Editorial

Well treasure hunters, the groundhog has spoken…and it’s not good news. Punxsutawney Phil emerged Tuesday morning in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania, and…yeah, you guessed it…he saw his shadow, so it looks like it’s six more weeks of winter! Bummer.

We here at Lost Treasure are again digging ourselves out from under a deep blanket of snow, and waking up to old Phil’s annual prediction was not what we wanted to hear. Sigh.

Guess we will have to continue our “beating the wintertime blues” tactics of researching sites we would like to hunt this spring and reading up on all the latest news on what our fellow THers are doing out there who aren’t dealing with frozen ground and frigid temperatures. Lucky dogs!

Now on to other things…let’s talk about our printed magazine for a second. We need your stories and photos about finding rings, jewelry, anything of value (even if just sentimental value) and returning them to their original owners for our monthly "Civic Patrol" column. Please pass the word on to your fellow detectorists and treasure hunting club members that they can send theirs to me at managingeditor@losttreasure.com

And don’t forget our monthly Questions & Answers column. If you have questions regarding treasure hunting, e-mail them to me and we’ll do our best to find an answer for you.

Read any interesting Treasure News online lately? Share it with us by sending me a link to the story or by copying and pasting the story into an e-mail, along with the address of the website you found it on.

Now to the newsletter…The Mid Florida Historical Research and Recovery Association of Ocala, Florida, is the Feature Club in this issue of the Lost Treasure Online Newsletter. Read about the club’s activities and accomplishments while you enjoy pictures of its members in action.

Please feel free to send me contact information, preferably website and/or e-mail addresses, for your club or any clubs you know that haven’t been featured. We want to spotlight each and every one!

In the Favorite Finds section you can see photos and read about the recent discoveries of the Mid Florida Historical Research and Recovery Association, along with a great find made by Pete Rozewski, a newcomer to the hobby in New Jersey.

Thomas Davis supplies the Tip From the Pros this issue. Want to share your tips? All you have to do is e-mail them to me and we’ll share your knowledge with our readers.

In this issue’s THers News you can read about the following and more:

Odyssey Marine to Search for 70 Million In Silver

When Gold Fever Hits

Three Ships Wrecked Off Wisconsin Coast

Veterans Find Work Cataloging Georgia Artifacts

Until next time, keep your dream of finding treasure alive,

THers' News

Odyssey Marine to Search for 70 Million In Silver

An official attempt to find a ship containing £70m worth of silver, which was sunk during the WWII, has been announced by the British government. It has teamed up with a private company in the hope of salvaging the treasure.

The target is the SS Gairsoppa, which was on its way from India to Britain in 1941 with a cargo of silver ingots, pig iron and tea when it began to run out of fuel off the coast of Ireland. Trying to make its way to the safety of Galway harbour, it was spotted and sunk by the German submarine U101.

Though most of the Gairsoppa’s crew were lost, three survived in a lifeboat and reached the Cornish coast two weeks later. Two of them died trying to get ashore; the sole survivor, Richard Ayres, who was made an MBE for his attempts to rescue his fellow sailors, lived until 1992.

The wreck lies at least 6,500ft below the surface. After a competitive tender, the government has chosen a US company with a track record of deep-sea finds to conduct the search. Under the agreement, Odyssey Marine Exploration will have two years to find and bring up the silver.

The firm’s chief executive, Greg Stemm, said he had a good idea of the ship’s location. “I’m reckoning on about 60 days of search before we begin trying to bring up the silver,” he said.

The agreement includes strict protocols to halt the salvage operation if human remains are found in the wreck.

If the silver is recovered it will be split between Odyssey and the transport department. It is believed that Odyssey will get the majority of the booty, originally valued at £600,000 but estimated to be worth £70m at today’s prices.

Courtesy of http://digg.com

Nautical Archaeology Brings History to Life

Texas A&M's Nautical Archaeology Program is bringing history to life - literally.

