What does an area look like after 150-200 years, looking for a casche.

[sabre15]

I am posting this due to reading other posts regarding the change of appearances in land where hidden casches are supposedly buried.
Other than an urban area such as parking lots and subdivisions, what kind of changes take place on an area mostly undisturbed out in the country over 100 to 200 years?
What would be the most significant change in a forest or on a plantation or any general area in the country?
I would like people with experience in this matter to chime in and help on identifying markings that could link today's spot with what it would have looked like years ago.
Sorry if this is a boring subject or if the question is too vague.

 

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[jog]

I have compared some old photos from the 1800s to present day in an area I've been looking at.The Indians that used to live there burned the land to help keep down the brush so the wild berries would grow.Modern day has gotten away from this(burning large areas of land or letting wild fires go)so you end up with large areas of thick brush and trees.Makes it hard to look at or search an area.Or it could go the other way if it did burn.Plus you have erosion,shifting sands,mud slides you could have a lot of things.


Just my opinion.HH

JOG

 

[tonytygr]

Good question. One of the things that should stay true are watercourses. There should be little change in creeks and rivers unless there was some kind of major flood that caused them to change their course. Caves will hold up pretty well also. Look for large land masses such as mountain peaks for references.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Good afternoon SABRE: It certainly isn't boring, but that is a difficult question.. If it is still out in the country, it will basically look just like the rest of the surrounding area today. It has had enough time to stabilize.

Still, one might look for depressions where the land may have settled down. One can never excavate and leave the land the same over a period of time. You will always have excess materiel to dispose of since it is no longer as packed /concentrated as it was. Also the loot/ money/ whatever, that you place inside of the excavation will displace even more materiel. The first rains tend to settle it leaving the depression, then over the years it gradually deepens but by the same token surface movement tends too fill it in, depending upon where it is located.

Don't make the mistake many do of assuming that all metal/coins, gradually work their way down, deeper, they don't as a thumb rule. But the surface erosion and movement does build up over them.. Some of the past excavations on archaeological sites may now have 30 ft of over burden on them today. They did not sink.

There are exceptions of course, areas exposed to surface vibration or movement may tend to sink objects slightly. Beaches are a prime example.

I have yet to find a treasure any deeper than when it was originally buried, allowing for surface
build up over the years.

An excellent aid is to Google them by sat. a filled / dug area is never the same in coloration or texture as the surrounding areas. Old creek or river courses are spectacularly shown up this way. The same for old houses. the soil is compacted differently. You can even trace many of the old western pioneers wagon tracks this way.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[Tnmountains]

Most all virgin timber and forest has been cut. With the logging came skid trails and logging roads. So much of the dirt areas have been disturbed.

 

[lastleg]

Sabre:

Without knowing the general area you are speaking of we can only
speculate about changes. I know that man-made alterations can leave
you scrathing your head even if the disturbance of heavy machinery is
only a few years old. In mountainous terrain a road that you knew was
there in 1999 could be invisible in 2004. The seasons of heavy snow
has wiped away the evidence of that road. A friend of mine and I were
going to find that road we had been to years earlier. Someone had
evidently leased that section and had closed it off Two times previously
I had been up the jeep trail to several glossans on the mountain top.
Now we could not even see them from any angle on an alternate trail.
We did find bulldozing tracks all around the site we had to walk in to
see. The three pegmatic upthrusts were gone.
I don't think any area except for arid locales will stay the same due to
long periods of man-made cultivation, fencing and newer trees and brush.
Look at before and after photos of large towns that have vanished and
returned to wilderness.

lastleg

 

[Pitch]

On my land (Northeast)I have an old homestead from about 1800- 1820 At the barn location there is a depression of about 8 inches in the footprint of the building. Loaded with metal bits and cut nails. The cabin location is unknown except that there is a debris plume about fifty yards long where the location has been plowed annually for God knows how many years.In ten years of detecting just after each plowing I have recovered tons of pottery shards, pieces of brick, nails, one large cent and the remains of a silver plated piece of jewelery.

 

[Goodyguy]

150 years is a long time, plenty long enough for a woods to appear in a previously clear field.
and a woods could also totally disappear due to tornadoes, floods, drought, fire, or blight.

150 years ago it was 1859 a lot has changed since then and only certain landmarks would still remain.
Tornadoes, erosion, floods, earthquakes, fire, landslides, all alter the landscape.

Would need more to go on to be specific. What part of the country for example and what type of landmarks? Some areas still look like they did 200 years ago with very little change, while others are not recognizable after only 50 years.

If you are talking southern plantation areas, some have overgrown to the point of non recognition especially if they have been left unattended since the civil war.


GG~

 

[johnnyi]

Sabre, there are so many variables. In my lowland part of N.J. where there may actual be a few caches buried, I've seen areas which look like mine fields with holes everywhere. When you check back to the 20's arial surveys you see flat ground. What's happened is that in an unusually wet year a hurricane blows through and knocks the trees over. When they rot away you're left with pits and piles of dirt next to them. It can fool you.

 

[Kentucky Kache]

Sabre, there are so many variables. In my lowland part of N.J. where there may actual be a few caches buried, I've seen areas which look like mine fields with holes everywhere. When you check back to the 20's arial surveys you see flat ground. What's happened is that in an unusually wet year a hurricane blows through and knocks the trees over. When they rot away you're left with pits and piles of dirt next to them. It can fool you.

The importance of research.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

I decdided to rebuid my pore lil Jeepie. She has been sitting forlornly in a corner for several years. I have neglected her for younger models, my Isuzu Troopers. Yes , I am ashamed.

In side I found over 5" of dirt, prob windblown. This gives you an idea on just how much debris can cover a coin for example, in just a few years. In reality the coin has not 'sunk', even though there is more dirt over it than when it as lost or buried.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[TURNMASTER]

Erosion is a huge factor where ever you are. Flooding can move a stream chanel. So can a land slide, happened in WA st last week. The compost from tree leaves and pine needles over 150 years would be fairly heavy. Try not raking under a tree beside your house for 5 years. Or, look in a jeep parked under a tree and not moved for 10 or 15 years. Think about Mt St Helens. Non of this is theory. My pop has a neglected building on his property that has been pushed off its foundation by 30 years of neglect. 15 years ago the place was salvageable. The foundation is 2 courses of cinderblock on a concrete footing. The blocks are covered with dirt from composted leaves and grass blowing up against them. There is an old boat trailer there 25 years now almost completely covered.

I should get some pics to post. Time and Neglect are amazing things.

This is an older topic, but always relevent, wether coin or cache hunting.

HH
Jeff

 

[Native1858]

Nice little Willys L-Head you have. I am still kicking myself in the butt for getting rid of my F-Head CJ3B I got rid of.