Just Me And Heidi On The Desert Emigrant Road Today

[Jim in Idaho]

Just me and Heidi. Found a bunch of cartridges, Six .30 Remington in one small area. (obviously a lousy shot...LOL) One .38 Special...all modern stuff.
Then a 40-60 Winchester (black powder) unfired, with bullet intact in case, but the case was broken in two. Primer is not dented.; a 38-56 Winchester (black powder); a .44WCF; Two .45 Colts, but one has no headstamp. An unfired 25-20 by UMC; A flattened bullet, and the best find...some sort of medallion with U S on the front. The front is bronze, and the back is lead about 1/8" thick. If anybody knows anything about this item, I'd really appreciate some help.
I used the DFX, Settings were "Coins & Jewelry", Best Data, with the 6 x 10 DD coil. It smoothly ignored all the iron.
 

[RickUK]

Jim,some terrific finds,still have and use my DFX which was one of the 1st batch here in the UK,still one of my all time favourite detectors and given me 1000s of hours of enjoyment,although i have a large collection of coils for the detector the main 2 that i use are the 10x6 like yourself and also for depth the 12'' Hotshot concentric coil but never been a fan of the stock coil.

Wont ever part with it but it has always found me some terrific finds over the years and after my T2 has found me the most gold coinage,slightly on the heavy side so dont use it as much these days.

That US plate thingy looks interesting !!

[Mark Gillespie]

Wow, the US relic is very interesting.  Is it multilayered? 

[kac]

Almost looks like a lid to something, cool finds.

[Jim in Idaho]

7 hours ago, RickUK said:

Jim,some terrific finds,still have and use my DFX which was one of the 1st batch here in the UK,still one of my all time favourite detectors and given me 1000s of hours of enjoyment,although i have a large collection of coils for the detector the main 2 that i use are the 10x6 like yourself and also for depth the 12'' Hotshot concentric coil but never been a fan of the stock coil.

Wont ever part with it but it has always found me some terrific finds over the years and after my T2 has found me the most gold coinage,slightly on the heavy side so dont use it as much these days.

That US plate thingy looks interesting !!

Rick, I really like my DFX, too. I really don't need a detector this capable, as most of the stuff out west isn't very deep. But the two frequency correlate mode is a big help in trashy sites. The DFX does all I need in coin and relic hunting.

Jim

[Jim in Idaho]

Ya know guys, that "rim" that shows around the edge is just decorative. I'm sure it's a medallion of some sort. It's a double layer, Mark. Bronze on the front, backed by lead. So, it could be somewhat "formed" by bending it. In fact, when it came out of the ground, it was doubled over, and completely flat.....LOL...probably run over by hundreds of wagons back in the day. It may be a belt buckle, or off a saddlebag, or saddle?

 I've also found out that, for the most part, the emigrants had muzzle-loaders. There were very few centerfire firearms during that period of time. The Jeffery-Goodale cutoff was used by 70% of the emigrant trains starting in 1862, and running until emigration slowed to a trickle by 1884. After that, the trail was still used by stages, , and various travelers, and freight companies. There were a couple of rimfire metallic cartridge rifles used during the civil war, however. It would be nice to find one of those cartridges.

 So, none of the cartridges I've found would have been handled by an emigrant on a wagon train.

Jim

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Just found out the medallion is a Civil War ammo box plate. Probably used on other types of boxes, but ammo was what I found. I had noticed some small rusty nail, or fastener remnants on it, in one spot. Now I'm wondering if it was used as a "seal" across a joint in the box, to show if it was tampered with. I wonder if that is why it's got the big tear in it....hurriedly removed?

Makes my day finding that!

Jim

[GB_Amateur]

Yep, cartridge box plate.  Chase will likely tell more about it when he reads this thread.  Too bad about the condition, but still an unusual and difficult find.  Well done!

 

[Chase Goldman]

Looks like a Civil War era or Indian War era cartridge box plate.  The cartridges used were typically paper cartridges with lead minie ball projectiles.  However, US Cavalry did use a variety of carbine rifles that used large caliber metallic cartridges and carbine minie balls.  They were typically .52 to .54 caliber.  Look for fired or dropped large caliber minie balls in the area where you found that box plate.  It looks like it was hit with a plow blade or shovel while it was in the ground.

[Jim in Idaho]

Thanks Chase! No chance of it being hit with a plow blade in that location. Not much chance of shovel either. I'm wondering if maybe a hatchet when it was still on the box? It was folded over right on the cut line. After looking at it again, it looks like the cut was made from the back. So much for it being hit while on the box...LOL The lead on the back has tapered edges at the cut line. Obviously a sharp object, with considerable force, to cut through both metals. I looked all over that portion of the trail, but did not go out into the sagebrush on either side. I'll have to get to that....good suggestion! It was NOT a good place for the Indians to ambush a party....No cover closeby, and fairly flat.

Jim