Saturday morning the 13th of October I was standing in the cool morning air outside waiting for the Sun to rise as that was the arranged time everyone was to meet in the drive way. Camp Epic as we call it is an old Alaska Gold Rush Camp that sprang up soon after the founding of Fairbanks in 1902. Arriving at Camp Epic after touching base with the landowner my wife and I decided to check out the privy we were digging next to from the previous weekend and expand outwards as the bottles thinned out during my mid-week dig. Digging in the original hole a few hours only gave up four bottles. That’s when I decided to dig into the side wall of the privy on the other side of the tree. Almost Immediately broken glass started showing up and at 18 inches flat boards. Two foot down is when I started to dig horizontally. After a few hours of digging I picked up my EQUINOX 800 and did a scan in the direction, I was digging listening for iron to determine which way we needed to dig and the EQUINOX started grunting. Laying the detector down I told the wife to keep digging towards me as I heard signals while I’ll dig towards the iron I heard. If there’s iron there has to be bottles. After pulling some bottles and artefacts, I double checked with the EQUINOX, heard that grunt again and stuck my probe in hitting solid heavy iron. Leaving my probe as a marker, I continued digging towards it. Not long after I started hitting iron with my digger and continued clearing around it. Sitting up to take a breather I reached in the hole, took hold of the iron and wiggled it free from the roots and my jaw drops as I’m holding a pistol. From the home next to me the wife is asking what I dug and as I’m loudly saying “I dug a pistol”. You never know what you’ll find in these Alaskan Gold Rush camps. With a little help from Seth’s Carrol a member in my Arctic Diggers Group on Facebook he said he thought it was a Parlor Pistol. With a little research, it sure enough turned out to be just that. A Parlor Pistol from 1903-1916. Thanks Seth. Every dig I learn from my EQUINOX and this day was no exception. I could hear the little chirps and the grunt from 18 inches. What a fantastic machine Minelab, and I’m looking forward to recovering more from the Alaska Territorial years and the Gold Rush camps.
Camacho - USA
