Ring Found with Metal Detector, Hebrew inscription

View Larger Map

View Larger Map

The post office I go to is near the beach. I figured I would spend 15 minutes and look at some bikini babes while metal detecting since i haven't been out in over a month.

I found another gold ring!

Pretty sure it is written in Hebrew

Coudersport Ice Mine

This information came from the Book "Cross Fork Tales" by Inez Bull


About four miles east of Coudersport, Potter County, on the Roosevelt Highway, is a mountain which bears the name of Ice Mountain. In it I found a wonderful freak of nature-an ice mine.
The title does not accurately describe the place, because it is not an actual mine. It is a vertical shaft about forty feet deep, eight feet wide, and ten feet long, in which ice formations appear during the spring of the year, continue through the hot weather, and disappear on the approach of winter. These strange formations appear in various shapes, often as huge icicles measuring from feet in length. Discovered while digging for silver ore, the prospectors jokingly remarked they had found an ice mine instead of a silver mine.
Its freakishness is its main attraction. The ice is generally clear as crystal and sparkling. But the clearness is often destroyed by mud and dirt washed into the mine during the heavy rains. On a warm summer day it is refreshing to go near the coolness of the needle-like points of the icicles.
Near the entrance to the mine are a number of small openings, from which arise, at irregular intervals during warm weather, a heavy vapor or fog.
Its history savors of the weird and mysterious. The Red Man figures prominently in its discovery. In the early days, there were a number of them living in Potter County. Often Indians were known to have pure silver ore. Refusing to admit where they obtained the metal, it was believed by the settlers that they knew of a silver deposit somewhere in the mountains of Potter County.
In the early 1890's a Cattaraugus Indian came to Coudersport and indicated to the townsmen that Ice Mountain was the source of the ore.
The owner of the mountain hired a man to help him search for the mine. They used a rod that is often used in locating water and minerals. Once the rod lurched downward and the men believed that they had struck silver. They proceeded to dig until they had opened a shaft and were astonished to find ice. After a while they found in addition, human bones, fossilized fish and fern leaves but no metal. The project was abandoned.
Regularly each spring since, a considerable amount of ice can be found in the evacuation, but during the winter the pit is comparatively dry.
Visitors frequently remark about the coolness and freshness of the air as they approach Ice Mountain, and are enchanted by the rainbow of colors caused by the sun playing upon the icicles. As you gaze upon this bewitched phenomenon your life appears to unfold before you. Dreams seem more conquerable and the unknown mystery gathers you within its vapor and your faith comes forth. Yes, it emanates in all the glory that the ice stalactites issue in the caverns. You fill it surging within you, from the tip of your tows to the top of your head. Strong and firm it grows, and grows, imbuing faith in the mysteries of the unknown, in nature, in people, in yourself and in life.










PENNSYLVANIA’S LOST GOLD INGOTS




by Frances X. Scully

A tremendous treasure is lost somewhere in the heart of Pennsylvania’s Elk-Cameron County. During the Civil War, a shipment of gold bars worth over $1,500,000 at present market prices disappeared somewhere in the mountainous area. It has never been found.

The gold, 26 bars weighing 50 pounds each, won’t be easy to track down. North-central Pennsylvania is still a rugged, untamed region that contains the largest elk herd east of the Rocky Mountains, If you hunt the treasure during the mating season, you could be kept awake nights by the bugling of the monstrous bull elks. During the day, watch for the crotalus horridus, better known as the banded timber rattlesnake. You could bump into one anywhere, just waiting for an unwary arm or leg.

At the start of the Civil War, northern Pennsylvania was as remote as northern Quebec, Canada, is today. Known as the Wildcat Region, this area led the entire world in lumber production. Immense rafts were floated down the narrow valleys to great sawmills. There were few roads and only a handful of pitifully small villages. Howling wolves were heard at night and panthers and bears were common. Rattlesnakes and copperheads were as thick as flies at a picnic.

This was no place for choir boys. During the Civil War, the Wildcat Region, was the birthplace of the famous Bucktail Regiment, those hardy men were the scourge of the Confederacy. Following the defeat of the Union Army at Chancellorsville, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee pointed his conquering gray legions toward Pennsylvania’s lush farmlands.. The North was in bedlam as Philadelphia and Harrisburg prepared feverishly to resist the invasion. Pennsylvania’s Governor Curtin felt the situation was so serious that he asked the Union commander, Gen. Meade, to send Gen. Couth to defend Harrisburg, the state capital.

Meanwhile, a young blue-coated lieutenant headed northward from Wheeling, West Virginia, with a wagon with a false bottom, a civilian guide and a guard of eight cavalrymen. The boyish officer was stunned when his orders revealed what his cargo was. He shook his head in disbelief, reading that he was to proceed as far north as necessary to avoid any possibility of bumping into Rebel patrols, then turn southward and head for Washington. He was by all means to avoid contact with the enemy.

His freight was pure gold, stored beneath the false bottom of the wagon, which was covered with hay.

His superiors cautioned the young officer that Pennsylvania was infested with another type of copperhead besides those that crawled along ground—the underground organization of Southern sympathizers. His was an important mission and he must never relinquish his vigilance. The army was certain they had selected the right man for the task along with a fine squad of riders and a superb civilian guide. Time was to prove the army wrong.

So the expedition headed northward. It is believed they stopped first at the town of Butler, then a thriving lumbering community north of Pittsburgh. Almost from the start, the young lieutenant was seized with one fever after another and had to ride in the wagon. While the officer was ill, the civilian guide took command.

The caravan continued northward through Clarion Valley, where eastern bison had grazed 75 years before.

When the expedition reached the town of Clarion, the pale and wan officer resumed command. Feeling they were far enough north to avoid contact with Rebel cavalry, he decided to head northwestward to Ridgway, then eastward to the Sinnemahoning River near the town of Driftwood. There, they could easily construct a raft and float down to the Susquehanna River, then on to Harrisburg, putting them much nearer Washington.

