Help with "corn fields"

[AugustMoose87]

Trying to better understand hunting fields, be they corn, soy, wheat, etc. Especially interested in the thoughts of those who are further west.

When you look for a field, are you looking in to its history, proximity to something, or do you just pick a field and start swinging (with permission of course)? Places in the east where you could have metal artifacts from almost 400 years ago, I get just hitting any field you can get permission on. But at least here in Colorado, I feel like that would be a HUGE waste of time and energy - zero chance of discovering any kind of unknown colonial, revolutionary, or civil war camp/outpost. I'm going to be pumped just to find an 18XX coin out here.

Also, help me understand the mind set of hunting fields. I know when I'm hunting a campground, playground or beach, I'm looking for thing people lost while there. I'm my mind (since I don't have much history here) the things I am most likely to find are things that fell off a tractor (nuts, bolts, etc.), maybe some parts off older livestock driven equipment, and if I'm REALLY lucky, some coins or jewelry that fell while someone was working.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[Crappies-n-Coins]

LOL, yep, no "history" there.

City of Longmont, Colorado : History of Longmont

American Indians have traveled through the area where Longmont is today for thousands of years. Some of the earliest residents of North America, the Clovis people, lived in northern Colorado 14,000 years ago. A succession of other peoples moved through Colorado , including the Folsom people around 13,000 years ago, and the Plano people about 11,000 years ago. The dry climate, however, made continuous habitation difficult, and the northern plains were unoccupied for centuries.

The tribes that Europeans encountered in their explorations arrived in Colorado in the 1500s. The Cheyenne, Dakota, Arapaho, Kiowa and Comanche all traveled through Colorado, following huge buffalo herds across the American Plains.

The first Europeans to come into the northern Colorado area were explorers and adventurers. One of the first American explorers was Major Stephen H. Long, an Army officer. The most prominent mountain in northern Colorado, Longs Peak, was named for Major Long. Trappers, traders and miners followed the explorers. They set up crude settlements such as Boulder City, (now known simply as Boulder).

Longmont began in an unusual way. In 1870, a group of prominent men in Chicago decided to start a new town in Colorado. They sold memberships in this new town they called the "Chicago-Colorado Colony." The money raised paid for 60,000 carefully chosen northern Colorado acres of land for a town site and nearby farms. They planned the town, and brought the people, lumber and building materials to the barren site. By the summer of 1871 they had built a small town and named it "Longmont," in honor of "Longs Peak," the mountain formation they could clearly see from town.

While the climate of Longmont is dry, the soil is rich, and will produce excellent crops if water is brought to it. One of the great achievements of the Chicago-Colorado Colony was building large irrigation ditches to bring water from the rivers to the fields of wheat, fruit trees and peas that farmers planted.

The Colony planners designed Longmont to look like many other towns in America. The original one-square-mile plan had stores along Main Street, homes arranged in a grid spreading out from Main Street and industrial buildings located along the railroad and the St. Vrain River.

As the town grew, large-scale agricultural industries arrived, first flour mills in 1872, then the Empson vegetable cannery in 1889. Several leading residents of Longmont worked together to build a sugar beet factory on the east edge of town. They had developed enough support by 1903 to build what would soon become the Great Western Sugar Co. Sugar beets grew well in northeastern Colorado because of the availability of irrigation water and the richness of the soil.

The richness of Longmont 's soil attracted many people. People came from Sweden and settled northwest of Longmont. Germans came by way of Russia, and farmed the sugar beet fields. People came from Mexico to work in the fields. People came from Japan, and set up vegetable farms. All these groups continue to be an important part of Longmont's heritage, and their descendants still live in and around Longmont.

 

[AugustMoose87]

Ok smart Alec

I meant that there was not the length of European history comparable to the east coast, and no major European wars/battles took place here ( though there are a few Indian War battles in the state).

 

[Crappies-n-Coins]

Ok smart Alec

I meant that there was not the length of European history comparable to the east coast, and no major European wars/battles took place here ( though there are a few Indian War battles in the state).

Ain't I a stinker

Not quite sure I'm following, but you're wanting to make finds that generally take place in the Colonial States, in Colorado?

