One of the things I enjoy best about getting with other treasure hunters, are the stories they have to tell. We all have had adventures others would be interested in and they are not all about treasure hunting, either. I would like to relate my first day of hunting after buying my own detector, a Fisher 1280X:

I have been diving for about twelve years and had made hundreds of dives, but to tell the truth it was getting a bit boring. I had a Hookah rig and just received my 1280X in the mail. The hookah rig allows about four hours down time on one tank of gas.

There is a lake near me called Cass Lake. I grew up on that lake a long, long time ago and can still remember the old beaches. There was a beach called White City Beach on the east shore that has been hunted to death, but I thought it would be a good place to try out the machine.

I got to the lake and rigged up. Rigging up with the scuba gear is sometimes a chore. You have gear hanging all over you: bags, regulator, knife, pony bottle, and detector, just to give you an idea. I hauled everything out to chest deep water and flattened out on the bottom and began my sweeps. Nothing! I spent about an hour and had nothing to show for it. Man, I would have sold everything about that time. Well, I gave up and put the gear back in my truck. I was ticked but it was still early and thought I would try another spot.

On the same lake there is Dodge Park. This park was built by the CCC's during the depression. It is easy to get to and I thought I would give it a try. I was not thinking like a treasure hunter at that time and had it in my head all I had to do was start swinging the coil and dig up the goodies. All these places have been hunted to death by waders over the years and my lack of finds proved it. I wasted an hour there, also. I got a bit ticked.

I started to think like a treasure hunter at this point. I swam this beach in the `50's and there was a swimming raft then. I tried to remember where it was and started circling the area, sweeping and scouting. There has not been a raft out there since I have been an adult, and it is a very large area.

The depth was about eight feet and I still found nothing. I went out to about eleven feet and finally hit it! I cannot remember exactly what I found and in what sequence as I am not in the habit of keeping those kinds of records, but there was stuff all over the place! One sweep would get six or more hits with all of it old and hardly any trash. I found silver halves, quarters, mercs, and wheaties. I cannot remember how many rings, gold, and silver. They were all over the place!

As I went further out, I hit the drop-off. The bottom drops from eleven feet to thirty-five feet at a seventy-five-degree angle. During that summer I found seven old raft anchors along that drop and every one was loaded with treasures.

I would swim out over the slope and drop to the bottom with my knees facing the wall and make my sweeps. I would stay down for four hours at a time and would constantly dig. That summer and the next I made many dives and always brought from sixty to ninety keepers for every dive. I must have found fifty gold and more than one-hundred silver rings in all. One day I found three silver halves and a twenty-four-inch, eighteen karat gold chain with a medallion the size of a half dollar. It also was made of eighteen karat gold!

I always hunted alone. I had no friends who dove or metal detected at that time and had no idea what I had gotten myself into. Heck, I thought everyone found this sort of stuff! I just brought it home and tossed it in a box. I just loved the diving and this was a way to keep it interesting.

I found Buffalos and standing liberty quarters (at the time I did not even know what the heck they were), false teeth, and dog tags. Hundreds of coins! Probably over a thousand! It's funny, because even though I did not find ONE Indian cent or a Barber, I found an assortment of bracelets and barrettes.

I do not dive there much anymore. There is still treasure there, especially in the deeper water, but the silt is deep and makes it difficult to retrieve the finds. Diving there is dangerous in the summer because of the boat traffic.

It was quite an experience and I enjoyed reliving it in the telling. I have had many such adventures and I am sure you have, too. I would be interested in hearing them.