Street tearout

[jimzz977]

I was driving in the old part of town and noticed that one oldest street was being torn up including the sidewalks, that street dates from 1890s , I'm take the etrac and hopefully find old coins !!!

 

[Jason in Enid]

Good luck! Be prepared for lots of trash. Dig everything that isn't iron.

I have only had a single street tearout that had anything of value. Most were dug out too deep in the past to leave anything behind, but if you find one what wasn't it could be a great site!

 

[jimzz977]

This is going be my first time doing a street tearout so I m excited

 

[kingskid1611]

This does sound exciting. I can't wait for your show and tell show later....

 

[Jason in Enid]

This is going be my first time doing a street tearout so I m excited

Well what are you doing on TNET right now? Get out there and hunt it before someone else does!

 

[Lukabrazi]

Find anything?

 

[Gold Maven]

My buddy replaces curbs, gutters, and sidewalks for a living, and he is always picking up old coins by sight.

Most of his jobs are an hour or more away, and often uncovered an covered again on the same day, so I don't get many chances to hunt.

They can be rich, Good Luck!

 

[villagenut]

You gotta jump fast to be the first one in there. Often times, these tear outs can result in what seems like vultures on road kill. Don't procastinate or you will only be pickin up what others missed.

 

[cudamark]

I've found that street tear outs are only good if the street was once unpaved. If the street has been paved from the beginning, it's a waste of time to hunt. That's where a bit of research can save you some time an effort on a bust of a hunt.

 

[jimzz977]

Ok i hunted the street tearout today for 5 hrs along with a good friend and together found a total of 4 merc I found three of then and friend found one and and a buffalo and several wheaty s my mercs were 1929,1918, last couldn't see date I'm cleaning the wheaty s I'll post them shortly , might even found an Indian head?? Not sure, in bad shape

 

[Dan(NM)]

Nice hunt, sure wish I could have made it.

 

[DW Dirt Whisperer]

I was driving in the old part of town and noticed that one oldest street was being torn up including the sidewalks, that street dates from 1890s , I'm take the etrac and hopefully find old coins !!!

That friend was DW Dirt Whisperer. Lmao. Yes it was a great hunt. And man I am feeling them digs. Ground was compacted and managed to break one of my diggin tools bummer. Here is a pic of my finds as well.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

thanx for sharing the pix. Asphalt/blacktop tearouts (of streets) are hit and miss. Because often times , what SEEMS like a "tearout", is actually just grinding/milling down , to prepare for a new layer of pavement . And they may not actually be grinding out down to the native dirt. May only be down into the DG . Decomposed granite base-compaction layer of yesteryear's original construction. The only way to know, is to be familiar with the look of native soil in your area.

Sidewalk demo's are usually better: Because since they're engineered to carry only pedestrian traffic weight (versus cars/trucks), they have little to no prep. underneath them. Sometimes yester-year sidewalks were laid right on top of the native dirt. Versus roads which got engineered with a DG base.

Congratz on the old coins !

 

[jimzz977]

Thanks for that info , I thinking that that was first pavement because I found pieces old bottles, pottery and other old artifacts like old copper and the dirt was like farm land dirt. I'm going back thus weekend and grid the street out. Part of the street is were old downtown used to be like in late 1800s

 

[The Dirt Fisherman]

man, i cant wait till they redo the main street of my hometown. ive seen a picture of it that was taken in 1900 and the road was dirt =) id love to just find a small patch behind one of the buildings somewhere that hasnt been hit. that would be spectacular. but as soon asphalt breaks its on like donkey kong!

 

[Jason in Enid]

man, i cant wait till they redo the main street of my hometown. ive seen a picture of it that was taken in 1900 and the road was dirt =) id love to just find a small patch behind one of the buildings somewhere that hasnt been hit. that would be spectacular. but as soon asphalt breaks its on like donkey kong!

We still have few in my downtown area that are asphalt over the original brick. If those ever get torn out, I'll probably just go work it with a shovel and screen!

 

[jimzz977]

I m heading to the street this morning , hopefully find some more old silver like barbers

 

[DW Dirt Whisperer]

I m heading to the street this morning , hopefully find some more old silver like barbers

Good luck

 

[jimzz977]

I think I found my first ever token at street tearout and friend found a 1893 ih and that all for todays hunt ,how can I clean this token?

 

[Jason in Enid]

Congrats on your first token, but unfortunately it isn't likely to clean up much. Aluminum is quick to rot and everywhere it's blistered, it has a pit underneath. You could try scrubbing it a little with a brass wire brush. It might clean it enough to read what it is and where it's from. Just go gentle and don't expect a miracle.