Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
 |
| Cache Recently Found on Historic Treasure Coast Property |
There are a lot of books on treasure hunting, but there are few on cache hunting. One that I know of was written by Glenn Carson.
Glenn, by the way, put together a treasure hunting group, I think it was in the eighties, that I was a part of, and some of the individuals in the group invested in a silver mine in Mexico. There was a newsletter. I don't know if I still have my copies.
Anyhow, cache hunting is very different from beach hunting. There are caches that have been found on the beach - including a cache of cobs buried in an olive jar, and of course treasure chests, although the typical typical treasure chest is often not what you might think, but just as often the container is something else, like a cannon, for example.
I've seen some very impressive caches found by treasure hunters. One cache was a number of large silver bars. Another was a chest of cobs found down in the Keys.
Yesterday I gave a link to some good history on St. Lucie County. There were a lot of clues to the history of the area on that web site.
I always recommend participating in different types of treasure hunting, since you always learn something when you do something a little different.
The cache shown above was found on a Treasure Coast land site along Indian River Drive. It was on private property.
The cache includes twenty Kennedy half dollars and three Eisenhower dollars. Obviously that cache isn't nearly as old as some of the early settlements of the area, but it does show that there are caches to be found.
The container is a Presto canning jar with metal lid.
 |
| Coins Found in Jar |
Below is a photo of a place where there was once an old Cabin. This photo isn't from the Treasure Coast. In fact, it isn't even Florida. It is in the Rocky Mountains. But I like the photo and the stove and wanted to show how the ground can be littered with all kinds of junk that can make detecting difficult.
 |
| Old Cabin Site. |
If you look closely, you can see the tin roofing and other metal scattered all over the site. That would keep a lot of people from detecting.
The thing to do is clean up the site a little. Pick up the big pieces of tin and stuff and pile it up so you can detect most of the area.
You can use different strategies to deal with the junk.
One is to use discrimination to detect between the big pieces. Remember though, if you discriminate, there is the danger of passing over something good like a tin can filled with cash or something.
You can start out using a lot of discrimination and then as you get a good feel for exactly what kinds of things are there and what they sound like, you can gradually decrease discrimination.
I always recommend having a good magnet to pick up small pieces of iron at a place like this. It can really reduce the amount of digging you do. A rake can help too.
Personally, I would have loved to have taken the stove with me. I think it is really neat.
 |
| Shot Gun Shells Found at Cache Site. |
One of the secrets to hunting junky areas is to be patient. You can increase your junk tolerance by trying to figure out what every piece of junk is telling you.
Junk provides information. Some more and some less. But if you are squeezing all the information you can out of the junk, it keeps you mentally active and helps you tolerate the junk until you find what you are looking for.
Another secret is to enjoy little finds, such as the shotgun shells shown here.
Let your imagination run. Think about who might have been hunting or what they were shooting at. That can help you get a better overall picture of the site and help guide you to finds.
I think the shot gun shells are interesting and could see how a person could really get into collecting old shell casings. They also help you date some of the activity at the site.
Junk will often be your first clue to a site. Broken glass, pottery and iron or tin will be among the first clues that you will see on the surface.
I'll post more on the coins of the cache some other time.
Beach conditions are not improving. We've been stuck with the same beach conditions, it seems like forever.
You really have to hunt or those few better spots, and none are really good.
It might be a good time to consider trying some different things while Treasure Coast beach conditions remain so poor.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