Students of the New World laboratory, which focuses on the study of ship evolution within the past 500 years, are in the midst of recreating "The Heroine," a Mississippi River steamboat built in 1832 that sank in the Red River between Texas and Oklahoma in 1838.

"At the time they weren't keeping records; there's a lot we don't know about early boats - how they designed and built them - this opens early steam boating in the early west, how they operated on the river and how it was to live and work on them. We want to know what our ancestors lived through," said Kevin Crisman, associate professor of nautical archaeology. "This is the oldest Mississippi steamboat studied by archaeologists."

The wreckage of the boat was discovered in 2002, and students spent the past six years excavating the site by diving 20 feet down into the murky waters of the Red River and digging up the steamboat, piece by piece.

"The paddle wheels and other parts of machinery were still on the boat," Crisman said. "We found barrels of picked pork and corncobs. You don't really know what you're going to find until you start digging it up."

After surfacing pieces of the boat's structure and artifacts that had been capsulated inside, students brought their work back to the University to treat the pieces for preservation and begin drafting plans of the steamboat.

Plans for "The Heroine" began to be drafted while the mission was still 20 feet below.

"When we're working underwater in the Red River, obviously paper dissolves under water, so what we use is plastic drafting film and pencils to make drawings of the ship. I couldn't hold it in front of me and see the whole thing so I had to hold it close and I had to get bifocal lenses put in my mask because I couldn't read it," Crisman said. "All our measurements, drawings and sketches put the whole thing back together piece by piece. We have to put it back together in sections because we could only dig up part of it at a time."

"Nobody's really seen these things -- a steam engine and machinery put together exactly as they were," Crisman said. "So what we'd like to do when we're all done with these plans is have somebody build a model of the whole thing, and maybe someday, someone could build an original size 140 feet long steamboat."

More than 200 nautical archaeological digs have been done in the world, in every continent except Antarctica and South America, and the field has contributed volumes to history, said James Delgado, president and CEO of Nautical Archaeology Institute.

Nautical archaeology provides modern man a better picture of the past because shipwrecks give scientists an untouched snapshot in time, he said.

New World lab assistant and nautical archaeology graduate student Bradley Krueger said he came from Michigan to A&M because it is considered the world leader in nautical archaeology.

"I would consider it the best, the best in the country for the type of work that we do. We're the first university to undertake this kind of work and we continue to be a leader in this field," Krueger said. "Since Kevin was down here as a professor I knew that was who I wanted to work with; I wanted to get to that caliber of professionalism."

50 years of discovery

In 1960 Texas A&M Nautical Archaeology professor emeritus George F. Bass became the first archaeologist to conduct a scientific excavation under water. He uncovered a bronze-age merchant ship in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the oldest known shipwreck. There have been more than 200 nautical archaeological digs in every continent except Antarctica and South America. Texas A&M's Nautical Archaeology Program, which was founded in 1979, was the first in the nation. Students will attend a summer-filed school in Puerto Rico and in Turkey this summer. Much of the research done by A&M graduate students is published with the help of INA. History Channel producers visited the INA on campus recently to interview Delgado for a documentary on ancient ships to discover if ancient seafarers have sailed around the world. The documentary is not yet completed and an airtime has not yet set.

Courtesy of http://media.www.thebatt.com

When Gold Fever Hits

Prospectors passionate about unearthing a once-in-lifetime find

ARIZONA - Ron Marshall always has a gold glint in his eye.

For the past 10 years, Marshall and dozens of others have made camp about 8 miles south off Franconia Drive at the headquarters for the Lake Havasu Gold Seekers. Marshall said he, like many others in the desert, got gold fever several years ago in hopes of the “find of a lifetime.” While the gold nuggets have been few and far between, Marshall still spends four or five days a week in the desert because he can’t get enough.

“I exist in town. I live out here,” he said.

