A question for the So Cal detectors....

Gearjammer · April 11, 2008 8:40AM

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum, having made my way over from the currency forum next door, and I had a question or two for those who live in my area....So Cal. I bought a GTI 2500 several years ago, but have only used it about a dozen times or so without much success and after reading some of the posts here and seeing the pics of some awesome finds, I want to go out and give it another try. I'm heading out to Amboy crater this sunday and was thinking that it might be fun to go detecting around what used to be the town of Bagdad a few miles away. I was there 5 years ago and there isn't much of anything left in the way of the town, but it might produce a coin or two from the late 1880's to the mid 1950's. Anyway, my questions are.....first about the ground and second about the legality or ownership of the property. I read some of the posts that talked about how hard the ground can be in the desert....should I expect the ground to be like concrete?? And about ownership, does anyone know if the land out there along old route 66 is public or privately owned and how would I go about looking that information up for future reference?? I know Amboy was purchased by someone in 2005 I think and they are trying to restore it and bring some interest back to it, but I haven't read anything about Bagdad. Thanks in advance for any helpful info.

CROCKofCOINS · April 11, 2008 11:03AM

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CROCKofCOINS · April 11, 2008 11:22AM

Bentfork or DesertRat will be able to help you..

Info: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gtusa/usa/ca/bagdad.htm

Jerry

BentFork · April 11, 2008 12:39PM

Greetings Gearjammer!

I can't tell you much about the ownership of the area. Hence I couldn't say if you'd be trespassing or not. Although I know where it's at.

I live in Palmdale which is desert alluvial soil like out where you're speaking of. As far as digging in the desert, it's the wrong time of the year if you have to go down more than an inch and are doing so with a common digger. I have a Lesche digger which has given me the best results all around, and even it won't get through more than 2 inches during the dry periods. You got it, the desert is like Portland cement. The best time to desert hunt is after good rains have come and the water has perc'd down. Then you can go down 5 or 6 inches. The best thing to do is get either a geologists rock hammer or a brick hammer. A rock hammer is better. When you find something that you feel is more than an inch or two down then start busting at the target. But make sure you dig a big hole so as not to bugger up your find. With the rock hammer you don't actually have to take a lumberjack swing at it. The fact that your hitting mass (the hammer head) is on the end of a lever will provide the inertia to break through the ground.

You get the idea. Places such as washes and where organic matter has built up are easy to go though. But in general the hard pan in the wide open desert is tough.

Good luck. Let us know how you did.

G-daddy

kiyote · April 12, 2008 7:07AM

When in doubt, go detecting and wait for someone to come along and tell you not to.

ricko · April 12, 2008 8:43AM

Good luck... desert is tough... advice on rockhammer is good. Cheers, RickO

Gearjammer · April 12, 2008 5:48PM

Thanks for the tips and info. I'll let you know how it goes, and hopefully, if someone does come along to shoo me away, they won't hand cuff me or shoot first and ask questions later!!

Hmmmm, maybe if I wear desert camo, they won't notice me..........

DesertRat · April 13, 2008 11:25AM

I had to rent a massive hydraulic rototiller last week just to dig the ground in my backyard deep enough to plant a vegetable garden. That sucker would dig in and then hit the caliche and start dragging me all over the yard! I'm 250 lbs and had to pull backwards with all my strength and weight just to keep the tines stationary over one spot long enough to get through the hardpan. Was a a tough job! Now I should get my DFX out and sweep the yard and see if I can find anything but nails

Good luck on your hunt!

CROCKofCOINS · April 13, 2008 11:28AM

>>Now I should get my DFX out and sweep the yard and see if I can find anything but nails<<

Sounds like a plan!!!

Jerry

BentFork · April 13, 2008 1:40PM

You mean you didn't blast Danny?

Gearjammer · April 15, 2008 7:48AM

Well, there weren't any handcuffs or pot shots taken, but the trip was a bust. I was feeling a bit apprehensive about detecting on BLM land where an old town once stood, all the "historical and archaeoligical" mumbo jumbo I've been reading or hearing about, and decided to ask the rangers at Indian Cove if they knew what the rules and regs were. They weren't familiar enough with the BLM regs to advise me "on the record", but did think that it would probably be more illegal than legal for me to detect there. I went ahead with the trip and drove out to Amboy crater and then to the old Bagdad site. Turns out it would be a detectors nightmare anyway because of all the metal debris strewn about the entire site. Lots of rivet heads, bolts and other debris. I figured after driving all that way, I had to at least give it a whirl. I walked about 50 yards to the side of where the main site is and as soon as I started my first sweep, I got instant signals...all debris. Same thing happened on every sweep. I'm sure I could program the detector to block out certain signals, but I'm not familiar enough with it to do it. Bottom line, probably not worth the effort...unless you want a nice collection of rivet heads. The ground was very workable though, at least down to 4-6 inches, so that wasn't a problem.

