Another Ghost Town Trip

[CPT_GhostLight]

I didn't get a chance to post this earlier, but a few weeks ago I got to go back to the site of my first ghost town hunt. It's one of my detecting club's permissions that has been hunted for probably 30 years of the club's 50 year history. My first hunt there 2 years ago was a daunting experience to say the least. If you've never done relic hunting, specially on a site that once had almost 2000 people living and workng there, then you cannot even imagine what that's like. The tons of iron and coal throughout the area makes every detector go nuts and a few detectorists too. 😉

There are other inhabitants on this site as well. A couple of local boys wanted to crash the hunt, but they didn't have their club cards on them so they were politely asked to leave. 😏

I was very excited to get back to this site hoping for some really old coins and artifacts now that I have had a few years of training and felt I was ready for the big game. Well let me tell you, it only takes hunting a few hours of hunting with 30 pro detectorists to to put you in your place and one of the big lessons I learned was that detecting is 50% physical and 50% mental. I started the first day rushing around to get out the door on time for the long drive to get to the site on time and discovering a few block from my house that my rear tire was flat. That set the tone for the day. I got that fixed and flew like the wind and just barely made it to the meetup on time. When we get to the site, I rush around getting my wife's detector set up and ready to go, grab my detector and climb through the barbed wire fence and discover I forgot my shovel, so I climbed back through the barbed wire, grab my shovel and slither back through the fence only to find I forgot my gloves... Auuuughhh! I run the gauntlet again  with gloves in hand and finally get ready to hunt and my remote control lock mount decides to break off. Fortunately I have a couple of backups in my pack.... but I forgot to pack my little screwdrivers.... just shoot me! I manage to flag down one of my detecting buddies and he graceously stops his hunt to rescue me. When he returned to hunting, he was promptly rewarded with a beautiful 1876 Seated Liberty Dime with CC mint mark! 

By the time I get out on the field my brain is fried and I spend the next several hours finding junk while everyone around me was finding ancient coins and wonderful artifacts. That's when I just took a time out to get my head together. After I settled down and ate a sandwich I went back to the field and my training kicked in. I discovered everything I was doing wrong and adjusted accordingly and then the finds started popping out of the iron. There were some amazing finds made over the 2 days at this site by some great detectorists, not by me of course, but I did find a few interesting things and learned an invaluable lesson. Keep a cool head, remember your training, and most of all respect the skills of your mentors! They all did well and deservedly so. I look forward to day that I reach that level of Zen. Well done my teachers!

One of my cooler finds was this tiny heart pendant or rosery piece:

Here's a dime for size comparison:

Unkown disc, possibly a coin or token piece but no discernible markings.

Oil lamp wick mount with 1872 & 1873 patent dates:

Mostly iron and lead trash:

[F350Platinum]

Nice hunt Cap'n, thought at first you might be hunting grizzlies or something. 🤪

This hobby is exciting, you never know what you're going to find and often it is spectacular. That in mind it's no wonder you forget so much. Happens to me all the time, so prepare as much in advance as I can.

Really awesome stuff. 👍 especially like the buttons and the little heart! 

The other guys may know where to look, silver jumps out at you. If you had your coil over any you would know it. 🙂 Never let that get you down.

Pretty sure you were using the D2, what version was it?

[CPT_GhostLight]

29 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

Nice hunt Cap'n, thought at first you might be hunting grizzlies or something. 🤪

This hobby is exciting, you never know what you're going to find and often it is spectacular. That in mind it's no wonder you forget so much. Happens to me all the time, so prepare as much in advance as I can.

Really awesome stuff. 👍 especially like the buttons and the little heart! 

The other guys may know where to look, silver jumps out at you. If you had your coil over any you would know it. 🙂 Never let that get you down.

Pretty sure you were using the D2, what version was it?

Thanks, amigo! There was another visitor who refused to leave and had to be dispatched, a 5 foot rattler.  I didn't see that one but one of my surface finds was a smaller rattler tailbuttons. Fortunately, the snake was not attached! 🙂

You're right, if I had gotten over a coin, I probably would have hit it even in a frazzled state of mind. Once I setteld down, everything was normal, so it was my own fault.

Yep I used the D2 and it was just a week before the V1.0 update, which in retrospect may have been a good thing, but V0.71 did great once I got it dialed in, in fact many of the best finds that trip were made by other D2 users with V0.71. I sure would like to go back back with V1.1! Unfortunately the club only goes there every other year, but oh well, I'll be ready next time! 😉

 

[PI-Man]

CPT — WOW that’s an haul.  Excellent finds!  Love the scenery incredible surroundings.  I think the bear and rattler were protecting the gold.  Dig were they were at 😆 

[Doc Bach]

Good hunt! There is still plenty of good stuff to be had at that site.

[JCR]

You dug some interesting targets. I really like the glass. Neat place to hunt.

[Valens Legacy]

That was a nice hunt with a lot of digging.

I bet you were tired when you got home after that hunt.

Good luck on your next outing and stay safe out there.

[ROCKINGCM]

Looks like a fun and exciting hunt.   Good job on getting through the fence, I tend to rip my pants doing that.   I also run the D-2 and in sites like that notching the lower numbers is your friend.   I have Gold Rush sites with so much iron it will drive you nuts without the notch.  

[CPT_GhostLight]

38 minutes ago, ROCKINGCM said:

Looks like a fun and exciting hunt.   Good job on getting through the fence, I tend to rip my pants doing that.   I also run the D-2 and in sites like that notching the lower numbers is your friend.   I have Gold Rush sites with so much iron it will drive you nuts without the notch.  

Thanks! I did end up notching 7-30 just to give my ears a break and it did help quite a bit. I just wish I could notch out lead! It sounds so good but it comes up in all the "good numbers". 😏

[abenson]

Nice bunch of finds! Looks like you had a good time and dug plenty to keep you busy.