Exploring underground tunnels and found some rings

[greentree89]

In my town we have huge culvert storm tunnels underground (I suppose all towns do!) and me and some friends discovered an entrance to these tunnels.
The tunnels were built back in the 19th century and some parts of the tunnel are still that old, you can see the old brickwork they used to build the tunnels.
Although most of it is modern now with concrete pipes.
Near the end of the tunnels we found something fascinating.
I missed it completely but my friend caught eye of some writing on the tunnels, our eyes began to adjust to what we were seeing all around us in one section of the tunnel.
Someone had somehow printed or pressed every page of a newspaper onto the walls and it is imprinted on the tunnel walls like a tattoo. We finally found the front page with the date September 13, 1933. Sort of like a time capsule. They had somehow neatly imprinted every page side by side onto the ceiling and walls.
Later on my friend saw a glint in the shallow water and picked up a ring. I started to realize how many interesting things could be found down here so I started to look around and soon after I found a ring as well alongside a few coins from the 60's
I must bring my detector next time!

No idea how old the rings are. They might not be that old at all but they look very nice.
Here are pictures of the rings we found and the newspaper prints.
Also some pictures of the tunnels taken by someone else.

 

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[XLTer]

Fantastic thread guys ! Keep it coming!

 

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[heepiepow]

So awesome! I've always thought storm drains would be great places to detect. From research there seem to be metal grid traps a few feet below each street drain which workers clear now and then, but they must miss things, and if so the drain would act as a natural sluice. So there may be a collection of lost gold rings just naturally collected. I've never ventured in due to 1) it's illegal, 2) it's atmospherically hazardous and I don't have a gas mask or separate oxygen supply, and I don't want to die, and 3) I suspect there's also millions of drug needles, so that's another risk. But for anyone brave enough and with a hazmat suit, there have to be millions of lost rings in these places, and since they're usually built with a long horizontal "floor" for 95% of the length, one could just skip over that to each declination/natural trap. Basically, gold pan it as if it were a perfect river. Might not even need to bring a detector along, just scoop up everything from those traps.

Anyway fantastic post and great pictures. Those pictures and especially the ancient wall newspaper items remind me of a level on Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines (computer game). It was an old L.A. sewer/storm drain which was abandoned in the '30s or so, ostensibly due to natural or engineering malfunction, but the real reason is that macabre vampiric monsters killed everyone. And it also featured old newspaper articles on the walls/desks (which remarked upon the puzzling deaths in the drains, up until whoever put them up couldn't because the abominations got that far) and also that harrowing claustrophobic view as in your pictures.

 

[Plumbata]

At one point in the tunnels we heard a huge thundering clunking sound reverberating off the walls. No idea what it was but could of just been a huge truck going over one of the manhole covers.

Plumbata that is truly amazing of all those coins you found! I had no idea so much could be found! Its only occurring to me now how much more could be waiting down there. Your idea of using a sieve and scoop makes much more sense now I think about it. My detector may be going off at every step which will get me no where haha.
I will purchase a good head lamp and really get searching next time with a 1/4" sieve.

I will take more photos next time I go and share any news of what I find next!

Yup, the acoustics in the tunnels are interesting. Semi trucks going over even distant manhole covers can make a loud and far-traveling sound blast, which will be quite startling if you're unprepared.

I did find a nice pile of stuff from that sewer, and most of it is surely still down there. Every storm drain is different, sometimes they are engineered in such a way that very little settles-out and can be found within the tubes (in this case the outfall areas can be sifted or possibly detected), but usually the older ones have depressions, flat stretches, ledges, cracks, corners and irregular holes where heavier things fall out of the flow or get trapped. If you happen upon stretches of gravel and whatnot, scrutinize the upstream half for bolts, nails, lead wheel weights, bullets etc. and that is also where the coins and jewelry will be. Also carefully scrutinize the spaces between bricks and any cracks in the floor, as good stuff always seems to get lodged in these places, and if any strange items like big rocks, bricks, or cast iron pieces are seen in the channel, look around and under them for possible trapped treasures.

Another thing to keep in mind is that sometimes you will encounter rusty "concretions" of iron rich material which will need to be smashed apart to reveal coins and other things lurking inside.

A detector would likely be very useless in such an environment, as there is loose metal everywhere on top of whatever interference one would encounter from steel reinforcement bars or mesh in the structure. Eyeballs and a sifter are all that you really need. Also, the scoop I use is simply a piece of flat pliable sheet metal that works more like a spatula to hug the floor of the tunnels and get underneath the concentrated piles of goodies. A rigid pre-fab scoop won't be of much use.

You will want some tools for extracting items lodged in cracks on hand (rock hammer/pick, chisel and flathead screwdriver oughta suffice) because it will drive one crazy seeing the edge of a silver coin or gold band stuck in a crack when you don't have the simple tools needed to get it safely in your pocket!

As always, check the weather before heading in, avoid slogging through fresh rain runoff (pollution, filth, spit, dead animal guts, etc), and remember where nearby manhole access areas are in the event that you see a wall of water rushing toward you, lol!

I've never ventured in due to 1) it's illegal, 2) it's atmospherically hazardous and I don't have a gas mask or separate oxygen supply, and I don't want to die, and 3) I suspect there's also millions of drug needles, so that's another risk. But for anyone brave enough and with a hazmat suit, there have to be millions of lost rings in these places, and since they're usually built with a long horizontal "floor" for 95% of the length, one could just skip over that to each declination/natural trap. Basically, gold pan it as if it were a perfect river. Might not even need to bring a detector along, just scoop up everything from those traps.

I'm not sure about the legality, but I figure that if it isn't posted I'd rather risk getting caught and plead ignorance than not investigate at all. Also, I've never encountered "bad air" in the storm drains, as there is usually pretty decent circulation due to the open street drains. Sanitary sewers would be a different matter of course. Drug syringes these days are made of plastic and pretty much float, so I've never seen a single one in sewers whereas upon exiting one drain, within yards I saw a few dozen needles littering the wooded hillside. Heroin was epidemic in that city, nasty stuff. I do agree about treating it like gold panning, as the same hydrodynamics which concentrate heavy materials in certain areas in streams are also at work in the sewers. Since most people are uncomfortable with the idea, or physically unable to spend prolonged periods in the cramped sewers, there isn't much/any competition.

 

[pepperj]

Left ring is Tibetan "Bali" ring IMO... should have a 925 mark.
Other is what I call "bubble gum costume"... glued in "stones".

I'd agree with the Balinese ring that more than likely came out of the silver centre of Cheluk. I have never heard of the term Tibetan used for the Balinese style silver. It's just that I bought silver in both Cheluk and in Nepal where the Tibetan style was followed closely there by the Tibetan silversmiths that plied their trade. [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]

 

[NEPADIGGER7]

My guess is that they lined the concrete forms with newspaper, to keep the concrete from sticking to the form.

The news print "stained" the concrete during the curing process.

Nice rings. GL&HH.

I agreee with Tom. Newspaper was used so the concrete wouldn't stick to the forms. But that is just awesome!

 

[Doubter in MD]

This is a banner find. It is intriguing, historical, and extremely entertaining. This is the type of find I enjoy seeing at the top. Gold coins are great, but the history captured here deserves to be put at the top of this website for all to see.

 

[wv hilljack]

Nice pics. Thanks for sharing probably lots of goodies waiting to be found.

 

[CRUSADER]

Looks fun!

 

[greentree89]

Thanks everyone and Plumbata for all the tips on finding anything, I will be going back very soon!
Will post any updates.