When Marshall first arrived at the Gold Seekers’ camp, he remembers seeing only six or eight trailers. Now there are dozens and the waiting list for a lot is approaching two years. Gold prospectors look at their hobby the same as those that take up golf. They keep coming back, not because of the many days of finding nothing, but because of that one moment that makes their entire year.

“Once gold fever has got you, it’s got you for life,” Marshall said.

Few that live on the site camp in tents. Most spend their nights in RVs or trailers complete with kitchens, bathrooms and satellite TV.

“We have almost everything here that we have in our home (in Havasu),” Joyce Allen said. “But it’s a simple life out here. It’s far more peaceful and simpler for us. Plus we’re also around other people who love doing this just as much as we do.”

Like any other good hobby, prospecting has its fair share of tools and equipment that require an investment and dedication. Prospectors throughout the West have used pans to sift through acres and acres of rocks but aside from an occasional storm, Mohave County does not receive enough rainfall for panning along fresh creeks to be an option. In arid spots, Marshall said a dry washer is a necessity. A dry washer sifts through and shakes rocks and sands until only the heaviest objects are left and a prospector will then pan through the heaviest materials to find the gold.

“This has been happening for years so someone has already found all of the big stuff,” Marshall said. “If you’re serious about doing this, that means you have to look through all the little stuff.”

The “little stuff” is often smaller than a grain of salt. Marshall said he may work five hours a day to find four or five specks (worth about $4). The Lake Havasu Gold Seekers own about 20 claims across more than 3,200 acres of desert.

“There’s an awful lot of haystack out there to find a needle,” he said. “So if you’ve got the time and the dedication and the patience, the gold is out there somewhere just waiting to be found.”

A recent rainstorm that dropped about two inches across the county has made dry washing nearly impossible, Marshall said. The storms also meant delaying a common dig that was set for this month.

“It’s far too wet out there to really find anything,” Marshall said. “We’ll have another dig in a month or so when it really dries up.”

In the event of rain, metal detectors are another necessity, longtime prospector Bob Garver said.

“When it rains, a lot of that old dirt we’ve looked at will move around and maybe move out of the way of the gold underneath,” he said. “But there’s a lot of desert to walk around in and there’s not a whole lot of gold in there anymore.”

Garver estimates he’s found about $8,000 worth of gold nuggets in the past six years.

“We’re not doing this to make a living because you really can’t do it,” he said. “We are out here because we have that itch and we all love to do it. … You might get lucky and find something out here but I’ve known people that have been doing this for two years and still haven’t found anything.”

Marshall agreed.

“None of us thinks we’re going to get rich out here doing this,” he said. “But we can’t stay away because we love it, and we love the people who are just as crazy as we are.”

Courtesy of http://www.havasunews.com

Three Ships Wrecked Off St. Francis Coast

WISCONSIN - Three 19th-century Great Lakes sailing ships, the Boston, the Sebastopol, and the Alleghany, had two things in common. All three were shipwrecked off the shore of St. Francis, Wis., and all three were shipwrecked as a result of an inadequate Milwaukee harbor.

Milwaukee’s original harbor (located about a half-mile south of the present-day harbor) had a shallow harbor entrance, which kept larger ships from entering the inner harbor. These larger ships were forced to anchor outside the harbor entrance at extended piers to unload their goods. Without the protection of the inner harbor during fierce lake storms, many of the ships risked great damage or destruction. Also, due to inadequate navigational lighting, ship captains found it difficult to find the harbor at night, especially during a storm, resulting in ships running aground. Between 1846 and 1855, the three previously mentioned sailing ships were doomed because of these inadequacies.

Fate of the Boston

The side-wheel steamship Boston was built in 1845 and measured 210 feet in length. On Nov. 24, 1846, the Boston arrived in Milwaukee from Buffalo, N.Y., but was unable to enter the inner harbor due to the shallowness of the harbor mouth. The ship instead docked at the extended pier to discharge its cargo. At around 8pm that evening a horrific storm came out of the northeast. Seeking safety, Captain William T. Pease again attempted to take the ship through the harbor mouth into the inner harbor, but the Boston was caught by the powerful gale and lost its smoke stacks, rendering the engines useless.

