Treasure Hunting

Pennsylvania

 

 

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    Pennsylvania Metal Detecting Clubs - On Lost Treasure Online©!

 

Keystone State

RELICS, COINS, & JEWELRY

Pennsylvania has a rich history of early settlements and Civil War battlefields - the perfect combination for an energetic relic hunter!  Here's a few ideas to get you started:

  • Schools and College Campuses
  • Parks / Playgrounds / Picnic Areas
  • Foundations, Wells, and Cellar Holes of Old Churches or Houses
  • Downtown Construction Sites
  • Swimming Holes, Beaches, and Natural Springs
  • Camp Grounds, Boy Scout Camps, WPA Camps, and Mining Camps
  • Sports Facilities
  • Ghost Towns
  • Rodeo Arenas, Riding Stables, and Race Tracks
  • Old Fair and Carnival Locations
  • Old Town Dumpsites

GEMS

Almandite garnet crystals are found in a quartzose mica schist about 1.6 km west of Chelsea in Delaware County. Near the surface the schist is badly weathered and the garnets, which comprise as much as 75% of the rock locally but average much less, are easily recovered. Abrasive-grade garnet was produced from this deposit prior to 1900, but no production has been recorded since the turn of the century.

Small trapezohedral crystals of almandite garnet are scattered through-out a badly decomposed gneiss near Chester Heights, also in Delaware County. An attempt was made to mine this deposit years ago by means of a shaft and underground workings.

LOST TREASURE

As in other areas of the US, there are several tales of lost treasure in Pennsylvania concerning caches buried for safety.  In many of these stories, people either died or forgot where they buried the stash.  Contributing factors include:  

    1.  Federal laws making possession of gold illegal in the early 1900s

    2.  Distrust of banks during the Great Depression. 

  • Many Indian peace medals were given out by early settlers, but only a few of these are known to numismatists today. Medals were given out in many other eastern and midwestern areas as well.
  • At a place called Asylum on the upper reaches of the Susquehanna River, escapees from the French Revolution (and some displaced Frenchmen from the West Indies as well) are said to have concealed their wealth during the mid-1790s.
  • Pithole City on Pithole Creek where it joins the Allegheny River, was a boom town beginning with the discovery of oil there in 1865. Within a year or two there was so much business going on there that the incoming and outgoing mail at the Post Office was third in volume only to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the state. "Fortune seekers from all parts of America and Europe were attracted. On every train they came rushing to the land of derricks."

    The population grew to 12,000 to 15,000 inhabitants. Alas, it was not to last. Most oil claims petered out. The Oil City & Pithole Branch Railroad banked the fires in its locomotives, and the Reno, Oil Creek & Pithole Railroad was never completed beyond the grading and tie-laying process. No one checked in anymore at the four-story hotel in the center of town. By 1870 Pithole City was no more, and it was not even mentioned in the federal census of that year. Today the site may furnish interesting opportunities for metal detecting.

These excerpts are a sampling from American Coin Treasures and Hoards

References to Find More Treasure in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Metal Detecting Leads

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   Information posted is from various United States Geologic Service (USGS) material and the Gold Prospectors Association of America (GPAA) Mining Guide.  The GPAA is a professional, family oriented organization that's been around for awhile and they'll treat you right.  There's many more areas to find gold than what's listed above.  If you are serious about finding gold, we recommend that you check out your local club to learn the proper techniques and some good spots to hunt from the pros.  The only alternative is to spend a whole lot of money on gas and wasting valuable time doing your own thing.  For more information, Click Here

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