Ryan1979
Full Member
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2007
- Messages
- 151
- Reaction score
- 1
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- St. Paul, MN
- Detector(s) used
- Bounty Hunter Tracker IV, ACE250
Well, about a month or two back, I saw that a member with the screen name "49'er" (from Washington State) posted that he'd be in Wisconsin visiting relatives and wanted to get out and do some MD'ing while in the area. HMMMM, sounds like a good time to me. So we got in touch and I found that he'd be staying in Clayton, Wisconsin, which is right where my grandfather has his cabin on the lake and only 15 minutes north of where I grew up. Perfecto, we're in business!
We finally got a chance to get together and we got out on Friday of last week. I picked him up at the 'ole RV campground and we got to work after introductions. 49'er is one of the coolest, genuine guys I've met yet!! It was a pleasure to be able to MD and shoot the breeze with him. If he's in your area, MD with him, you're not going to regret it. Me being a newbie, he educated me on pinpointers (I don't have one yet), headphones (I don't have them yet either), and lots of other cool stuff he was showing me on his White's MD. I gotta save some dough up and upgrade!!
We discussed some possiblities that we both had in mind and it came down to driving out to a tiny little hole in the wall town that calls itself, "Arland" - population 3 (humans), many roosters (we could hear them crowing), and lots and lots of old farmhouses and homesites.
So we started off by stopping at the local Honda graveyard where we received permission to detect the Town of Arland Softball Field. You're not going to believe this when I say it, but the guy at the Honda graveyard specifically said, "Go ahead, the township owns it, but the only people that use it are the Mennonites."
I made a comment to 49'er about, "You know you're in the country when the only people using the softball field are the Mennonites." He smiled and we were off.
Well, we didn't really find anything worth mentioning. We both found a couple coins of clad variety, lots of old beer cans, and tons of pull tabs.
So after about 45 minutes, we packed up and headed down the road to a couple of places we'd seen from the road.
We stopped at the "Cloverleaf Schoolhouse - 1924 - District ? (I don't remember the district - oops)
There was a car in the driveway so we strolled on up to the entrance and knocked. It turned out the schoolhouse was bought by a nice lady named Jess and her husband who were slowly turning the schoolhouse into their home. She gave us some history on the site too. She was very nice and said go right ahead. So we started MD'ing the grounds of the old schoolhouse. We both had visions of silver, gold, jewels, and other long lost valuables in our heads....but we didn't really find much here either. 49'er found a few clad coins, beer cans, pull tabs, and the usual junk you'll find when detecting a place that was abandoned and used as the county underage drinking site. I found plenty of pull tabs (even found some strung together), beer cans, junk metal, car parts, etc. I can say that I did find my first silver here though. Underneath a big tree where a tire was hanging I found a sterling silver ring minus the gems. I didn't know if it was silver or not, but just tonight I cleaned it up and it states, "STERLING" with arrows pointing in from both sides towards a capital "M". So, that is a first for me. First silver of any type....and first ring!!! Anybody know what the "M" with the arrows pointing towards it from both sides means?
Also under this tire swing I found a big greenish-colored button.
I also found a heart-shaped thing with an arrow going through it. At first I thought it was silver, but after cleaning it up tonight it is more gold in color....maybe my first gold too! How to tell?
We finally figured out that at some point fill must have been brought into this site because everything we were digging was 6+ inches. The only coins we found here were clad and they too were pretty deep.
After awhile, we decided to go detect gramps' cabin site. It sits next to the lake and many years before a great big honky-tonk bar sat here until it burned down. My dad told me years ago that it was a blood and guts kind of place and that he fought there himself a few times, so I figured that there must be some loose change under there somewhere due to all the drunken fools rolling around on the ground beating the crap out of each other.
We gave it a good try, but didn't come up with much other than proof that the place did indeed burn down years ago and that the locals definately like to drink brew (I guess I already knew that though :P). We found an electrical box at about 5 or 6" and again, a TON of pulltabs, beer cans, and the like. But again, I did find my first honest wheatie right before we called it a day. I'd give you a date but it was so beat up and dirty that I don't think we'll ever know how old it is. It's soaking in super-heated hydrogen peroxide right now and foaming like mad!
After we called it a day I took 49'er back to his RV and met his wife, who was an incredibly nice lady! It was great to meet someone from this forum, have a great time, and get out in the sun and have a great time.