So far the journey had been uneventful, though the young soldiers were puzzled by being so far away from the scene of action. They wondered what was in the wagon. Oh, well—the army was known for doing strange things. How about the ‘Mud March’ last winter, when 70,000 troops were stuck in the mud? How the Southern newspapers had howled over that.

On a Saturday night in late June, the expedition pulled into Ridgway in Elk County. The little band of soldiers were as welcome as tax collectors and the populace swarmed all over the troopers. Several times the lieutenant had to order the jeering crowd to disperse. The puzzled officer asked the civilian guide if Ridgway hadn’t produced the Elk County Rifles, one of the best companies in the Bucktail Regiment. When informed that indeed it had, the young officer was stunned by the hostility of the crowd.

That night the caravan headed off through the darkness toward the little Dutch community of St. Marys, 11 miles to the east. During the night the lieutenant had another severe seizure. In his delirium he cried outa complete disclosure of the gold and the purpose of their mission. The escorting soldiers were stunned.

Meanwhile Connors, the civilian guide, once more assumed command. After an evening in St. Marys, where the patrol was reportedly treated like conquering heroes, Connors announced that the expedition would head over the mountains toward Driftwood and the headwaters of the Susquehanna. They were just 20 miles from their goal, but it would be rugged going.

The group left St. Marys—and that was the last anyone ever saw of the ill-fated expedition. In August, a wild-eyed hysterical Connors staggered into the village of Lock Haven about 40 miles east of Driftwood. He told a pitiful story of the death of every member of the expedition and the loss of the entire cargo.

The kind citizens were overwhelmed with sympathy for the hollowcheeked Irishman. The Wildcat Region was no place to be lost in, they agreed. Rattlesnakes, copperheads, mosquitoes, wolves, panthers—all were hazards, and besides, they were guarding a wagon filled with gold. Who could have ordered such a crazy move, wondered the people of Lock Haven.

While the local residents believed Connors, the army did not. They put him through a relentless series of questionings. First Connors told of the officer dying and being buried, and then he told of a terrific fight. After that, he;always claimed that he lost his memory.

The army brass turned the case over to the Pinkertons. For a time the forest wilderness swarmed with agents, who hired on as lumberjacks, teamsters: or whatever else was available. They searched the area of almost a year, but with no success.

During the summer some dead mules were found—perhaps the ones that pulled the wagon. From somewhere, an aged recluse had managed to get hold of horse trappings marked with the U.S. Army insignia, but he wasn’t telling anything to anyone. Two or three years later, several human skeletons, believed to be those of the guards detail, were found in the Dent’s Run area of Elk County not far from Driftwood.

Connors was inducted into the army and transferred to a western outpost. He was never permitted to be discharged. When drunk he would blabber that he knew the whole story about the gold and offer to lead some one to it. But when sober he couldn’t even find Elk County on the map.

There are stories that the government reopened the case within the last 30 years and sent agents to the area, but very little information on this was disclosed. In fact, very little information exists on the puzzling expedition itself.

Until about 25 years ago, articles about the gold appeared occasionally. A short time ago, a St. Marys man came to me with some pieces of cherrywood taken from a big square bedpost. The bed was found in a home in Caledonia, a small town about 13 miles southeast of St. Marys. Many believed the treasure was lost near Caledonia. The finder thinks the message written on the pieces wood and then nailed to the top of the bed had something to do with the treasure.

The message is written in the type of penmanship used in the 1860’s, and it mentions the year 1863. It also mentions a two-hour battle near a "big rock," and the mysterious writes says that "they see me."

There has always been a theory that the little band was ambushed and massacred by Copperheads or a Gang of robbers. Many feel that Connors may have planned arch an ambush. Perhaps the mysterious message about a battle is factual.

Meanwhile, $1,500,000 in gold remains lost somewhere in the mountains. Hundreds have looked for it and found nothing. But it is believed to be still there.

THE LOST TREASURE OF THE VOYAGEURS

View Larger Map

Those who claim to be "in the know" feel that it is valued over $350,000 by today’s standards, and perhaps even more. Often mentioned by the Senecas in the tales and legends handed down by the elders, the lost treasure of Borie may be the least known of all the hidden wealth yet to be found in America. Yet, there is a good chance that it lies buried somewhere a few miles south of one of the nation’s greatest and busiest highways near Borie, in the heart of the vacation paradise known as God’s Country, Potter County, PA, USA.

Late in the 1690’s, almost a full century before the white man’s first recorded visit to what is now Potter County, a small party of French Canadian voyageurs left New Orleans by raft,for the return trip to Montreal. The planned route was up the Mississippi to the junction of the Ohio and then up the Beautiful River, as the Indians call it, to the Allegheny and then northward to the mouth of the Conewango near present day Warren. From that point, a short run would bring the expedition to Chautauqua Lake near the present day furniture center of Jamestown, New York. From the extreme north end of that muskellunge paradise, the party could practically roll down hill by the way of Prendergrast Creek and then home free by the way of Lake Erie. The entire trip would be made by water, without the danger and travail of long overland, backbreaking portages.

And so the coureur de bois left New Orleans on rafts loaded with provisions and a number of small kegs, each of which were loaded with gold coins covered with a thin film of gunpowder, and anchored securely to the crude log transports by means of ropes and iron nails. The gold was to be delivered to His Most Gracious Majesty’s Royal Governor in Montreal,and the party was instructed to guard the valuable cargo with their lives. Under no circumstances was it to fall into the hands of the English, the Americans nor the hated Senecas, who were always at war with the French.

And so the party consisting of about a score of French runners, two Jesuit priests, and a few Indian scouts made it up the swollen Mississippi without incident, other than to comment on the awesome breadth of the Father of Waters, when at flood stage. It is generally believed that the party spent a week or so at the mouth of the Ohio, in repairing the rafts, and building canoes for the trip up the narrower and swifter streams which the Gauls would encounter as they proceeded further north.

