Prospecting may pay off!

[Monty]

Went "prospecting" this morning. That is I went several miles outside my usual hunting grounds and looked over some likely spots. I've decided that if I am to be successful at finding some silver or old coins I am going to have to spread out a ways. I went about 45 minutes west of here to an area where I use to own some rural property and just drove the section lines looking for old home sites or abandoned houses. I found several old houses that look like they probably date back to the landrush days if not sooners. Sooners are those that sneaked into the open land ahead of the landrush and were squatting. Most of these old places are easy to spot as they all look pretty much the same. Most are two story wooden frame homes with the boards rotting off the exterior and the roofs starting to cave in. They usually set back off the main road with a long gravel drive leading up to them and some have wind breaks that is a dead give away if the old house has already tumbled down. There is usually a small stream nearby where they watered their livestock in lieu of running water. Nearly all will have an old caved in cellar and a sunken spot where the outhouse was located if not the remains of the outhouse itself. Cysterns were popular aroound this part of the country at about the turn of the century and you have to be careful and not walk across rotted boards covering one up. Ditto old hand dug wells. I found several old houses and homesites seemingly out in the middle of nowhere with no one around for miles. It is going to be a chore to find the property owners but probably well worth it. Some of the land is posted and some is not. I'm not promising anyone to come back and start posting fabulous finds because too many times I have seen really good looking spots and found practically nothing. I will have to wait until cooler weather because to hunt one may take all day if not 3 or 4 days. The weeds are also head high on most of them. It's one of those take your lunch and stay all day type things. I also found some really old looking churches and schools in a couple of small towns with a population of a couple hundred people or less. I am hoping there are not many rural detectorists to spoil things for me but you never know. So, I'm just dropping a note here to let you know what I will be up to this fall and on warmer winter days. Good luck to you and wish me the same. Monty

 

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[Gypsy Heart]

Wow Monty. Sounds like prospecting came up with some fantastic potential sites. It may be wise to enlist another MD partner just because of the desolate areas and hidden well problems. Dont want to lose you! Those old churches and schools sound promising also. Best of luck this fall and we all look forward to your finds....and pictures of the old areas. Thanks

 

[Mighty AP]

Sounds like you have a great plan Monty, I hope you find some very productive sites! Look forward to awesome posts of silver coins & cool old relics! Good luck!

 

[JoeMoto]

Oklahoma is a great place to find old homesites. I have a lot of luck down here in the SE part of the state. The more people you talk to the more places are offered up. I have access to a 585 acre piece of land that has at least 2 sets of old home sites on it, probably more. 40 acres of this cuts into the old Boggy Depot state park property. A buddy here has 275 acres with a site that dates back to the mid 1800's with what used to be a trading post. Lots of old timer stories of hotels, homes, churches and more. And usually permission to search them as well.

It's fun to drive the back roads and spot an old site. Try asking around at the neighboring properties and they'll probably know the owners of the place that your interested in. Everybody knows everybody out in the country.

 

[rvbvetter]

That sounds like some great sites with a lot of potential. I would think there would have to be some great old coins out there some where.. Like Gypsy said, just be careful. Wish you the best of luck and looking forward to hearing of your adventures out there. HH

 

[Dick from IA]

Prospecting? That's what I should be doing too, Monty. But when I get a half day free, what do I do instead, go MDing and bring back my 35 cents . Duh

Thanks for the post; maybe I'll get the message and do some snooping.

HH DFIU

 

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

Monty,

good luck on those sites.

Somedays it is fun just driving the back roads
and looking. Never know what you will find.

have a good un..................