White Birch Along a W. Va. Old Wagon and Indian Trail.Notice the carving on the trunk of the tree.
I recently mentioned that I was up north. While up there I saw this carving on a huge White Birch Tree. The carving was actually about forty feet in the air. Pretty neat.
Anyhow, along this old trail where I've found a lot of older stuff in the past I found the old class ring seen below. It is 1946. You never know what you are going to find or where something will pop up.
That goes right along with my post today, which is why I decided to show this ring.
Most class rings of the same period look similar and are easy to distinguish from more recent class rings.
I was surprised to find it where I did.
1946 Class Ring.Somebody wrote in to say that from my photo yesterday it looked like they were getting ready to dump sand on Walton Rocks. I hope not. They'd be covering up the coral, fossils and all kinds of stuff. And I don't know anybody that is complaining about there not being enough sand there. Geeeez. Might as well just dump the dollars into the ocean.
As I've said before, when I do a survey in this blog, it is not a scientific survey. You get responses, but sometimes people are not completely open or honest. That is natural. I understand that.
Some people look at detecting as a very competitive activity. They think that what other people find really cuts down on what they'll find. They consider good targets to be limited, like a marbles in a hat, and when one person takes one out, that means they'll get less. I don't really look at it that way. I'm not much concerned by how much other people find. There is always more.
The Treasure Coast beaches have been producing ever since the first treasure shipwreck occurred here hundreds of years ago. Granted they didn't have detectors hundreds of years ago, but they had their own salvage techniques. They even used diving helmets of a sort. I think I once posted a photo of some diving equipment they used in the 1700s. Of course it is not what we have today, but the past generations always found a way to get things done - very often amazingly. Yet they didn't get it all, nor has anyone else.
If you look at the pyramids or cathedrals of Europe, you have to wonder how in the world they did that without all the modern machines that we have. How did they get those huge stones hundreds of feet in the air without cranes etc. They had their ways. Bright people will find a way to get things done.
But what I am getting to is that even though the old shipwrecks have been salvaged for hundreds of years, and people have been using detectors on the beaches for decades, you can still find things. I believe there is a lot yet to be found.
Unfortunately the last year has been very slow. Conditions have been very poor. But it will change. It could change any time. And quickly. That will make a bunch of new things more accessible.
And there is a finite number of old things to be found. The easy ones go first. And if you do whatever everyone else is doing, to a large extent you are competing for the same targets.
But you can always go a little further. Go a stop beyond the other guy. I've said that before at different times and in different ways.
If you feel you are competing for the same targets, don't buy the same detector everybody else has,use the same settings everyone else uses, and then follow them down the beach. Do something different.
I've mentioned before that I used to detect where there were a lot of detectorists, yet I almost never saw another detectorist at any of my favorite spots. I usually chose spots that were in some way less accessible or less known. Most people go to the same places. Granted some of those places are good and that is one reason everybody goes there, but there are other places where you can find things and where you'll hardly ever see anyone else.
I remember once when a ran into a guy on the beach and he told me where he had been and that he found some gold rings there. I could tell from what he told me that there was a good coin hole there, and I knew that most people leave some good targets when they detect a coin hole, so I went where he just came from and picked up a couple of heavy gold rings in short time. I did follow him in that case, but I suspected that there would be some left because most people do not thoroughly detect and do not really totally clean out coin holes. In fact, sometimes I like when other people clean out the surface trash, and then I go the same place and listen for the softer signals.
I've explained before different ways you can detect a heavily detected beach and still find stuff.
My main point today, though, is that I believe that there is always more to be found. You'd think the Atocha would be worked out by now. Not so. They're still blowing new holes in new areas and finding new things. And they're going after a new wreck code named Deep Merchant. They had to get new equipment and do things differently to get this new wreck. That is what I'm talking about.
When things get challenging, as they have been lately, take the opportunity to do some research, try new techniques, scout out new areas, and generally do something different.
If you watched the TV series Tough Alaska last night and saw how a bunch of gold miners were going after gold, you saw different guys going after gold in different places and in different ways. One was working a shaker, one was panning, one was digging a mine into a mountain, and one was using a Brownie and suction dredging gold 30 feet below the ocean. There were a variety of different techniques being used.
I really like the guys that were dredging in the ocean off the coast of Nome where gold used to be found on the beaches. They went the next stop. The beaches were played out so they moved off shore.
I'm sure there would be other ways to approach that. If I were up there, I'd definitely be thinking about that.
I don't believe that we'll run out of shipwreck treasures. When the Atocha is worked out, if it ever is, a new wreck, like the Lost Merchant, will be found. The thing is, some people will move on and keep trying new things and come up with new techniques. They will be the ones to make the majority of good finds. The people that follow each other around in circles will be left to complain that there isn't anything left to find.
I often get emails from people asking me to meet them somewhere. As you might guess, I can't do that. I barely have enough time to write these blogs. But if you have questions, comments or anything, I'll try to respond to your interests by email.
I'm surprised no one had any comments about the flying saucer photo.
I know I'm not very gender sensitive with my writing. I'm old school. But I know there are a lot of ladies that follow this blog. How about some finds, questions or comments from the ladies.
Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.
The wind is still coming from the southeast and the sea is calm. It looks like it will stay that way for at least a few days. Therefore there has been no significant change and I don't expect any soon.
As for the longer term, I mentioned the 2011 hurricane forecast yesterday. Here is a link for that.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/hurricanes/2011-05-10-hurricane-season-forecast-noaa_n.htm
Enjoy the calm water.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