 

[Isaac]

No Crappies-n-Coins, I think he wants to know how do people go about finding stuff in a random field.

step 1. research

You can't just go into some random field, start swinging, and expect a boat load of finds. SOMETHING had to take place, or be, in said field. Sometimes people use historic maps or aerials and compare them to today to find old parks, ball fields, homesteads, etc.
Asking old timers where they played ball, hung out, etc. is another way to research.

step 2. permission

Self explanatory, you have to find the land owner and get permission from him/her to metal detect.

GL and I hope this helped. There's lots of history in Colorado. It's out there.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Folks used farm fields to set up community tents for harvest festivals, local fairs and such. There were no public parks in the 1800s, and a cleared field was THE place to gather. I'll hunt ANY farm field any time I'm given the chance!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Folks used farm fields to set up community tents for harvest festivals, local fairs and such. There were no public parks in the 1800s, and a cleared field was THE place to gather. I'll hunt ANY farm field any time I'm given the chance!

Terry, but in the example you just gave, it sort of contradicts itself. Because by definition, if you are hunting a field that had been used for "fairs, festivals, etc...", then logically, you're not just hunting "any random farm field". You are hunting fields where SOMETHING WENT ON. The sure, by all means, if research evidences such usage, then hit it. But no, not just "random ag. land" .

In Europe perhaps they can go to any random potato field and and start hunting. Because there's been 2000+ yrs. of continuous cultivation in some of them. But here in the USA (even the east coast IMHO), we just don't have that length of history. So instead, you find out where old stage stops were, homesites, parks, etc....

 

[Terry Soloman]

I understand Tom, but most farm/family/community grange fairs and harvest balls are not in history books or old newspapers. Karma dude! Hunt and ye shall find!

 

[CoilToTheSoil]

I start with research, then cherry picking paying close attention to high spots knolls or hills, next is bordering road frontage but not so close as to get modern trash overload.
I'll concentrate on hotspots I find cherry picking the field, if I find no hotspots and there's no definitive history or topographic maps available noting use or structures, I clear all high ground then frontage, then grid.

 

[whammy]

I know it's a stretch but my Uncles field had been used for over a hundred years. Plowed every year and who knows what else. I thought maybe something dropped out of their pockets, so I gave it a shot. Little did I know in the middle of the field was a home site. No maps showed it, and nobody knew it was there. Over the course of several years I pulled over 30 coppers, musket balls, 1700 Spanish reales, and a large silver form Bolivia. Also many horse related items, an early 1800s percussion pistol barrel and lots of other items. Granted it doesn't happen often, but it can happen. Give a field a try, maybe you will get lucky and maybe you won't, but it's worth a try.

 

[etex]

The first thing I would do is walk the field looking for glass or brick

 

[Terry Soloman]

The first thing I would do is walk the field looking for glass or brick

And while you are walking and looking make sure you are swinging that detector!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

there is row-crop land near me, that once was the location of a contact-era indian rancheria. Dated from the 1790s to the 1820s, then dispersed. From the 1820s to the 1910's is was just cattle grazing land (hence no foot traffic per se). Then from the 1910s/20s to-the-present, it is ag. land.

Naturally we're hitting it looking for the reales of the rancheria times (1790s-1820s). And to date, I've found 27 reales there, and hundreds of buttons. The absolute NEWEST of those reales is mid 1820's, and a single seated from 1837.

Occasionally however, a nuisance coins from the ag. row-crop period (last 100 yrs.) turns up. A rogue wheatie, or buffalo, a silver washington, several clad, etc.... We are NOT looking for those, of course But one day, it occurred to me, that if our intent was just to be "roaming random ag. land" for field-worker losses, then it certainly would not be worth it. Because, yes, even though a few modern silver coins, buffalo, wheaties, etc... . had surfaced, yet the ratio for the time we put in (worked it for 15 yrs. now, almost every fallow plow time), would simply not have been worth it.

Thus using that logic for similar row crop, orchards, etc.... they would logically not be the place to hunt, UNLESS something had gone on there. Europe? Perhaps. But it just seems that the USA is new enough for just random harvester/field-worker losses.

