Old Cabins

[Dr0wssap]

Hello, I am from central Wisconsin and new to metal detecting. My girlfriend bought me a new detector for Christmas. With Winter and frozen ground l have yet to use it. On my 120 acre property l have two old cabins. I don't know the history of these cabins. They are built about 20 feet apart, both cabins are around 20 feet square. One cabin is much older and a true cabin built out of axe cut logs with just a dirt floor. It has a rock chimney held together with mud and straw as is the packing between the logs. Extending from the backside the ground is dug out about 4 feet deep 5 feet wide and 6 feet long and the walls are lined with rock. I believe this must have been the root cellar. The roof on this cabin caved in years ago. The other "newer" cabin is built with boards for walls rather than logs. It has an upstairs with a single room. It has a wooden floor raised about a foot off the ground on the lower level. Whomever built this newer cabin somehow glued newspapers on the inside of the walls to block out the wind from coming through the cracks between the boards. l believe the newspapers are written in Polish but l could be wrong. The reason l mention this is I can date this "newer" cabin by reading the dates (mid 1880's ~ 1902) printed on the newspapers. In addition to these cabins there is also a outline of rock walls approximately 20 feet wide by 40 feet long. l believe this was the barn. It is located about 50 feet away from the cabins and has hardwood trees growing out of the middle that l would guess to be 60 to 80 years old. There are scraps of steel, broken glass bottles, nails and screws, rusted buckets, bits of leather harnesses for horses laying everywhere inside and outside of both cabins and barn. i'm certain early settlers built these cabins, farmers, people that were quite poor with very little money. My questions are: Are these cabins worth detecting or will all l do is spend endless hours digging up nails and junk metal? If they are worth detecting how should l go about it,where would be a good place to start? Is there anyone on this site with experience that would like to detect these cabins with me? Thanks to all who reply. And thanks for reading, sorry for being so long winded. Dr0wssap

 

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[orgwayne]

Hello, I am from central Wisconsin and new to metal detecting. My girlfriend bought me a new detector for Christmas. With Winter and frozen ground l have yet to use it. On my 120 acre property l have two old cabins. I don't know the history of these cabins. They are built about 20 feet apart, both cabins are around 20 feet square. One cabin is much older and a true cabin built out of axe cut logs with just a dirt floor. It has a rock chimney held together with mud and straw as is the packing between the logs. Extending from the backside the ground is dug out about 4 feet deep 5 feet wide and 6 feet long and the walls are lined with rock. I believe this must have been the root cellar. The roof on this cabin caved in years ago. The other "newer" cabin is built with boards for walls rather than logs. It has an upstairs with a single room. It has a wooden floor raised about a foot off the ground on the lower level. Whomever built this newer cabin somehow glued newspapers on the inside of the walls to block out the wind from coming through the cracks between the boards. l believe the newspapers are written in Polish but l could be wrong. The reason l mention this is I can date this "newer" cabin by reading the dates (mid 1880's ~ 1902) printed on the newspapers. In addition to these cabins there is also a outline of rock walls approximately 20 feet wide by 40 feet long. l believe this was the barn. It is located about 50 feet away from the cabins and has hardwood trees growing out of the middle that l would guess to be 60 to 80 years old. There are scraps of steel, broken glass bottles, nails and screws, rusted buckets, bits of leather harnesses for horses laying everywhere inside and outside of both cabins and barn. i'm certain early settlers built these cabins, farmers, people that were quite poor with very little money. My questions are: Are these cabins worth detecting or will all l do is spend endless hours digging up nails and junk metal? If they are worth detecting how should l go about it,where would be a good place to start? Is there anyone on this site with experience that would like to detect these cabins with me? Thanks to all who reply. And thanks for reading, sorry for being so long winded. Dr0wssap

Well lucky U ! , I grew up near Dancy , north of Junction city . there are Plat books at the local library that go pretty far back, just maybe , who owned it will be found, Really hit the local Library hard , they have a lot of records , good luck , I live in Oregon , and left Wis in 1969 , so did not do any metal decting there , HIT it Hard !
Wayne
GOOD LUCK

 

[orgwayne]

Follow up , Nephew was in Archeology in Stevens Point , so got into the Vault at the college and got platt maps back to 1876 !! , the maps are for east of Highway 34 from junction city to the Maraton county line at Dancy , who owned what and how much, names of people I have never heard of growing up , pretty cool , to go thru the maps
Wayne

 

[smallfoot]

Hit it till you can't even find a nail signal...if you like relics and not hung up on coins, you'll find plenty!

 

[BLK HOLE]

Welcome from Northern Virginia

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

Hi, I live in Calif.
Sorry, because you live so far away...!
That property sounds great!
You might have very early 1800's stuff, there...!
Like the man said - Hit it HARD...!
Don't worry about the iron targets, as the goodies are hiding amongst it all...!
We >ALL< Dig Trash! Its part of the life of a metal detectorist.
Besides, time there, you'll Get To Know Your Machine...!
Guess what your target is, BEFORE you dig it up..., you learn this way.
Have Fun, and be sure to post some of your findings, ok?
Welcome to Treasure Net!

