M E T A L M A N 9

M E T A L M A N 9

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November 6, 2024. One More Go At The Letellier Church Site

November 10, 2024 Keystone Detectorists Club Meeting

November 6, 2024 One More Go At The Letellier Church Site Soil and ground conditions can be very important when it comes to metal detecting. It can make your day. The finds today were quite different in nature then those we found the last time we were here. See: August 31, 2024 - The Letellier Church Site . It had rained significantly in and around Letellier over the weekend. The ground was moist and the moisture had seeped in deep. The result is that a metal detector’s signal carries further into moist or wet ground then when the soil is dry. Remember that your metal detector is nothing more than an elaborate transmitter – receiver system running on one or perhaps even up to five different frequencies. My original Bounty Hunter metal detector operates on a frequency of about 12 kilohertz. My newer unit, the Minelab Equinox 800 runs five different frequencies simultaneously or I can pick and choose to metal detect on any one of the five frequencies at one time. It transmits on 5 – 10 – 15 – 20 - and 40 kilohertz. Each frequency has its own unique application. I normally use the “all frequencies” mode. I don’t want to miss anything. Today, I was picking up on deep buried pieces of metal: 8 to 12 inches deep with no problem. Although, in all fairness, some of the items I was hitting on is what we call Big Iron. A big chunk of iron or a thick metal sheet will easily bounce a signal back to the detector’s receiver. Look for the 8 inch ruler in the pictures for scale. In total, I brought home 13 lbs. of finds. The short but thick gauge copper wire rang up nicely in the copper range on my detector somewhere between 25 and 26. What looks like a coat hanger is copper wire too. Big Iron often records at around 17 or 18. The big chisel was no exception. The Hamm’s Beer can was over 6” deep??? but it rang right off the chart at… 35. No kidding! The heaviest single big iron piece weighed in at 1.246 kg, or 2.75 lbs. Top right corner of the display. Swather blade teeth just keep cropping up, just like the last time. And the round iron piece inside the big metal circle looks like the hub of a wheel but I have no idea as to what it actually is. The one square nail was a welcome find. The find of the day was the USA .05c, “V” nickel, dated 1902. Indecently, it’s made of copper. The other US coin was a “Wheat Penny”, 1935 D. (D for the Denver Mint). The Canadian coins were two pennies dated 1956 and 1994. The Canadian nickel, made of steel as it is highly magnetic, is from 1979. Another very nice find was the jingle bell that is probably from a horse collar. Both halves are there but one portion is broken into pieces and the other side is severely bent, but it is old. The Labatt Lite bottle cap reads “Wynyard Hometown Tournament” Mar. 28 -30, 2003. As always, I extend a special thank you to the land owner for the all- important permission. Visitors are always nice. Today Geatan B. stopped by twice (he must really like metal detecting) and Dennis D. stopped to say hello too. Nice to talk to you both. By the way, if anyone happens to find my hand digging tool, a 12.5 inch garden trowel, with a black handle with red ends… well it dropped out of my belt holster and is hiding in the leaves of similar color. Hang on to it for me please. I’ll be back! And here I am wondering how people managed to lose all those things back in the day? Roger References: http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/stpieromancatholiccemetery.shtml https://www.minelab.com/ https://canadiantreasureseekers.com/product-category/metal- detectors/bounty-hunter- manufacturers/?srsltid=AfmBOorYV9lqZ4uBihEiPN6OCaXHgBtqcqia c3JFROQ6I74qX8gCxcQR

