✅ SOLVED Unidentified items for gold rush 49er site today

[perdidogringo]

Unidentified items for gold rush '49er site today

Hi all,

I had a nice 3 hour search at my Gold Rush '49er site today. Found an old lever type key, a couple of roundballs, a shot roundball, parts of a parasol, and 3 brass rings (which could have been used on a mule harness or perhaps as grommets for the tarps they used at this campsite back in the early 1850s).

There are two items that I need some help with- The first I thought was some kind of blade when I first dug it up. But maybe it's part of an old gun? The second looks to me like a cap for a flask? The last photo is all my finds from today. Any help or ideas on the unidentified a would be appreciated!

 

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[Spats]

The first item looks like a ramrod guide.

 

[perdidogringo]

That was fast!

Thank-you, Spats! I believe you nailed the first item right away! It looks like a "ramrod pipe," similar to the picture below of ramrod pipes for a "Brown-Bess Type Flintlock Musket.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

I think your second item is a tarp twist lock?Also called turn buttons.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

I agree with Spats... the first object is a flintlock musket or flintlock pistol's ramrod guide pipe, specifically, a frontal one (from the front end of the musket or pistol's stock).

The second object is the "twist" part of a twist/turn-catch fastener... invented and patented in 1889 as a buggy/carriage/stagecoach "Curtain Fastener" but used since then for many other fastener applications. Some examples are women;s purse flap fastener, and various US Army pouch flap fasteners. See the 1889 US Patent diagram, and photos showing the version you found, and modern ones.

After-posting note: BackOfTheBoat's reply was posted while I was hunting for the photos to show you what I'm talking about. So he gets credit for the first correct answer on the twist/turn catch fastener.

 

[perdidogringo]

Thanks for the feedback, Back of the Boat and Cannonball Guy! Interesting that the twist fastener (goes well with the brass grommets found near) was patented in 1889, since this site was abandoned by 1853 (that's when they built a railroad through the Panamanian isthmus, this rendering this trail obsolete). People still, occasionally, crossed from time to time, though, even in modern times. The US Army did march this trail sometimes after acquiring the Panama Canal Zone in 1903- so perhaps they camped while doing work in the area and left some of this stuff there, mixed in with the '49er stuff that I've found over the years.

On another note, I'm sure there are also colonial Spanish relics deep under the jungle floor in this camp, since I found reference to the Colonial Spanish gov. in the Spanish archives pleading to reinforce the site because of impending pirate attacks in the late 1500s! Unfortunately, the digging would be outrageously difficult (at least 2 ft plus) through thick roots in a jungle environment.