# creekwalk may 5



## jesster64 (May 5, 2010)

I went for a walk in a creek today. Heavy rains past few weeks and more 2 days ago, but it was such a nice day and I had a few hrs free time. creek is hidden pretty well.


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## jesster64 (May 5, 2010)




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## jesster64 (May 5, 2010)

Hello


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## jesster64 (May 5, 2010)

wild turkey also walking the creek. Saw a lot of BIG clams. didn't know we had fresh water clams.


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## jesster64 (May 5, 2010)

I followed some tire tracks for about 400 yards. hoping to spot  a dump. Nothing.


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## jesster64 (May 5, 2010)

todays finds,  2 milk shards, a couple soda shards. medicine top. Oh well, got some fresh air and only grabbed 1 poison ivy vine.


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## swizzle (May 5, 2010)

Take a coat hanger or an arrow tipped with a field point and poke around a bit where you found those shards. There's gotta be more there somewhere's. Unless it all washed down from farther upstream. Swiz


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## jesster64 (May 6, 2010)

I have a good claw handle I scratch the area with. Due to heavy rains, I feel they washed down from somewhere else. Exactly where is what I have to keep exploring to find.


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## woodswalker (May 6, 2010)

I couldn't view your pics( if they are in photobucket I'm blocked here at work)...but I live in MI and I have a collection of some of the biggest freshwater clam shells I've ever seen....they are also good eating. And another thing is where there are turkeys there are feathers and some of them are beautiful...I have quite a collection of those to...
    Happy hunting! 
 Amanda


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## CreekWalker (May 9, 2010)

Hi , go back to the original spot where the shards were found. If you have a portable GPS mark the location or tye surveyors tape in the general vicinicy. Shards do not carry far in a stream, unlike a whole bottle they have no buoyancy. In strong water current, or in a stream with very little downstream grade, shards generally are carried less than 100 feet before depositing in a sand or mud drift. Shards usually impact into a soft bank and stick in the mud. If the stream is rock lined with natural stone , brick from dumping or has rip rap,  look  upstream a few dozen feet for the rest of the shards or a bottle. Shards in a stream bank may be the very location for a mud or sand deposited dump or filled in gully full of bottles and debris. A dump, if it's there but can't be seen. Here's how to find it.


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## jesster64 (May 9, 2010)

Thanks creekwalker. The area is very unusual. Back in the woods is an old old cemetary. In front of the cemetary are some stone ruins, foundation. About 20 yards to the right of the cemetary is the creek. I tried probing the ruins. but sticker bushes have taken over for now. I walked the creek untill it hit the river. The big rains we had in march did a number on the area. I walked the creek the other way, but it started to get too deep. I did see a nice size fish in one spot . I am going to go back with a pole one day and get it. I'm going to bring a digging buddy in the fall and see if he can figure out the ruins. not sure what it was, church, stable. I can't find any records of it and my historical commission buddy had no idea.


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## jesster64 (May 9, 2010)

now in the other creek I just walked. I did find the dump that was depositing shards onto the beds. The dump is from 100-300 yards upriver from where I found the initial shards.


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## CreekWalker (May 9, 2010)

400 yards is way to far downstream to locate bottles, where the shards are the bottle aren't far behind usually upstream. The shards shown above, led to the bottles shown in the photo below. Their discovery took about a month. First identify the age of the bottles you found , most of them appear to be 1910's and newer, up to 1920's. Find a county map of the creek area, it could be as recent as the 1940's or 1950's. Try the local library, the county recorder of deeds, maybe Sanborn Insurance Maps their are links on this site, ask for help, say you are doing a research project possiblly about the family who lived on the property. The old county or city maps show the homes and businesses near the creek. If you find the right map you have taken the first step.  Identify the nearess home or business, take your GPSand  drive to the home's location or near it. There may be no home there now. Mark the location, now look at the location in relation to the creek there and on the map. Estimate the distance from the original home spot. Use a measure or scale come up with a distance. Write it down or remember it. Now go back to the creek. If you have the portable GPS , set your "home place" location in the "go to" mode. As you walk up or downstream in relation to the home, the nearest distance to the "home" is the place most likely used as a dump site. Climb the bank and see if a old road ends near or winds close to the stream. The path of least resistance, was where people of old dunped there garbage! Now is this upstream of the shard location, how far? If it less than 50 ft , you found the dump. You can't see it maybe it's in brush or covered with mud. Possibly it has washed out 2 months ago , or maybe ten years ago, your shards have more pieces , you're in a jigsaw puzzle now. Hopefully the pieces will fall together for you.  There's some luck and very little skill now in finding it. I will get back with a location method , if you don't have a GPS soon. As a word to the wise, the best times to creek walk for relics is early spring and late fall when the vegatation is dead and the snakes are dormant. Also wait for a dry spell when the water is lowest and clear, you'll have to check the stream condition. Good luck.


