First Old Coin...1946 S Wheat Penny!

Had an afternoon to venture some property just a mile outside of an old mining town of Neihart, MT. In its heyday, Neihart was a town that was built up from a boom in mining huge silver and lead ore deposits. I ventured around some and came upon a major dump site (lots of old cans) and picked up a couple 22 caliber bullets still intact. Other than a few other random pieces of metal and a screw cap to some type of heating units (rated at 150,000 BTU from a company called MTI in Perrysville, OH) there wasn't much I was getting of any interest.

 

As I made my way back to the cabin, I swung my detector just off the roadway. Just a mere two feet from the road's edge, right across from the cabin driveway, I got a solid beep that definitely sounded "coin." It was only a 1/2 inch in the soil and I picked it up and saw Lincoln's head. "Oh, just a penny" I thought as I turned it around - that's when I saw the wheat penny reverse side. Oh man, was I excited. On top of that, I brought it in and cleaned it soap and water and discovered it was a 1946 - with an S mint mark! - WooHoo! My first old coin and it was a San Francisco minted wheat penny. This is certainly a first that I will remember for a long time. Looking forward to other great finds in the future in that ol' mining town that dates back to the 1870s.

Been a while

So I have been tardy as of late in my metal detecting pursuits. What can I say? Life is happening. At any rate, I scouted the Fort Shaw property and now have permission to detect it whenever I am ready. In the meantime, I am curious about detecting another's friends property that is out of town but along the Smith River. Need to do some research on the history of the area so I can get an idea of what my be out there.