Captain Clad
Jr. Member
Hello everybody -- been a while since I've posted here, but we can attribute that to our fine Oregon weather over the winter. However, keeping an eye on your finds here has kept the fire burning, and the time not spent "out in the field" has been appropriately relegated to research, but more on that in a bit.
A short background about myself, I was introduced to detecting 30+ years ago when my great uncle purchased a new detector, and was gracious enough to give his old one to me. Funny guy, my uncle - all I ever knew him to do was gold prospecting and metal detecting, back in the early 70's - and I STILL remember to this day a large suitcase in his house filled with silver dollars................wish I knew where they went! But I digress....
I spent that entire summer detecting on my family's 20+ acres, finding many of my fathers old toys, a couple of cannonball-looking balls of iron, the location of an old blacksmith shop, etc.......needless to say, for a 13-year-old kid, trash....treasure.....didn't matter, when it came out of the ground, I was in heaven!! Unfortunately, the busy teen years took over and I had not touched a detector since..........until last summer, when I was telling my wife (aka Admiral Abuse) about my "diggin' days", and she thought it sounded like fun - and of course what the wife wants the wife gets (20 yrs - I'm WELL trained now
), so after a bit of research we armed ourselves with a trusty Garrett 250 and headed off to the tot lots to find our fortune, which to this point consists of a bunch of clad, a few small pieces of silver jewelry and enough trash to.....well, you know!!
With the onset of inclement weather last fall, the Admiral returned to her favorite hobby, genealogy. I decided to head off with her one day while she was doing her research, and we ended up at the local historical society. Bad thing. For her. While she was doing her thing, I found an old map book from the 1930's and just started thumbing through.......then I got 1920......then a few documents......couple of hours later my wife and one of the volunteers there found me in a back conference room, with 7 map books spread out in front of me, surrounded by paper with my head spinning!!
At that point, I think the Admiral knew.......and fittingly, I just looked up at them and said "I are a treasure hunter"
Well, the drive home (with my membership to the society in hand & copies of maps under my arms) didn't go ANYWHERE as expected, I must say.....because I knew right then and there what I wanted (no, change that -- NEEDED) to do, and I wasn't sure I was ready to incur the wrath of the Admiral when it came up. I was quite surprised when she broached the subject first --- at least that's what I construed her "So now what?" comment to be......so I told her again the same way - "I are a treasure hunter".......and waited.
Now people, this one could have gone a lot of ways, most of 'em bad for me, and several involving medical attention.........so I was TOTALLY unprepared for her response, which came across pretty simply to me --- through her smile, all she said was "Arrrrrggggghhhhh" in her best pirate voice; certainly good enough for me at that point, because I knew then that she knew too (jeez, I need more wives like her)!
Quite a few of us have noticed that getting older does have it's disadvantages -- but it also provides a few unique opportunities from time to time. And I've been fortunate enough in my life to be at a point where I'm young enough to still do these things, but old enough now to have the means to do them too - and when all of these converge, good things happen!
My good thing?? Well, after some careful negotiation (along with the obligatory begging, pleading and general tantrum-throwing from me) the Admiral and I have decided that for the next one to two years, I am INDEED going to be that treasure hunter!! Pretty much full time, regardless of what we find, I'll be doing my research and diggin' in the dirt - and I couldn't be happier (nor could I ever repay the Admiral, as I'm sure she will remind me - over & over & over.......)!
Am I expecting to hit the mother lode?? Well, here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, if it's from 1900 it's old, 1850 is ancient, so you do the math......don't figure I'll be diggin' any coppas here!! Fortunately, the entire history experience energizes me so I just don't care what I find (although I'm not gonna drop the real goodies in a trash bin!!).
I've got permission to search 6 properties at this point, dating back to the 1860's (for reference, Oregon settlements started popping up in the 1840's)........but you've gotta know that I have to return to the family property where this all started, and luckily my grandfather still lives, much as it was 35 years ago when I lived there. It's one of the first ones I'm hitting, really looking forward to what new technology will coax out of the ground!