November 6, 2024 One More Go At The Letellier Church Site

November 10, 2024. Keystone Detectorists Club Meeting

November 10, 2024 Keystone Detectorists Club Meeting The membership turnout may not have been a large one but the overall takeaway by all far outweighed the low numbers. I must honestly say that of the 11 people in attendance, all came out of today’s meeting with faces beaming. The highlight of the day was the candid, casual and easygoing presentation by Gordon Goldsborough, author of the Abandoned Manitoba books series, and past president of the Manitoba Historical Society. Gordon is a natural public speaker. Topics covered were how Gordon inadvertently became a book writer and how each of the books came into being and the themes that they follow. We talked at length about the Principal Meridian (No not the Gordon Downie and the Tragically Hip song) but how location was used to delineate and create all of the sections, townships and ranges used today to map out and locate land on the Canadian prairies. Of specific interest to the KDC is the possibility of organizing a group hunt to help locate the original metal pin that was the starting point for this massive undertaking. There is a monument near Headingley, Mb, on a portion of the original TransCanada Hwy., that commemorates this achievement but the actual site itself, the exact location of the “Pin”, has been lost to time. Gordon himself had been out on site with other members of the historical society with metal detectors but they were unable to locate this relic. We discussed Permissions and the getting of Permissions and of being “asked to leave” incidents. I think we all have a lot in common with Gordon here. Gordon talked about his third book which is about retracing and actually driving the original TransCanada Hwy. in a vintage Model T car from that same era. Talk about trip a trip back in time. We heard about historical sites in Pilot Mound and Darlingford and about old bank vaults in farm fields, and an abandoned Whisky Distillation Plant in St. Boniface just off of Archibald and Plinguet St. Who Knew! Now came time to purchase books off of Gordon and we got to enjoy a book signing. After Gordon’s talk and coffee and cookies, we exchanged ideas for a club logo with Robin Pare of OK John Detectors. Robin is a graphic designer and has all of the required equipment and clothing to produce something great for members to buy and wear. First things being first, we were shown three different possibilities for our club’s logo. See attached picture. More on this topic at the club’s spring meeting. If you see something here that you like or something that you would like to tweak on the existing prototypes, please contact Robin or myself with your ideas. We also talked about and recapped the Seeded Hunt at Birds Hill Provincial Park. This was organized by Robin with help from his family and Randy too. It was a great event. Lots of fun and prizes and a great way to meet new people. We are looking forward to the next seeded hunt in fall of 2025. See: Sept 14, 2024 - Beach Bonanza - Detecting Bird’s Hill Provincial Park. Time was running short. It’s amazing how fast time flies when you’re out metal detecting or when you’re attending a KDC meeting. We briefly talked about a group hunt on either an old homestead or at the Principal Meridian or wherever the group would like to try. I had hoped to introduce the idea of a group hunt looking for a “Cache” but we ran out of time. This will most certainly be a topic of discussion at our next meeting. If anyone knows of, or has ever heard of a possible location where a coin cache may have existed then please and by all means contact me and we get the ball rolling on this as a possible group outing. Research, locations, permissions, the rules of engagement, etc. all have to be explored and worked on before any of this can be made possible. Think about it as a group activity. We can all share in the preceding activities. All we need are a couple of potential leads. A few ideas were proposed as to future guest speakers. One idea was a staff member from the Provincial Archives on how to properly restore your finds without causing damage in the process. Another idea was having a Metallurgist come to speak to us about metals and their properties and how that relates to metal detecting. Ever notice how old square nails resonate differently than modern ones? Why is that? So to sum it up… Thank you Gordon Goldsborough for your time and for the inspiring information that you shared. I think it’s fair to say that we as a club have found a kindred spirit and friend in Gordon. Don’t be surprised to see him out there with us at the group hunt, swinging a coil like a pro. I’d also like to acknowledge a new club member and three potential new members. Welcome Louise R., Mark G., Marielle V., and Gordon G. It was a most excellent first club meeting. Till next time. Roger Reference: https://www.mhs.ca/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal_meridian https://okjohnmetaldetectors.com/

November 6, 2024. A Walk In The Mud

November 6, 2024 A Walk In The Mud Did I mention in my preceding post: Soil and ground conditions at times are everything. Wow… Well there goes BigFoot! After a good day of metal detecting at the Old Church yard in Letellier, I decided to stop by the Two Little Points area on River Lot # 153 and 154 for a quick look around. The field was sewn in corn this year and by June, I could no longer detect this field but now… the crop is off and some tillage has reduced the corn stalks to chaff and that’s all that covers the ground. Seeing as it had rained over the weekend, I knew that it would be possible to spot ground finds without using my metal detector. The rain washes the soil and dust off harder items like glass, ceramics, and metals and they can now be spotted if you look carefully. What I had not counted on and forgotten was just how sticky Red River clay can be. Thank goodness that I didn’t try to drive my van onto the field as I often do. I would not have gotten very far. The walk to the site where Gaultier would have been was strenuous but I mucked on forward and back again with determination. I carried a bucket with me this time, no metal detector. And Yes; I did find lots of interesting artifacts. A surprising amount actually. Here is the find of the week. It is what our archeologist friend Sid called: An arrowhead, pre-form. This small 1 inch black stone was chipped off of a larger stone, then knapped, then abandoned as it was probably splintering and shaping incorrectly. (Yes, I know. I totally misspelled Knapped on the yellow tag). Other interesting finds are the long, round, graphite artifacts. These come in two different sizes. And, they do ring up nicely with a metal detector. I have found quite a few of these in this location and to the best of my knowledge; they were used like a chalk or a pencil on a board a long long time ago. I have looked for pictures of these but I have yet to find any. Maybe a visit to a museum this winter will confirm their use. The round copper object next to the graphite rods is a grommet from a boot or piece of leather, possibly horse tack. I have found a lot of these as well on past outings. They almost always show up on farm fields. One other odd find is the hollow bolt? The color variety in the glass is always interesting. The big 4 inch rock is granite. This piece of granite has particularly large crystals. One doesn’t have to be a geologist to appreciate that this is one cool looking rock. The longer that it takes for magma to cool, the larger the crystals. Now I go home to clean my work boots and tend to some very sore legs. Roger Reference: https://www.outfitterssupply.com/Rivets-amp- Fasteners/products/121/ https://sha.org/bottle/colors.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granite

November 6, 2024 A Walk In The Mud

December 1, 2024 What are the odds of that…?

