Where to hunt by Morgan Falls Dam Sandy Springs

[Atlantian]

Okay everyone I have just joined the site. I am a native to Georgia, and part native american. I haven't been able to sleep tonight just reading all of these interesting stories about find and hidden treasures. I would absolutely love to find something. I spend 8 hours a week at a national forest preserve hear in Sandy springs starring at the natural creek wondering who had been there. I live close to Morgan falls dam by the chattahoochee. After doing research I have not found anything that would lead me to believe these are great places to hunt. I will get my first metal detector tomorrow. I tried looking around for arrowheads but maybe I don't know what I'm looking for and are not in the right area. Any Atlantan's care to chat about where I could go around Sandy Springs or need some company I am willing to drive an hour or so away on a weekend. Please help?!? my phone number is 770-896-6649 my name is Glenn

 

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[Slingshot]

Hello Glenn, and welcome to the world of THing. I don't know if it is legal to hunt at Morgan Falls, so you might want to call and check. I know how exciting it is to get ahold of a metal detector for the first time, but it's just like learning to do anything else, it takes some basic skills to really be successful. I would advise a few trips out to a tot-lot, where kids play in a park with the swings and big toys. There you can learn to tune your machine in, ground balance, pinpoint and retrieve coins. Then when you feel comfortable move on to bigger and better things. Proper retrieval of targets that are in the ground require careful digging techniques, and filling repairing all holes you might dig. Joining a club would be a good idea as you will be able to tap into a lot of knowledge, and probably be put onto some good sites by members who wish you to be successful in your new hobby. Stone Mountain Treasure Hunters has a meeting on Feb. 2, you might want to check out their website, and contact someone at the club for info. Good luck in you searching!

 

[divewrecks]

Glenn, when I was a teenager (about 30 years ago - yikes!) we used to go back in the woods there to get high. I remember those paths fairly well, but maybe things have changed since I was last there. I don't think we ever saw anything Indian as far as artifacts, but I think there was what may have been carvings in the little cave opening you probably found. They are probably painted over with graffiti by now. It might be worth metal detecting around some of the stone bluffs or outcroppings that have a commanding view of the river. During Sherman's advance on Atlanta the confederates surely had picket stations all along the Chattahoochee and the area you explored is no different. Just look for the place that would offer the best vantage point and widest panoramic view of the river. Sherman's cavalry eventually made the first concentrated crossing up just west of where Roswell Road crosses the river. There was a little firefight, but the yank cavalry had Spencer repeating carbines which eventually quelled any resistance from the confederate pickets opposing their crossing. There are probably some good places on the south side up there to look around, but most is private property and posted I think. I might have some other ideas for you since I grew up over that way. I can probably tell you better where not to look than where to look though <grin>. I live in Marietta now. What kind of detector are you getting? The previous post about getting some practice in a playground is well advised. Since you are familiar with the area of Morgan Falls I would suggest the kids baseball fields. Maybe you will find a coin I lost over three decades ago when I played little league up there.

Stan

 

[Atlantian]

Well I got it today it was around 4:00 so not much time to hunt with it. I bought a Garrett Ace 250 I didn't spend to much time researching but there were many great reviews and until I build up some treasures it fit my budget. It's acting funny like when I discriminate foil and iron... and say I wave it over a coke can it goes nuts like 1 coin after another follewed by the iron symbol... so I dug up several coke cans and I think it's definately not as easy as I thought it was going to be. I watched many videos and it took me alot longer to find coins than I thought. Although today I found a dime about 5 or 6 inches down it was a 2004 so I think the area has had some grading done to the area recently ( noonday soccer fields )... I also found a penny and a nickel 2 inches... Does anyone have any advice about tweaking the machine or is this model just not that sophisticated I tested it over a quarter dime and penny and it id them well without going all over the place. when the id marker starts jumping is that a sign it's probably junk as far as coins are concerned... I will try morgan falls area or the big field where johnsonsferry crosses over the chattahoochee tomorrow unless someone else can tell me some good potential areas for Civil war or old coins. The morgan falls dam was built in 1906 so there may be some stuff along the banks of the river or more junk.

Stan I see your in marietta... I was at noonday today... I grew up in marietta (Gant Quarters, Indian hills) I am also a landscaper so I have worked every neighborhood in Marietta. if you ever need a tagalong give me a shout or anyone else I'm looking to find some people in this area that have experience or don't mind sharing a site to hunt. Noonday baptist church has been around since the civil war it was a hospital for injured soldiers so I was told...

