Gold Ring found at dry salty lake!

Billy

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
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374
Location
Western Australia
It has been so hot here in Western Australia, yesterday reached around 45 degrees celsius, and for the last two weeks it has been averaging over 30 degrees celsius, today was a lot less warmer than yesterday and my girlfriend Natalie and I were bored and took the oppurtunity to go for a drive around the local district of Dumbleyung, where I live.

Dumbleyung has a population of around 250 people, a nice quite little town, famous for our lake "Lake Dumbleyung"

On New Years Eve 1964, after a particularly wet winter had seen the lake fill to overflowing, Donald Campbell set the world water speed record when he piloted his boat, Bluebird K7 across the lake at the remarkable speed of 444.66 km/h (276.3 mph).

Unfortunately Lake Dumbleyung is presently a very dry lake, I have not seen it full of water for around 5 years, when it is full, it is beautiful, full of water birds, even Pelicans and Seagulls come to the lake which is 250kms from the ocean, although no fish can survive in the water due to its extreme salinity. However around 20 years ago fresh water Bream were introduced but died as soon as the lake dried a year or two later.

Anyhow, I decided it would be nice to show my girlfriend the local water ski club, and also thought it would be a great chance to go metal detecting out there, with the aim of finding myself some Lost Gold Jewellery as I knew there would be a high chance because Gold will not corrode in salt water or salinity affected soil, but coins, silver and all other metals will corrode, and also being a water ski club, people skiing have a high chance of losing jewellery due to falls, take offs etc.

As soon as we arrived we were pounced upon by man eating flys (flys that bite) and they were really annoying, but that did not stop my eagerness to get out the Minelab E-Trac Metal Detector as quickly as possible and start swooping potential lost jewellery spots, such as the old boat ramp, the picnic area, the beach area where Mums would babysit their kids.

I started getting heaps of the usual pulltab signals which I expected, after around 10 minutes I got a nice signal through my headphones, and found myself a nicely corroded aluminum beer can.

Then another signal, this one was different, and I could not believe my eyes, I found myself a nice wedding ring... I was very excited and asked Natalie to take a photo of me and my new find.

I was excited for a few reasons, 1. I found Gold! 2. It's something to write about on my Metal Detecting Blog 3. The chances of finding more lost gold rings and jewellery in this area and other lakes around the district are extremely high! and finally 4. It would be fantastic to be able to find the original owner of this ring and reunite them with their lost gold wedding ring which may have slipped off whilst water skiing.

The ring has a engraving, a gold stamp and the manufacturers name stamped on the ring, so if I find the owner, they need to be able to tell me what engraving is on the ring.

The manufactures stamp marking is "Caris"

And from the research I just did I found out the following

John Caris's general store in Vulcan Street Moruya, opposite the Adelaide Hotel, was crammed with an extraordinary array of goods for Christmas. Inside the store, he sold everything from axes to washing soda and men's suits. Caris was also a watchmaker and an optician. He joined the Coolgardie gold rush with his brother in the mid 1890s and eventually opened Caris Brothers, Perth's largest jewellery store.

I don't think the ring is that old, no more than 50 years from what the engraving says.

In the photos I have attached, please note that it is not snow I am detecting on, obviously because I am wearing shorts, but it is Salt encrusted soil... the lake is saltier that the dead sea.

We only stayed in the area for around 30 minutes, due to the biting flys, but I will definately be returning to the area very soon!

Can't complain, in 30 minutes I found myself a gold ring, a couple of very corroded unidentifiable coins and the usual pulltabs!

Anyhow thats my story for the day!

Cheers Guys!
 

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Great story and great ring! Looks like a very interesting place to detect with lots of potential! Too bad no coins will come out of there in recognizable condition though.:no:
 
awesome ring! But that little dog looks like the real precious treasure!

It's a cutey aint it! I actually found it the other day in the city ... saved it from getting run over ... no lost and found ads for it either. It is a Pomeranian breed. I named it Ginger.
 

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It has been so hot here in Western Australia, yesterday reached around 45 degrees celsius, and for the last two weeks it has been averaging over 30 degrees celsius...

Margarita please - hold the salt... :p

Then another signal, this one was different, and I could not believe my eyes, I found myself a nice wedding ring...

Incredible you pulled that out of that huge expanse of space - congrats and nice perseverance! :yes:
 
Why

is the lake level so low? Do you think global warming has something to do with it? Or is it cyclical? I know the lakes around these parts are low, increased in the last year a bit, and some think it is a cyclical pattern while others think Global Warming. Just curious as to what you might think from the other side of this great earth.
 
Well believe it or not around 100 years ago the lake had relatively fresh water, in Australia and also America, we have a major problem will Salinity, due to when farmers settled on the land here, they clear felled all or most or the trees.. this has caused a major problem with the water table underneath the top soil raising, which causes salt due to the lack of nutrition in the soil and many other factors.

To answer your question, the Lake should be permanetely full, but because all of the rivers are wrecked from over farming, the rivers no longer flow, except in flood, which is like once eery 20 years... all of the river beds around here are encrusted with white salt. We are trying to fix it, but it is a never ending battle.

Where I live and in most of the South West of Australia, the rivers which used to be fresh water are now salt water, this has killed off many species of fish and wildlife.

It is a pure tragedy! It is like an uncurable form of cancer!

Read more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salinity_in_Australia

What is salinity?

Salinity is the word used to describe the salt content of soil or water. When this salt content is excessive it degrades water quality and land productivity. Soluble salts are often found in water and soil but usually not in sufficient concentrations to affect plant and animal survival.
Salinity increases are usually caused by a rise in the level of underground water-tables bringing naturally occurring salt to the surface. This concentrates salt and affects the environment dependent on that soil and water.

There are two distinct types of salinity:
  • dryland salinity
  • irrigation salinity
Dryland salinity is caused when the rising water-table brings natural salts in the soil to the surface. The salt remains in the soil and becomes progressively concentrated as the water evaporates or is used by plants. One of the main causes for rising water-tables is the removal of deep rooted plants, perennial trees, shrubs and grasses and their replacement by annual crops and pastures that do not use as much water.

Salinity.jpg
 
A nice ring find and didn't take long . congrats The pictures are great, love seeing pictures of different countries and A good explanation of what we were seeing . Thanks alot HH Harold
 
Great pictures Billy, and a nice ring.
Shame about the lake though. I used to water-ski a lot about 27yrs ago. Back in the days of Mike Hazelwood and Andy Maple :), not quite their standard though :lol:

That does look hot out there, too hot for me.:wow:
 
Nice piece of hunting Billy. The pictures are great, i can't get over how flat it is there. I have a friend who lives in Wellard? Perth Western Australia.
HH,
Dave
 
Great story and nice pictures. I can't imagine salt like that. At the moment I have about two feet of snow on the ground. Sounds like a good spot to hunt. What to people do there for protection from the bugs?
 
Sweet ring you found Billy. It's amazing you found anything there in what seems to be alot of nothing... and BAM, a gold ring, very cool.

Neat find on the dog too, nice that for a stray, he's sticking around pretty good.
 
Great story, great find, and great history lesson!

emdees

P.S. Try googling whatever the engraving is... maybe it's posted somewhere?
 
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