Here are a few of
GHOST TOWN
Favorite Treasure Hunting Websites
For ghost town chasing, metal detecting/treasure hunting (TH'ing), prospecting, genealogy, and searching for old towns
your ancestors lived in, as well as lots of other interesting links, these
sites are well worth visiting...
There are literally thousands of related websites
out there, and this list is not intended to be all inclusive.
These are just a few of the sites I find
interesting. I hope you do too.
Please
be advised, there are no Geocaching sites listed.
Happy web surfing!
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If
you are either unfamiliar with, or new to the hobby of treasure hunting/metal
detecting, there may be a few terms you see on these or the linked pages that may
seem unfamiliar. In general, most
treasure hunters use metal detectors to search in the ground for lost coins,
jewelry or metallic relics. There are
MANY facets to this hobby, but the majority of treasure
hunting hobbyists fall into this category.
Since
the early 1960s most metal detector users have been called treasure
hunters, which was popularly shortened to “TH’ers.” Treasure hunting
was also abbreviated to “TH’ing.” During the past 15-20 years those abbreviated terms have
been mostly replaced by the term “Metal Detectorist.” As time goes on,
even that term is being slowly replaced by “Metal Detector User, or Metal Detector Enthusiast.”
No
matter what you want to call yourself, this is a great hobby, and one that
truly can enrich an avid pursuer. I hope
this helps clarify a few terms not commonly used outside the hobby.
On
another note, and wonderfully appropriate for this section is a nice link I
have put up at the request of a school class. These future leaders are revamping their
classroom website with “new
sections, information and fun stuff for students, teachers, parents, etc.,” and
have added some treasure hunting links.
One of them is Alan Bernau Jr’s
site called “A
Guide to Metal Detecting for Beginners.” I
think it is a great refresher course for all of us in the treasure hunting
field to go back to the basics once in a while and remember,
we all started out as beginners. I want
to thank Ms Ward’s class in Delaware for telling me about this link and hope
you all enjoy it also. Ms. Ward, I hope
all of your students get a chance to “Get Outside” and enjoy this wonderful
hobby. You can even have them toss in a little ghost towning
while you are at it!
General
Sites
Western & Eastern Treasures Magazine
This is the online home for the magazine I’ve been
writing for since 1980, and has featured my monthly Ghost Town USA column
since April 1984. It is the how-to
magazine of choice for metal detectorists.
Gold Miners Headquarters
– Information Center for Prospectors
In addition to its
Internet links, this international recreational gold mining directory lists
over 500 businesses that do not have an Internet web site! ”This is the largest directory in the world
and a great effort to help our gold mining community. Please help us help
others. Show your support to the Gold Miner's Headquarters! Miners helping
Miners...”
This
is the online home for Lost Treasure Magazine.
“The largest Treasure Hunting Forum and Community
on the Internet! We have discussion forums that cover a wide range of treasure releated topics, from the Shipwrecks to Metal
Detecting. Coins, Gold Prospecting, Techniques, Preservation,
Mapping, Ghost Towns, Stamp Collecting, Fossils and
everything in between.” To
fully access all the site has to offer, you must become a member,
which is free. This site also has a new
mobile app for your iPhone, iPad
or android-based smart device.
This
general interest site is a good introduction to the Treasure Hunting Hobby.
BOTTLES/INSULATORS
Antique Bottles & Bottle Collecting
Glass Insulators Reference Site
Bottle & Pot Lid International
Collector’s Webring
Lists a lot of bottle-related links
BRICKS
COINS
EXONUMIA
A connoisseur’s guide to
Tokens, medals, buttons, badges, ribbons, World's Fair, political, Masonic/fraternal,
Indian peace medals and slave tags. If
you collect this type of exonumia, this a great site
for you. Rich Hartzog
also sells hundreds of books to help you identify your finds.
Over
400,000 different trade tokens are listed on this huge site.
LICENSE PLATES
SEE: Specific page with links to LICENSE
PLATE clubs and collectors.
RELICS
Treasure Hunting Equipment
Manufacturers/Distributors
METAL DETECTOR Manufacturers
Metal
detector manufacturer & publisher of my book, Dust
in the Wind –A Guide to American Ghost Towns.
Metal
Detector Manufacturer
Metal
Detector Manufacturer
Metal
Detector Manufacturer
Metal
Detector Manufacturer
Metal
Detector Manufacturer
Metal
Detector Manufacturer (Manufacturer of the Shadow Metal Detector)
METAL DETECTOR-PROSPECTING/
GENERAL ACCESSORY dealers
A
Sacramento-based, multi-line metal detector dealership.