Anchors were lowered, in hopes of riding out the storm, but the strong winds dragged the Boston southward and around 11pm the ship struck bottom about 150 feet off the shore of the present-day St. Francis Seminary in St. Francis. Help arrived and all the crew and passengers were rescued. The surf broke over the ship, which filled with water. The remaining smoke stack hung limply over the side. An organ destined for an Episcopal church was rescued, as well as cabin doors and panel work, and the vessel’s engine.

On Sept. 12, 1855, the side-wheel steamship Sebastopol left Boston for Milwaukee with a crew of 33 and 60 passengers. The newly built ship measured 234 feet long. The 600 tons of cargo, worth $100,000, included copper, tin, lead and iron ingots, safes, and 50 horses. The Sebastopol arrived near the Milwaukee harbor during a severe northeastern storm. Captain Thomas Watts sailed toward what he thought were lights on the harbor pier but in all likelihood were the lights of a another ship or the lights of the houses on the bluff. The Sebastopol traveled off course three miles south of the harbor and struck bottom 200 feet off the shore of the present-day St. Mary’s Academy in St. Francis.

Sebastopol crewmembers set out in a lifeboat, but it capsized and three were drowned. A government lifeboat rescued crew and passengers, including Captain Watts’ wife and four children. Seven or eight of the horses were saved, with some survivors reaching the shore on horseback. Valued at $1,000 each, more horses could have been saved but it was impossible to get them to jump in the water, according to the Milwaukee Sentinel.

The bodies of the three crewmembers, James Clark, Frank (last name unknown), and Morris Berry were recovered from the lake. “I have had all three of the bodies taken to the Lake Protestant Cemetery [in St. Francis] and decently buried side by side,” said Justice of the Peace Jared Thompson in a Milwaukee Sentinel editorial. Three more bodies were later recovered. Cargo was strewn across the beach and at the bottom of the lake. (Divers rediscovered the shipwreck in the 1970s in 15 feet of water near E. Oklahoma Avenue and salvaged items including pewter tableware, ironstone dishes, and a brass belt.)

Last Gasp of the Alleghany

On the evening of Oct. 20, 1855, during a heavy northeastern storm, the propeller ship Alleghany approached the Milwaukee harbor. The 177-foot ship was built in 1849. Captain Asa S. Curtiss saw no light on the harbor piers and ended up anchoring north of the harbor. Due to the intense storm, the anchor did not hold. The ship lost its smoke pipe, was dragged to the southwest, and struck bottom about 100 feet from the lakeshore of the present-day St. Francis Seminary. A local newspaper reported that various articles of cargo were thrown in the water, “forming a sort of bridge from the boat to the shore, on which the women and children were carried.” All 30 passengers survived.

In 1848, the Wisconsin Legislature passed a law allowing Milwaukee to levy a tax to pay for the construction a new harbor entrance. By 1857, a new, safer harbor entrance opened (known as the straight-cut) just north of the original harbor.

19th-century Ships of the Great Lakes

Schooners, side-wheel steamships, and propeller steamships sailed the Great Lakes during the 19th century. These commercial vessels moved cargo and passengers between the Great Lakes ports. Schooners were big sailboats powered by the wind and had two or more masts. Side-wheel steamships had locomotive-type boilers that were fueled by coal and wood. The boilers created steam that turned the ship’s side paddlewheels. Propeller steamships also had boilers that provided steam power that turned the submerged propellers. All three types of shipping vessels continued to be used on the Great Lakes well into the 20th century.

Courtesy of http://bayviewcompass.com

Veterans Find Work Cataloging Georgia Artifacts

GEORGIA - It was called Cemochechobee, where prehistoric families lived and died for centuries before vanishing.

