# does this rusty nail look old ?



## RCO (Dec 4, 2017)

obviously a metal detecting find , took advantage of the nicer than normal weather and explored a wooded property which according to maps was suppose to be home to an old homestead or pioneer farm . 

checked all the areas I though seemed logical and in the right places that might of been used by them but really found nothing . the property is also now heavily wooded and likely grown in when compared to the bare fields that would of been present years ago . 
but there was just so many pine trees ( also many squirrels which seemed annoyed at me and a partridge ) and such it was very difficult and is a creek on far side of lot which is very steep and drops down , like embankment has to be 20 or 30 feet drop to this small creek ( I didn't check that area at all )   

closer to the road I found a 1970 Ontario plate , although bended in half and extremely rusty , nearby was an old pepsi can and further in a found an old piece of metal bent , maybe a bolt with nuts on it  but likely also from 70's ( was surprised detector found it as it was well hidden ) 


the only thing I found which I though might actually be really old was this nail ? it was found near the far end of property which is a highway fence ( wooden posts and wire )   , it was in a mound of dirt . ( according to the maps old homestead shouldn't of been touched by highway and should still be there )  

I don't know much about nails but it looks old to me ?


----------



## RCO (Dec 4, 2017)

note the overall length of the nail is about 2 inches or slightly less so pics are a bit smaller than it is


----------



## CanadianBottles (Dec 4, 2017)

Doesn't look like a particularly old nail to me.  Not an old square nail, anyway.  I find the old ones don't tend to rust that much, for some reason.  What era does this old homesite date to?  Usually there's some sign of it, and if there isn't you may be in the wrong place.


----------



## RCO (Dec 5, 2017)

CanadianBottles said:


> Doesn't look like a particularly old nail to me.  Not an old square nail, anyway.  I find the old ones don't tend to rust that much, for some reason.  What era does this old homesite date to?  Usually there's some sign of it, and if there isn't you may be in the wrong place.




I'm not that familiar  with nails , its definitely not modern but as to how long it was there is tough to guess .

did some more research on the lot , all the lots along that road or trail , appear to have been given out and handed over to the settlers around 1870's , is a date of 1873 for the lot I was on . 

the trees appeared to be more recent , none looked like old growth , appeared to have regrown in last 30 or 40 years , if you've seen a really old white pine and then seen a newer one you can spot the difference , which indicates to me the area was once cleared and possibly a field 

also noticed the same family appears to have 3 other 100 acre lots , 1 is on the other side of the creek ( no idea how you'd get to it ) and they had 2 others on the other side of the highway further down the trail , so there is a lot of potential places they could of dumped things , built buildings etc 

also came across a site that had a picture of an old family headstone in a nearby cemetery , it had multiple names on it and gave dates of 1910 -1940 as when some of them passed away , so it appears they stayed on the lots for some time and didn't simply abandon  them early on


----------



## CanadianBottles (Dec 5, 2017)

If you aren't finding pieces of iron scattered around then you haven't found the house site yet.  Look for hilly places, they would often build the house on higher ground that was not suitable for ploughing.  Once you find the house site finding the dump becomes a lot easier.  If they were there until the 40s then hopefully there are still surface signs of the dump.


----------



## RCO (Dec 5, 2017)

CanadianBottles said:


> If you aren't finding pieces of iron scattered around then you haven't found the house site yet.  Look for hilly places, they would often build the house on higher ground that was not suitable for ploughing.  Once you find the house site finding the dump becomes a lot easier.  If they were there until the 40s then hopefully there are still surface signs of the dump.



I went back and looked thru some of the lots on the other side of the highway , 1 was supposedly owned by same family and other 2 had different owners . 

the one had some buildings ( maybe a small house and what I always though were chicken coups ) on it maybe 10 years ago but have since been torn down by MTO as they try and remove some of the buildings that are too close to highway , I searched thru a lot of that lot , saw some scrap metal and evidence of human activity , found a couple broken bottles in one spot ( an old green beer bottle from 50's , generic medical bottle and some sort of wine or ginger ale broken )  but nothing that old 


the one lot further in seemed way too steep as its on a hill and  forested to have ever been a farm as tree's appeared old , some massive old growth pine and hardwood , didn't appear to have even been logged recently but old maps say someone lived on that lot in 1870's 

also found some modern beer cans along the trail , a Howdy ( grape ) metal pop can from 70's and a local milk jug under a pine tree that i'll post in dairy section later 


were now expecting snow and lots of it here so doubt i'll be able to get back in there this year


----------

