Hunting old streets

[gold fish]

I think I need to ask, what is the deal with hunting old streets?? I have hit several(one was a major city street dating back to the 1840s), and have never found anything. Am I doing something wrong?? I have waited until they have dug out the maximum amount of dirt, and have gotten as deep as they're going and still....zip. I'm getting a little frustrated at it, I dont want to fruitlessly dig another street, especially after seeing some of the finds that have come from sites like that. Any advice is appreciated, thanx.

 

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[teverly]

Start hunting as soon as the strip the asphalt and then see if you can find out where they are dumping the dirt and hit the dirt piles!!!!
In the street itself not sure how much you will find...I would also try the curb area along where they are tearing the street out..

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Scroll down a day or two ago to a thread titled "construction sites", started by an "Artemis". I went into great detail there on this subject. I work in paving/construction, so I know a good deal about how it relates to old-town spots and detecting.

 

[gold fish]

wow, thanx much. I am not sure they dug past the rock(DG) fill. maybe I can find out where they dumped some of the dirt.

 

[EDDE]

...I would also try the curb area along where they are tearing the street out..

produced a 1880s V and a seated dime for me AFTER a HEAVY ran
V was on the surface seated was 4-5 inchs also a 1880s indian in a dirt pile

 

[teverly]

Way to go..i have found a ton of stuff in old curb areas....

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Gold-fish, you say: "wow, thanx much. I am not sure they dug past the rock(DG) fill. maybe I can find out where they dumped some of the dirt." If they didn't "dig past the fill", then why would you want to hunt where they dumped the dirt? I mean, assuming it's in stratas (the older stuff being deeper, below the fill), then why would you want to hunt the spoils piles, which are presumably only fill?

 

[teverly]

I dont know about where he is but here in ohio most of the old streets were put in right over the brick ones..and the brick ones were put in right over the packed layer of dirt....
I have found old bottles, some coins, and some old plates and stuff in that dirt....

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Teverly, true, there could be some regional differences. It never hurts to check. I have just never seen any good street digouts here in CA, and it "hit home" when I began to learn about the initial engineering of streets being put in (that they are put on a foot or two of compacted DG).

Also I have learned that, back when streets were dirt, they would get ruts from wagon rims continually being carved into the same ruts. The cities would sometimes fill in those ruts with rocks, to harden them back up. So I have even encountered strange cobble rocks, that I: 1) knew weren't from the modern street laying process and 2) knew weren't native to this part of the valley, so I determined they were brought in back when streets were dirt. To retrieve targets from beneath those rocks was punishing! I mean, they, by this time, were so embedded. But then again, that was just because the current demo. hadn't scraped beneath them.

 

[teverly]

Yep,the way they put in new ones here it would be impossible to hunt them...and usually when they dig the old ones out you get a mix of the topsoil and clay so some of it can be hard to hunt some times...

 

[EDDE]

I dont know about where he is but here in ohio most of the old streets were put in right over the brick ones..and the brick ones were put in right over the packed layer of dirt....
I have found old bottles, some coins, and some old plates and stuff in that dirt....

same here