Local School Hunt

Having put out a notice to local CO folks on FMDF to see if anyone was game to get together this weekend, and getting no replies, I decided to get out by myself. I had did a little research, mistaking the high school on a 1882 map of Golden with the same spot that Mitchell Elementary now sits on. But in doing so I was able to learn that in 1931, Central School was built and became what is now Mitchell, so to me that sounded like a good chance for silver.

I headed out just after lunch time and actually ended up stopping at New Loveland Mine Park, which is a block away from the school. It was built in 1996, so I wasn't expecting much, thus I wasn't disappointed by the meager $0.33 I pulled. I did land a neat little monkey charm in the tot lot though.

After messing around there, I headed up the street to the school. I'm not naive enough to think I was going to score tons of silver here... Colorado, and my area especially has loads of hobbyists who get out everyday, and I'm sure this place has been picked over. But I went at it for a few hours anyhow. Strangely, the two tot lots at the school had nothing, no coins, no trash, nothing. But I'd say about 90% of the clad I found here was in the grassy area right in front of the main entrance. Within about 2 feet of the sidewalk on either side dime and quarters just starting popping.

I took a break for a few minutes before tackling the large baseball/soccer field and got this pic of the School of Mines "M" in the side of the mountain. It was originally put there in 1908.

So right, next was the large task of the athletic field. It being a new spot I decided to do the wandering around technique and just hope to score. The area between the two soccer goals seemed most promising, and it did happen to work out. Just outside the far goal I scored a quarter hit, which happened to be a quarter. But then after digging it, I rescanned the area and came up with a weird signal that would not display a VDI, but the signograph on my XLT had a nice grouping of bars in the "gold range". I dug and bam, about 3 inches down I nailed this ring. No apparent markings, and the stones are obviously fake, but it does have a nice gold color to it.

It was a good days take, landed 43 coins @ $3.63.