Pony Express horse Bit and More

[WYO1]

I was traveling home from a job the other day and decided to check out a spot where the Pony Express, Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail and California Trail all come together.
This spot has a two track road that is still in use. About 30 yard on either side of this road you can still see the distinct outline of pushed up dirt where the sagebrush has grown heaver in the disturbed soil. The early pioneers beat a path nearly the with of a football field all the way across the wind River Mountains.

I decided to walk along this path and walk short distances to where I thought the early traveler's would likely camp for the night. My thoughts were that they would probably pick spots out of the prevailing southwest winds. The first spot I went to had some tall sagbrush on northeast side of a small hill. After about 15 minutes I had only found a few old pieces of wire, when suddenly I got an ear splitting howl from my Whites Quantum detector. The soil there was very soft and I was able to dig down about 4 inches with my boot toe before hitting something solid. I reached down and grabbed the ring on this old horse bit. After pulling it out and dusting it off it dawned an me that this could have once belonged to a Pony Express rider, One of the original Mormon pioneers or any of the hundreds of thousands of westward bound immigrants. COOL!
I checked the area some more and got an intermittent tab penny reading, digging down about 6 inches I found the buckle in the picture with a small piece of the lether still attached.

I continued to detect for another hour or so and found quite a few old rimfire cartridge cases and square nails.
Interestingly most of the cartridge cases are flattened from repeatedly being run over by wagon wheels long ago.

Any info on the age or origins of this bit would be appreciated, thanks for looking.

 

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[CRUSADER]

Welcome to tnet from the UK.

I know when you get a big deep signal all sorts of things cross your mind & then you normally dig up a horse shoe. So nice to see a good find for a change I guess you just stuck it in your pocket & carried on detecting?

 

[WYO1]

Actually I had to stick it through my belt and try not to loose it for the next hour and a half. 8)

 

[theloadroom]

Welcome to T-net WY01 and i find your type of treasures the most exciting! Thanks for the pic's and good luck with that site!

 

[steif]

The shells are neat... real history, the one with the lead in it looks to be a .50/70 cartridge, used by the army in the late 1860's to early 1870's but it could be a 45/70 but the case looks too short.
It is a centerfire shell, even though it looks like a rimfire, it was primed by what is called the "benet" system of priming. that is what the indentions above the base are. priming compound was inserted in the case, then a metal "cup" was dropped in and crimped from the outside. that was used early by the army. they value them around $30 or so in good condition, but that one with the history and location id'd might be worth as much, just for your info... oh, and the rifles they used them in were either remington rolling blocks or more than likely a early trapdoor springfield, they were first issued in 58 caliber, then 50/70, then went to the 45/70. great items!

 

[WYO1]

Thanks for the info steif. You are right about most of the cases. There is a couple rimfires in the bunch. Look like pistol cartridges to me.

 

[TreasureTales]

Those are some great finds!! The history that could be associated with these things is mind-boggling. My kind of stuff, for sure. Congratulations! Your analysis of the area, where people would have camped, is a sure sign of a successful relic hunter. I'm impressed with your common sense approach to the search, and happy that you are a TNet member. Please post often.

 

[WYO1]

Thanks for your kind comments. I have to admit I have been a lurker on this great site for a couple years. Have been active with a metal detector for about 15. I will try and get some of my other finds posted as time permits.

 

[TreasureTales]

Thanks for your kind comments. I have to admit I have been a lurker on this great site for a couple years. Have been active with a metal detector for about 15. I will try and get some of my other finds posted as time permits.

Thank you, looking forward to those posts.