 

[divewrecks]

Glenn, the Ace 250 was a great choice and is one of the four machines I currently own, although mine is a generation earlier model that is not quite as fancy. For the price they are a good value and are easy to adjust and learn. One thing you are going to find is that no discrimination is perfect and there is much more to be gained in knowing your machine than in buying a machine with more bells and whistles. What I would recommend is setting up a little "test garden" somewhere in your lawn. You are going to bury some "known targets". Suggestions: small steel nail, large steel nail, 5" length of barb wire, horse shoe, soda can, bottle cap, pull tab, aluminum foil square, spent 12 gauge shotgun shell, penny, nickel, quarter, large civil war style bullet, silver quarter, piece of gold jewelry (don't worry, you'll find it). Bury them all the same depth, about 6-8 inches and a couple of feet minimum apart. You can mark the locations with golf tees if you like. Now "learn" what those targets tell you. Play with the discrimination and see what it does. See how the signal reacts to the target. Don't worry about focusing on the LED display, just listen as you sweep back and fourth and up and down. This experience will more than pay for itself, the treasure can wait. After you are comfortable dig the targets up and have someone else switch the holes they go in. Try to then use your experience to identify the targets. If you are patient enough experiment with depth too.

You should be able to find some coins at Morgan Falls. It is good practice to dig most of the targets you get when you are learning, but it can be frustrating. You can turn the discrimination up high enough to avoid most trash, but all you will find is pennies and clad coins. You will miss nickels and unfortunately, most of the gold jewelry because it is in the foil and aluminum range. Hey, if it was super easy everyone would have already gotten everything. Be patient. Also, practice good will by filling in your holes well. Don't tear up the grass plug any more than you have to. I guess I'm preaching to the quire since you are in landscaping; however when you are learning (or when you are lazy) you tend to dig a bigger hole than necessary.

I have looked around the field you speak of on Johnsons Ferry if you are talking about across from Columns Drive. When I was younger that grass field was regularly filled with cars on weekends when rafting the river was in its heyday. You can find coins there. Look around the trees where the concrete ramp goes down in the river to. People at one time used to line that bank just hanging out.

I live near Wheeler High School. What kind of stuff are you most interested in finding. New coins, old coins, jewelry, civil war, old artifacts?

I am also a diver and do some underwater metal detecting occasionally. There is a place called Huntcliff just above the dam from where you were talking about that I might dive sometime. We used to jump off the cliffs up there. Lowest cliff was 45 feet and there was another at 60 feet. I have to think that a lot of junk is under that cliff. It may be too dark and murky though at depth, not to mention the dangers of giant catfish!

Stan

 

[Atlantian]

Stan

I am mostly interested in finding coins, artifacts, civil war, and jewelry... Originally I was going to just hunt arrowheads and native american stuff but thats pretty difficult... Although I am going to try an find areas that have been populated with both early settlers and ancient natives. Hey I used to go to the cliffs all the time and jump off them. It was a regular summer day for us to go there drink and jump in my teens. I did alot of diving for a couple years this would have been 5 years ago. Couldn't get enough of it but it was primarily spring and ocean diving. Never thought about how I could look for things while I was down there. Do you dive in the lakes and rivers here. I lived in indian hills and gant quarters... I used to walk to go to school at wheeler. I am also trying to find out if anybody makes any money metal detecting. When I bought my machine the guy said 1800's nails were popular and you could get 50 cents a piece for them. Is there items that you can find and sell like that to make money..

 

[divewrecks]

Damn, I was throwing away all those 50 cent nails? I think the guy probably meant the large spikes that may have been used in log type contruction. They look like small railroad spikes.

Most people could not make a living doing metal detecting. There are exceptions of course. I figure if I was homeless I could probably find enough money to eat, but maybe not to feed my detector with batteries. If you knew the right places to hunt (with landowner permission) you could probably find some CW stuff to sell on Ebay. Otherwise you could look for some of the lost treasures that are told in Georgia legend, but you would have to do a lot of research.

Anyone here will tell you that research makes the difference between finding coins and modern day trash and something more significant. If you are interested in Sandy Springs I would contact this heritage resource library. I wouldn't let on that you might dig up the whole city, just tell them you are researching Indian heritage in the area. I have the first two books listed by Lois Coogle.

http://www.heritagesandysprings.org/history/history_index.html

Click on the "Research Library" link and also have a look at the "Timeline of History".

Yes, I dive at Lake Lanier in one of the swim parks a couple of times a year. I just find cheap jewelry, watches, sunglasses, swim gear, etc. Visibility is about 10 feet tops. Sometimes only a few feet. The majority of my most active diving has been a few years back when I did WWII shipwrecks, Spanish galleons, and springs & caverns.

