surroundings and there is a row of small rock piles spaced about 10 feet apart and about 10 feet off the last pile is where this cache was. Were the stones a marker for the burial site? Coincidence? I don’t think anyone will ever know but it’s fun to speculate lol
 

Tesorodeoro

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Jan 21, 2018
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It’s not too much for one man to carry, I can promise you that! My back still hurts LOL. My theory is that this stuff was cached with intent on returning to dig it up and continue mining when the weather improved or when there was water in the creek. Perhaps the fellow got sick and needed to convalesce somewhere a little more hospitable and he never made it back? It was all deliberately stacked and buried it wasn’t a haphazard trash pile....and whoever buried it had intentions to return. I’ve carefully studied the surroundings and there is a row of small rock piles spaced about 10 feet apart and about 10 feet off the last pile is where this cache was. Were the stones a marker for the burial site? Coincidence? I don’t think anyone will ever know but it’s fun to speculate lol

Why did it take you two trips to pack it out then :laughing7:

I don’t doubt it was cached. Just saying it could have been left behind while they hightailed it quickly to the next gold boom camp (with plans to possibly come back and resume mining in that area later). Lots of reasons it could have been stashed. I’ve read that during the gold rush, you had to stay and work your claim or it was forfeited due to being idle. Some miners would arrange for others to work their claim if they had to go on an extended trip.

They may have left to join the fight if it was 1860’s era.

It is fun to guess.
 

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Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
6,342
Alberta
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Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
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Sweet finds!

I found a cache like that one summer when I was detecting in a goldfield in Montana. I found parallel lines of square nails, so I new I was following the remains of sluice boxes.

Then I got a whopper of a signal under an old pine tree, and someone back in the 1800's had buried their whole outfit under that tree. I imagine they were planning on coming back to get it some day; however, there were a lot of miners murdered in that district by Henry Plummer's organized crime gang of cutthroats, so who knows.

Once again, sweet find, and congratulations,

Lanny
 

unclemac

Gold Member
Oct 12, 2011
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Sweet finds!

I found a cache like that one summer when I was detecting in a goldfield in Montana. I found parallel lines of square nails, so I new I was following the remains of sluice boxes.

Then I got a whopper of a signal under an old pine tree, and someone back in the 1800's had buried their whole outfit under that tree. I imagine they were planning on coming back to get it some day; however, there were a lot of miners murdered in that district by Henry Plummer's organized crime gang of cutthroats, so who knows.

Once again, sweet find, and congratulations,

Lanny

did it include anything remarkable?
 

HEAVYMETALNUT

Silver Member
Dec 8, 2008
3,465
2,980
CT
🥇 Banner finds
6
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
White's MXT All Pro,White's MX Sport , White's XLT E-Series,White's eagle spectrum,White's Silver Eagle & White's 4000-D
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Relic Hunting
wow that's amazing!
 

WannaDig3687

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Jun 5, 2017
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What a great historical find! I am glad you received a banner for it. A huge congratulations to you!
 

Lanny in AB

Gold Member
Apr 2, 2003
5,651
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Various Minelabs(5000, 2100, X-Terra 705, Equinox 800, Gold Monster), Falcon MD20, Tesoro Sand Shark, Gold Bug Pro, Makro Gold Racer.
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Prospecting
did it include anything remarkable?

(Not trying to hijack your thread, just responding.) Did not see this from unclemac until today:

The kit was the typical mining gear: picks, pans, shovels, coffee pot, cooking utensils, no treasure or highly unusual items.

All the best,

Lanny
 

billb

Silver Member
Sep 23, 2010
4,566
10,135
New York
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Yes indeed outstanding..I’m sure a museum would be interested
 

Tesorodeoro

Bronze Member
Jan 21, 2018
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Just checking in to see if you had gotten things preserved and taken a picture of it all together?

Don’t let it get mixed in with piles of other goodies you probably have laying around!
 

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