Treasure Hunting in Western NC

[CrystalC]

Hello All! I had reached out to the finders keepers, and they suggest I post on this site to see if anyone might be of some assistance.

Here is my story:

Back in the 1960's my grandparents were putting in a septic line. My Grandpa had dug a hole about chest deep when he discovered a wooden box. As the story goes the box had a date burnt into the box in what looked like red letters with a date of October 1860 something. My Grandpa got his Mattock and tried to hit the box several times to see what was inside, but according to my Grandpa his Mattock just bounced off. He said he never had seen a wood so strong. Two of my aunts that are still alive were little girls and saw the box as well. My Grandma got upset with my Grandpa and told him that he couldn't open the box because it might be a body inside. They proceeded to have an argument and my Grandpa stopped working and trying to see what was inside. He didn't uncover the whole box according to my aunt's but only about a 2 ft x 2 ft section. The next morning my Grandpa's hole was completely filled with water so he just let the box go and filled the hole up with dirt. Over the years we have tried three times to dig up the box again. However, the landscape of the property has changed. There has been a couple of floods that have come thru the area, and fill dirt was brought in to level up the property. The floods have not however got up far enough to the area where we believe the box is. We suspect my Grandpa's hole was about 4-5 ft deep, but that since then another several feet of dirt has been brought in. My aunt's know the general area of the box, but not the precise location. For us it is just a family mystery that we would like to solve. My Grandpa and Grandma have both now passed away, and my Grandpa always wanted to find it and regretted not getting it out of the ground when he discovered it. We know the date lines up with during the Civil War, so our guess is it might be ammunition or weapons. We live in the mountains of Western NC.

If anyone has any ideas for me I would love to hear them. The guys at finders keepers said if they were on site they would use a GPL first and grid and line shoot the entire yard, and grid the yard with 2' spaces in the pins. If its there that this will find it.

We have used metal detectors as well but haven't been able to locate it. I guess I am just looking for the best way to go about getting this type of GPL equipment, or if anyone likes a good mystery and would like to bring their equipment to NC that would be great. Look forward to any responses.

Thanks,

Crystal

 

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[against the wind]

1860 is a little too early for the start of the Civil War.
In some states, when considering buying real estate, there is such a thing as a Forever Search. It goes back to the earliest known owner of the land and tells you who else has owned it since then. If the land had a family plot, (cemetary), on it, you might be able to get information from the County Office of records or the oldest church in the vicinity.
Welcome to Tnet.

 

[Rookster]

Welcome to Tnet.

 

[Ogre1190]

Welcome from North Central Illinois. 🙋

 

[A2coins]

I would rent a dozer and grid search I would scrape layers of dirt keep swinging your detector that dozer is easy to use keep moving dirt around also you said water filled the hole so if theres an underground stream follow the path to start your search Good luck

 

[A2coins]

Great story welcome to tnet also. I really don't see anyone leaving that box un open after starting to get it open lol

 

[Joe-Dirt]

I agree, my wife couldn’t stop me from opening a box in the ground. Someone here will help you I’m sure and welcome from southern New England

 

[Raider19962]

Since you know the general area and depth of the box, I would go the cheapest route (which I normally do out of necessity!) and just get a metal probe and poke around, You could use a length of rebar and that would be cheap, maybe a few dollars. If you get a hit on something solid, I would move a foot or two in different directions to try and determine the size of the object. If it turns out to be roughly 2 feet by 6 feet, it could be a coffin. At that point you might ask someone with the State Historical folks and maybe they could help you. If not coffin-like, I'd just get a bunch of healthy friends and dig a big hole! Of course, if you are in very rocky ground, this may not work. At 7-8 feet deep, you won't get a hit from a standard metal detector. I have no idea how much Ground Penetrating Radar would cost you. I know the archeologists I am acquainted with would love to tackle this, but we're pretty far away here in Delaware. Try a local state archeologist, give him your story, see what happens. If it turns out it is a coffin, you have to be prepared for that. Do you have it moved to a cemetery (that would cost!). "Against the Winds"'s comment about a title search may identify the occupant, and you at least know the story and have a new neighbor! Good Luck and let us know what becomes of this story.

 

[CrystalC]

Thanks for all the advice. The date on the box was 186?, we can't remember the exact year that my Grandpa said. We have dug with a backhoe twice before about 5 feet deep each time. The first time we believe we dug in the wrong area. The last time we believe we were in the right area, but maybe not deep enough. From my aunt's recollections the property had a small hill in the backyard in the 1960's. Two floods came thru after that and dirt was brought in and leveled. Where we believe the box is it would be maybe 20-30 feet from a creek. Other than some neat snuff jars that is all we found when we dug the last time. Our ground is rich in Mica, and the metal detectors we used seemed to go off all the time when it would detect Mica. I had looked online to see if you can rent this type of GPL equipment but couldn't seem to find anything that would be close, and I'm sure it would be costly to pay a company to come in and locate. One question is how much can things shift underground over time?

 

[huntsman53]

If you can't locate the box with a quality metal detector either because there is nothing of significant value metal-wise (Gold or Silver) in the box or because of hot rocks, Raider19962's suggestion of using a length of Rebar is your best best. Go purchase a 7 foot section of #3 Rebar, have 8 inches cutoff before you leave the Hardware or Building Supply Store, then take the piece to a Welding Shop and have the 8 inch section welded onto the long section like a "T" to use as a handle to force the long piece into the ground, thus making a probe. Also, have the other end of the long piece of Rebar sharpened to a point but then have the point slight blunted so it hopefully won't penetrate the box but make a thud when it hits it. Take the Rebar probe into the are where you thing the box may be and probe the area by grids.

It is quite possible that the box has slipped some distance underground due to water logged ground that has slipped (slid) over the bedrock. How far, no one can really know.

Good luck but do beware that the box may contain the remains of a Civil War Soldier!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Good Luck in your quest!

 

[A2coins]

Happy hunting also hope to see some cool posts soon and great finds

 

[one blanket]

www.gp-radar.com prices may be cheaper than you think. also some local utilities have equipment or at least info. If you are into dowsing maybe a "witch " can help. Slide Hammer probe - 1/2 or 5/8" cold roll steel; sharpened one end; top end weld round washer; surround that with a pipe; weld a cap to pipe at top; weld a washer to pipe at bottom. pipe slides up & down; pounds down or up///NO PINCHED FINGERS. dry hard dirt add water each few inches let soak a couple minutes.

 

[Toecutter]

Find the septic line and start shoveling, Id being doing it for you now if you where closer, sounds like a fun one!! would be worth a road trip lol

 

[10pan]

If the box contained large amounts of metal then a two-box detector might work. The mica wont effect it.

 

[CrystalC]

Thanks for all the advice. We will probably try to do something in the Spring or Summer hopefully. Since I last posted I have researched the property some more. Back in the 1800's the property had a post office on it. Also, in the 1900's a man operated a gem and lapidary shop. We probably will try to go the route of trying to rent radar equipment. If anyone wants to come to NC for a weekend and treasure hunt let me know. My only concern with renting equipment is whether novices like me and my family would be able to operate it.

 

[CrystalC]

Does anyone have any recommendations on a GPR to rent and where to rent it? I have reached out to a few companies I found online, but they said their equipment wouldn't be suitable for what I am trying to find. I would need something that could detect a wooden box that is possibly 10-15 ft in the ground, and we know the box is at least 2-3 ft in width and length.