Got out for an hour...finally!

72cheyenne

Bronze Member
Dec 6, 2004
1,463
25
Mansfield, Arkansas
Detector(s) used
Minelab E-trac, White's M6, White's 6000di/pro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
After taking the biggest part of the past few months off from metal detecting so that I could complete my backyard project, I finally got to go out and brave the heat for and hour or so Sunday evening. :hello2:

Nothing real spectacular, but I did find a site that I will have to pay much detail too :read2: , as I was just quick scanning to see what all might be there. Some trash, some modern day clad, but some older stuff. The area dates to the early incorporation days of Mansfield (1870s-1880s) Here's some pics.

Overall finds.
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Here is a neat pinback from Little Rock, Arkansas.
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And a token from Hot Springs. I. Q. Zoo was a tourist attraction that had trained animals on display. The owners of the I. Q. Zoo also trained animals for movies. http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2538
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And here's an old miner's tag #61. This is the second one of these I have found. The last one was #80.
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I have one of those miners tags I did'nt know what it was until I seen yours. Do you have any idea how old they are?
Great finds
 

peanut said:
I have one of those miners tags I did'nt know what it was until I seen yours. Do you have any idea how old they are?
Great finds

They are late 1800's to early 1900's. Here is some info I found out on the brass checks (miner's tags) with the raised numbers.
Copied from this site. http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/labette/1901/s/smithmf.shtml

Millard F. Smith attended the common schools until he was thirteen years of age, after which he was obliged to clothe and support himself. He worked in a woolen mill at Grasshopper Falls, Kansas, now called Valley Falls. He was left in Wilson county, in 1870, and was employed in the grist-mills owned by Beam & Sons. He purchased a farm in Wilson county, which he rented, and in 1870, located at Parsons, and was employed by G. W. Chess, who built the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway shops. His first work there was in guarding around the machine shops, and he helped Foreman Burns to carry the first ladle of iron in the shops. He had begun to work as fireman when a lad of but fifteen years, and by 1870 was a good engineer. In the early "seventies," he ran the engine, in the old Parsons flour mill, owned by Knox, Chess & Matthewson, and then went to Lake City, Colorado, where he operated a shingle-mill and sawmill by contract, until 1877, for Gibert, Hall & Company. In the fall of 1877, he returned to Parsons, and ran a flouring-mill engine for one year. He returned to his farm in August, 1878, and remained there the following winter. He then engaged as engineer for the National Mill & Elevator Company, of Parsons, for eighteen months, and in 1882 bought a patent-right for Nebraska and Dakota, of a rotary pump, which did not prove a success. In Plattsmouth, Nebraska, he worked in a foundry and was also fireman on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, from Plattsmouth to Omaha and Hastings. He also put the machinery into a grist-mill in that city. In March, 1884, he returned to Parsons and engaged with the Parsons Coal Company, - putting in machinery and running their engines at the Daisy Shaft, Weir City, at which work he remained for three years. It was while there he invented the Smith coal mining drill and brass checks, of which he has since manufactured many thousands, selling them in Indiana, Indian Territory, Arkansas and Colorado. In 1889, the Smith Manufacturing Company was organized in Parsons, with Mr. Smith as president and general manager, a position he held until 1895, when he withdrew, taking with him the iron and brass departments. The company still turns out the woodwork, handles, etc. The plant was destroyed by fire in 1894. Mr. Smith now owns the building which he occupies, and manufactures Smith drills and coal miners' supplies. He is the only manufacturer of brass checks with raised figures.
 

Cool thanks for the info. I will try to find mine and post a pic.
Thanks, peanut
 

peanut said:
Cool thanks for the info. I will try to find mine and post a pic.
Thanks, peanut

Glad to see you posting, peanut. Did you find that coin in your avatar?
 

Yes, I found it about 2 or 3 miles from my house.
 

Great finds!!!d2
 

Those are some interesting and unique finds, '72. I like the Little Rock pin, it's really neat.

:wink: RR
 

that area looks like it has good potential. I would go back and hit it hard
 

peanut said:
Yes, I found it about 2 or 3 miles from my house.

Cool, funny thing is I have found 2 seated dimes within a block from my house. Both 1877, one plain mintmark and the other a CC. Guess the best stuff seems to come close to home here in Arkansas. :wink:

d2 said:
Great finds!!!d2

Thanks d2....I envy your CW finds. :thumbsup:

River Rat said:
Those are some interesting and unique finds, '72. I like the Little Rock pin, it's really neat.

:wink: RR

Hey thanks RR, I have no idea how old the pin is, but I agree it is neat.

Sniffer said:
that area looks like it has good potential. I would go back and hit it hard

Funny thing is I hit the area the next evening and only found large chunks of lead and trash....dangit. :icon_scratch:
 

Nice job.. Been awhile since i found anything good.. The old "hunted out" school yard must be really hunted out now LOL talked to some other detectorist in the area and they all said they hunted the crap out of it.. i showed the all the silver and wheats they missed.. they shook there heads in disbelief.. Power of that e-trac baby!!!

Anyways.. nice digs!
 

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