Need some help

[Phil_The_Rodent]

Hi guys,

I've read the forum casually on numerous occasions, but never really felt a need to join, but, here I am now with some questions.

As a quick introduction, I'm an artist by trade, and a recreational arm-chair treasure hunter with a keen interest in hand-ciphers.

Anyways, I got a metal detector for my birthday last year (Bounty Hunter Discovery 1100... which may or may not be good...) and so I decided to start researching good sites to detect at. Now I think I found one.

I was out to the site today, and while I know that it was owned land, and the area I was at was listed as a house in the city plan, and there is ruins of a cold cellar near the site, I'm not sure what to consider bedrock and what to consider foundation. When I look at aerial views of the site, which dates to around the mid 1800s, I see a right angle in the treeline where what appears to be foundation begins... which is promising... but, the size of the foundation is comparable to a suburban block. Like, half an acre or something. That seems way too huge for a house. And an awful lot of effort to cut and move such large stones...

I also saw what appears to be a stone support pillar still standing. Amazing.

What am I looking at when I'm out in the field? And where should I start looking? There's no roads now at the site and it's an awful lot of dense ground to cover. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

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[hunter_46356]

Sounds like an interesting site, if the research is good. The size of the apparent foundation could be something other than a home. Could be a large barn or a stone fence or wall would be more likely. It's highly unlikely that bedrock would be at perfect angles and straight lines but I guess it's possible. Only one way to find out if it holds any treasure my friend. If the ground cover is that bad it will be difficult to get any depth but generally it won't get any better with summer coming on and things greening up. I'd detect what you can and see if anything turns up. If I found good stuff I'd even consider brush hogging or mowing to open areas to hunt. Good Luck and let see some pic's when you find the treasure. HH Hunter

 

[Phil_The_Rodent]

Thanks for the response! If the hunt yields anything, I will certainty post.

The information is good. Very good. I know who owned the property and the adjacent property. I did this by aligning city zoning maps with google maps, following waterways and roads. My place marks weren't exact, but I assume the early map wasn't perfect. Close enough. I see a homestead on the map and the foundation is there.

I did some research after posting, and the owner was an engineer who had a few mines. So, it might explain the sizeable area.. still, it's huge. I assume folks didn't put stuff under foundation. So, hunt away from the nearest road, off the blocks?

TYVM for the reply.

 

[Tnmountains]

I would quickly scan the whole area and try to imagine the routes in and out. Hunt in all metal to find debri and then after seeing what those targets are discriminate some if the iron in not worth the effort. You may be a big asset in the "What is it section" it is a very interesting area on this site and you can learn a lot about the dug targets.
Welocme to t-net

 

[Phil_The_Rodent]

Thank you Tnmountains, I will have a look.

You would scan the foundation also? I guess it doesn't hurt to check, but I don't really expect anything would be there except beer caps.

 

[CoilyGirl]

Can't wait to see what you dig up and hope your research pays off.

 

[Phil_The_Rodent]

Thank you CoilyGirl. I'll head out again sometime next week.

 

[Phil_The_Rodent]

Sadly, looks like digging in the area is prohibited -- kinda spoils my fun at the first site. That said, I have a kind of repeatable workflow now for finding the old homesteads, which is great. And I know: (a) it works, (b) it is repeatable, and (c) what I am looking for at the sites.

A massive fire swept through the area a little over 100 years ago and destroyed thousands of homes and farms; I'm sure to find many other areas of interest.

 

[Phil_The_Rodent]

So, was out to a few more documented sites today, and I guess I might try to formulate into 3 general categories:
(a) foundation -- cut stones overlaying an area; probably had wood siding
(b) pile pf stones -- probably had earth foundation and stone siding
(c) unnaturally pock-marked earth -- probably had earth foundation and wood siding

In swampy areas, I found nothing, but if the above is true I would probably consider success rate about 80% at finding these places.