No gold in Durango, but some pretty pictures and a train ride (lot's of photos)

The Norris clan arrived back home late last night. It's been a while since I've had internet connectivity, and I was surprised at the activity here.

We made Durango, CO the last stop on our spring vacation. Several times we have been in the area, but never stopped for more than overnight. A few years ago we stayed outside Cortez and visited Mesa Verde National Park. One of the highlights of our stay in Durango was to ride the D&SNGRR to the town of Silverton and back. I love trains. We had a great trip. The ride is three hours each way plus a two and a half hour layover in Silverton to eat and visit the historical district of town.

Before the train ride we had time to see the sites of Durango, relax, and grill some steaks. I got out on Memorial Day to do a little hunting. After researching the history and taking a drive around, I made my first stop the Durango Police Department. I was told there aren't any city ordinances against hunting the parks or schoolgrounds. So I decided to hit the old high school built in 1916. It's the local school district admin offices now, but I thought I might have some luck there. About five minutes into my hunt I got a very strong signal at a depth of two inches. After poking with my screwdriver and not finding anything I figured it was best to cut a plug. To make a long story short, at a depth of 8 inches I hit one of the old, fixed, brass sprinkler heads in the lawn. I didn't think about it much until I hit another a short time later at about the same depth. Oh man! (whining). Sometime in the past there has been a big load of dirt brought in over the previous grounds. So much for finding some old coins and relics there. If they exist, they are really deep. I didn't give up though. The fill dirt could have some goodies in it. Never know where it came from. I continued to hunt, and on the fringes of where the lawn slopes down to the street I found several wheat pennies and a two pieces of a tax token. None of the wheaties are key dates and there's no reason to post a picture. And the token is literally in two pieces and twisted to boot. So no need in posting that ugly beast.

The next day I took a drive up to Silverton in the hopes of maybe doing a little hunting. Silverton is a very small town and was in the past a silver boomtown. Now it's a tourist mecca and historical center of southwest Colorado. The majority of the buildings are the originals from the late 1800s and the sidewalks were put in around the 1920s. Yummy! "Now if I can find some open ground around here". But alas, it was not meant to be. I stopped in at the sheriff's office and inquired. Good thing I wasn't carring my detector. I thought I was going to be arrested just for asking. Talk about bummed out. I drove back to the motorhome with my lower lip stuck out pouting. Oh well. the RV park manager is a hunter himself. He invited me to pick up some of the cash the campers have dropped. All total the finds in the park amounted to $20.57. Laundry money for the next trip.

Enjoy the photos.

The school I hunted at.



Riding the train along the Anamas River toward Silverton.



The kiddo enjoying the ride.



Twilight Peak



The big guy chugging along the river.



Me with the big guy in Silverton, CO



The Shady Lady in Silverton (note the sign)



Going back down the hill. The brakeman signalling we have cleared the bridge.



Underway again, after refilling the tender from one of the watertanks along the pike.




I have a follow up to the post of my finds in Dallas at my mom's place. A good friend who is a firearms and military expert came by today to look at my stuff. He identified the two projectiles in the picture below as 147 gr. 30 cal Spitzer ammo. World War I ammo. The button I posted a picture of is also WW I vintage. So my mom's back yard is probably an old army bivouac plus 1880s frontier site. I love my mom!



Thanks for looking.

G Man