Where to look for an old homestead cache

[Krebsdetector]

Okay, so I know of about 5 old homesteads with just the stone foundation left. 2 of the homesteads don't even have a foundation. Where would I go about looking for a cache? Or spilled coins? Also how would I go about dating the houses? I think they might have been poor because there houses are really small. Also , because they live in okla. lol. Thanks for your help.

 

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[RJGMC]

So much to learn, so little time. So many answers at your finger tips. Locate the walkways around the foundations. Are the foundations, loose stone, cemented stone, stacked in corners, ? This may help date the homestead. In about another month or 6 weeks, more of the puzzle will be answered. When the jonquills come up. It was a very popular flowers in the midwest that most house wives transplanted to the walkways. Rich greens stems topped with a yellow flower, about 8 inches tall. Now you know what part of the yard was the side presented for view. Kind of like magic, now isn't it? Early spring is best due to low foilage. Not all grown up and tall. Figure out where the flower bed may have been and maybe the garden. Find the path to the outhouse. Find out where the clothes were hung up to dry on the clothesline.

Almost all of the houses were small. Most homes only had several rooms. Not like the rambling houses we have today. No inside bathroom. Most kids were piled into 1 room. Some had a winter kitchen, inside the house, and then an outside kitchen in the summer. Small does not exactly mean the were poor. Just not living beyond their means like we do today.

Okies were hard working people. Some lost it all in the depression and the great dustbowl. Remember that some were forced to abandon their property while the sherrif stood there. They did not get a chance to retrieve a little nest egg or maybe milk money they had put away. The bank said to evict and that was what the sherrif did.

While it is cold and miserable outside, time to buy or borrow some of the great books available on the subject.

Most of the answers are out there, just need a litle effort finding them.

Let us know what you find.

GOOD LUCK!

HI BOB!
RJGMC

 

[Jason in Enid]

Most homes never had, or no longer have any cache in the ground. It requires a specific chain of events for a cache to be left behind, and MOST caches were hidden inside the house, not buried. For the very few that were buried, anything goes. A list of places to search would be a single word: everywhere.

BTW- Do you live in Krebs? I have family nearby and I drive through Krebs many times a year.

 

[releventchair]

Try to picture layout. Then where you could keep an eye out while accessing cache. Thresholds,fencelines,under chicken coop floor for women's egg money or a mans card playing money. False wall under outhouse seat. Where water was obtained had regular traffic. Garden area RJGMC mentioned great,why?.
Earth disturbed with out attracting attention. Again,where would you squirrel something? Coin shoot traffic areas,but a cache depends on who hides it and what options existed. Homes caught fire enough to not all ways be a safe place for what you would have to get by with. Below or away from wood could help.
A nail in a limb or beam could be above a cache,an odd color rock among others. Or one mortised in place without a binding agent. What's left is a site. Try to see it like its your homestead.

 

[Krebsdetector]

Yeah , I live in Krebs. I also hunt west of mcalester in Haywood. I don't know if you know where that's at but yeah.

 

[Bass]

Okay, so I know of about 5 old homesteads with just the stone foundation left. 2 of the homesteads don't even have a foundation. Where would I go about looking for a cache? Or spilled coins? Also how would I go about dating the houses? I think they might have been poor because there houses are really small. Also , because they live in okla. lol. Thanks for your help.

I "missed" a cache 10 years ago one saturday morning. Another lucky gentleman beat me to the spot by about an hour. This i know because it rained the night before just enough to pack the sandy soil a little. The footprints he left were after the rain and i arrived there at approximately 0800am. This is how i know he beat me by an hour. We were both hunting a very old homesite(approx 1850) the land had been clearcut the previous week making way for a pipeline. The old home was about 50 ft from the wagon rd. the jonquils lined a small pathway in front of the house. At the back of the house about 10-15 ft was a depression where the well was. The cache was buried at the left rear corner of the house about 10 away. I walked right over the spot with my detector and found the hole still uncovered. It was only about 1 ft to the bottom of the hole. The soil was dry at the bottom. There was a perfect depression of a 3 legged cast iron pot at the bottom of the hole. Whoever he was he must have found something in the pot because he walked straight back to the road where he had parked. To this day it still bothers me that i was so close to getting this loot. I have not told but one or two people this story as it makes me sick to my stomach. ... Yes there were caches buried. More so than people realize. In the very small towns where there were no BANKS, people definitely hid their money. ... To answer your question, do your research. Find out when or if there was a bank in that place you are hunting. In the 30's and 40's there was a lot of caches buried also because people lost their trust in the banks. ...i don't know what i missed in that cast iron pot but i am sick to know that i did miss it. Do your research and go hunt. Good luck to you