 

[releventchair]

Ya never know about coins.
Remote areas they did not need to be carried ,but some were for dates of birth ect...
Others could be squirreled on a rafter ,in/near a hearth and who knows where.
Where water was drawn, clothsline,outhouse path all could turn up a coin.
Being Wisconsin , there was snow each year. And snow means a dropped coin could go unnoticed.
Bonus if there were children living there...

Congrats on your property , and of course on the detector!
Practice with it and get it learned , and keep learning it.
There may be some outstanding relics about worth more than common coins.
But ...You won't know till you hunt!

The cabin floors.
Outer corners of walls underneath outside. Thresholds. Same with barn.
Center of barn floor ,(an X from corners or other easy to locate places to squirrel a stash) , inner corners. Places a guy could be out of site depositing or recovering a dollar.
Cracks between boards ,in beams , an endless amount of possibilities but imagine discreet recoveries /deposits. Even on the remote site back then.
Features or landmarks in site of a cabin window.....
Lot's of hunting ahead of you.

 

[Rookster]

Good luck. That's a great property to learn your new machine. I would run all metal ( no disc.) Dig it all for at least a year. You should have a wheelbarrow full of finds by then.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

I detect old cabin ruins around Colorado. Theres a book called "Mining Camps Speak" that can help you identify items, ages of cans and nails, etc.
I usually find the trash dumps downhill from the structures and there may be more than one, I've found 100 year old cans with paper still on them under the walls, maple syrup cans and bigger cans were often crushed and used behind the wood stoves, tobacco tins, you really have to search everywhere.
It's fun to try to date these places and with the clues you can find, your imagination will do the rest.

 

[Dr0wssap]

Thanks everyone very much for the information and welcoming me to the site. My property is located between Mosinee and Marathon City or more precisely about 7 miles Northwest of Mosinee between HWY 153 and HWY "N" not far from the Southern border of Nine Mile Marsh. It looks like I will have a fun but very busy Spring,Summer and Fall! I will post photographs of all finds! If anyone would be interested in detecting these cabins with me drop me a note and you would be more than welcome. Thanks again, Dr0wssap

 

[kingskid1611]

Dang you have a lot of fun ahead. I'm jealous and really excited for the opportunity you have before you. Welcome to the forum and Good Luck and Happy Hunting

 

[wilcam47]

Hello, I am from central Wisconsin and new to metal detecting. My girlfriend bought me a new detector for Christmas. With Winter and frozen ground l have yet to use it. On my 120 acre property l have two old cabins. I don't know the history of these cabins. They are built about 20 feet apart, both cabins are around 20 feet square. One cabin is much older and a true cabin built out of axe cut logs with just a dirt floor. It has a rock chimney held together with mud and straw as is the packing between the logs. Extending from the backside the ground is dug out about 4 feet deep 5 feet wide and 6 feet long and the walls are lined with rock. I believe this must have been the root cellar. The roof on this cabin caved in years ago. The other "newer" cabin is built with boards for walls rather than logs. It has an upstairs with a single room. It has a wooden floor raised about a foot off the ground on the lower level. Whomever built this newer cabin somehow glued newspapers on the inside of the walls to block out the wind from coming through the cracks between the boards. l believe the newspapers are written in Polish but l could be wrong. The reason l mention this is I can date this "newer" cabin by reading the dates (mid 1880's ~ 1902) printed on the newspapers. In addition to these cabins there is also a outline of rock walls approximately 20 feet wide by 40 feet long. l believe this was the barn. It is located about 50 feet away from the cabins and has hardwood trees growing out of the middle that l would guess to be 60 to 80 years old. There are scraps of steel, broken glass bottles, nails and screws, rusted buckets, bits of leather harnesses for horses laying everywhere inside and outside of both cabins and barn. i'm certain early settlers built these cabins, farmers, people that were quite poor with very little money. My questions are: Are these cabins worth detecting or will all l do is spend endless hours digging up nails and junk metal? If they are worth detecting how should l go about it,where would be a good place to start? Is there anyone on this site with experience that would like to detect these cabins with me? Thanks to all who reply. And thanks for reading, sorry for being so long winded. Dr0wssap

Thats a great site to search. Its prob got a trash pile nearby. There you will find old bottles and stuff. Like others said hit it hard you will find all kinds of neat stuff. Hopefully some coins or jewelry

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

Oh yeah, the outhouse is another treasure trove of...data!

 

[jeffb]

That sounds like a great spot. Those are the kind of places some of us hope for.
I am not too far away if you need help.

 

[tokameel]

Welcome to T-Net Dr0wssap as well as the rest of you new folks!

By all means explore the OUTHOUSE ZONE!

 

[watermanshooter]

I know of a few of these abandoned farms that are reclaimed by nature on public lands where %98 of people never go. I've thought of detecting them but it's rough going as the only way to get to them is 4x4 trails that are legal to drive.