Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

[McIntosh]

Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?



I have complete access to this old homestead and I know it's never been detected. The property pre-dates 1860, the person who settled it (1845?) first lived in a "dugout" (see photo) had a 2 story house that burned down years later, there is an old still standing one room school house, a huge barn & out buildings.

Now the question is?>>>>>>Just where to start!

Any ideas?

 

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[McIntosh]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

Sorry about the photo, trying to figure how to re size it then re-post. It really is a cool looking place and I can hardly wait to begin.

 

[McIntosh]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

To be honest, I'm looking for everything & nothing in particular. But sure seems like its going to lots of fun.

 

[McIntosh]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

I have Garrett Master Hunter Plus CXIII, Garrett ACE 250/ Bounty Hunter and yes I do have "unlimited" access as with the other locations I visit. Most of them here, have over 500+ years of "recorded" history of traffic stopping there from the early Native Americans to the Spanish conquistadors (per old Spanish maps), to RR Depots, Stagecoach stop & more.

I'm like a kid turned loose in a candy store!

 

[arnoldziffel]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

i resized it for ya.

 

[McIntosh]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

Thank you very much! Still trying to learn how to do that LOL

 

[dneyedli@res1.mts.net]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

I think a good place to start is any higher elevation points on the property. Looking at the picture, the existing building is on a ridge and could have been built over the older sites. I would definitely search the ridge. Looks like some potential there.
Good luck!
Dave.

 

[stefen]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

I'd start aroundt the homes and then work the areas where cars, trucks or tractors were parked.

The pathways and areas around the crapper next...

Then I'd work the inside of barns, especially the milking parlor, then wherever equipment repairs were made...

Once the critical areas have been eliminated, move onto thbe fields...

Might want to find the dump heap if possible...all farms had them...might be in a bank-caved ravine or wash...


Now, since you have several MD units, have a second unit follow in the same path as the first...be suprised what is missed.
Also, check any foundations and stone walls...

I'd check around the mail box...a lot of coins for postage stamp have been lost in the weeds...

 

[Shortstack]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

I'll offer my opinions:

--make a thourough search for caches, first. Use detectors on the walls of standing structures. Check for hidy holes in the rafters and posts of the barn. Look for out of place nails in the rafters where a plumb bob could be hung to locate a spot on the ground. Check around the foundation walls, inside and out. Look for loose and / or discolored stones and boards in the foundation walls. Check around that huge half-buried boulder on the side of the hill. Look for marks in the boulder. Detect completely around the boulder out to a few feet. Detect around the posts of the OLD fencelines. Look for unusual marks in the OLD trees.

--once you've done your cache search, then start gridding for coinshooting.

--once you've found the farm dump, dig an exploratory trench and sift the soil from it. You can then dig new trenches and use the previous trench to put the dirt from the new trench; all the while, sifting for the small stuff such as coins, jewelry, marbles, etc. The trenches are for discovering the large items such as bottles and other castoffs.

--if you do a really methodical search of the homestead, you'll have a project to keep you busy for a couple of years.

--I'm envious of the possibilities.

 

[Mrs Bloom]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

wish I had a candy store like that! happy hunting!!

 

[rjw4law]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

The barb wire scares me.

 

[lastleg]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

McIntosh:

Was that first pic taken from the hwy/road? Some ten years ago I was crossing that 80 mile stretch from Clayton to Springer and about where the
Santa Fe Trail crosses the hwy a group of people had pulled off the road and
were going under the barbed wire with detectors in hand. I looked and saw a
rock house in the distance.
Properties in view of thoroghfares have been detected and most of the ones
out of view have been too. The harder it is to get to the better. I have yet to
find a totally virgin site and I've been all over a hunting one.
That doesn't mean the early birds got it all but in the late '60s - '80s there
were dedicated full time hunters jumping fences and 4-wheeling to mtn peaks
gathering bottles, shallow coins and jewelry from abandoned homesteads, fair-
grounds, stage stations, ghosttowns, etc.
Due to Progress and old age, those guys take fewer risks today, It just ain't
worth getting jailed for trespassing anymore. Looking at your site I can assure
you that sombody at some time had the same idea you have.
With permission you can hunt on your own timetable and not have to worry
about getting booted off. Those old guy were pretty good at cherrypicking the
silver cartwheels, halves and quarters from high traffic areas. If they couldn't
get a couple of gold rings and a pocketful of silver they were highly dissapoint-
ed. Get ready to do a lot of digging, you'll need to get that disc down low to
get the leavings. Best of luck.

 

[olepossum]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

go to the top of the hill and look down for foundations and go from there then the foundations of the existing foudations and buildong

 

[Felinepeachy]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

I would start by sending out invitations to your Tnet friends and then take it from there.

 

[Cladius]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

Look for anything that looks like a work ramp/pit or arond the barn/work shop. I like working areas where people worked on equipment and vehicals as stuff always fell out of their pockets. Next look for old shade tree where folks hung out and picnicked & such. Good luck it's an awsome opertunity! go slow. cladius.

 

[hypoman]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

I think you should start....

 

[birdman]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

Old close lines always have coins.

 

[jyt2017]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

Did you start your hunt yet? Any luck? I am starting a summer project similar to yours. Best of luck HH -Joe

 

[DPenhead]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

Don't forget to check the areas where kids would have had sex while growing up (There should be a few hundred years worth of kids laying down in the grass somewhere around there...) I have found several such places that force you to think like a dog, but pay off. Also, western facing hillsides, for the romantic interludes. (I dug a hole in the trees next to the beach last year and found a used rubber layed on top of a large, silver, heart-shaped, diamond necklace). Also, the nearest creek (and downstream, settling like gold), well, or drained old pond on a straight line from the backdoor. I walked out the back door from a house once and followed the carpet of coins out to the collapsed well in the woods where I guess they did clothes for a few decades. Found several thousand coins and a stack of antique TX license plates. The plates I recently made $300 on by selling on ebay. In many instances valuables and guns were throw down wells to keep the Union from acquiring them. (I know of one instance where an arm and the gold bracelet on it where traced back to the original owner during the Civil War. Both were found together in a well...) I have also found cool historic lures, lead toys, matchbox cars, and silver coins on the water-facing side of ponds in the country. AND, I know of one instance of caches of gold coins found just over the nearest hill from a fort, hidden by soldiers that never came back to get it. Soldiers didn't just live in forts, they occasionally led other lives. The fears of someone getting their gold might lead them to bury it in the same manner that they did in the service. Over the nearest hill from the farmhouse, in the well, in the stones of the fireplace..etc.... (If any owners on the property search come back as being in the military, I would think it would raise the chances of a cache.)

From the look of the land, I would say that there might be a grove of oak trees, or some other old growth trees around somewhere on the property. Or, evidence of one? Many times these were the picnic spots for many local farmers to get together in their Sunday best. They were used as schools, churches, cemetaries, and even political platforms for politicians on horseback. I have found pocket watches, a 30-60-90 iron triangle from at least 1900 and possibly as old as the 1860's, a Spanish Military stirrup from the 1840's, lead toys, coins, coins, and a few more coins.


Hope my opinion gives you some food for thought..

DP

 

[bearbqd]

Re: Where would "YOU" start with a Relic Site like this?

I would start right on the other side of that fence.