Here's a few pics, my family has lived here since the 1940's, but the property occupation dates back to at least the 1880's based on the old house we removed over 30 years ago. Good thing I remember where it was located, along with the old blacksmith shop....and new research says there was possibly a railroad depot on the property too during that early time period (makes sense since the RR tracks run adjacent to the property), should be an interesting time!
I appreciate you all taking the time to read the long post, and I'll be sure to do my best to keep everybody updated on my travels and finds, good or otherwise, if you're interested! Just wanted to share my humble little story with those who may appreciate it, and I thank you all for keeping me fired up over the winter!!
Oh, the unbelievable Garrett find mentioned in the title
Well then, I'll finish the story.......
This afternoon I was close enough to the family property (it's about 2 hours from where I live now) to stop for a quick visit between a couple of other appointments (I knew better than to break out the Garrett because of my time constraints, although it was with me...and I thought about it....a few times)
My grandfather & uncle were there, and we were talking about the upcoming hunt and detecting in general......when we walked outside, they opened the garage door for me. Now I haven't been in this garage for probably 30 years.................so imagine my surprise when I looked up and saw this..........
Didja guess before you saw the pics Yep kids, that there is my VERY FIRST detector, still hanging on the nail in the garage with both coils, just waiting to go back to work with me after 30+ years! Check out the gadgetry on that baby, a real live Garrett Electronics Corp detector, circa early 1970's..........now how COOL is that - and try to tell me that ISN'T an incredible Garrett find!! Swing and listen for the "vffffttt" buzz noise, and start diggin', if I remember right! Kinda made me think that was my Uncle Arthur's way of telling me I'm doing the right thing - or at least what he would have done!!
Happy hunting to all,
The Captain & Admiral
A short background about myself, I was introduced to detecting 30+ years ago when my great uncle purchased a new detector, and was gracious enough to give his old one to me. Funny guy, my uncle - all I ever knew him to do was gold prospecting and metal detecting, back in the early 70's - and I STILL remember to this day a large suitcase in his house filled with silver dollars................wish I knew where they went! But I digress....
I spent that entire summer detecting on my family's 20+ acres, finding many of my fathers old toys, a couple of cannonball-looking balls of iron, the location of an old blacksmith shop, etc.......needless to say, for a 13-year-old kid, trash....treasure.....didn't matter, when it came out of the ground, I was in heaven!! Unfortunately, the busy teen years took over and I had not touched a detector since..........until last summer, when I was telling my wife (aka Admiral Abuse) about my "diggin' days", and she thought it sounded like fun - and of course what the wife wants the wife gets (20 yrs - I'm WELL trained now
), so after a bit of research we armed ourselves with a trusty Garrett 250 and headed off to the tot lots to find our fortune, which to this point consists of a bunch of clad, a few small pieces of silver jewelry and enough trash to.....well, you know!!With the onset of inclement weather last fall, the Admiral returned to her favorite hobby, genealogy. I decided to head off with her one day while she was doing her research, and we ended up at the local historical society. Bad thing. For her. While she was doing her thing, I found an old map book from the 1930's and just started thumbing through.......then I got 1920......then a few documents......couple of hours later my wife and one of the volunteers there found me in a back conference room, with 7 map books spread out in front of me, surrounded by paper with my head spinning!!
At that point, I think the Admiral knew.......and fittingly, I just looked up at them and said "I are a treasure hunter"
Well, the drive home (with my membership to the society in hand & copies of maps under my arms) didn't go ANYWHERE as expected, I must say.....because I knew right then and there what I wanted (no, change that -- NEEDED) to do, and I wasn't sure I was ready to incur the wrath of the Admiral when it came up. I was quite surprised when she broached the subject first --- at least that's what I construed her "So now what?" comment to be......so I told her again the same way - "I are a treasure hunter".......and waited.