Today, decades after the rich archaeological site in southwest Georgia was flooded to form Lake Walter F. George, artifacts rescued from the rising waters are yielding new secrets through a program that offers wounded veterans an opportunity to study the past.

"I never thought I'd be interested in archaeology," said Leanard Marshall, one of 10 wounded combat veterans helping the Army Corps of Engineers curate material gathered from federal lands. "But the more you do, the more you get into it."

The 38-year-old Army specialist - medically retired after being injured by a roadside bomb - spends his time categorizing, listing and photographing artifacts dug from the site in the 1970s.

"We see a lot of pottery and arrowheads, and some things that will surprise you," he said.

Unusual items Marshall has helped curate include a clay artifact with a carved eagle's head and a white- tail deer jawbone, with teeth still intact.

"He was probably dinner a long time ago," Marshall said.

The lab in West Town shopping center in Martinez was the first of three such facilities opened in recent months using federal stimulus funds, said archaeologist Alana Lynch, one of the lab's two managers. The others are in St. Louis and Washington, D.C.

The corps, which hired the Brockington & Associates cultural resources consulting firm to manage the program, has about 55,000 boxes of material that need to be categorized and brought up to date under federal curation guidelines, Lynch said.

The recovering veterans, most from Iraq and Afghanistan, are wonderful candidates for such programs, she said.

"It's a work and training program where they learn digital photography, database management, computer skills," Lynch said. "It was also an opportunity to use stimulus money to catch up on 30 years of backlogged archaeological material."

The Martinez lab is focusing for now on the collection of artifacts from beneath Lake Walter F. George.

"This was a very large Native American mound site," Lynch said. "There is still a lot we can learn from it."

The village, complete with a temple mound, was believed to have been occupied from 700 A.D. to about 1500.

"They farmed, buried their dead, built villages and a temple mound -- and disappeared," Lynch said.

Marshall and his colleagues are helping to create a database that will be useful for museums, students, scholars and others who need access to organized details about the settlement.

"There's more than 100 boxes to go through," Lynch said.

Marshall, who was a gunner aboard a patrol Humvee until his injury, said the work is sometimes tedious but rewarding.

"You do a lot of checking and rechecking because you may overlook certain things the first time around," he said. "But this is work that needs to be done. You can't put a price on history."

Courtesy of http://chronicle.augusta.com

Tip From the Pros

 By Thomas Davis

Good walking sticks are valuable tools…pretty much anywhere you live you've got a hike to a treasure spot. Although I use a lot of different ones I have made, depending on the hike, to each his own, I like a stick of 5' or there about. Here is one of the old ones I made - PVC pipe with two split chambers. The upper chamber is used for Topo maps, pencils, and emergency toiletries. Bottom is water purifier pills, snakebite kit, matches…well you get the idea. Also, I have a stick marked for measuring anything in field I may need to show lengths on. Another stick I use a lot is an old 5' painting pole; its vinyl over tube steel has cushioned upper foam grip. I drilled a hole in the end where you screw on the paint roller; this way I can slide my 6' aluminum probing pole inside the walking stick.

Feature Club

The Mid Florida Historical Research & Recovery Association

Members of the Mid Florida Historical Research & Recovery Association of Ocala, Florida, share a slogan, “Metal detecting is fun and ‘We're Diggin It’.”

Founded 20 some-odd years ago, the Mid Florida Historical Research & Recovery Association has seen continuous growth. Currently, more than 50 men and women are active members of the Club, which meets on the third Thursday of each month at Gander Mountain Sports (located in Ocala at the intersection of Route #40 - Silver Springs Boulevard - and I 75) at 6 p.m.

The public is welcome to attend an introductory meeting, as are guests from other detecting clubs and organizations. Read more about the club following these photos.

The officers are Bill Beardsley, President, Mike Sniegowski, Vice President, Carol Seidman, Secretary, and Roger Ackley, Treasurer.

