A Metal Detector Is A Time Machine

[mn90403]

I went out detecting this morning at a couple of local beaches I had not been at for a few months.  I ended up with just a few coins and a couple of silver rings which I have not pictured yet.  It was an enjoyable hunt for 3 hours or so.  It was a leisurely hunt and not an aerobic one for several reasons.  One reason was lack of targets.  You can hunt fast and cover lots of area to a shallow depth or you can slow down and let the coil speed catch some deeper targets.

During the swinging I was remembering my research for the day about the high tide and the low tide and the wave size and the time of these waves relative to the tides.  I also looked at the black sand line and tried to imagine what stage of the tide/time had produced that and the thought occurred to me that my metal detector was going back in time a few hours.  When you start to think about a few hours then you have to think back longer.  (Maybe even to the last time I hunted that beach.)  On a beach maybe you can think back to the last big energy event, let's say a storm or big surfing conditions.

When you are a relic hunter on a beach then you look at old pictures to see where there may have been an old bath house.  If you live in that town you start to look for old stores and gathering places like parks and you do research (look back in time) at what may have been lost or deposited there.  When and how something got there becomes the story.

Sometimes you can slow down and look farther back in time on these sites or locations and that will produce more.  Other times on the beach you have to walk quickly to capture a time before it is washed away.

Stick with me here ... haha

When it comes to gold detecting time is still a key factor.  An active wash will have recent gold.  All placers are affected by the recent and distant past.  A placer that has been worked or pushed 100 years ago will have other 'time of deposit' factors involved.  Research and finds will determine how far back and which geological occurrences need to be targeted.  Glacial deposits and all other types of gold deposits are related to time and energy.  You get the idea.

How far back we look in time depends on how slow we go as one great factor.  It is not the only one but in many places a greater depth can mean a more distant time.  Slowing down may also make smaller targets visible if that is what you want.  (As Jasong has pointed out, small gold and going slow is not always beneficial in paying the bills.)

Looking back at this it all seems rather 'obvious' and I feel like deleting all of it but maybe this will trigger something in someone out there and allow you to relate to the 'time machine' concept of metal detecting.

Now it is time to take my son to the beach.  I can see time when I look at him.

Mitchel

[vanursepaul]

Mitchel....have you been visiting the California Green Cross shop? 

 lolol

🤠

[mn90403]

I had to look up what California Green Cross is ... and the last time for me and that stuff was in 1978 in Hawaii on Maui.

Enough said.

Mitchel

[fredmason]

Save that story until little C is 25 or so and you learn what he did when you weren’t looking! 

Part of detecting fun has always been the trip in time.

fred

[vanursepaul]

Lolol.... Maui Wowee

[strick]

Nice write up Mitchel....I wish I could elaborate further but I don't have the time 

strick

[Jim McCulloch]

The oldest inhabitant of the now, nearly deserted, Montana prairie town, had told me that, back in1915, a man surnamed White had operated the local pool hall/saloon for nearly a year. During it's short-lived heyday, it was frequented by old cowboys, many of whom bore scars from bullets, arrowheads, knives, and bull's horns. Even the celebrated Western artist Charlie Russell had "bellied up to the bar" and "pulled a pint" there many a time, often listening to those old "saddle bums" spin yarns about Indian fights, crazed buffalos, and lost loves.

Gaining permission to detect the site, now nothing more than a patch of mown prairie grass that passed for a lawn, one by one I unearthed metal items, many of which clearly related to the saloon industry. Finally the turn of my trowel revealed a small, rectangular, piece of brass. Wiping away the dirt, I first spied the number 5, in fancy script. More rubbing revealed "Good for 5c in Trade." A token! Flipping the token over, it read "Star Pool Hall...  Windham, Mont."

As I held that token in my shaking hands, suddenly I could hear the mixed sounds of an out-of-tune "honky tonk" piano, the clink of glasses, the giggle of a dance hall girl, and smelled the combined odors of stale beer, sweat, and horse dung. And there he was, the great artist, sitting in the corner, sketching an 1880's scene as it was described to him by a weather-beaten old cowboy who had been there when it happened....

Yeah, metal detectors help us touch the past...

 

[mn90403]

That is wonderful Jim.  Thank you.

[mn90403]

Today I went to a different beach and the 'time' to get a few targets was very short because the targets would move with each wave.  That is where I found the butter knife and the interlocking rings and a few coins.  It was also the silver ring at the top which had the ID numbers of a penny even tho it is silver.

The other two rings are from yesterday.

 

[klunker]

 I just love finding a detecting location with lots of old bullet lead and casings.. It means there were numerous gun fights over the rich ground I am about to detect. An old hasp is always from a Wells Fargo strongbox thrown to the bandits in a stage coach robbery and a treasure is only one detector swing away. Abandon mining tools strongly imply that an old timer struck it rich took, his nuggets to a saloon, was killed in a knife fight and never returned to his rich strike - which I am about to detect. yup, I love history.