 

[AugustMoose87]

Random aside - it's funny how sometimes you start a post thinking you are asking the right questions, and a page or two later the REAL question occurs to you...

Thus using that logic for similar row crop, orchards, etc.... they would logically not be the place to hunt, UNLESS something had gone on there. Europe? Perhaps. But it just seems that the USA is new enough for just random harvester/field-worker losses.

Which is exactly where I am at - trying to determine what is worth my time. The facts of life for the moment are that I don't have a ton of time to hunt. If I had all the time in the world, sure, I'd hunt anywhere I got permission, and decide for myself if the field is worth revisiting. But for now, I'm trying to make the most of my hunt time, and thus wondering if there are clues that might help me pick a promising field, or if my time would be better spent digging through all the trash in the older parks in town hoping to find something others missed.

 

[lost it]

Mr. Moose, living here in Ma. I think it is possible to find something in every field. Maybe not always a coin, but many relics are very cool. You cant always find all the history of a place. I think of a large field I know close by in Concord-many people have detected over the years-even club presidents- and yet I still find coins and silver spoons and old gold rings, buttons etc. you never know what you may find. good luck and happy hunting--hit those fields

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... or if my time would be better spent digging through all the trash in the older parks in town hoping to find something others missed.

Well why is it only those 2 options ? Being as that you're from Colorado, your ag. fields (if we're truly talking "random") would not be worth hunting, in my opinion. If we're talking "random fumble finger field-hand losses. But conversely, nor is junky blighted worked out hammered parks necessarily going to pork out fast-action old silver either.

So hit the history books, and find out where the old country picnic spots of yester-year were. Or stage stops/emigrant camp spots that no one else has thought of finding and hitting yet. Or , if hitting ag. land, at least where a structure or gathering spot of some sort had been behind it.

Another frontier is old town urban demolition scrapes. Especially if you can find where they are tearing out turf, for some renovation purpose, in old town parks. And some old parks are not so useless and stingy for regular turf hunting. I can think of some here in CA (albeit that require driving to reach) that still pork out several choice old silver ('20s and earlier) each time I hit them. But you gotta be a touch cookie able to reach 8" on the deepies, while passing the shallow modern stuff to rack them up.

 

[jimzz977]

I've been thinking about hunting Farm fields where I live in southern nm there's alot of history here and also alot of fields . El Camino real went though here, it's a route used by the Spain from mexico city to Santa fe. Maybe start looking the fields by that route?

 

[Normsel]

When I walk a new field or new place I walk an X pattern as I am looking around for anything that may catch my eye. With an X pattern I hope to get a good cross section of what's out there. Is there a better way to get a sample beyond hunting the entire field I don't know but it seems to work for me.

 

[Crappies-n-Coins]

Not every field had something one it, and that's where old plat maps really become useful. If they aren't available in your area (they aren't in mine), then try and find a large farmer (meaning big farms, not an overweight farmer ), and and explain what you do, and ask if he knows if there were any old homes on any of his property(s) that you could hunt. Lots of farm properties have been in "the family" for lots of years. That said, I've informed lots of farmers of sites on their properties they weren't aware of.

 

[captain redbeard]

I found the fields I'm detecting now while I was looking for artifacts last year (before I had a detector). Was walking several of these fields and started noticing a lot of broken pottery and glass. Bought a detector in nov. started looking at old maps of the area and found out it was a pretty active area many years ago. Never would have thought a train station, several mills and a village all took place in these fields or surrounding area. Since then I've pulled a lot of really neat things out of the dirt and I"m just scratching the surface, haven't even hit the creek yet. A few of these fields are corn and another is used for hay which are all along a creek (water power). I'd say if you have permission for any field whether on/near water or not, take a look at old maps ( I use historicaerials.com) to get started, then dig deeper if anything interesting shows up. I never really took into consideration how much land changes over time until I started detecting, its pretty incredible actually. If nothing shows up on the maps it wouldn't hurt just taking a few trips scoping them out looking for pottery/ceramic/glass and whatnot, as there might be sites even older than the maps show. hope that helps.