metal detecting

Detecting totals:

Lincoln cents: 118

Nickels: 7

Dimes: 25

Quarters: 19

 

Total coins: 169

$8.78

 

Saying that I found 169 coins feels more impressive than saying I found $8.78. I'm sure as heck a long way from making minimum wage.

 

I spent some time last night detecting in Anchorage. Anchorage strikes me as a weird place. The first place I went, months ago, was around an old rail station. I found nothing but trash; bits of cans and bottle caps, buried 6-7 inches down. It was the same along the sidewalk in front of the post office there, last night, although I didn't do a thorough search.

 

All the soil I find in that area seems very rich. It's dark and crumbly, perfect for gardening. I don't hit any clay.

 

I get the impression that the whole town had the top foot of soil scraped away a few years ago and replace with potting soil.

 

I've actually had decent success at the Anchorage School. There is a huge grassy lawn in front of the school which I have crisscrossed with the metal detector. I haven't searched it exhaustively, but I've been over quite a bit of it. I've hardly found anything there, despite the fact that it seems like a great place for school picnics and similar affairs.

 

The ball field right next to the school building, however, has been more productive. I've found about a dollar in change around there, and I have a lot more to search.

 

Lots of times when I hunt a spot that seems like a good spot but which produces nothing, I wonder if it has been searched before. In the case of the train station, that seems likely. It's a very obvious and historical site, a place that everyone in the area would know about. In the past three decades it may have been combed over a dozen times. It's the same with the lawn in front of the school. The ball field is more productive because it is used more heavily, and I'm finding change that's been dropped over the past five years or so. There is almost bound to be old coins or other artifacts in all those places, just harder to find.