Metal
detecting accessories.
“Detectors Unlimited
is an authorized dealer carrying all brands of metal detectors including
Tesoro, Bounty Hunter, Garrett,
This multiple-line metal
detector also carries a full line of metal detecting accessories. (GBS note)
Metal
detector sales, accessories, books and maps.
WHITE’S
metal detector distributor and general treasure hunting accessories.
Multiple
line metal detector “Superstore”
This is an online “Superstore” featuring all major
brands of metal detectors and accessories.
Metal Detectors of Minneapolis
Multi-line
metal detectors sales, accessories, books, maps, videos, and recovery tools.
Gold
prospecting and metal detecting equipment superstore. Located in
Multi-line
metal detectors sales, accessories, books and maps.
NATIONAL
FMDAC – Federation of Metal
Detector and Archeological Clubs.
This
is a National organization dedicated to preservation of recreational metal
detecting, as well as protecting the rights of individual metal detectorists. Many
local clubs affiliate with this organization.
NOTE: It doesn’t appear that this site has been updated
since 2011.
Kelly Co
links to Metal Detector Clubs
This
is a good list of updated metal detector clubs with an online presence – State=by-state.
AZ
Arizona Treasures Unlimited,
Inc.
Based in the Phoenix area, this active club has
been around since 1970. The club’s
purpose is stated on their site.
“Arizona Treasures Unlimited, Inc. (ATU) is a nonprofit corporation
registered in the state of Arizona to promote the safe and lawful recovery of
lost and abandoned objects through the processes of research, education, and
the distribution of information.”
CA
Club
Mission Statement – “To perpetuate the
awareness of maritime history through organized exploration,
research, restoration and
display"
Prospectors Club of Southern California
“The
Prospector's Club of Southern California is a legally chartered, non-profit
corporation - Dedicated to gold prospecting, metal detecting and treasure
hunting.”
Riverside Treasure Hunters
Club
Based
in Riverside, this very active club meets the first Friday of the month at 7 PM at Eldorado Park
Community Center in Upland. It serves treasure hunters located throughout the greater
Inland Empire.
Treasure Hunters
Society of Santa Clara Valley, Inc.
This club is based in San
Jose, in the San Francisco Bay region and has been around since 1976.
West Coast Prospectors &
Treasure Hunters Association
Another
Southern California-based treasure hunting club with a large web presence. It is quartered in Garden Grove and is the
parent of the famed West Coasters Rendezvous, a fun three-day organized
treasure Hunt that draws folks from all over.
WA
This active club operates out of Belfair, WA,
which is on the west side of Puget Sound across from, and southwest of,
Seattle.
INTERNATIONAL
World-Wide Association of
Treasure Seekers
Based in Texas (USA),
WWATS is an international organization “The Focus of WWATS is to be an
information center, providing special training as necessary to understand our
relationships with, and to openly approach, our government agencies, seeking ways
our hobby can co-exist within the rules and regulations used to govern public
lands today. WWATS shall be a proactive organization, not a reactive one.”
(BOTTLES/INSULATORS)
Clubs for Antique Bottle Collectors
Los Angeles Historical Bottle Club
Additional links to bottle
sites from the Baltimore Bottle Club
National Insulator Association
San Jose Antique Bottle
Collectors Association
This local bottle club is located in San Jose, CA
and has been around since 1958. When I was a college student at San Jose State
University back in the early 1970s, I was able to participate in one of their
massive bottle digs as a friend of mine was a member (at that time.)
(BRICKS)
International Brick Collectors Association
(COINS)
American Numismatic Association
(EXONUMIA)
National Token
Collectors Association
(LICENSE PLATES)
SEE our specific page with links to LICENSE
PLATES clubs and collectors.
(RELICS)
CA
US
Dept of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management
Mostly new items, but
current public land information can be found here along with historical
information.
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INDEX TO OTHER LINK PAGES
Links
to various websites and pages are listed in the following categories…
·
General Ghost Town sites
·
Individual States/Provinces
·
Individual Sites
·
History/Travel
·
General Sites
·
Specific Interest Sites
·
Treasure Hunting Equipment
Manufacturers/Distributors
·
General Treasure Hunting
Clubs/Organizations
·
Specific Interest Clubs/Organizations
·
Places to find treasure
·
Government information sources
·
Book publishers/sellers
·
Periodicals
·
Clubs for License Plate Collectors
·
On-Line Collector Buy/Trade & Sell
Forums
·
A few other misc. websites of interest to
license plate collectors
·
General
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LINKS last verified:
January 04, 2015
Last updated: January
04, 2015
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by Gary B. Speck Publications
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