Hunting 100 year old farmhouse site

cheezinoot · Dec 17, 2006

Yesterday I was granted to hunt this land that has not been hunted before. I hit for 2 hrs. and found only tabs and cans and BTops. Where are the coins(actually I did find a 1994 one cent)? Any tips? Thanks

Gypsy Heart · Dec 17, 2006

cheezinoot said:
Yesterday I was granted to hunt this land that has not been hunted before. I hit for 2 hrs. and found only tabs and cans and BTops. Where are the coins(actually I did find a 1994 one cent)? Any tips? Thanks

Next time get out of your truck hon.

Seriously....is there old foundations ? Hit those,the trail to the outhouse,and out buildings, old trees, lilacs and where the old closeline would be......then find the ridge or where they would dump theirbottles etc....if their is water close...either creek,river or pump.....follow the likeliest route to it

cheezinoot · Dec 17, 2006

Gypsy. This property is relatively flat,surrounded by woods. The only thing pertaining to the house is a steel pipe sticking out of the ground. Searched around that and came up with nothing.

Gypsy Heart · Dec 17, 2006

Is there a way you can see an old plat map ,to see exactly where the house was located?
It seems funny that you wouldnt find any more coins,buttons,flatwear....etc.

Hey wait a minute....isnt there snow and frozen ground in Minnesota? How are you hunting?

Are you sure the pipe indicates a house? Or could it have been from the pump or windmill?
Arent you finding red bricks,pottery broken glass,anything?

cheezinoot · Dec 17, 2006

Gypsy. Yes I live in MN. I live right on the MN/IA border. The ground isn't frozen here. Temps have been in the 40's. No bricks or glass. Yes your right that could be an old pump. How would I find an old plat map?

Gypsy Heart · Dec 17, 2006

Try here...this first one is map with house placement on them...
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mnfreeb2/maps/twpmap.html

Freeborn County Historical has plat maps from about 1877 on ....
http://www.smig.net/fchm/museuminformation.htm

bazinga · Dec 17, 2006

There is also the chance that there just aren't any old coins there. I've hunted some spots that look like goldmines and have no coins at all and then go to a tiny yard that looks like crap that is LOADED with coins.

dahut · Dec 17, 2006

What Sco said.
Dont you wish you were a fly on the wall, watching us? Your multi-faceted little eyes would see us poised with our mega buck "investments" (detectors), sure that every place we can put a little logic to will yield up inestimable treasures.

I dont know how many old houses and other sites Ive detected that have offered up doodly. I KNOW they have to be good because they are OLD, right? Sometime its the oppostie - all the usual places hold all the usual goodies. Trouble is, we are searching square inches and we are usually pretty unsure of even that. Yeah there was a house here. Somewhere. Or maybe it was a barn and it was over there... I think.

But was it the house of a broke-bacon farmer or share cropper? Maybe the home of someone well-to-do? Either way, the result could be the same. They either had no money to lose or they kept what they had in a purse, inside of pockets far deeper and more sturdily contructed than any we have today.

The only way to know what a site has to offer is to grid and log the site. You will either find the goods or determine that it is, indeed, barren. Wishing for more than that because some spot may be old is only false expectation. Things are where you find them, so search methodically and with patience until you know the facts:
The goods are there... or they arent.