Monthly Club-sponsored hunts are conducted year-round in a variety of locations that include both local and distant beaches, ghost towns, military sites, parks, and other permitted historical sites.

The Club and its members play an active role in community affairs, providing historical exhibits at local libraries, assisting both police and sheriff department efforts in evidence recovery, and developing programs with local Boy Scout troops and retirement communities.

If you would like a sample of the Mid Florida Historical Research & Recovery Association’s monthly newsletter, post your Club Officer identity and e-mail address to our Newsletter Editor, Bob Stockli, at bobfrogfish@hotmail.com

Inquiries relating to the Club and it activities should be directed to the Club President, Bill Beardsley, at (352) 873-9953 or at beardsleytwo@aol.com

Favorite Finds

Shown below are just some of the Favorite Finds made by members of the Mid Florida Historical Research & Recovery Association, followed by a great find made by Pete Rozewski, a newcomer to the hobby from New Jersey.

Mike Sniegowski (Buffalo nickel)

Roger Ackley (Silver band) 

Bill Beardsley (Civil War acorn watch fob)

Mike Sniegowski (Wing emblem pin)

Carol Seidman’s six-inch ivory-handled knife.

Mike Bruns’ Cavalry button and a canteen stopper.

Roger Ackley’s search of Sutler’s Row rewarded him with a

number of button finds.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I brought my first publication of Lost Treasure recently, about two weeks before I purchased a new White's Coinmaster detector here at the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Your magazine and website have opened a new world to me! So, with a break in temperatures in this region of New Jersey, I headed out again. It was at my second location that I got a strong signal, both visual and audio, of a light hit. Below the surface of pine needles and sand (of course), I slowly removed a 7" sterling silver bracelet from the target area (shown above). I have had it polished and a new link put on to proudly display my first "real" treasure. Here is a picture of it on my operating hand. I can only think of how valuable the hand will become in the future!

Thanks,

Pete Rozewski

2010 Calendar of Events

FEBRUARY

6th – Goldfield Ghost Town/Apache Junction, Arizona. 5th Annual Diggin in the Desert sponsored by the FMDAC Southwestern Chapter. Three hunts in one day at this 1890's gold mining town. Gold nuggets, silver coins and donated prizes to win! Gold nugget raffles throughout the day. This is a natural desert field with the targets planted. For more information, contact Mike Smith at (480) 983-7011 or promack@quik.com

MARCH

6th – 7th – Big Spring, Texas. The Big Spring Prospector’s Club will hold its 41st Annual Gem & Mineral Show at the Howard County Fair Barn. Sat. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sun 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Dealers, demonstrators, food, hook-ups, parking. Something for everyone! For more information, contact Show Chairman Jerald Wilson at 707 Tulane, Big Spring, TX 79720, phone (432) 263-4662 or (432) 263-3340.

13th – 14th – Longview, Texas. Texas Treasure Show 2010 and open hunt presented by the Texas Council of Treasure Clubs. This is the largest treasure show in the USA! For registration information, see http://www.texascouncil.net and click on Special Event or Member Events.

27th – 28th – Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. The Greenbush Prospectors, Inc, of Greenbush Wisconsin, is sponsoring their Second Annual Gold and Treasure Show, Sat., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Sheboygan Falls Municipal Building, 375 Buffalo St. There will be guest speakers, demonstrations, raffles and vendors. In addition, the Wisconsin State Gold Panning Competition will be held Saturday. Children’s Treasure Hunt both days, plus other special children’s programs. For more info, contact Mike Ogea at ogeagold@charter.net or (920) 467-3728, or Ron Smith at ausmith2005@yahoo.com or (920) 207-4092). You can also log onto the club’s website at www.wisgold.org

