Old Base Housing; 750 homes, over 2,500 coins found!

[AlaskaAng]

Hi All,

This is the Most Fun I've Had with my XLT metal detector! The year was 2006, January thru June...

I was allowed to metal detect the old base housing units on my base in NM; the homes were scheduled to be demolished. Once the residents started to move out, I moved in. I basically had the place to myself, over 750 homes that were built in the mid 1940s! The lawns were dead (drought in 2005) so it was easy and fast digging! I invited members of my MD club to join me...we had a lot of fun!

Below are pictures of my finds, of course the large picture of finds is everything put together. I made about 7 trips to this area before I was sent to the Senior NCO Academy for 7 weeks. I detected upon my return but the rains came and finding an area without weeds was impossible. I managed to still finds some coins but had to work the areas where the grader just removed the top layer. Seems most of the coins were in the top 4" of soil.

All in all I found over 2500 coins, over 250 were wheaties, 36 silver including a walking liberty! I also found around 15 rings, one being a man's wedding band, and a very old 1940s class ring! The rest were mostly silver or silver and turquoise.

I detected from sun up to sun down, didn't take a break and wore a camelbak for water! I was exhausted each night...I even took two days leave just to work the area before it was closed off.

I'm not sure what the area looks like now, we moved to Alaska in oct 2006 (second tour); I'd love to get back there and see it now.

Hope you enjoyed my story as much as I enjoyed being there! Sure hope I can find another area like that again!

Ang

 

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[SeaninNH]

That must have been fun. You have been busy.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[txconservative]

You sure were a busy lady !! Wonderful finds. If I had the time, I would spend all day out detecting too !

 

[AlaskaAng]

You sure were a busy lady !! Wonderful finds. If I had the time, I would spend all day out detecting too !

Thanks! It was a lot of fun! I should have taken a week off and worked it harder but family obligations came first! I'm now retired (USAF, 24 yrs) and should be able to get out anytime the sun is up (which could be as much as 23hrs a day here in Alaska in the summer! So much fun ahead!

HH,
Ang

 

[chkn]

Oh gosh, I've always wanted to detect an old military housing place like that. What a blast!!!

 

[Tuberale]

Really nice finds, and a good indication of what can be found with some diligence.

Careful up there in Alaska: watch out for the state bird: the mosquito.

 

[cntrydncr1]

that must have been a blast!! I'd be watching more for bears than mosquitos up there! good luck!

 

[davidtn]

Way to be tough and keep on hunting...with a camelback no less

Thanks for sharing your finds

 

[Bugsterx2]

An awesome bunch of finds!! True dedication to MDing when one wears a camelback and takes no breaks!

On a side note: Thank-You for your service to our Country and enjoy your retirement!!

 

[RFrady]

Thanks for the inspiration. Here they are replacing some of the housing units and I need to get out and see if I can detect them before they are demolished. Retired but still serving. USA 27 yrs.

Keep Swinging...

 

[kc10bull]

I see you have found a bountiful place to hunt! I truly enjoyed my tie in the Air Force as I have hunted hundreds of houses in numerous bases. Especially when they were in the renovation stage of building new structures. Didn't need to go find a place to hunt off base. You could always count on recovering silver coins and Wheaties. My Son and I detected one yard and had over 100 hot wheels, matchbox, and micro machine cars. My Son was really happy because it really expanded his collection! Keep detecting those houses and enjoy yourself and please add some additional post to the forum so we can enjoy your discoveries with you!

 

[AlaskaAng]

All,

Thanks for your great comments! It was by far the most fun I had detecting! It was nice to finally get into a place that (IMO) had never seen a metal detector (most of the yards anyway). I wish I could go back and do it all over again!

Yeah, I had to wear the camelbak due to the extreme hot temps (upper 90s at times), I didn't want to waste time walking to the car to grab a drink! I didn't have to worry about finding a restroom as it seemed the hot air and possibly dehydration took care of my need to pee...but there was one time when I really needed to go so I stepped inside one of the abandoned houses to hopefully use their toilet but as I opened the lid, I found Ms. Blackwidow already using the bowl as her new home! Needless to say I had to find another empty house! Yikes! I've only seen two black widows in my life, both were in NM! The other one I found in my garage as I cleaned it out; she was BIG as if she had a few eggs to lay...I scooped her up (with a jar and lid) and walked her WAY out into the desert so she could find a new home to raise her little devils!