From time to time, the party bumped into hunting Red Men, who were gifted and feted, as only the French could do it. During the evening by firelight the two Black Robes drew maps of the areas that had been visited during the day. The Jesuits for reasons never explained in history books, were the greatest cartographers of their day, and maps made by the great missionaries of that era, survive to this day, remarkable in their accuracy and description. Occasionally the party surveyed locations for forts and settlements, and hunted for provisions to feed the ravenous appetites of the expedition.

All agreed that never had they seen such a paradise as what the English called Pennsylvania, as they entered the Allegheny near the present Golden Triangle of Pittsburgh. Bison grazed in the open meadows and elk browsed in the park-like forests bordering the historic river. The rich bottom lands could produce enough food to feed all of France, mused the French, and rightfully it all belonged to the King of France, by right of discovery, they told themselves. There was one difficulty other than the falls of the Upper Allegheny that the French couldn’t discount, and that was the relentless warriors of the Seneca Nation, whose home the fair skinned Europeans were rapidly approaching. Implacable enemies of the French since the time of Champlain, the fierce warriors would like nothing better than an opportunity to waylay the little party. The leaders shuddered as they approached present day Warren. The warwhoop of the Senecas had often been heard in the French settlements of Canada, and just a few year’s previous the stalwart and ferocious braves had brought the tomahawk and scalping knife all the way to Montreal, killing over two hundred in the process. The Frenchmen shuddered at the thought of a confrontation with their most mortal enemy.

And so it was decided to eliminate the voyage up the narrow, tortuous Conewango, where the little band would be more vulnerable, than in the wider rivers further south, and head on up the Allegheny to its headwaters, thus skirting the hunting ground of their fierce adversary, to a certain degree.

From the head of the Allegheny, they could portage to the source of the Genessee River near present day Wellsville and then northward to the shores of Lake Ontario. An attack through the gorges of the Genessee was a virtual impossibility reasoned the French.

And so it is believed that the little band reached the area near what is now North Coudersport. Harassed throughout the upriver trip from Cornplanter to what is now Coudersport, the voyageurs and the priests decided that they would bury the kegs of gold, mark the site, and continue as rapidly as possible toward the Genessee if they expected to retain their hair. And so legend has it that they turned south, toward the valley now known as Borie. Near a huge rock which the Jesuits marked with a cross chiseled into its side, the now thoroughly frightened Frenchmen buried the gold. A map was made of the location, and the band headed once more back to the Allegheny and then made the perilous thirty miles over the mountains to the Genessee. Hiding by day, and traveling by night, the French made it to the Genessee and thus back to Canada where they reported to the exasperated governor that they had buried a tremendous treasure near a large rock, somewhere near the head of the Allegheny. They had marked the site with a cross, explained the Jesuits.

For years, the Senecas mentioned a rock in the Borie area that had a puzzling carving upon its face. But then the white man was known to do unusual things, even planting things that wouldn’t grow. Since the carving had some religious significance, thought the Indians, they did not disturb the rock or search for the hidden treasure, of which few were aware, until the return of the French to look for the buried loot.

It has never been found, and has become one of the lesser known legends of Potter County. While it has a ring of the improbable, it is a known fact that several historians mentioned the great rock, as did the Senecas. If true, it is one of the largest treasures to be buried in an area which can lay claim to four of the greatest caches made in other centuries. Few have searched for it.

Sunken Treasure Found in the Seas Of Sicily

Punic coins retrieved from the Mediterranean sea near Pantelleria, Sicily. Photo: courtesy of Pantelleria Ricerche.
Italian archaeologists have retrieved a sunken treasure of 3,422 ancient bronze coins in the small Sicilian island of Pantelleria, they announced today.
Discovered by chance during a survey to create an underwater archaeological itinerary,the coins have been dated between 264 and 241 BC.

At that time, Pantelleria, which lies about 70 miles southwest of Sicily, in the middle of the Sicily Strait, became a bone of contention between the Romans and Carthaginians.
Rome captured the small Mediterranean island in the First Punic War in 255 BC, but lost it a year later.
In 217 BC, in the Second Punic War, Rome finally regained the island, and even celebrated the event with commemorative coins and a holiday.

The coins were found in relatively low waters. Photo: courtesy of Pantelleria Ricerche.
Lying at depth of about 68 feet, the coins most likely represent an episode of the Romans and Carthaginians struggle.
Amazingly, all 3,422 coins feature the same iconography.
On one side, they show Kore/Tanit, the ancient goddess of fertility, whom Carthaginians worshipped on the island around 550 BC.

On the other, the coins display the head of a horse, surrounded by symbols such as stars, letters and a caduceus. A staff often surmounted by two wings and entwined with two snakes, the caduceus was the symbol of Hermes, the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology.

All 3,422 coins feature the same iconography. Photo: courtesy of Pantelleria Ricerche.
"Since all coins feature the same iconography, we believe that the money served for an institutional payment. Indeed, ordinary commercial transactions contain different kind of coins," archaeologist Leonardo Abelli, director of the excavation, told Discovery News.
According to Abelli, the money, carried on a Carthaginian ship headed to Sicily, was destined to an anti-Roman movement.
But something might have gone wrong during the navigation.
"They decided to hide the treasure on the bottom of the sea, in relatively low waters, in the hope to recover it later. Indeed, near the coins we found a large stone anchor," Abelli said.


Analysis of the coins, which will be shown tomorrow at a conference in Pantelleria, will tell whether they date to the first or second Punic War.
Underwater excavation is set to continue in September. The project is founded by ARCUS Spa and realized by Pantelleria Ricerche with the Sicily Region Sea Superintendency, the University of Sassari and Messina Coast Guard.

Old map-El Paso-1886

Backlight the Garrett AT Pro Metal Detector display?

In the morning and in the evening, it is sometimes hard to read the AT's display so after spending lots of time trying to back-light the AT Pro's LCD display to no avail, I gave up for now. Here is a simple and cheap way to do it that works great:

I got this clip-on book light at the local dollar store, they have a super bright LED and use three #357 batteries. It's fully adjustable and lasts a long time, just clip it on the arm strap, point it at the screen and you are all set.