APRIL

10th – Belmar, New Jersey. Premier Belmar Beach Blast sponsored by the East Coast Research & Discovery Association - 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., rain or shine, at the John Taylor Pavilion. For more information, contact Harold Lowenfels ECRDA 2010 Beach Blast, 2845 Lenox Street, Toms River, NJ 08755 or e-mail Art Pearson at artmds@verizon.net

17th – 18th – Winfield, Pennsylvania. 31st  Annual 2-Day Treasure Hunt sponsored by the Susquehanna Valley Metal  Detecting Club at the Union Township Fire Co. Three hunts per day. No Clad! For more info, contact Lenny Cooper at (570) 752-6347, e-mail coop6347@msn.com or Ed Burke at (570) 331-0600, e-mail potogold1@verizon.net

16th – 18th – Riverside, California. The West Coast Prospectors and Treasure Hunters present their 23rd Annual Hunt, Rendezvous 2010 at Rancho Jurupa Regional Park. Make your reservations early at (951) 684-7032 or (800) 234-7275. For more information contact Ralph Crowther, 26722 Valpariso Dr., Mission Viejo, CA 92691 or ralph.crowther@mindspeed.com 

23rd – 25th – Keene & Marlborough, New Hampshire. 17th Best O’ North East (BONE) Treasure Hunters Weekend sponsored by Professional Treasure Hunters. For info, e-mail gstreeter@ne.rr.com or call (603) 876-4443. Advance registrations to PTHHS, 307 Main St., Marlborough, NH 03455.

24th – Radersberg, Montana. Headwaters Chapter of the GPAA’s 7th Annual Claim Jumpers Metal Detector Hunt. Gold Nuggets! Silver Coins! Prizes! For info, e-mail gpaainfo@yahoo.com

24th – 25th – Cashmere, Washington. The North Central Washington Prospectors’ 11th annual Gold and Treasure Show at the Chelan County Fairgrounds. Sat., 9-5, Sun., 9-4. $3 admission, 12 and under free. For more info, contact Carl Pederson, President at repete7@verizon.net or call (509) 630-8239.

30th – May 2nd – Apache Junction, Arizona. FMDAC 2010 Spring Festival - three days of fun and activities at the Goldfield Ghost Town. Hunts all three days with seminars and displays on site. Detectors, gold nuggets, silver coins and other prizes to be won. For more information, contact Duane Biller at dbiller@atlanticbb.net or Mike Smith at promack@quik.com, (480) 983-7011. You can go online to www.fmdac.org to download hunt forms.

MAY

15th – Virginia Beach, Virginia. Save the date. This is the hunt all your friends told you about. The one and only 23rd annual open hunt sponsored by Tidewater Coin and Relic Club at the beautiful Virginia Beach oceanfront. Rain or shine. Detectors, gold, silver and prizes galore. Contact Ina Finn at sanddigger@charter.net or (757) 679-0467.

16th – Lathrop, Missouri. The Three Trails Historical Search Team of Independence, Missouri, will sponsor their 26th Annual Treasure Hunt at the Antique Show Grounds. For more information, contact Gregg Arnold at (913) 831-1011 or e-mail gastudio@kc.rr.com

22nd – 23rd – Grand Rapids, North Dakota. Minnkota Artifact Recovery Group’s 11th annual treasure hunt. For more info, contact Jeff Kehl: jkehl1963@yahoo.com or (320) 845-7814

22nd – Onset, Massachusetts. The 18th Annual Open Treasure Hunt sponsored by the Gateway Treasure Hunters Club at the Onset Public Beach, rain or shine. Registration begins at 9 a.m. Easy access from I-95, I-495 and Mass. Routes 3, 6, 25 and 28. For more info, call Roy Gouge at (508) 759-9779, e-mail phylroy@verizon.net or visit the club’s website at http://mysite.verizon.net/gthclub22

JUNE

5th – Shawsville, Virginia. 19th Annual Open Hunt by the Roanoke Valley Coin & Relic Club at Camp Alta Mons.  More info, Marilyn Epperly, 2136 Maiden Lane, SW, Roanoke, VA 24015, (540)342-0153 or e-mail grammaepp1@juno.com or Anna Feazell (540) 563-4118 or e-mail at shortbelle@aol.com

6th – Topeka, Kansas. Topeka Treasure Hunters’ Open National Treasure Hunt at Reynolds Lodge at Lake Shawnee. Five hunts rain or shine, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. For more info, contact Russell Broxterman, 1210 School, Box 162, Auburn, KS 66402, (785) 256-2925.

