small change
New member
I used vacation days last Fri. & Mon. to stretch my weekend into a four day weekend. Decided to go back & visit mom & dad as I hadn't been back since Christmas. Friday afternoon I hit the village hall in the town where they live (had found a couple mercs & some wheats there before) but didn't find anything good this time, just a small amount of clad. Saturday, I went up to where an old house had been in a wooded area next to a big IDOT gravel pile. I was picking up a lot of junk & it was hard to tell where the house had stood, but I tried to concentrate around some bigger maple trees that I felt were there when the house still existed. I believe the house has probably been gone at least 30 years. It turned out to be a big bust as I never found one single coin. I thought I'd at least find a couple of wheats or so. Part of the area was unsearchable due to honeysuckle vines & tall grass mixed with briars.
Sunday, I was going to go up & inquire about a picnic area I'd read about near an old Bridge that went across the Little Wabash River. Got worried that I'd get there just about Sunday dinner time so then I headed back south a bit to the next town & tried the park for a couple hours. Didn't think I'd find anything, but got lucky early on with the 1946 quarter & 1943d Mercury. Got the quarter first & it was only a couple inches deep. Found the mercury maybe a foot away, as it was a couple inches off to the side of a hole where I pulled a rusty bottle cap out first. Hunted quite a while longer but only managed a couple of wheats after that & some clad.
I then headed up to the old bridge site & talked to a guy who lived nearby. He said he knew who owned the area & didn't think she would care if I looked around. He said other people went down there & looked for arrowheads. A neighbor came by on a tractor & we talked to him for a while & then I headed down the rock, then dirt road & parked next to the river. Only the iron bridge frame is left. The road deck is completely gone. I bet the bridge hasn't been used in 30 maybe 40 years. The area was open farm ground up close to the river so I decided to stay up in the higher, flatter area. I started off just finding crushed aluminum cans but then got lucky & found the sterling silver ring. It had a piece of leather strap attached to it for some reason. I then went quite a while w/o finding anything good before I finally found a few old corroded wheats. Much of the field is loaded with pieces of old iron. There was an old settlement in that location that dated back to the 1850s. After I switched to Ferrous & decided to hunt in AM, I found the 1890 Indian. Last good find was the 1912 Barber Dime. None of the finds were very deep, only a couple of inches or so. I kind of doubt I'll get back there later this spring before planting, but I think I will try again this fall. Last year, the field was in corn so there was plenty of stubble left. This year, I believe it will be in beans so it might be a little easier to sweep thru once they are cut.
Sunday I ended up at a small town park & spent three hours but could only find clad & a couple of wheats. I have a 1910 plat that shows a park on that lot so I figured it was worth a try. It seemed like there was a lot of clay in the soil in spots. The pavilions weren't really old, but not new either. The only decent sounding signals I had turned out to be memorial pennies down about 7-8" in the clay muck. There must not be hardly any "old dirt" left in it. Another knock against the park is that it has several sweet gum trees in it & in spots the gum balls really covered the ground making it hard to keep the coil close to it. So that was the extended weekend of hunting. Not great, but at least I got some silver & the old bridge site has some more potential, I think.
Sunday, I was going to go up & inquire about a picnic area I'd read about near an old Bridge that went across the Little Wabash River. Got worried that I'd get there just about Sunday dinner time so then I headed back south a bit to the next town & tried the park for a couple hours. Didn't think I'd find anything, but got lucky early on with the 1946 quarter & 1943d Mercury. Got the quarter first & it was only a couple inches deep. Found the mercury maybe a foot away, as it was a couple inches off to the side of a hole where I pulled a rusty bottle cap out first. Hunted quite a while longer but only managed a couple of wheats after that & some clad.
I then headed up to the old bridge site & talked to a guy who lived nearby. He said he knew who owned the area & didn't think she would care if I looked around. He said other people went down there & looked for arrowheads. A neighbor came by on a tractor & we talked to him for a while & then I headed down the rock, then dirt road & parked next to the river. Only the iron bridge frame is left. The road deck is completely gone. I bet the bridge hasn't been used in 30 maybe 40 years. The area was open farm ground up close to the river so I decided to stay up in the higher, flatter area. I started off just finding crushed aluminum cans but then got lucky & found the sterling silver ring. It had a piece of leather strap attached to it for some reason. I then went quite a while w/o finding anything good before I finally found a few old corroded wheats. Much of the field is loaded with pieces of old iron. There was an old settlement in that location that dated back to the 1850s. After I switched to Ferrous & decided to hunt in AM, I found the 1890 Indian. Last good find was the 1912 Barber Dime. None of the finds were very deep, only a couple of inches or so. I kind of doubt I'll get back there later this spring before planting, but I think I will try again this fall. Last year, the field was in corn so there was plenty of stubble left. This year, I believe it will be in beans so it might be a little easier to sweep thru once they are cut.
Sunday I ended up at a small town park & spent three hours but could only find clad & a couple of wheats. I have a 1910 plat that shows a park on that lot so I figured it was worth a try. It seemed like there was a lot of clay in the soil in spots. The pavilions weren't really old, but not new either. The only decent sounding signals I had turned out to be memorial pennies down about 7-8" in the clay muck. There must not be hardly any "old dirt" left in it. Another knock against the park is that it has several sweet gum trees in it & in spots the gum balls really covered the ground making it hard to keep the coil close to it. So that was the extended weekend of hunting. Not great, but at least I got some silver & the old bridge site has some more potential, I think.