 

[Sawyer]

Just because you located an old homesite doesn't mean you can hunt there. You better have the landowner's permission or face a little Okie justice.

 

[Krebsdetector]

I have permission to hunt on all of them lol. 2 of them are on my own property and the rest are on my grandpas. I wouldn't be asking if I didn't have permission.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Don't sweat it Krebs, there are always people on here who look for fault where none exists.

 

[mical66]

i think you will find truth in all the posts , not every one had enough money to make a cache ,, but some did .
and yes most people did not trust banks when they were locally owned and not federally insured , and some still do not today.
i have heard of caches buried in yards ( usually in the back yard so its out of sight but close enough that it can be watched ) or buried in the basements. also hidden withen walls or stone foundations , my father has a clump of melted silver coins , some still roundish where a old lady he was cleaning up a house that had burnt down and it was in her bed room where her bed was , so it looks like they had hid there money in there mattress .
so my advice is since its easy for you to access and you can go back as ofton as you wish , search away ... look every where you can think of..may not find anything but you never know if you dont look.

 

[gunsil]

I agree with Jason, more caches inside than outside. The ones I and friends have found were all inside abandoned structures, but I am sure outside ones do exist. If you can find a copy of "Treasure Hunter's Manual" #6 or #7 by Karl Von Muller I suggest you buy and read it. It is a very good book on the subject with many excellent tips to get you close to the spot. Like for instance most outside caches will be found within eyesight of the bedroom window and that they are almost never below arm's length deep in the ground. A friend found a cigar box with 46 Saint-Gaudens double eagles in it using tips from the book years back!! Good luck in your search!!

 

[MadPoetLaw]

Once you have determined where the house stood by the foundation and where the yard was walk around the foundation looking out to the yard slowly and mentally note anything that could have been used as a marker. Fence lines / posts. large trees, large rocks. field stone piles, try to find any foundation remains of outbuildings. The outhouse can likely be found by the depression in the ground. Chicken coop is a wonderful place to look too. Just try to imagine yourself living in that house and what you would have seen looking out the window. Don't just look around potential markers either. Detect a line or two back to the house or from one potential marker to another.

 

[Krebsdetector]

I forgot to mention that we also found 3 or 4 log buildings caved in . They were probably a little bit bigger than a king sized bed. We didn't know if they were other houses or barns. My grandpa thought they were barns the ceilings were made out of tin. So I'm leaning towards barns. Could that be a possible spot to find good things?

 

[Krebsdetector]

When I go back out there I will take some pictures and post them on this thread or another new one.

 

[MadPoetLaw]

I forgot to mention that we also found 3 or 4 log buildings caved in . They were probably a little bit bigger than a king sized bed. We didn't know if they were other houses or barns. My grandpa thought they were barns the ceilings were made out of tin. So I'm leaning towards barns. Could that be a possible spot to find good things?

This kind of depends on their relation to the foundations that you found. If they are very close to one of he house foundations then yes it's most likely an outbuilding. Either a barn, shed or chicken coop definitely want to search around those thoroughly

 

[Gold Maven]

Bass Assassin :

Don't give up on that site just because one cache was found, it has been my experience that if one is found there are often several.

Keeping all of your eggs in one basket is dangerous, I have a friend that has found 11 separate caches in his house and barn. I keep promising to bring my detector over, the yard hasn't been searched yet.