I thought about hunting the fields that my grandparents farmed, and literally cleared by mule and chain way back then, I'm 60 so you figure the time, but it straddled the 1800-1900 times easily. I was raised on that 160 acre farm, and I still know, even today, where the tenant homesteads and the bigger old homes used to be. It is all an expanse area of open land now as far as the eye can see.
As far as the fields themselves...we had human cotton pickers in then there fields, me included. I seriously don't think that anyone who was hard up enough to have to pick or hoe cotton in the fields would ever have two nickels to rub together, much less lose in the fields, but maybe I discount the 40s and 50s. IMO, I would only search where the old houses used to be standing back when I lived there, 1950s. Even those will be slim pickings being the poor-stats of the locale. About the only way I'd do a field would be all metal or relic, a huge coil and accept a lot of farm junk. Other than that, there's just too much open space, and like I said, very unlikely those hard labor workers woulda had valuables to lose. He!!, I wouldn't have ever picked or hoe-d cotton one day if my father hadn't made me. THAT FRIENDS is some dismal, hot, hard (expletive) work. I certainly didn't lose anything in them fields myself. I did make allowance walking around money working for other farmers, so I can't blame it all on Dad. Dad paid me too, it wasn't a bad life now that I sit and ponder it all. :yes:
The old houses(not all on my old home spot of 160 acres mind you) are now long gone, would be fun. I remember finding old bottles and stuff when us kids would pilfer the vacant old places, busted up a lot of good glass I'm sure. We were kids, that is what kids did/do. I do know now that the whole section has had the land leveled(conglomerate farming), so whatever was there, has been scooted around. One last thing...that spot was named for the Indian mounds there long ago in history, but you seldom hear much about it. There was also a major asteroid to hit close by, so who really know if chunks landed in my fields! I found many arrow heads, and my aunt had a collection that filled here entire house before she passed away. You can be certain that arrow head hunters would love the movement of soil during the land leveling. That was some serious relic hunting if you wanted Indian artifacts. I was born on it and raised on that spot, and never appreciated it back then. It was just a piece of delta land with a small crop of trees that kinda gave shade to us in our small frame tenant farmer's house,,,all of it stuck out in nowhere.
MAN! Did my aunt have the arrow heads of every size, and all other implements they used in the Indian days. I wonder what happened to all that stuff, gotta try and find my uncle if I can? I know the general owners and have a basic permission to hunt it, but it is nearly 2 states away. It still tempts me now, especially after recanting the history like this, and take a trip up there and rent something for a week or two once the crops are gathered, and go nuts with the detector and a shovel. I wish that I had a Bigfoot coil for the V3i.
Maybe I will have a nice September-October! martin
I was just about to go up into the field behind my house and it started to rain. >:/
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