How to take apart the AT Pro 15khz Microprocessor Controlled Metal Detector

Just 2 screws hold the AT Pro together.

I used a razor blade to cut around the screws. They are "Torx security" type but I used a very small blade screwdriver to break out the "bump" inside so that a standard Torx would work to unscrew it. This will definitely void your warranty so do this at your own risk or wait until your warranty is up!

It is amazing that there is not much inside. The whole CPU PCB is attached to the faceplate with 4 screws.

Looks like "Art" to me... just needs a picture frame!

PCB separated from the faceplate.

Home MadeTreasure Hunting Robot

A man in Wiltshire, UK has converted a toy truck into a remote controlled metal detector to help him find lost treasures in the countryside.

His invention was inspired by stories of techniques to find old land mines and a bad back that prevents him from sweeping the ground with a manual metal detector.

He has worked to perfect his device for 7 years and estimates that he has spent 2000 British pounds (US $3800).
It includes a metal detector and camera to send images back to the control unit.

The robot is not only easier to use but more effective than handheld devices.

He says he has found hundreds of old coins and relics. One of his finds, a Medieval Pilgrims badge, is now in a museum.

Old Philidelphia Map

View Larger Map

Northampton county, Pennsylvania: A band of Tory raiders buried a great deal of plunder in a cave overlooking the Delaware River, about 2 miles N of Easton. There have been no reports of any recovery of this cache.

Northampton county, Pennsylvania: During the Revolutionary War, Hessian soldiers dumped gold-filled cannons into the Delaware River somewhere in the area near Easton

Northumberland

Northumberland county, Pennsylvania: During the Civil War, a family of Southern sympathizers operated a sort-of “information center” from their farm near Shamokin. It is reported that they hid a large amount of money on the property that has never been recovered.

Pike

Pike county, Pennsylvania: 1. Legends say that the early Indians knew of a rich silver treasure or mine in a cave located at Shohola Glen. According to the legend, the cave could only be entered from some hidden cranny in the ravine, with a second entrance supposedly in Panther Glen, 1 mile away. It is said the early Indians of this region fought with silver-tipped arrows and silver bullets. A befriended chief took an early settler named Helm blindfolded to the mysterious cave where he reportedly saw piles of crudely mined silver on the floor. Helms spent the rest of his life in search of the treasure cave without success.

Pike county, Pennsylvania: 1. The chief of the Paupacken Indians concealed a large treasure of jewels, beads, gold and silver ornaments, rawhide bags of stone money and a large store of Indian artifacts to keep them from falling into the hands of their enemy, the New York warriors, who eventually drove them from the area. The cache was hidden somewhere in Wallenpaupack Valley near Hawley in the Pocono Mountains.

Pike county, Pennsylvania: 1. On the road from Dingman’s Ferry to Porters Lake SW of Edgemere is an area of some 3,400 acres of wilderness that contained a cluster of settlements built during the Civil War by draft evaders from both the North and the South. Hundreds of men hid out in the swampy river land to avoid military service at this location. It is said that money, jewelry and other valuables were cached in numerous places by these individuals throughout the colony, most of which are said to remain buried in this region.

Potter

Potter county, Pennsylvania: The early Indians often went into the woods and came out a few days later with almost pure silver ore in the area of Coudersport. The early white settlers believed the deposit was located in the area about 4 miles SE of Coudersport, but never found the location. In 1894, an Indian from the Cattaraugus Reservation was seen to walk into the woods near the town of Sweden Valley and within a few hours return from the direction of Ice Mountain with 5 pounds of rich silver ore.

Potter county, Pennsylvania: In the 1690’s, a party of Frenchmen led by Louis Frontenac had a number of powder kegs filled with gold coins loaded on rafts and en-route from New Orleans to the Royal Governor in Montreal. Because of Indian hostilities, the gold was buried in the area of Borie and a stone was marked with a cross pointing to the $350,000 treasure cache. The party continued on their trek to Canada and the kegs were never recovered. The French later searched for this hoard, but it was never found. For years, the Seneca Indians mentioned the marked rock in the Borie area, but knew nothing about any treasure cache associated with it and never tried to search for it. Several noted early historians have mentioned this marked rock in their writings.

Potter county, Pennsylvania: Prior to the Civil War, a gang of horse thieves had a hideout in Sandstone Hollow, the first small stream that drains into Pine Creek W of Galeton and another in Thunder Run. Stories of hidden caches made by this gang have circulated in the area for years.

Potter county, Pennsylvania: In the 1870’s, 2 boys explored a cave among the rocks in Sandstone Hollow. They claim that the tunnel or cavern extended from there to Thunder Run, more than ½ mile. On their way through this cave they said they saw many Indian weapons and tools made of flint and bone. There are stories that say jewels resembling real diamonds can be found in Johnson Brook near Galeton.

Potter county, Pennsylvania: A 69-mile-long stretch of road, once known as the Coudersport-Jersey Shore Turnpike is located near Sweden Valley on hwy. 44. The road was an important stagecoach and mail route during the 1800’s where numerous robberies and holdups took place. 1850’s highwaymen and robber Mark McCoy robbed a large number of travelers and settlers along the Turnpike Road and obtained a quantity of gold coins and jewelry. After killing his girlfriend, McCoy committed suicide and only $200 was found on his body. The balance of his accumulated loot, believed to be considerable, remains hidden somewhere in Stewartson Township

Preciouse Metal Hallmarks

Garrett Infinium 3x7 DD Double D Pulse Induction Coil (draft)

This is the 3x7 in. Double D coil for the Garrett Infinium Advanced Pulse Induction metal detector. Some will tell you this is good for river bed crevasses while prospecting and in trashy areas.
 
Limited depth is this coil's weakness, but it will still go 6 or more inches on a gold ring depending on it's size. The big gain here is that this coil will let you hunt where there is too much electrical or radio frequency interference for the other infinium coils to work right at all. So it's sometimes like my "secret weapon" that I only use rarely. And when the false signals from wave swells in the salt water make you turn up the discrimination (also tuning out small 1/2 gram and up gold and diamond earrings), This coil will NOT give those false signals so you can turn discrimination all the way down (off)!