Now people, this one could have gone a lot of ways, most of 'em bad for me, and several involving medical attention.........so I was TOTALLY unprepared for her response, which came across pretty simply to me --- through her smile, all she said was "Arrrrrggggghhhhh" in her best pirate voice; certainly good enough for me at that point, because I knew then that she knew too (jeez, I need more wives like her)!
Quite a few of us have noticed that getting older does have it's disadvantages -- but it also provides a few unique opportunities from time to time. And I've been fortunate enough in my life to be at a point where I'm young enough to still do these things, but old enough now to have the means to do them too - and when all of these converge, good things happen!
My good thing?? Well, after some careful negotiation (along with the obligatory begging, pleading and general tantrum-throwing from me) the Admiral and I have decided that for the next one to two years, I am INDEED going to be that treasure hunter!! Pretty much full time, regardless of what we find, I'll be doing my research and diggin' in the dirt - and I couldn't be happier
(nor could I ever repay the Admiral, as I'm sure she will remind me - over & over & over.......)!Am I expecting to hit the mother lode?? Well, here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, if it's from 1900 it's old, 1850 is ancient, so you do the math......don't figure I'll be diggin' any coppas here!! Fortunately, the entire history experience energizes me so I just don't care what I find (although I'm not gonna drop the real goodies in a trash bin!!).
I've got permission to search 6 properties at this point, dating back to the 1860's (for reference, Oregon settlements started popping up in the 1840's)........but you've gotta know that I have to return to the family property where this all started, and luckily my grandfather still lives, much as it was 35 years ago when I lived there. It's one of the first ones I'm hitting, really looking forward to what new technology will coax out of the ground!
Here's a few pics, my family has lived here since the 1940's, but the property occupation dates back to at least the 1880's based on the old house we removed over 30 years ago. Good thing I remember where it was located, along with the old blacksmith shop....and new research says there was possibly a railroad depot on the property too during that early time period (makes sense since the RR tracks run adjacent to the property), should be an interesting time!
I appreciate you all taking the time to read the long post, and I'll be sure to do my best to keep everybody updated on my travels and finds, good or otherwise, if you're interested! Just wanted to share my humble little story with those who may appreciate it, and I thank you all for keeping me fired up over the winter!!
Oh, the unbelievable Garrett find mentioned in the title
Well then, I'll finish the story.......This afternoon I was close enough to the family property (it's about 2 hours from where I live now) to stop for a quick visit between a couple of other appointments (I knew better than to break out the Garrett because of my time constraints, although it was with me...and I thought about it....a few times)
My grandfather & uncle were there, and we were talking about the upcoming hunt and detecting in general......when we walked outside, they opened the garage door for me. Now I haven't been in this garage for probably 30 years.................so imagine my surprise when I looked up and saw this..........
Didja guess before you saw the pics
Yep kids, that there is my VERY FIRST detector, still hanging on the nail in the garage with both coils, just waiting to go back to work with me after 30+ years! Check out the gadgetry on that baby, a real live Garrett Electronics Corp detector, circa early 1970's..........now how COOL is that - and try to tell me that ISN'T an incredible Garrett find!! Swing and listen for the "vffffttt" buzz noise, and start diggin', if I remember right! Kinda made me think that was my Uncle Arthur's way of telling me I'm doing the right thing - or at least what he would have done!!Happy hunting to all,
The Captain & Admiral
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,
oes your wife have any sisters?
Yep, used 'em as shot puts, if you can believe that....probably lucky to be alive!! I still know where one of them is, by the way, and if I ever get ambitious enough to attack the water drain in our old front yard..........
.........she rocks!! 
for a couple days of research under the open skies (OK, poetic justice there -- yes, I did say tent....it's Oregon!).........then off to check out an 1890's property that has produced a couple of turn of the century bottles for the homeowner (love those garden finds, there's gotta be an outhouse nearby!) --- he wants to see what else may be there, and I thought it only neighborly to oblige 
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