My base up here is replacing most all of the old homes so I'll probably try to get to the oldest of home (not yet destroyed) before the wrecking balls come in this summer!) I was told by a guy who used to detect the housing here back in the 70s that he found A LOT of silver and it was the best place to hunt. He said he never touched the area I'd like to search so wish me luck!


HH!
Ang

 

[AlaskaAng]

p.s. Guys, I'll keep you posted on my summer Alaskan adventures as I head out to find gold with my dredge or silver with my XLT!

Ang

 

[Mark S.]

Had an experience like that in the late 70's. Was stationed in San Diego. A WW2 era Navy housing area (Bayview Navy Housing) was being rehabed. Single and apartment homes. They moved the people out one section at a time and went to work. Myself and my two buddies hunted it for almost two years. One friend was retired Navy and lived very near the housing unit. The other was Kevin Reilly of Reilly's Treasured Gold. A good friend who died of cancer 2 years ago. Actually now that I think of it, that is the exact place I met Kevin. Similar finds as yours. It was a very enjoyable time that I always remember fondly.

My eyes popped a bit when I saw the marbles in your photo. We found a lot of marbles also. Those lawns must be loaded with marbles to encounter that many while digging targets.

 

[AlaskaAng]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, these old military base yards are loaded with coins! Most TH'rs can't get onto a base unless they are an ID card holder so as a result, there's always a good chance the yards weren't worked hard or even at all!

I found the marbles in the areas that were already scraped by the dozers after the houses were torn down. I'd find them just lying on the ground. I thought it was neat how kids used to play with marbles back then and now it's the electronic age! I had permission from the demo team supervisor to detect the area; I gave him a silver dime and he gave me permission to detect as long as I stayed away from the machinery in operation, I also wasn't allowed to bring anyone in with me after the started using the big machinery as it would be more of a liability for him. I stayed away from the workers but that wasn't a problem as there were overt 750 home yards to be worked! I can't imagin how many coins were dumped into the dump on base (off limits to searching).

I hope to detect some old houses here in AK...I'm sure there's silver there too!

Ang

 

[Mark S.]

Bayview was not on the base. It was just an area "out in town". Don't know if the streets were public or not but other then signs signifying navy housing you would not know you were in it. No fences or gates. It was patrolled by base security. We hunted evenings and weekends. The contractor liked us being there as our presence detered vandalsim.

They didn't scrape any ground. Just replaced pipes, power lines, sprinklers etc. Our marbles were all found while digging coins. I agree there are alot of coins lying around on military bases. Found coins by the handfuls around the barracks area where I lived. All clad as the buildings were not very old.

Hit them houses in AK if you can get permission and let us know how you make out.

 

[Mark S.]

Got to thinking. I wonder what Bayview looks like now. So thanks to all the satelite imagery on the net I zoomed right in on it. Every house that was there in the 70's is gone. All that rehab work was demolished and new homes and townhomes built. Appears more streets were added. All the open areas around the apartment buildings are now all homes. Least we mined the most of the goodies out of it.

I did a bit of reading also and found that it is not the greatest of neighborhoods now. Was a very nice area when I was there but that was over 30 years ago.

 

[MKnTenn]

Wow, lost of digging and fun. What a great place to hunt. HH

 

[AlaskaAng]

Thanks All!

I'll keep you posted on my finds this summer in base housing up here...the ground should be thawed by early May so It'll be a while before I can fill you in!

Ang

 

[Cool Hand Fluke]

Very interesting! We had a very similar experience here in northen California. They closed down Hamilton Air Force Base and left about 400 abandoned 1940's style houses almost exactly like the ones you hunting around. I'm not exaggerating, thousands and thousands of coins, toys, rings, and everything imaginable were found. It was a blast hunting there while it lasted. We hunted the front and back yards for about 5 years until they tore them all down and put in condos. I believe there must be several more of these abandoned bases around the country?