A Nice Surprise At An Old Settlement

[CPT_GhostLight]

I got the chance to detect a small 1800s settlement that survived until the early 1900s along the Southern mountains of Colorado. This area has seen various activities over the years from native americans, Spanish explorers, fur trappers, outlaws, miners, farmers, ranchers, and even some Civil War activity, so you never know what will be found. This particular site saw the most activity from the 1880s to about the 1920s.

The day started with meeting a 97 year old gentleman who had grown up at the settlement and he pointed out where all the buildings were which are all gone now except for the original barn that has been restored. He was more than happy to share many stories of the history of the property and the people who lived there, as well as other activities that had happened on site. He mentioned that most of the building had either burned down fallen apart over the years except for the barn and his family's house which survived over 100 years and was purchased and moved to a nearby town in the 1990s. I could have listened to him talk all day but we had some detecting to do.

We split up and started detecting to see what we could find. I fired up the Deus II in Relic mode and started working my way from the barn, which is now used as a community center, towards the area where the old post office once stood. Of course the area was carpeted with nails and other iron trash just below the surface. It seems I had only moved a few feet when I got a really nice sounding signal. I gently pried up an inch or two of the dried earth and discovered my first coin of the day... a nice sun-baked zinc penney!

I continued on a short way and got an identical signal poking through the iron noise. Of course it's another zincoln, I thought, but as I opened another shallow hole the penney inside looked strange yet familiar at the same time. I had seen this same kind of coin not too long ago at another old site. To my delight it turned out to be an 1895 Indian Head Penney. This is only the second IHP I have found metal detecting and pretty exciting for me.

We continued the hunt until the heat became unbearable in the afternoon. I believe the only other coin found was a Wheat Penney, but many interesting artifacts were found and one detectorist found a 10K gold ring. We left some of the artifacts with the property owner and headed home feeling enriched by the experience.

I gave the zinc penney to my young grandson and told him it was a treasure coin. He was pretty excited by that, but by the time he gets to detecting age, those may be all dissoved into the earth and gone, so maybe it is a treasure coin. 😏

 

[Rick N. MI]

That's a great relic hunt. The Deus 2 worked good. You will have more IH's coming your way.

[F350Platinum]

Nice story Cap'n. 👍

Maybe that place was cherry picked for silver, but you got a lot of good 19th century relics nonetheless. The disc to the left of the IHP looks interesting. 🤔

One of my permissions has a person who is well versed in local history and gossip. It's a blast to listen to him. 

 

[GB_Amateur]

Excellent report.  You can't get much better site info than from a person who actually grew up in a ghost town, having lived there not long after it was abandoned.  And you made his day, too.

I don't like Zincolns, but when in a site that might have IH's, it's pretty much a must to dig a Zincoln signal, as you were rewarded for doing.  I hope you can get back there because there has to be more good stuff still in the ground.

[Valens Legacy]

Great hunting with some very nice finds, that IH looks to be in great condition for it's age.

Good luck on your next hunt.

[CPT_GhostLight]

8 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

Nice story Cap'n. 👍

Maybe that place was cherry picked for silver, but you got a lot of good 19th century relics nonetheless. The disc to the left of the IHP looks interesting. 🤔

One of my permissions has a person who is well versed in local history and gossip. It's a blast to listen to him. 

 

Thanks, F350. The disc and corroded disc are iron and I couldn't make out any marking on them. I have no idea what they are.

[F350Platinum]

4 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

Thanks, F350. The disc and corroded disc are iron and I couldn't make out any marking on them. I have no idea what they are.

Maybe my brain is trying to make something out of them, if they have a tab they could be electrical box punch outs, maybe they're slugs for an early vending machine 😀 looks like the whole one has a pattern.

Had to laugh at what I call the ever present "butt cream" tube, in sites like that they're all over the place. 🤣

Imagine using the barbed wire as a bracelet... 😖

[Cal_Cobra]

Nice hunt!  I'd say you've only scratched the surface, and if you're digging IHP's there's bound to be silver there and with it's colorful history, perhaps gold coins are in the cards 🙂

[locator]

Wow. Great hunt for sure. Thanks for sharing.