Minnesota has a history like any other state, making it a great place to use your detector.
Some treasure hunters specialize in hunting the town sites of early settlers, while others enjoy searching for coins and jewelry along the shores of Lake Superior and other famous locations. There are even some lost treasures believed to be hidden somewhere in the state.
Minnesota’s buried treasure
The most famous buried treasure in Minnesota is that of James and the Younger Gang. It is believed that there is a lot of lost treasure buried throughout the West from this gang, but in their later years they were in Minnesota committing robberies with significant amounts of stolen money that could not be recovered. can be calculated.
An amount rumored to be between $100,000 and $150,000 was buried in a metal box beneath a fence post by Ma Barker and the Alvin Karpis gang. The fence post is located somewhere between Rochester and Chatfield, leaving a large area to search. The group is said to have forgotten the location of the post and the treasure has never been found.
There are many other places worth exploring; just remember to check archaic laws and ask permission from privately owned land owners. Remember Minnesota winters! Do your research during the winter and save the metal detector for the warmer months.
Metal detecting in early settlements
Of course, the first settlers in what is now Minnesota were Paleo-Indians who lived there 10,000 years ago. As always, pottery, primitive tools and the like can be found throughout the state. A metal detector won’t help you with these things, so you’ll need to have a keen eye to locate India’s ancient monuments.
The first Europeans to explore the area did not arrive until the 1600s. They were French/Canadian explorers and fur traders. The earliest fur trappers appeared during this decade. They didn’t leave behind too many relics and since they were largely nomadic people, it is difficult to find any relics from this era.
Duluth and the surrounding areas can be a treasure trove for hunting and everyday use. Trade between the early white settlers and the Dakota Indians flourished, so there will also be many Native American artifacts if you can locate the trading sites.
Ancient fortress
In 1824, soldiers completed and occupied a Fort Snelling, originally known as Fort St. Anthony. The fort was located where the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers met, and its presence proved attractive to squatters, who created a community in the same area and named it Camp Coldwater. This is believed to be the first American settlement in Minnesota, although it was never sanctioned.
Camp Coldwater consisted of about 20 buildings, including a fur trading post, a farm, and a blacksmith shop. Unfortunately, the camp only lasted ten years, after which the commander at Fort Snelling forced the squatters to move on. Fort Snelling is still active today and the original buildings can be seen.
Keep in mind that these areas may have special rules that limit metal detection. Always check land conditions for any special regulations. Odds are you can still find some good ruins nearby even if you’re not hunting directly at the site of an old fort simply because of the amount of human activity in the general area.
Minnesota in the 1800s
By the time Minnesota became a state in 1849, settlers had begun arriving from other countries and regions of the United States. One of these was Paul Parrant, who in 1838 founded what is widely considered the first settlement and named it, rather oddly, Pig’s Eye. That settlement is now part of St. Paul.
1838 was a special year for Minnesota, when Henry Hastings Sibley of Detroit built the first stone house in Minnesota on the east bank of the Mississippi River. The house still stands today. His wife, Sarah Jane, was the sister of prominent businessman Franklin Steel, who claimed and later built on the half-mile long riverfront property. It was then called St. Anthony, and is now “…the industrial center of Minneapolis.”
Then, in 1849, Canadian John H. Stevens settled across the river from St. Louis. Anthony. Known to his peers as the “Father of Minneapolis,” John H. Stevens was the first authorized settler on the west bank of the Mississippi River. All of these areas are great for metal detecting, as settlers would leave behind items such as cutlery, buttons and other household items.
The Civil War affected Minnesota and vice versa, and there are plenty of places to explore war memorabilia. Minnesota was the first state to send troops to fight in the Civil War. These troops fought bravely and fiercely at the Battle of Gettysburg and beyond. Fort Snelling once again played an important role, serving as the temporary home of Dred Scott, a slave emancipator. Minnesota became a free state and later helped elect President Abraham Lincoln.