12th – 13th – Hampton, Illinois. Cedar Valley Research and Recovery will hold their Fifth Annual Treasure Hunt at the Illiniwek Forest Preserve, Route 84. For more, contact Joseph Evans, 3427 Circle Dr., Cedar Rapids, IA  52402, Phone (319) 265-4418 or e-mail joeevans@imonmail.com

19th – 20th – Hastings, Nebraska. The Nebraskaland Treasure Hunters Club’s Annual Hunt at the ghost town of Leroy, south of Hastings on Hwy. 281. For info, contact Dale or Marilyn Ratzlaff at (402) 736-4455 or dalyn@mainstaycomm.net

19th – 20th –Georgetown, Indiana. The Hoosier Hills Treasure Hunters Club and the Down n’ Dirty Diggers Metal Detecting Club will each host one day of this weekend hunt – the Diggers’ 9th Annual Open Hunt on Sat., and the Hoosier Hills’ “Second Day” Hunt on Sun. For more info on the Diggers, contact Mike Byrn by e-mail at byrn@hughes.net or call (812) 366-3558. For more on the Hoosiers, contact Chad Beesley at c.beesley@insightbb.com or call (812) 966-2137 or (812) 498-0336.
 

JULY

10th – 17th –New Staunton, Pennsylvania. Treasure Week at the Fox Den Acres Campground. Three hunts a day with many other hunts and activities. For more info, contact Jill & Carl McFeeders, jcseeker@core.com or phone (330) 364-1608.

26th – August 1st – Vallonia, Indiana. Southern Indiana Treasure Fest 2010 sponsored by Pepsi-Cola at the Starve Hollow State Recreation Area south of Brownstown on HW 135. Jackson County Fair all week. Events for all ages every day! Free Kids Hunts ages 3-12, and Jr. Hunts ages 13-15 for $10. The week’s events sponsored and/or provided by Bounty Hunter, Fisher Labs, Garrett Metal Detectors, The Lincoln Hills Treasure Hunters Club, White’s Electronics, The Hoosier Hills Treasure Hunter’s Club, Real Treasure Hunters, Teknetics, Cannonball Express Metal Detectors, Wick’s Pies, Wray & Co. Treasure Shop, Tesoro, and The Down n’ Dirty Diggers. For more info, contact Chad Beesley at (812) 966-2137 or Terry Rittenhouse at (765) 857-2400.

AUGUST

7th – Orting, Washington. The Puget Sound Treasure Hunters Club, Tacoma, Washington, is sponsoring their annual Lenny Phay Memorial Hunt, “Silver Bonanza,” rain or shine. Two major silver hunts, one a silver dime hunt and the other a big silver hunt, plus a detector and a treasure chest raffle. Fun for the entire family, to include youth hunts. For more info, contact Jim Ratcliff, Sr. at (360) 556-3914 or Jim Ratcliff, Jr. at (360) 556-4009, e-mail scouthobby@comcast.net or visit http://sites.google.com/site/pugetsoundtreasurehunters/home

SEPTEMBER

19th – Lathrop, Missouri. 34th Annual Open Hunt sponsored by Mo-Kan Search and Recovery Club at the Lathrop Antique Show Grounds. For more info e-mail Terry Theiss at outboundace@hotmail.com, call Chuck Clevenger at (816) 436-0697, or visit the

club website at www.mokansr.com

E-mail upcoming events to managingeditor@losttreasure.com