M E T A L M A N 9

M E T A L M A N 9

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August 3, 2022 - Hunting the Dawson Trail

August 3, 2022 - Hunting the Dawson Trail

August 3, 2022 Hunting the Dawson Trail. Sandilands Provincial Forest. What a beautiful nature preserve. And just in time for Blueberries and Saskatoons by the ton. Yes, it’s been a wet year which must have been a good thing for berries of all sorts. I also came across Wild Bergamot in full bloom and Puffball mushrooms too. Wild Bergamot or also called Bee Balm, formal name: Monarda fistulosa. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarda_fistulosa Most good metal detecting hunts start with a bit of pre-planning. I’d recently come across a stack of old topographical maps that I’d had since my teen years and early adulthood. One of them extended into the Sandilands Provincial Forest. This got me thinking of the old Dawson Trail and of the rich history that it represents for Manitoba. And what a great metal detecting opportunity this could be. See this awesome link: h t t p s : / / d a w s o n t r a i l t r e a s u r e s . c a / i n d e x . p h p ? p a g e = r o u t e - o f - t h e - dawson-trail I had done some detecting in this very same forest last fall along with Bruno. See: Nov 10, 2021 -Sandilands Provincial Forest. It made for an interesting and fruitful outing. This time I wanted to be a bit more focused on a target: The Dawson Trail. Between my old map and Google Earth, I was able to track an area of interest. That was still accessible and relatively undisturbed. Well the best laid plans always have a way of morphing into something different. I got in a good number of detecting hours but no concrete evidence of a trail anywhere to be found other than the road markings that were erected decades ago. I looked for higher ground and for older / ancient trees and huge rocks that would have attracted people over the decades of long ago. And the water…. Water, water, water, everywhere. Some of the old roads were impassable with water quite physically flowing over. I did come across interesting finds none the less. The tent peg, however modern, was found in a spot that had been a clearing once but was now reverting back to forest with small 2 foot trees and bush all about. The 10 inch aluminum pan now hangs in my workshop. It’s old but unlikely from the pioneer era. And what a collection of rifle shells Eh! I’ve come to call them the “Pull Tabs” of the forest… Rifle Shells, they’re just everywhere. Here is the tally for those of you who like guns and ammo … 6 x 30-30 Hornady Win., 1 x 30 – 30 R.P.Win., 1 x 306 Imperial, 1 x 308 Nosler Win., and 1 x 12 Gauge, Imperial shotgun shell. The jaw bone and teeth were from a deer. We’ll color it, shellac it, hang it on our wall and use it as folk art. Never a dull moment. Roger

August 10, 2022 - Grandma’s House

August 10, 2022 Grandma’s House. Life comes full circle. Here we are at an undisclosed location in the Letellier area. Back on the family farm. Back at Grandma’s house. I have spent innumerable hours here as a child. I lived right across the way not more than 500 feet from her house and from the farm yard itself. Pleasant childhood memories and what better place to do some metal detecting than right at Grand Mere's front door. The lawn's "after the dig" picture looks no worse for wear. The house was built in around 1952, or so I am told. Not old by comparison to some of the other features on this farm but old enough to find artifacts from days gone by. Like the copper tip of a lightning rod and cable that would have lined the apex of the roof. Like the aluminum rod that I recognize as once being part of a TV antenna, also something that sat on a rooftop. Closer to the ground, there used to be a swing set right here in front of the main entrance door. I did find one remaining long iron pin that held one of the swing’s legs tied firmly to the ground. Interestingly, I also found the telephone cables at two different locations and the old kitchen sink’s drain pipe. The square-like rusty piece of cast iron does have a design or pattern. This piece, I will clean up later and post the picture so we can all see it before and after. I’ve got my fingers crossed. Some of these old castings have intricate features. The jacket or sweater pulls and safety pin and staples add a human day to day touch to the finds. Surprising were the three .22 Short bullet casings buried so close to a house. Although; I clearly remember Grandma asking me to “Get rid of” a mean old tom cat that had strayed onto the property and become a pest. These shells may well have been my own, left behind some fifty years ago. Like I said, life comes full circle. Roger

August 10, 2022 - Grandma’s House

August 10, 2022 - On to the old foundations again

August 10, 2022 On to the old foundations again. After about 4 hours of detecting at Grandma’s house, I turned my attention and the rest of my day to the spaces between the foundations of a grain shed that had stood there up until last year. See: September 18, 2021 - Under a 1950’s Shed . It’s a trashy location metal wise with lots of thin metal chips and flakes of what I can only assume were once tin cans. Flattened tin cans made great patches whether it was a mouse hole you wanted to cover or a leaky spot on a roof. Metal flakes everywhere means a lot of digging and coming out empty handed. I did however find and unearthed some interesting items. The big metal plate was buried facing downwards. It is 1” thick, 12” long and 6” wide and weighs in at 22 lbs. The big “Plus sign” marks the spot right? Well judging by the location that it was found, I believe that it was used as a solid base on which to set down the intake end of a grain auger when emptying the grain bin above it. These bins were emptied via a 6” by 6” sliding trap door in the floor of the bin. Talk about a lot of work eh! It was a different time. Innovation and using available items at hand ruled the day. Farm cats used the space under the bins to hide, catch prey (mice), to have their litters and to die as well... Farm life. The bones found are undoubtedly that of a cat. One old bottle was recovered. The markings on the bottom of the bottle might provide some clues as to dates, manufacturer and possibly contents. The Diamond “D” represents The Dominion Glass Company of Montreal. See: https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/DominionGlass.pdf I immediately recognized the big squares of the chain link. This came from a farm manure spreader. There were two sets of these chains on either side of the wagon decking. They were connected to each other by angle iron pieces that helped pull along the wagon’s contents towards the back of the wagon where huge fans on a fast moving spinner would hurl the manure far and wide onto whatever field you wanted to fertilize. Talk about flying Poo! Well my time was up for the day. Time to pack up my equipment and newly discovered finds and head for home. It’s always a pleasure to return to the place of our origins and childhood. Today’s outing was no different. Roger

August 10, 2022 - On to the old foundations again