Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Large Porcelain High Tension Insulator. |
I've found a good number of insulators during my detecting outings, but most are smaller and glass rather than porcelain. This is a larger porcelain insulator from a high tension line.
It has acquired a grey patina. Underneath is a nice shiny brown. I think more of that will show if I clean it.
It is marked VICTOR.
It is marked VICTOR.
I've found some insulators with my metal detector that still had wire attached, but most were found by sight.
Maybe I'll show more of those in the future. Most of them are nice, but not worth a lot.
Here is what I found on the history of Victor Insulators, Inc.
The Village of Victor is located in Western New York State, seventeen miles east of Rochester. The Village of Victor was incorporated in 1879. At the hub of three railroads it quickly became an industrial center of the region and is the birthplace of the wet process, high voltage porcelain insulator.
Look around you at every power pole in your area and think Victor Insulators. Virtually all porcelain insulator companies owe their origins to the inventor, Fred Locke. He built the Locke Insulator business in Victor in 1898 and today it is known around the world as Victor Insulators, Inc. Porcelain insulators are made of high quality clays, combined with selected minerals, glazed with colored pigments, then fired in a 2,300 degree kiln. Standard and custom shapes of insulators are still being produced today...
The Village of Victor is located in Western New York State, seventeen miles east of Rochester. The Village of Victor was incorporated in 1879. At the hub of three railroads it quickly became an industrial center of the region and is the birthplace of the wet process, high voltage porcelain insulator.
Look around you at every power pole in your area and think Victor Insulators. Virtually all porcelain insulator companies owe their origins to the inventor, Fred Locke. He built the Locke Insulator business in Victor in 1898 and today it is known around the world as Victor Insulators, Inc. Porcelain insulators are made of high quality clays, combined with selected minerals, glazed with colored pigments, then fired in a 2,300 degree kiln. Standard and custom shapes of insulators are still being produced today...
Here is that link.
https://www.insulators.info/porcelain/photos/photos/u465-yel.htm
I haven't found this specific one yet.
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I haven't found this specific one yet.
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I'm going to meander down memory lane before I get to my main point today.
I awoke this morning before sunrise with a smile upon my face that lasted at least an hour. I had a dream, or more accurately, a few dreams, that took me back to a time some sixty or seventy years ago.
It was a different time and place, but one I've definitely not forgotten.
The boys who spent their later teens on the beaches of Normandy or Midway, or at the Battle of the Bulge or liberating concentration camps, or in the Pacific had returned from the war and built houses and started families.
I was the child of one of those boys who tried to make a better life for his family. I grew up rich, even though we didn't have much money.
It is a green valley in rural Pennsylvania populated by farms dating well back into the 1800s. Scattered between the old farm houses were a few new small houses built by the veterans with whatever they could scrape up.
In one of my dreams, I revisited that valley where I and my friends grew up in the 1950s. Some of us went to Viet Nam, and some of us visited the beaches of Fort Lauderdale for Spring Break. Who said life is fair?
No matter how the historians write about it, it is never the same as being there.
My dream took me back to an event that I've told about before. My friend and I found a dump filled with bottles.
Just like it once was on the Treasure Coast, at that time we didn't have garbage collection and the farms and families buried or burned their trash. Below every old farm house was a dump that had accumulated close to a century of bottles and miscellaneous garbage.
Well, we got bottles from one of those dumps and threw them into the creek at the bottom of the valley. Then we ran downstream along the creek to a rock cliff that stuck out above the creek. As the bottles floated by, we imagined that they were warships and we tried to sink them with our bee bee guns before they got by. That is what I relived in my dream.
So how does that have anything to do with treasure hunting or this blog?
Not long ago I actually visited my old stomping grounds up north for an all too-short visit. Those old dumps are now overgrown. There was little evidence that they ever existed. But it was like I could see through time. I could see the huge oak tree that was no longer there. I could see the big old black barn that was a part of both my history and my mother's, even though it had been replaced by a characterless aluminum building. I could see the spring house, that was so nice and cool in the summer, and the dump, both of which had been bull-dozed. Hidden by a heavy layer of weeds and trees and completely invisible to any new comer, I could clearly see the old baseball field, along with the kids and parents and many events that took place there in times past.
Kids know their neighborhood like no one else - or at least we did. We knew where arrow heads were found. We explored every hill, valley, spring, creek, meadow and clump of trees.
My grandparents also took me places and showed me where things happened when they were kids. My grandmother showed me the part of the stone chimney that remained from the house where she was raised, and where she went to picnic. And I can remember every inch of it today, even though I haven't been there for years.
Not long ago I actually visited my old stomping grounds up north for an all too-short visit. Those old dumps are now overgrown. There was little evidence that they ever existed. But it was like I could see through time. I could see the huge oak tree that was no longer there. I could see the big old black barn that was a part of both my history and my mother's, even though it had been replaced by a characterless aluminum building. I could see the spring house, that was so nice and cool in the summer, and the dump, both of which had been bull-dozed. Hidden by a heavy layer of weeds and trees and completely invisible to any new comer, I could clearly see the old baseball field, along with the kids and parents and many events that took place there in times past.
Kids know their neighborhood like no one else - or at least we did. We knew where arrow heads were found. We explored every hill, valley, spring, creek, meadow and clump of trees.
My grandparents also took me places and showed me where things happened when they were kids. My grandmother showed me the part of the stone chimney that remained from the house where she was raised, and where she went to picnic. And I can remember every inch of it today, even though I haven't been there for years.
Finally, here is my point. If you detect the area where you grew up and where your family settled long ago, you have a tremendous advantage. On the other hand, if you find yourself living in an area that is newer to you, you might want to talk to some of the older citizens who don't mind reminiscing about their childhood in the area. They can probably see back through time too.
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I've been enjoying the coin collecting magazines I picked up at the Treasure Coast Coin Collectors table at the Vero coin show yesterday. I'll have more to say about that some other time.
I was thinking of talking about beach search patterns today, but didn't get it done.
I went out to check for the lunar eclipse last night, but was early and didn't see it.
The moon was beautiful anyhow, and we are now having some really big tides. Too bad the west wind the surf has not increased much yet.
As you can see, the Treasure Coast surf will be up to three to five feet on Tuesday and Wednesday. That combined with the big tides should help out some areas.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
I've been enjoying the coin collecting magazines I picked up at the Treasure Coast Coin Collectors table at the Vero coin show yesterday. I'll have more to say about that some other time.
I was thinking of talking about beach search patterns today, but didn't get it done.
I went out to check for the lunar eclipse last night, but was early and didn't see it.
The moon was beautiful anyhow, and we are now having some really big tides. Too bad the west wind the surf has not increased much yet.
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| Source: MagicSeaWeed.com. |
As you can see, the Treasure Coast surf will be up to three to five feet on Tuesday and Wednesday. That combined with the big tides should help out some areas.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
