RelicHunter97
Hero Member
Hello everyone!
Today I decided to go bottle digging in the backyard, since in the past I have dug 5 bottles out of there. I dug a good sized pit, but didn't find anything. So I filled that up and looked for another spot.
Then I remembered something that I had started to dig last year, but forgot about after it was buried in almost a foot of pine needles and leaves. It was a frame of sorts, and had some coils, I was always in the dark as to what its identity was. I started digging through the foliage and finally reached it, just as I had left it, about 1/3 uncovered. So then I continued to dig, and dig, and dig. At one point I saw something moderately shiny in the hole and pulled out...this thing. It's made out of brass and iron, and is very cool looking. Each one of the brass projections still has pieces of wood in it. It does not belong to what I was about to uncover.
After I ate dinner, I went back out to finish the job. It was probably 75% uncovered, and all that was stopping me from pulling it out was in 8" tree trunk that partially grew around a section of it. Thank goodness it was a rotting stump, or I might not have gotten it out
After whacking and kicking and pulling, I was able to remove the chunk of wood (well, most of it anyways) and the object was free. I then pulled it out of the ground, and confirmed my suspicions: It was a bike! I was excited and surprised at the same time. I picked it up and carried it the length of the backyard to near the door. (Let me clarify something here: Behind my backyard is the Connecticut River. There is a slope leading down to the river, and as you can imagine, people in the olden days often dumped things off of such slopes. This was found at the very top where the slope meets my yard. And no, there's no grass or anything growing there, it's where we dump our grass.) Luckily, I found a use for the little snow pile that was left from last Tuesday, and I was able to stand it up in there. I went inside and brought my mom over to look at it. After that I cleaned off the emblem, and was able to read "--AD CYCLE Co. | CRUSADER | CHICAGO, ILL." Upon researching this I discovered that it was made by Mead Cycle Company, and it is their Crusader model. Production of this appears to have started somewhere between 1905 and 1915, and continued in to the 20's or early 30's. Either way, it's really cool!
I plan to get it all nice and cleaned up and turn it into a display piece. That'll be a nice project
I am also going to continue digging in that spot to see if there are any more pieces there. I know for a fact that last year I recovered one of the wheel guards, but I have no idea where it is, I hope it didn't get discarded
Anyways! Thanks for looking! This was certainly a first for me and I don't know if I'll ever find another one!
-Anthony
*Updated!* Today I was digging in the spot where I found the bike again, looking for pieces of the other bike. I didn't find any more (yet!) but I found the mount/splatter guard for the front wheel! I also found a small white plastic ladies' comb with flowers on it, as well as some other tidbits.
Today I decided to go bottle digging in the backyard, since in the past I have dug 5 bottles out of there. I dug a good sized pit, but didn't find anything. So I filled that up and looked for another spot.
Then I remembered something that I had started to dig last year, but forgot about after it was buried in almost a foot of pine needles and leaves. It was a frame of sorts, and had some coils, I was always in the dark as to what its identity was. I started digging through the foliage and finally reached it, just as I had left it, about 1/3 uncovered. So then I continued to dig, and dig, and dig. At one point I saw something moderately shiny in the hole and pulled out...this thing. It's made out of brass and iron, and is very cool looking. Each one of the brass projections still has pieces of wood in it. It does not belong to what I was about to uncover.
After I ate dinner, I went back out to finish the job. It was probably 75% uncovered, and all that was stopping me from pulling it out was in 8" tree trunk that partially grew around a section of it. Thank goodness it was a rotting stump, or I might not have gotten it out
After whacking and kicking and pulling, I was able to remove the chunk of wood (well, most of it anyways) and the object was free. I then pulled it out of the ground, and confirmed my suspicions: It was a bike! I was excited and surprised at the same time. I picked it up and carried it the length of the backyard to near the door. (Let me clarify something here: Behind my backyard is the Connecticut River. There is a slope leading down to the river, and as you can imagine, people in the olden days often dumped things off of such slopes. This was found at the very top where the slope meets my yard. And no, there's no grass or anything growing there, it's where we dump our grass.) Luckily, I found a use for the little snow pile that was left from last Tuesday, and I was able to stand it up in there. I went inside and brought my mom over to look at it. After that I cleaned off the emblem, and was able to read "--AD CYCLE Co. | CRUSADER | CHICAGO, ILL." Upon researching this I discovered that it was made by Mead Cycle Company, and it is their Crusader model. Production of this appears to have started somewhere between 1905 and 1915, and continued in to the 20's or early 30's. Either way, it's really cool! I plan to get it all nice and cleaned up and turn it into a display piece. That'll be a nice project
I am also going to continue digging in that spot to see if there are any more pieces there. I know for a fact that last year I recovered one of the wheel guards, but I have no idea where it is, I hope it didn't get discarded
Anyways! Thanks for looking! This was certainly a first for me and I don't know if I'll ever find another one!
-Anthony
*Updated!* Today I was digging in the spot where I found the bike again, looking for pieces of the other bike. I didn't find any more (yet!) but I found the mount/splatter guard for the front wheel! I also found a small white plastic ladies' comb with flowers on it, as well as some other tidbits.
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