November 10, 2024 Keystone Detectorists Club Meeting The membership turnout may not have been a large one but the overall takeaway by all far outweighed the low numbers. I must honestly say that of the 11 people in attendance, all came out of today’s meeting with faces beaming. The highlight of the day was the candid, casual and easygoing presentation by Gordon Goldsborough, author of the Abandoned Manitoba books series, and past president of the Manitoba Historical Society. Gordon is a natural public speaker. Topics covered were how Gordon inadvertently became a book writer and how each of the books came into being and the themes that they follow. We talked at length about the Principal Meridian (No not the Gordon Downie and the Tragically Hip song) but how location was used to delineate and create all of the sections, townships and ranges used today to map out and locate land on the Canadian prairies. Of specific interest to the KDC is the possibility of organizing a group hunt to help locate the original metal pin that was the starting point for this massive undertaking. There is a monument near Headingley, Mb, on a portion of the original TransCanada Hwy., that commemorates this achievement but the actual site itself, the exact location of the “Pin”, has been lost to time. Gordon himself had been out on site with other members of the historical society with metal detectors but they were unable to locate this relic. We discussed Permissions and the getting of Permissions and of being “asked to leave” incidents. I think we all have a lot in common with Gordon here. Gordon talked about his third book which is about retracing and actually driving the original TransCanada Hwy. in a vintage Model T car from that same era. Talk about trip a trip back in time. We heard about historical sites in Pilot Mound and Darlingford and about old bank vaults in farm fields, and an abandoned Whisky Distillation Plant in St. Boniface just off of Archibald and Plinguet St. Who Knew! Now came time to purchase books off of Gordon and we got to enjoy a book signing. After Gordon’s talk and coffee and cookies, we exchanged ideas for a club logo with Robin Pare of OK John Detectors. Robin is a graphic designer and has all of the required equipment and clothing to produce something great for members to buy and wear. First things being first, we were shown three different possibilities for our club’s logo. See attached picture. More on this topic at the club’s spring meeting. If you see something here that you like or something that you would like to tweak on the existing prototypes, please contact Robin or myself with your ideas. We also talked about and recapped the Seeded Hunt at Birds Hill Provincial Park. This was organized by Robin with help from his family and Randy too. It was a great event. Lots of fun and prizes and a great way to meet new people. We are looking forward to the next seeded hunt in fall of 2025. See: Sept 14, 2024 - Beach Bonanza - Detecting Bird’s Hill Provincial Park. Time was running short. It’s amazing how fast time flies when you’re out metal detecting or when you’re attending a KDC meeting. We briefly talked about a group hunt on either an old homestead or at the Principal Meridian or wherever the group would like to try. I had hoped to introduce the idea of a group hunt looking for a “Cache” but we ran out of time. This will most certainly be a topic of discussion at our next meeting. If anyone knows of, or has ever heard of a possible location where a coin cache may have existed then please and by all means contact me and we get the ball rolling on this as a possible group outing. Research, locations, permissions, the rules of engagement, etc. all have to be explored and worked on before any of this can be made possible. Think about it as a group activity. We can all share in the preceding activities. All we need are a couple of potential leads. A few ideas were proposed as to future guest speakers. One idea was a staff member from the Provincial Archives on how to properly restore your finds without causing damage in the process. Another idea was having a Metallurgist come to speak to us about metals and their properties and how that relates to metal detecting. Ever notice how old square nails resonate differently than modern ones? Why is that? So to sum it up… Thank you Gordon Goldsborough for your time and for the inspiring information that you shared. I think it’s fair to say that we as a club have found a kindred spirit and friend in Gordon. Don’t be surprised to see him out there with us at the group hunt, swinging a coil like a pro. I’d also like to acknowledge a new club member and three potential new members. Welcome Louise R., Mark G., Marielle V., and Gordon G. It was a most excellent first club meeting. Till next time. Roger Reference: https://www.mhs.ca/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal_meridian https://okjohnmetaldetectors.com/