Metal detecting

[morgans]

Has anyone done any metal detecting in the keweenaw? Just curious...

[ROC]

I have tried it a few times at the Minesota Mine which has been picked over pretty good.My wife had better luck finding copper without it than I did with the detector.That is untill I spotted a rockhouse foundation out in the woods that most people must have overlooked.I found good copper there,must be where the copper ore spilled out of some of the cars.I've been going to go back there and check it out better but haven't had the time.
Where I would really like to try it out and look for some old mining artifacts ,your not allowed to.

[morgans]

Is detecting restricted near all of the mines in the keweenaw?

[Tricia]

I have done a little bit of metal detecting for copper at Cliff Mine (thanks to a member of this forum who let me borrow his detector ). My son and I had a blast doing it - we found quite a few little pieces that we bashed rocks to get to. We often see people detecting in the mine rock piles or on the beach. Just last weekend someone was out at the beach at Eagle River. It would have been interesting to dig in the frozen sand but they were out. I wonder if they got anything.

[jfactor1]

When we were at the Cliff a few years ago there was a couple detecting on the rock pile. Looked like they were doing pretty well.

I picked up an old Radio Shack metal detector at a garage sale last summer. Amie's been wanting to have one when we go wandering around old houses, etc. If she enjoys it, we'll get a nicer one.

[morgans]

It's not copper or mining artifacts I'm after, it's old coins! I'd take a flying eagle penny over a large piece of copper any day. I've got quite a list going, but if anyone has any good ideas on a likely place to dig up coins, I'm all ears. Schools, old playgrounds, bars, you name it. Especially ones that don't exist anymore!

[ROC]

A large piece of copper in copper country can be good size.They pulled a 27 ton nugget out of Lake Superior not that long ago.That would make quite a few pennys.
At a dollar a day wages most of the mining families must have been pretty thrifty so you would have to be real lucky to find much around any ghost towns.You may have some luck if you could find where the saloons were located.I know the general location of some long gone saloons near Rockland out in the bush but I could never pinpoint them.You may have better luck locating some of the old large hunting camps where boze, card games and money were plentiful.Our deer tent camp went from 1948-1990 but early on the local Finlanders went there every spring and sifted the change out of the sand.

[Tricia]

What sort of things have you come across while metal detecting?

[ROC]

The most abundant thing by far is the old pull tabs off from beer cans.

[billK]

In the Past few years I have detected at The Cliff, Saint Claire, and Central rock piles. I have found a few small pieces of copper, but nothing major. Now back in the late '70's and early '80's I detected at The Cliff rock piles and did quite well. Found numerous pieces of copper every trip then, Rannging in size from small to a rether large piece that we found in a boulder that we hauled down from the top of the pile that slides down the cliff. We found several pieces of sheet copper also. We even found a shovel head, but being so stupid as we were back then we left it because we were only after copper.

But I would say the best thing we found was back in The late '70's. We were at The Cliff and an old man came up and talked to us. He claimed to be either 101 or 103 years old at the time, I can't remember exactly which. He said His father worked at the Cliff and was killed in the mine. He said that he grew up In Clifton and told us about the mine and the town It was really fascinating. We went into the camper to make lunch and my mom told him to wait and she would make him a sandwich and he said ok. When she went out to bring it to him he was gone, no sign of him anywhere. I still do not know if he was telling the truth or just spinning us a tale. I do believe the mine was functioning at some capicity in the late to mid 1870's-1880's though. I do wish I had a recorder with me to document his story.