Very small gold from salt water is a tall order that this coil can deliver.
 
Getting back to the Volleyball courts, I could have just picked these things up with my AT Pro because it is a high frequency machine (15Khz).

Metal detectors with a lower frequency would have probably ignored these items because of their small sizes. My 7.5 Khz GTA350 can bareley see any of them at 1 inch, my Fisher 1280-x 3.5 Khz ignores them almost entirely.

The coil is not for scuba but has worked just fine in less than 10 foot of water, and so far hasn't leaked. Even though it is a tiny coil, because of the "Blade" type of foot print it makes when "seeing" through ground it is not much different for ground coverage than the 8 inch mono coil that has a "Cone" shaped footprint.

The dry sand part of the beach is not flat so the little coil hugs the ground well in footprints and can be pushed into the sand somewhat easily. I did find all these things with it on 2 different occasions within 1 hour in dry and wet sand, all were found in and around Volleyball courts except the large square earring next to the gold tooth which was found in the surf:



Pinpointing with a small coil is great but you better bring your pin-pointer for when these guys fall through your coin scoop holes over and over (it can drive ya nuts!)



I was hoping the slightly bigger 10X5 inch sized double D coil for the Infinium would have also ignored the wave swells that the 3x7 eliminated but after purchasing and trying one, I am sorry to say it did not. On top of that, I could hardly keep the coil underwater because of the air inside. It does however eliminate power interference quite well in my area.

It detects deeper than the 3x7 and pinpoints like a dream in Volleyball courts so I will now use the smaller one for wading only.

Agrihan Island Northern Mariana Islands

http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/

http://treasurestories.com/Pacific/AgrihanIsland.htmRoberton was a mercenary and a pirate. He was a Scotsman who, in 1817, was in the employ of the Chileans fighting against the Spanish. He was of medium height, red hair and “a repugnant sight” and was known to be savage and cruel.

A couple of years later, he was involved in the attempt to capture the bandit Benavides. He captured a friend of the bandit, a man named Pacheco, in Arauco, Chile. He “extracted” information as to the whereabouts of Benavides from Pacheco. With a small army, he took Benavides by surprise and captured his men. Benavides escaped. Roberton hanged all sixty men in a clearing, but not before getting information from them. They told of booty hidden on the island of Mocha, off the coast of Chile. Roberton moved there with his brother and some others loyal to him. One day, while in a small boat on their way back from Valdivia, his brother and most of his men drowned. Roberton could not continue his existence there and left to join the Peruvian Navy. There is no further mention of the loot buried on Mocha.

While in the employ of Peru, he fought at the siege of Lima, was captured and released. He rejoined the Peruvian Navy and was living in Lima when he met Teresa Mendez.

Teresa was a 21-year-old widow of a Spanish sea captain. She was not only wealthy, but renown for her beauty. She had many suitors, but would only show interest in those of wealth and noble birth. Roberton was neither of these, but he was enamored. He pursued her to no avail. When he declared his love, she laughed at him. He persisted and she told him that if he could provide her with great wealth, she would promise herself to him. Everyone knew this would not happen.

Anchored in the harbor was the English ship Peruana. While at a meeting of naval officers, Lieutenant Vieyra joked that if Roberton could take the Peruana, he would have the money to show Teresa he was a man of means. The ship had 2 million gold piastres on board.

That night, Roberton rounded up a gang of sailors, mostly British. They attacked the poorly guarded Peruana that night and left the harbor with the ship and it’s treasure. By morning the ship, Roberton and his men were long gone.

They sailed to Tahiti. Roberton knew they had a head start on their pursuers, but he also knew they would be pursued.  He needed to convince his men to leave Tahiti and was met with some reluctance. His two most trusted men were a couple of Irishmen named George and William. Using a combination of threats and the lure of 15 Tahitian women they loaded on board, Roberton was able to get the crew to set sail again.

Roberton’s intent all along was to have this treasure for Teresa and him. Sharing it with 15 men and the Tahitian women was not part of the plan. He sailed northwest toward the Mariana Islands. At one anchorage, where he put in to load on water, he declared that 8 of his men were plotting to take over and marooned them on the deserted island.  He sailed on to the Island of Agrihan.

View Larger Map

The first task was to slaughter the women. William was an expert marksman and started shooting the women. Some made it overboard and were swimming to the island, but William did not miss often. None of Tahitian women survived.

Next, the 7 remaining crewmembers loaded the chests containing the gold coins onto a boat and rowed to shore. They prepared a clearing at the foot of a cliff a short distance from the sea. They then buried the chests. They chopped down some trees and left some markings on the rocks to identify the area. They then set sail for Hawaii.

As they neared the Hawaiian Islands, Roberton put the next phase of his plan in place. He, George and William sealed the rest of the men in the hold of the ship. They had kept 20,000 gold pieces for their own use, climbed into a life raft and scuttled the ship. They rowed to Oahu and told of a shipwreck and how they were the only survivors.

The plan would have worked and no one would have ever found out about the marooned men, the Tahitian women, the gold being buried and the scuttling of his ship except for one thing. They did a bad job on the scuttling. The ship remained afloat. A couple of weeks after Roberton landed in Oahu, a whaling ship came across the drifting vessel. Three of the men had starved to death and one still clung to life. It took a year before the ship made it back to harbor. It landed in Oahu. Roberton and the Irishmen were already gone. The lone survivor retold his story to Gabriel Lafond de Lurcy who wrote the tale in “Voyages Autour du Monde”.

Agrihan
Situated 206 nautical miles north of Saipan with an
area of 11.4 square miles.  This volcano has gentle
slopes near the shore on the southeast and southwest
sides with the crater entrance on the north side.
The remaining island consists of steep slopes and deep
gorges.  The coast is rocky and steep with a landing beach
only on the southwest coast.
Highest point 3,166 ft.