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## CreekWalker (May 9, 2010)

Wow, if the shards are carried that far, must be a monsoon of a current in that creek.  You probaly need to probe the creek's bank behind the cementery. Six feet deep, bottom of the bank up four feet or so, takes awhile but it works.


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## jesster64 (May 9, 2010)

Thanks creekwalker. There were some seriously overflown creeks here during march. I scanned both creek embankments for any bottle pieces sticking out. nothing. just an occasional shard on a bank. some banks are very soft and  go way too deep with silt and mud. Anytime I found a shard, I checked the nearby embankment. Only saw a couple golf balls and other debris stuck on branches. I have a couple more creeks to walk only a few minutes from my house. But right now, I found a dump and will hit it as much as possible before I get banned or arrested.


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## jesster64 (May 9, 2010)

What keeps me going is looking at those blobs you found. Very nice!


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## CreekWalker (May 9, 2010)

Good luck with the next two creeks. I like the dump sites too, be careful , I fell thru a rusted tin stove about six inches under ground once. At 3 feet deep, with sharp edges, it took a few minutes to free myself and I got a nasty cut with a very bad infection a few days later, not to mention a chicken or rat snake was striking my "invisible to me" legs, and I had a panic attack, pulling my hip out, and was lame for weeks. Well at least it wasn't a rattler. Nearly as bad as falling thru a buried and abandoned car roof, in an old dump , then stuck chest deep in waist deep mud and silt with no help.


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## Stardust (May 13, 2010)

Sounds like a good start to a scary movie. Glad you got out OK.


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## JOETHECROW (May 14, 2010)

> ORIGINAL: jesster64
> 
> Thanks creekwalker. The area is very unusual. Back in the woods is an old old cemetary. In front of the cemetary are some stone ruins, foundation. About 20 yards to the right of the cemetary is the creek. I tried probing the ruins. but sticker bushes have taken over for now. I walked the creek untill it hit the river. The big rains we had in march did a number on the area. I walked the creek the other way, but it started to get too deep. I did see a nice size fish in one spot . I am going to go back with a pole one day and get it. I'm going to bring a digging buddy in the fall and see if he can figure out the ruins. not sure what it was, church, stable. I can't find any records of it and my historical commission buddy had no idea.


 

 jesster,...I was thinking about your stone ruins near the cemetary....I'll bet there was once a caretakers house for that cemetary there......                                                       Joe


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## jesster64 (May 14, 2010)

Interesting. I'll look at some dates on the gravestones, its fenced off, but I believe they are late 1700's, early 1800's. The foundation doesn't look quite that old. They could have added a house later on. Thanks for the idea. I'll tak some pictures of the area and post later


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## Stardust (May 14, 2010)

Yes, be-careful and the woods and creeks are where I have felt the most alive since I was a little child. Sitting beside a creek and listening to the sounds of nature are a gift to me. I long to do that again one day. Your pics of the woods make me feel peaceful and hope you get to post more pics of your creek walks in the woods. Actually, as I sit here and type with the birds chirping so loud this morning, they seem to fit right in with your pics.

 Thanks for posting and I look forward seeing your finds. May you be blessed with a day after day of good finds. Thanks again for sharing and have a nice day.


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## CreekWalker (May 14, 2010)

I got out of the car roof in one piece. Junkin' is alot safer in the local antique mall! Just not so fun as wading a stream.


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