Not really an MD'ing story but a wanting to go MD'ing story.
Earlier this summer, I was doing some research on Minnesota ghost towns (with hopes of some detecting of course) and I ran across an amateur photography forum. Someone had posted some great photos of a old town named Melvin, MN. It was located in Polk County between the towns of Fertile & Crookston, a 5 or so hour drive from where I live. I didn't care about that....it was exciting to find that there was such a spot. The pictures were taken in early 2007 and they showed the remains of a small commercial building, and the remains of sidewalks, curbs, etc., plus there was an old abandoned house on the site. The photos showed that all of this now resided inside a cow pasture, with short grass and brush, complete with an electric fence. (Insert metal detectorist's adrenaline increase here).
I contacted the Polk County historical society, and the lady who answered happened to be the perfect connection. She gave me the name and phone number of a guy who lived in Fertile, who was the grandson of the founder of the town of Melvin! Evidently he gave presentations at the historcal society museum, talking extensively about Polk county and the town of Melvin. (Insert metal detectorist's larger adrenaline increase here).
I will call him Dave, since that is his real name, like mine. I called Dave and we talked for some time; he told me all about Melvin. A cool history, I thought. His grandfather, named Ludbic, came here from Norway, to a small town in southern MN. At age 21 he moved to Polk county, and bought a small plot of land and built a small general store (1898) between Fertile and Crookston. He was able to some time after that purchase 3800 acres of land on a spot where the ancient glaciers retreated and left huge gravel deposits. That turned out to be a very good business, and Ludbic founded the town of Melvin, which was a name he chose because he didn't think that Ludbic was a good American name. The town grew for some time and had a hotel, saloon, etc. All those buildings are long gone now. Melvin existed basically from 1898 to 1945 when the general store finally closed. The pictures mentioned above showed only an "office" portion of the general store that is the only thing that remains, plus the old sidewalks and curbing, etc. The old abandoned house is falling apart and ready to be knocked down.
Needless to say, now my metal detectorist's adrenaline is really going. As I respond to various parts of Dave's story, I finally tell him....
"My interest in Melvin is because I am into the hobby of metal detecting. I would love to drive up there and explore around the area". Would that be possible?
The response was: <Scroll Down>
"OH REALLY? MY BROTHER AND I HAVE BEEN DOING THAT SINCE 1975"
"I buy a MD every year. My current one is a Garrett 1500".
(Insert metal detectorist's HUGE loss of adrenaline here).
I couldn't believe it. Dave told me he and his brother had probably been in the area 100 times. Pulled lots of silvers, mercs, etc. out of there.
Dang. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I was glad that they got the area cleaned up, and found all they did. It turned out OK for me, as I got a Melvin, MN merchant token (grandfather Ludbic had them made, and it's uncirculated) and my first Indian Head penny. Dave sent them to me via the mail after we talked. He knew I had never found an IH while detecting.
So many cool people exist in this hobby.
HH,
Dave (laserfocusguy)