The three were hunted men. They traveled to Brazil. George disappeared in Rio de Janeiro; we can only guess what happened. William and Roberton stayed together constantly, probably with a great deal of distrust between them.  They needed the treasure money so they began to make their way back to Agrihan. They arrived in Hobart, Tasmania and convinced an old sailor named Thomson to gather a small crew and take them north.

Thomson got William drunk one night and William told the whole story. William did not know the name of the island where the treasure was buried, but his description convinced Thomson that it must be Agrihan. Thomson awoke one night to the sounds of screams. William had been murdered. Thomson was now very worried about Roberton. He kept watch, but was no match for the younger stronger man. One day, Roberton just threw Thomson overboard.

But Thomson was very lucky. He managed to keep afloat for some time. A Spanish ship found him, almost dead, and he told them his story. The Spanish pursued Roberton. When Roberton reach Saipan, he jumped ship. He went into the mountains to hide, but to no avail. The Spanish captured him.

The Spanish took Roberton to Agrihan. He would tell them nothing. They forced him onto the island to show them the location, but he just stalled, looking for chances to escape. They took him back onto the ship and using the whip, convinced him to cooperate. Roberton must have known his position was hopeless. If he refused to show them the treasure location, he would be tortured. If he showed them the location, he would be killed and the Spanish would get the gold. He was not going to allow the men that captured and tortured him to profit. While the Spanish were taking him back to the island, he jumped overboard. His chains took him quickly to the bottom of the sea. He never did see Teresa after that night he decided to take the treasure.

The Spanish governor of the Marianas hired 600 natives to search for the treasure. They came up empty handed. Some believe that the inlet on the southern most west side of the island is the most likely burial site for the treasure. 

Gold Ring from wet salty sand at Sand Key Beach Florida with Garrett Infinium + 14 inch mono coil (draft)

View Larger Map

I almost left empty handed (I hate doing that) but I lucked out at the end of 4 hours off and on in and around the water. I found this 14K gold, 3.0 gram ring with the Infinium using the 14 inch mono coil in wet sand less than 6 inches down.

Revolutionary new metal detector technology blows away the competition. (Literally)

Sunset Beach Treasure Island 4th July 2011

GodlikeDude was using the old Garrett GTA350 but just found a few coins as well. He usually notches out trash, iron and coins to look for just rings. (he's too lazy to dig:P)

Not much for 1 hour with the Infinium. I guess people are too damn stupid to throw bottle caps in the garbage. Luckily, salt water eats them up after a few months.

Garrett Infinium Double D (10x5 DD) Coil Schematic + info + disection

L=0.56uH for brown coil.an L=249.4uH for the black coil with
No resistor in circuit.
The Brown coil is 26 Turns light duty tin plated multi-strand hook up style wire PVC coated
The resistance of this coil 0.9ohms
The black coil is 42 Turns light single strand Kynar wire.
The resistance of this coil is 7.4 ohms (with no resistor across)
Internally across this black coil wired in parallel is a 1/4w resistor 680
color code,blue,gray,brown,gold.

From front face of plug which is stepped in shape.
Top left exposed pin is Green
Top right exposed pin is red
Lower left pin socket is Black,with screen an Foil wrap to this.
Lower right pin socket is White.
The 5 core coil cable is foil wrapped in the sheath, cable has poly-core twine reinforcing for added strength an stretch resistance.
The Metal of the plug housing an knurled ring is not connected to any screen wire or other.

ABOUT ELECTRODAG

Electrodag 502 is a combination of specially processed carbon particles in a

fluoroelastomer resin system designed to provide high resistance values.  In its cured

form, it exhibits both high and low temperature flexibility and moisture resistance.

These benefits, when coupled with ease of application and long shelf life, make the

product adaptable to a wide variety of uses.  This product may also be mixed with

other Electrodag products to provide a wide resistance range.

ElectroDag PDF

There is also something called "silver dag" which is an aqueous suspension of equally finely divided silver particles where higher conductivity is necessary.

The lost Dutchman Mine

Weaver's Needle

There are some treasure stories that are so well documented and have been investigated, examined and written about so much that we cannot do them justice on these pages. The Lost Dutchman is one of those. We hope to give you the story here and want you to know that there is a lot of information available on the web, in libraries and bookstores.

Before we begin, it is important to note that there are really two separate stories about very pure gold veins in the Superstition Mountains. Some accounts represent these both as the Dutchman’s mine, some as two different stories. They are certainly intertwined. They may indeed be the same vein but we will treat them independently. The other tale can be found in the Arizona index as the Peralta Mine.

The “Dutchman” was actually a German named Jakob Walz. He was educated as a mining engineer in Heidelberg, worked in Prussia, Australia and California before moving onto Arizona in 1862. While working as a miner for a mining company, he fell in love with a beautiful Apache girl named Ken-tee. Many believe that he and other miners were smuggling gold out of the mine for themselves. The mine owners had the miner’s homes searched and found hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gold, but none on the Dutchman. It is thought that Ken-tee helped Walz hide the gold he smuggled out. In any case, he was fired.

Walz and Ken-tee settled in a small community near the Superstition Mountains. One day they left and returned weeks later with burros laden with gold. They made the arrangements to have to gold shipped to mint in San Francisco. Where this gold actually came from has never been proven.

Superstition Mountains

We need to briefly look at the Peralta story. In 1845, he found a rich gold vein in the Superstition Mountains. While leaving the area in 1848 with his gold being borne out on burros, the Apaches attacked. This was sacred ground that they felt had been defiled. The Peralta party was wiped out.

This brought up the other possibilities for the Dutchman’s gold. Was it part of the gold that was scattered about still attached to Peralta’s burros? Was it from the Peralta mine? Was it a new find? Or was it simply gathered from a stash of gold he had smuggled from his previous employer?