I sent the BLM an email asking what the rules and regs for metal detecting were and the reply I got back today was that they have been meaning to put that information up on their website for awhile now, but haven't gotten around to it yet. In the meantime, I should call the nearest field office to where I want to detect and get the low down from them. So, I guess the rules could be different depending on who you talk to and where you want to detect.

Anyway, thanks again for all the tips and info. My question now is.....where the heck can someone still go detecting and hope to find something old that won't be illegal to dig up and keep?? Is the beach and local park all that is left in Calif.???

DesertRat · April 16, 2008 7:04AM

I've run into the same problem with debris at sites I've hunted in Calif. You're right though that your MD should easily discriminate out the trash if you want. The only real problems I've run into are when large sheets of tin are buried and it overloads the MD.

As for other sites in Calif. to hunt, there are plenty of abandoned homestead sites out in the deserts that offer opportunities and many of the parks are old parks that have been around awhile. The beaches are excellent if you get there early in the morning and always look for opportunities where sidewalks are being torn up, especialy in older areas.

Then there are sites for the true "treasure hunter". Out here in the Antelope Valley we know for a fact that large parties of Spanish explorers traversed the desert in the 1700's as they looked for mineral rich areas to exploit. We also had the Army under John C. Fremont which trekked through here in the 1840's. The problem lies in trying to figure out where they would have camped and what routes they would have traveled. One site near my home called "Willow Springs" was a major watering hole for hundreds of years here but is all privately owned and the owners are quite strict on their "no treasure hunting" rules.

So basically, yes there are plenty of places in So. Calif to hunt but it takes some research, ingenuity, intuitiveness and willingness to put up with the cold of winter, blistering heat of summer and of course the relentless desert winds.

Rickc300 · April 16, 2008 11:24AM

Been there and done that... If you make a right after the railroad crossing (towards Laughlin) you will hit a couple of abandoned mines and a couple of structures (cement and rock masonry) that are written on with gang signs and other signs of graffiti. I found a number of Mexican coins around the cement walls of what looks like an old gas station and an 1879-S Morgan silver dollar at the base of the large rock outcropping just uphill of the cement walls. Is it really legal to hunt there? I don’t know… I have been there a number of times and have never been questioned and I have waved to an occasional CHP officer out there while detecting. Basically if it is BLM land I think it is legal to hunt (either I have been right or lucky in the past). But if the property is privately owned or otherwise stated as off limits you do need permission to search from either the owner or the state and wild parks administration.

Best of luck on your hunting, I am now 1800 miles away and can only wish I was there with you to dig up those old finds there…

Dig that elusive silver and gold that I know is out there and share the pics with all of us…

Rick

Gearjammer · April 17, 2008 11:13AM

I agree that there is no shortage of places that would be great to search that have interesting backgrounds and histories. Unfortunately, most of them seem to be off limits for one reason or another. As with your example Desert Rat, Willow Springs sounds like an ideal place that could bring up some very interesting finds, but the owner says no way. If it's not a disagreeable owner, then its the government or local law that seems to be the blocking entity. I just learned about the many army bases that were set up around California in the early 40's to train Patton's tank divisions prior to his going to Africa to take on Rommel. I would think that those sights might produce some cool finds. One was supposedly just down the road from Llano del Rio which Desert Rat is probably very familiar with. I went walking around the area a few years ago and found evidence of something having been there, but didn't do any detecting. Have you done any detecting in that area Desert Rat?? I also think that Beale's Cut, aka Fremont's Pass in Santa Clarita would be an interesting place to search. What do you all think about dry lake beds, good place to detect, or not so much?? One in particular is Silver Lake just north of Baker. The town of Silver Lake was built on its eastern shore in the early 1900's as a railroad stop, but was moved after it was flooded out in 1916. I would have to check with the BLM about the legalities, but there might be a coin or two, or maybe even a nice relic buried in that lake bed. Anyway, certainly no shortage of possibilities.

Do any of you here in So Cal ever plan group trips?? If so, I would enjoy tagging along on one just to watch some pro's at work and maybe learn a thing or two about how to really use a detector with maximum effect. I suspect that most people would probably want to keep their "treasure troves" a secret and so maybe the group thing isn't that popular, but if anyone would be interested in planning a day trip somewhere, I'm in.

In any event, thanks for all the replies and good luck out there.

A question for the So Cal detectors....

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