I have become interested in the gold mining days and joined a club that is up towards Dahlonega. We have a property we lease up there that was mined quite a bit and was also an important area to the Cherokee Indians. It is right on the Etowah river. The ghost town nearby is "Auraria" see below to learn more. Also just Google search Auraria, gold, and Cherokee together.

http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ga/auraria.html

I'll take you up there sometime and we can look around. There are some cuts stones and marked trees up there if you know what you are looking for. I have a friend that has put a great deal of study into those signs. He is part Indian.

Stan

 

[Atlantian]

I'm not sure about the spikes like I said I'm a newborn tressure hunter, but as a kid i would search the creeks for things and never find anything but it was in my blood... well today I got my first full day well solid 5 hours of metal detecting... I worked the two beaches on lake allatoona both of them have been thoroughly hunted within the last week or atleast right before the last rain two sets of tracks covered in perfect lines left to right over the entire beach... The thing was is they dug holes in alot of places to find things, but managed to avoid the coke tabs well aluminum. I was wondering do better metal detectors discriminate more precisely... I turned off iron on mine cause I was getting to much trash but then as I would hit these tabs the id and sounds were that of coins even when I would focus the coil over them they would bounce back in forth as coins.... I was a bit frustrated that I could rid myself of the tabs... I didn't let the fact that someone else had been there I swept over it without a decent hit the entire time then once I went further out to the edge of the water bam I hit a horde of coins 1970s and 80s a few 60s, some sunglasses fishing lure and odds and ends plenty of coins to get experience I did notice a slight difference in how the maching reacts if your going to fast and run over iron then go back an get the coil close to the ground the id will sit on iron for a few sec... ever dig empty holes or find yourself 6 or 7 inches off your target I did 3 or 4 times I wondered if misguided pin pointing was responcible... for the most part I can say one thing I could move pretty fast and I found probably 30 coins or so... oh yea when I went to the other beach that had been closed for 3 years down the street same tracks there and the beach was clean with the exception of a few pieces of iron... The machine seems to at first react the same to most items... for a while i turned off the pull tab discriminator or on I made it where they weren't suppose to be detected... and theyre they were poppin up as coins... let me know about your experiences with the Ace 250... by the way

In Sandy Springs I am working on a community service project at a forest preserve that had a cemetary and house on it in the 1800's it was a cotton farm and the original roswell road runs through it well it is more like a clearing not a road anymore... this is cool cause it's 30 acres all to myself well and if anyone wants to join but I would have to ask. My sister is a real estate agent so I am having her find all the 1800's house near me or marietta an roswell and I have read about the legends they are very interesting. I figured I would get better at the research with time and techniques for finding hunting grounds... I read several pieces last night about where sherman crossed the chattahoochee and read about those pickets along they are only a mile or so from my house...

I have read alot about Georgia in the last couple days thank you for the links and info I appreiciatte it... hopefully within a couple of months I will have some nice stories and hunting sites to talk about and share... I tend to be an extremist with my interests for a while. I believe I got a good year with this before I can calm down about it. If that makes any since see and thats the thing I want the gold too but I don't think I can afford a metal detector to look for it from what I was told there pretty pricey. Till then I have done panning and I had a nice rock collection I like gem stones too... I would like to take treasure hunting to a more serious level not just metal detecting but actually discovering some really valuble artifacts, or untapped areas of gold or something along those lines you know the indiana jones syndrom... I have considered going back to school to learn marine archeaology becase I enjoy diving so much and finding things but then again research and some equipment would probably help to find things... sorry didn't mean to go over the top. Do people generally get so ambitios about treasure hunting or is it I just want to find another coin.

Glenn

 

[Sheldius]

Hello and welcome to the great world of Thunting,

I've been using a Garrett Master Hunter, which is quite similiar to the Ace 250, for about 2 years. If you can score permission to an older home, I'd love to come and help out. If you wanted to travel to Athens, then I can take you around the parks/schools here to learn the ropes. I can probably help you climb the learning curve a bit quicker, and I'm a very good teacher.

Since you mentioned archaeology, we can also talk about that (I'm graduating with a PhD in geoarchaeology either May or August from UGA). Email me at sheldius@yahoo.com or private message through this board.

HH

Sheldius

 

[Atlantian]

Here are my first finds I'm still having trouble I worked the old cotton farm with little success but I found this on one side it says Alabama state tax commision and the other it says LU _ _ URY Tax Token with 1 on the left and right side on both sides also lots of coins 1960s and 70's My first hunt at LAKE ALLATOONA park beach and the other at my cotton farm from the late 1800's that had a railroad running through is that what this token is from

 

[newbiemike]

Hello Everyone. I live in Decatur Ga. I have a Minelab Explorer XS detector, but havent used it in years due to frustration of never finding anything while living in FL. I would love to go out metal detecting and would be interested in finding old coins.