Walz never talked, but the Apaches believed that the secret they kept about the Peralta mine had been betrayed by Ken-tee. They raided the Walz’s home and took Ken-tee. Walz and his neighbors pursued them and freed Ken-tee, but not before the Apache had cut out her tongue. She died in the Dutchman’s arms.

Walz became a hard-drinking loner. He became famous as the man who knew the location of untold riches and too bitter to claim them. 

Three years after Ken-tee’s death, another German arrived in Phoenix. Walz had probably sent for Jacob Weiser. The two seemed to be close. Weiser was a carpenter by trade. He was outgoing and became a popular figure in Phoenix.

One day the two of them disappeared. This must have been difficult to do, because everyone was curious about the location of the Dutchman’s gold and he was pretty regularly followed. They returned about a month later and sent off sacks full of gold to the mint in San Francisco.

Right away they set back out for the Superstition Mountains. They had gathered more gold and were camped on their return trip when the Apache attacked. Walz escaped with only the very little clothing he was sleeping in. Weiser got away also, but with an arrow through his upper arm and imbedded in his chest. He made it to a doctor but died by morning.

The Dutchman still went back on occasion to retrieve gold. He had eventually sent over $250,000 worth of gold to the San Francisco mint. Although he was never held for any murders, some of those that tried to follow him to his secret were never heard from again. It was considered unwise to get too close when he was going out.

At the time of his death in October of 1891, the Dutchman was a sad figure. He had lost everything in life he had valued except his gold. He even confessed to killing his own nephew. He had him brought over from Germany but then feared he would give away the location of the gold.

Julia Thomas, a kind black woman, had taken him in to her home and was caring for him. On his deathbed the left $15,000 and the treasure direction to her. She spent the rest of her life looking for the mine, but never found it. She died in poverty and passed her information onto Jim Bark, a rancher. Jim searched for 15 years, but found nothing. Some believe he left wrong instructions as a cruel joke. They say you can still hear him laughing in the thunder that echoes through the canyons.

He said the mine was in country “so rough that you could be right in the mine without seeing it.” It was shaped like a funnel with the broad end at the top. The mine contained an eighteen-inch vein of rose quartz that was about 1/3 gold.

“The mine is near the hideout cave. One mile from the cave, there is a rock with a natural face looking east. To the south is Weaver’s Needle. Follow the right of the canyons, but not far. The mine faces west… The mine can be found at the spot on which the shadow of the tip of Weaver’s Needle rests at exactly four in the afternoon.”

About Pulse Induction type metal detectors (draft)

I am an avid water, sand and dirt treasure hunter and I have 4 metal detectors with various coils for each one.

• Garrett At Pro VLF 15khz
• Garrett GTA350 VLF 7.5khz
• Fisher 1280-X VLF 2.5 khz
• Garrett Infinium Pulse Induction

I have found in my travels, different environments can render 3 of my detectors useless if not at least totally aggravating to try to use while looking for certain types of objects. So with these 4 units, I always have one that is best for the ground conditions and what I am looking for. Before I had them all, I was consistently frustrated when I did not have the right unit for the area.

Now when they start making a VLF where you can program your own frequency and it is waterproof, maybe I will sell all my VLFs and buy it. Then I want them to combine VLF with PI, I will then only need that 1 magic metal detector!.

As for programmable frequency VLFs, we really should have had one by now that costs under $1000, the technology has been here long enough. By programmable I mean letting me select almost any frequency I want or multiple frequencies at the same time and be able to save and tweak them.

Anyway getting back to Pulse Induction units. Every metal detector enthusiast should have an API Pulse Induction unit if they will be hunting near or in salt water or old homesteads. Since the APIs (Advanced Pulse Induction) will give a unique target signal for Silver and copper (a low-to-high pitch beep) and if you dig only those signals, it can be used to find deeply buried Silver, Copper and clad coins anywhere and it will go deeper than most all VLFs finding these items. Since you will not be digging high-low signals, you will not be digging much garbage.

There are other brands of PIs that have this feature and I think we are calling them all APIs at this point. While this feature is not particularly useful in the water at the beach, it is a game changer for PIs in the sand or dirt. You will just have to deal with lots of garbage when looking for gold. (sound familiar?) may as well get out your VLF for that!

From what I understand, basically the fundamental difference between VLF and Pulse Induction (PI) is:

• VLF units transmit a frequency energy pulse, then gives target information to the user based on the attributes of the received signal that bounces off the metal object.
• Pulse Induction units transmit a frequency energy pulse, then gives target information to the user based on the attributes of the received signal that the metal object itself transmits after receiving the energy pulse.

These 2 types of metal detector circuits each can do things the other cannot.

Pulse Induction Metal Detectors transmit a series of quick electronic pulses in to the ground. These electronic currents are not affected by wet salt sand and ground minerals (like VLFs that give false target signals, little relative depth and require constant ground balancing). A Pulse detector is best used for salt water beaches (near the water) and diving. The Pulse detector is very deep seeking, and is great for tough ground mineral conditions but has limited discrimination capabilities, so you will need to dig more trash items if you want to locate the maximum number of precious objects.

Here is a small list of some Pulse Induction underwater metal detectors:

• Garrett Infinium LS
• Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II
• Fisher Impulse
• DetectorPro Headhunter Pulse
• JW Fisher Pulse 8X
• Tesoro Sand Shark

About Pulse Induction Theory (cached from somewhere on the net)

All types of metal locators are "electromagnetic" in nature, and share a certain amount in common: the search head contains one or more coils carrying a time-varying electric current, and this generates a time-varying magnetic field which propagates towards the metal target (and in other directions as well of course). This primary field reacts with the electrical and/or magnetic properties of the target which responds to it by either modifying the primary field or, as a more general and more accurate description, generating a secondary magnetic field; one way or another, the effect links back into the coils in the search head (sometimes the same coil as the transmitting one, sometimes a different one), and induces an electrical voltage in the receiver coil(s). Beyond this basic similarity, there are a wide range of different variations used: in the number of coils (one, two or three); the "shape" (spatial extent) of the primary magnetic field; the frequency of the transmitter; the waveform transmitted (sinusoidal or pulsed); the dominant target property responded to (magnetic permeability or electrical conductivity); whether the head coils(s) have a magnetic core or are air-cored; and how the electronics separate the (very weak) received voltage out from the (potentially much larger) voltages present in the search coils even in the absence of any metal target. Although all these factors can affect the sensitivity to any one particular target, the last factor is probably the most important, as it determines the stability or "zero-drift" of the instrument:-- if the zero-point is unstable, high sensitivity will never be achieved, however much the other factors are optimized.

