I Screwed Up ?

TOWcritter

TOWcritter

Hero Member
Jan 16, 2005
665
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Knee Deep In A Creek in Maryland
I visit a local establishment where I live and have spent the last week or two researching the area. Well, I used some old topo maps and found a site that looked promising behind said establishment. I got permission from the owner to do some detecting. Well... I found something that I wasn't expecting...An Entire Undocumented Mill Site!! I found foundations for the mill, raceway, main house, outhouse as well as a couple of other outbuildings. It is a small area, about 200 feet X 200 feet maybe. It turns out that the (Said Owner) is only renting the property and had no idea of anything "back there". This is an undocumented archeological site I am sure. What should I do? I picked up a small lid from an old mason jar that I saw poking through the snow and it has what looks like a peice of plastic in it. I cleaned it off and it's glass! It says "Genuine zinc cap for ball mason jars" with two elongated arrows in between. Throw me a bone people!
 

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Well... it's been my experience that Honesty is the best policy! Talk to the "renter" and ask him/her for the owners info, contact the owner and explain what happened just like you told us. You might find more info about the site and get legit permission to search there! Since you haven't recovered anything significant (like HUGE hoard of gold!) you shouldn't have any concerns about being honest! and could pay dividends in the future! 8)
 

Tc, you're asking a tough question, the wright thing to do of course is seek permission from the true owner. Ask the renter about the owner, try and read him a little bit. he may not even know about what you stumbled across. Then again he may know exactly whats back there and forbid any further digging. Good luck and HH

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?kenb
 

Sounds like a great find! I'd certainly make contact with the owner as informally as possible and bring it up w/o apprehension. Worst thing is he says no then you can at least make sure county historical society gets it documented. And if he gives an okay, let him know you'd like to do a complete dig there including the privy and there will be no damage left when you are done. It certainly does not hurt to find an old item or two that may be valuable, such as a millstone and let him have it if it's still there that is. Some millstones are almost worth their weight in gold these days depending on size, style and composition.
 

asking the renter is good enough permission because, by him paying rent to the land lord it`s his property. the owner can`t even come on his property without getting permission first from the renter. that`s just my opinion.


good luck!!
 

I agree. I would just ask the renter. Good luck. Let us know if you find anything.
 

Thanks for all the quick replies. I know this site is is pretty much unknown because all the map and gps coordinates don't jibe. The historical society doesn't have anything close to it on their web site either. I'll be paying them a personal visit on Friday to check their archives. I'll posts some pictures on Friday if I can figure out how. I just bought a new Whites MXT and have used it once under my back deck. I'm drooling 'cause I can't wait to take it over there and find some real treasure. Oh, the foundation of the big building has 2- 15 or 16 inch diameter trees laying across it corner to corner like a big "X" marks the spot. Should make for a good picture. I'll keep you guys and gals updated.
 

i dont want to sound like a law breaker, but i would check to see if there is anything of great value back there and then tell the town and the landlord. If they dont let you go back and there is gold or something, you would be at a loss.
 

Yeah. That's what I was planning on doing. The snow should be melted by Friday. We had temps in the 40's today and near 50 tomorrow and Friday. The moist ground should help too. I had my GPS set on the wrong map datum by the way. But the coordinates work now and still don't match anything the county has for the area! I smell treasure. :o
 

from one mason jar lid? ummmmmmm, IM not optimistic enough help me guys
 

How old do you think the mill is? I don't really see where "old buildings" turn into "archaeological site". As far as MDing is concerned, Documented archaeological site = no detecting allowed. If you blow it out of proportion, you likely won't be allowed to detect there, because the owner will start thinking that he has some amazing site and he is going to get on TV or whatever.

I would treat it as any other ruins, and search there like you would anywhere else.
 

Personally,
I would ask the owner for permission to hunt and just leave it at that with him. I wouldn't expand into what you have already found, what you think you might find, or anything else for that matter. Simply ask, and then when he grants you permission enjoy yourself without any issues to stop you at that point. If you start to talk about what "might" be, then all of a sudden you'll have a lot of eyes on the issue of what "could" be.

Good luck! and keep us posted on your progress and decisions.

Rod
 

How old is it? Well it's old enough to have very large oak trees (14 or 15 inches in diameter) growing inside the foundation walls. Also< I didn't see any wooden structure at all that was left. (BTW...I am a custom home builder and have my own company. 20+ years. Also I have seen and worked on 200+ year old houses) I spotted some glass poking through the snow. Without the snow on the ground you can't even tell that anything is there unless you know what you are looking for. I'll post pics Friday if I can.
 

have a few of those jar lids its porclien(sp) i didnt know the metel was zinc thought they were alum.thankx hope this helps ;D
 

Sounds like a good place to hunt. I have found hundreds of those old zinc lids, most every old yard or place has a few and they really sound off good! I don't know what others call it but around here it's commonly called "milk glass". If you can get it out of the lid without breaking and hold it up to the sunlight, the older ones will turn orange-red with the light shining through. Most times you'll find them buried bottom side up. If you dig and discover the top up...proceed with care, there just may be a glass jar attached to it...full of coins! This was a container of choice for "post hole banks" back in them days. Giterdone
 

Got a wide variety of milk glass porcelain zinc fruit jar lid liners. They came in so many shades that they really are quite a piece of art themselves. I'd like to do something artsy with them sometime.
 

Here's the catch! ?You need both! ?The renter is only paying the owner to "RENT" the property. ?Anything on or associated with property is deemed as being owned by the OWNER. ?Its good you have the Renters permission, but you really need both parties to agree. ?The owner could not allow you to go on the property without informing the RENTER and the Renter can let you look, but the Owner still owns it! ?If you found anything of value without the Owner's conscent, the owner would still have rights to the find.

Be carefull! ?Always cover your bases!

Lets see some picts!

Robert in SC
 

I didn't have a chance to do any digging yet but the thought that there might be something under that lid never occured to me. If I can get back over there this afternoon ( its literally only 5 minutes from my house) I'll get some pics of the sight. I plan on going over it thouroughly on the weekend.
 

I have found 100s of those old Zinc lids. they are scattered across every farm house yard in this area.
They always make a good sound. I give them to a buddy of mine who make stain glass windows with the glass in them that look real cool.
 

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