Uncle Willy
New member
Used to go out of town quite a bit to hunt but haven't done it for a few years. Today I decided to head out of town so I crossed the river into Washington and drove to a dinky logging town way out in the boonies and hit the elementary school they had there It is an oldie and was built back in the early thirties. I didn't expect to find a goldmine as everyplace around here has been hit at one time or another with a few detectors.. Didn't find much around the school except a few new drops in the tiny playground ( not in the pic )
But around in back of the school is an old ballfield that appears to not have been used much for years. There was the remains of an old back stop and some old broken down wooden bleachers. Didn't score anything there except a rusty clad quarter circa 1965. Then I spied this old beatup concession stand that hasn't been used since Hector was a pup. Didn't find much there but rounded up a couple of more rusty clad quarters thirty some years old under the conession stand. Yes I hunt under them as far as I can reach and recover. But what caught my eye was the wooden platform ( about ten feet by six feet ) in front of the concession stand.
It brought back memories of years ago here in town when I found a similar oak platform in front of a concession stand at a local high school. There was virtually nothing around the stand but a voice in my head said, " Nobody has ever hunted under that platform." So I muscled that big, heavy turkey up and leaned it against the stand and my voice was correct. I could see some of the coins shining in the sun. As I recall I pulled about ten bucks in clad from under that platform.
And even though I heard that same, familiar voice - this platform was a different animal. It was ancient, sagging in the middle, and grown up in weeds, around it and coming through the top, plus it was buried halfway into the ground. I made a feeble attempt to lift it but knew it was useless as it was as if it was cemented in the ground. But being the tenacious and well prepared old fart that I am I went back to my van and got my crow bar, block of wood, and my hand held sickle. Took me about thirty minutes of back breaking work to get that sucker pried loose from the ground so I could stand it up against the stand - and yes it weighed a ton. Then I took the sickle and whacked down the weeds so I could get my coil close to the ground. I then waved it around and it sounded like a convention of Roadrunners, with a beep! beep! here and a beep! beep! there and a beep! beep! everywhere and I knew I had arrived. The top boards of the platform were closely spaced or more coins would have fallen beneath but I was happy with what was there. All of the coins were shallow as they had been protected from the elements. My first two recoveries were Mercs and I knew the rest were going to be brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles and so they were. Did I mention that my heart sounded like a bongo drum. All in all it was a glorious day.
Most of the coins were cruddy so I cleaned them up before putting them in my scanner. Some of the coins go way back. One is a Liberty nickel circa 1906 and some wheats from the early 1900's. I probably won't live long enough to make another score like this so this one will have to last me.
Bill
But around in back of the school is an old ballfield that appears to not have been used much for years. There was the remains of an old back stop and some old broken down wooden bleachers. Didn't score anything there except a rusty clad quarter circa 1965. Then I spied this old beatup concession stand that hasn't been used since Hector was a pup. Didn't find much there but rounded up a couple of more rusty clad quarters thirty some years old under the conession stand. Yes I hunt under them as far as I can reach and recover. But what caught my eye was the wooden platform ( about ten feet by six feet ) in front of the concession stand.
It brought back memories of years ago here in town when I found a similar oak platform in front of a concession stand at a local high school. There was virtually nothing around the stand but a voice in my head said, " Nobody has ever hunted under that platform." So I muscled that big, heavy turkey up and leaned it against the stand and my voice was correct. I could see some of the coins shining in the sun. As I recall I pulled about ten bucks in clad from under that platform.
And even though I heard that same, familiar voice - this platform was a different animal. It was ancient, sagging in the middle, and grown up in weeds, around it and coming through the top, plus it was buried halfway into the ground. I made a feeble attempt to lift it but knew it was useless as it was as if it was cemented in the ground. But being the tenacious and well prepared old fart that I am I went back to my van and got my crow bar, block of wood, and my hand held sickle. Took me about thirty minutes of back breaking work to get that sucker pried loose from the ground so I could stand it up against the stand - and yes it weighed a ton. Then I took the sickle and whacked down the weeds so I could get my coil close to the ground. I then waved it around and it sounded like a convention of Roadrunners, with a beep! beep! here and a beep! beep! there and a beep! beep! everywhere and I knew I had arrived. The top boards of the platform were closely spaced or more coins would have fallen beneath but I was happy with what was there. All of the coins were shallow as they had been protected from the elements. My first two recoveries were Mercs and I knew the rest were going to be brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles and so they were. Did I mention that my heart sounded like a bongo drum. All in all it was a glorious day.
Most of the coins were cruddy so I cleaned them up before putting them in my scanner. Some of the coins go way back. One is a Liberty nickel circa 1906 and some wheats from the early 1900's. I probably won't live long enough to make another score like this so this one will have to last me.
Bill
.
A great big congrats,