Pulse Induction.




If your browser supports animated GIFs, you should see below a "movie" of the Pulse Induction process locating a steel bar (This is in slow-motion: things actually happen 5000 times faster!)

A pulse of current is sent (repeatedly) through a coil in the search head. This current tends to start up fairly gently (and is allowed to do so); see figure 1a. However, at the end of the pulse, it is arranged that the current turns off very rapidly (within a few microseconds); this (briefly) induces a very large "voltage spike" or "back-e.m.f" across the coil (rather like the induction coil used to generate the spark for a car engine ignition, though in this case the voltage is only(!) about 100 volts); see figure 1b. After the mayhem of this transient is over, there is no current flow through the coil and no voltage across it. After about a millisecond (or less or more, depending on the particular model) the whole cycle is repeated. The primary (or transmitted) magnetic field will vary with time exactly in step with the figure 1a current waveform, and propagates (rapidly -- at the speed of light) down to and through the target. When the pulse is switched off, and if the target is a conductor, eddy currents are induced to flow in the target. These eddy currents always flow in such a direction as to try to re-create the magnetic field that has just disappeared, and, initially at least, they actually succeed in this; but once the primary field has all gone, there is no source of energy to maintain these currents, so they decay gently away -- nevertheless persisting for about a hundred microseconds; see figure 1c.



The eddy currents generate a secondary magnetic field which propagates in all directions, including back towards the search head, where it induces a (small) voltage in the coil; this voltage also decays away at the same rate (see figure 1d), and has the same sign (polarity) as the back-emf spike. The received voltage from a target at the limit of the detection range may only be a few micro volts: one ten-millionth of the back-emf spike! It would be quite out of the question for the electronics to notice such a tiny change actually during the back-emf spike, and that is not the way it's done. The signal is "sampled" by an electronic switch which ignores the signal during the transmit pulse and immediately after (during the back-emf), and only "looks at" the signal after a short delay which ensures that the switch-off transient is over (see figure 1e). In this way, the transmitted and received signals are separated from each other. If the target had been purely magnetic, but non-conductive, it would have become magnetized by the transmit pulse, and then de-magnetize just as promptly at switch-off; by the time of the delayed sample pulse, nothing would be happening down at the target, and therefore nothing would be happening up at the search coil. If the target is both conductive and magnetic (eg a ferrous metal), the eddy currents would be produced exactly as in the purely conductive case; the effect of the target's magnetic permeability is to enhance the magnitude of the effect (and also to modify the "time-constant" of the decay of the eddy currents). If there is no target at all . . . . . . . . nothing happens! Actually, there will always be a certain inescapable amount of electrical "noise" in the receiver coil and circuitry, and three techniques are used to filter this out to produce a final signal (in the absence of a target) which is very close to zero and absolutely rock-steady. The decay time-constant (persistence) of the eddy-currents, and hence received signal, depends (predominantly) on the target's electrical conductivity and size. Targets such as low-conductivity alloys or thin foils have a very short decay time; and the choice of a short or long delay between switch-off and sample can be arranged to either detect or ignore such targets. The ionic conductivity of sea- or brackish water is so low, and its decay time so short, that such signals have always decayed away before the sample is taken; so the P.I. technique is not affected by moisture.

My old girl, the Fisher 1280-X Aquanaut VLF submersable, metal scope (m-scope) metal detector

I have used this detector exclusively for over 10 years and it was great. I never washed the salt water off it and never had a problem (besides wearing out the battery holder) . I could not wait each time to go out and find coins and jewelry with it. 

I know there were times, but I really cannot remember coming home empty handed. And while it has helped me find many things, I have probably lost a girlfriend or two because I spent too much time with it!

This waterproof machine is awesome at the beach in sand or in dirt. It works good underwater but in the salty ocean it can give false signals like most VLF detectors unless properly adjusted, usually at the cost of some depth. It can be annoying in the ocean and is the reason I finally got a Garrett Infinium Pulse Induction Unit (PI) for salt water but it is not as annoying as most other VLFs and has better depth than some others because of it's relatively low operating frequency (2.4 Khz).

When using the 1280-X,  and you get a target signal, it sounds like a mosquito buzzing near your ear and with practice you can most times tell by pitch what the buried target is. You will at least become a very good guesser.  If no targets are near, the sound is silent (silent search).

It with see most gold rings and pendents but will not see small gold or chains.

I have kept a few things I found with it in the past 10 or so years, but at times I sold items to help pay bills. There was also TON of clad coins and trash not shown. Most silver is black like coal when I find it, nothing a little Tarn-x cleaner can't remove. My next purchase will be a small jewelry polisher to shine up the jewelry.

The coin looking medallions on the right are from a leather hat band I found buried in the sand on an old beach in Tampa bay. The beaches in there have a lot of trash. I would tune them out with the discrimination knob (also tuning out any gold),  then blast through the garbage getting signals from coins and silver... only having to dig once in a while. A lot of these items were also found in parks, old vacant lots and homesteads.

I don't use this machine like I once used to, since getting a Garrett Infinium and AT Pro. The AT can drive you crazy sometimes near salty sand and also from interference because of its high 15 Khz operating frequency that enables it to see very small gold. It is at these times (when not searching for small gold) when I need a lower frequency machine like the 1280-X with the discrimination that the Infinium (Pulse Induction) does not have. There are old Minelabs and other VLFs that have a frequency switch for this very reason. It seems the lower frequency you go, the better the VLFs will do in salty water, but the lesser they find small gold.