Many people will ask you why you go MD'ing. Some say for the fun of it, even though they don't find much. Yep, I can agree with that. I met a great guy I never knew before and had a blast, even though we didn't find much worth mentioning.
And this week, 49'er and I are going out again. And.....we're going to find even more, and have a great time doing it. Even if it's junk!
We finally got a chance to get together and we got out on Friday of last week. I picked him up at the 'ole RV campground and we got to work after introductions. 49'er is one of the coolest, genuine guys I've met yet!! It was a pleasure to be able to MD and shoot the breeze with him. If he's in your area, MD with him, you're not going to regret it. Me being a newbie, he educated me on pinpointers (I don't have one yet), headphones (I don't have them yet either), and lots of other cool stuff he was showing me on his White's MD. I gotta save some dough up and upgrade!!
We discussed some possiblities that we both had in mind and it came down to driving out to a tiny little hole in the wall town that calls itself, "Arland" - population 3 (humans), many roosters (we could hear them crowing), and lots and lots of old farmhouses and homesites.
So we started off by stopping at the local Honda graveyard where we received permission to detect the Town of Arland Softball Field. You're not going to believe this when I say it, but the guy at the Honda graveyard specifically said, "Go ahead, the township owns it, but the only people that use it are the Mennonites."
I made a comment to 49'er about, "You know you're in the country when the only people using the softball field are the Mennonites." He smiled and we were off.
Well, we didn't really find anything worth mentioning. We both found a couple coins of clad variety, lots of old beer cans, and tons of pull tabs.
So after about 45 minutes, we packed up and headed down the road to a couple of places we'd seen from the road.
We stopped at the "Cloverleaf Schoolhouse - 1924 - District ? (I don't remember the district - oops)
There was a car in the driveway so we strolled on up to the entrance and knocked. It turned out the schoolhouse was bought by a nice lady named Jess and her husband who were slowly turning the schoolhouse into their home. She gave us some history on the site too. She was very nice and said go right ahead. So we started MD'ing the grounds of the old schoolhouse. We both had visions of silver, gold, jewels, and other long lost valuables in our heads....but we didn't really find much here either. 49'er found a few clad coins, beer cans, pull tabs, and the usual junk you'll find when detecting a place that was abandoned and used as the county underage drinking site. I found plenty of pull tabs (even found some strung together), beer cans, junk metal, car parts, etc. I can say that I did find my first silver here though. Underneath a big tree where a tire was hanging I found a sterling silver ring minus the gems. I didn't know if it was silver or not, but just tonight I cleaned it up and it states, "STERLING" with arrows pointing in from both sides towards a capital "M". So, that is a first for me. First silver of any type....and first ring!!! Anybody know what the "M" with the arrows pointing towards it from both sides means?
Also under this tire swing I found a big greenish-colored button.
I also found a heart-shaped thing with an arrow going through it. At first I thought it was silver, but after cleaning it up tonight it is more gold in color....maybe my first gold too! How to tell?
We finally figured out that at some point fill must have been brought into this site because everything we were digging was 6+ inches. The only coins we found here were clad and they too were pretty deep.
After awhile, we decided to go detect gramps' cabin site. It sits next to the lake and many years before a great big honky-tonk bar sat here until it burned down. My dad told me years ago that it was a blood and guts kind of place and that he fought there himself a few times, so I figured that there must be some loose change under there somewhere due to all the drunken fools rolling around on the ground beating the crap out of each other.
We gave it a good try, but didn't come up with much other than proof that the place did indeed burn down years ago and that the locals definately like to drink brew (I guess I already knew that though :P). We found an electrical box at about 5 or 6" and again, a TON of pulltabs, beer cans, and the like. But again, I did find my first honest wheatie right before we called it a day. I'd give you a date but it was so beat up and dirty that I don't think we'll ever know how old it is. It's soaking in super-heated hydrogen peroxide right now and foaming like mad!
After we called it a day I took 49'er back to his RV and met his wife, who was an incredibly nice lady! It was great to meet someone from this forum, have a great time, and get out in the sun and have a great time.
Many people will ask you why you go MD'ing. Some say for the fun of it, even though they don't find much. Yep, I can agree with that. I met a great guy I never knew before and had a blast, even though we didn't find much worth mentioning.
And this week, 49'er and I are going out again. And.....we're going to find even more, and have a great time doing it. Even if it's junk!
Upvote
0
