There are few greater thrills than finding hidden treasure, or something that hasn't been found for many years. Can you still find treasure today ? Of course, if you do your research and have a good metal detector .Metal detectors use electromagnetic induction to detect metal .

   Famous Lost treasure Sites

The Lost Dutchman Gold Mine

A very rich gold mine hidden in the Superstition Mountains, near Apache Junction, Arizona, east of Phoenix, Arizona in the United States.The mine is named after German immigrant Jacob Waltz ("Dutchman" was a common, though inaccurate, American slang term for "German ."about 180 kilometers north-west of the Superstition Mountains . A "Dutchman" was allegedly discovered dead in the desert near Wickenburg in the 1870s alongside saddlebags filled with gold.members of the Apache tribe are said to have a very rich gold mine located in the Superstition mountains

Oak Island

Oak Island is a 140 acre (57 ha) island in Lunenberg County on the south shore of Nova Scotia, Canada.Oak Island is noted as the location of the so-called Money Pit, a site of numerous excavations to recover treasure believed by many to be buried there.

Jean Lafitte Treasure

Deep in the southwest corner of Louisiana lies a region once famed in American history as the "Neutral Strip." This forty-mile-wide stretch of wilderness and marsh land, principally in present-day Calcasieu and Cameron parishes, become a geographic entity in 1806 when the boundary between Spanish Texas and the United States was in dispute. In that year Spanish General Simon Herrerra and the American General James Wilkinson of Louisiana concluded the "Neutral Ground Agreement," whereby the Strip was left unoccupied by troops and law enforcement officials of either nation, and the agreement remained in effect until 1821.

Although a few legitimate land hunters settled there, the Strip soon became notorious for harboring the lawless elements and social outcasts of two nations, that ilk of humanity to whom piracy appealed and who became indispensable to the slave-trading and buccaneering activities of Jean Lafitte. It was also destined to retain its share of Lafitte legendary and folklore for most of a century.

Using Metal detectors

Many people use consumer metal detectors to look for coins on the beach. Most metal detectors are good to detect metal only within a foot or so below the ground. The detection depth depends on the type of metal detector, type of metal in the buried object, size of buried object, type of metals in the ground, and other objects in the ground.

There are five major types of hobbyist activities involving metal detectors:

    * Coin shooting is looking for coins after an event involving many people, like a baseball game, or simply looking for any old coins. Serious coin shooters will spend hours, days and months doing historical research to locate long lost sites that have the potential to give up historical and collectible coins.

    * Prospecting is looking for valuable metal like gold and silver.

    * Relic hunting is very similar to coin shooting except that the relic hunter is after any type of historical artifact, relic hunters are usually very determined and dedicated not only to the research and hunting that they do but also to preserving historical artifacts. Coins, Minié balls, buttons, axe heads, and buckles are just a few of the items that are commonly found by relic hunters.

    * Treasure hunting is looking for valuable items in general.

    * Beach combing is hunting for lost coins or jewelery lost on a beach. Beach hunting can be as simple or as complicated as one wishes to make it. Many dedicated beach hunters also familiarize themselves with tide movements and beach erosion.

 Start your relic hunting in your local woods. Now that it's Spring surely you have noticed areas that would seem promising. You might be spotting old stone walls or foundations as you drive by them. Make a note of these spots so you don't forget. When you get a chance to go back to these old foundations, look for deep impressions in the ground that may have been dug for a bottle dump or cellar hole.

If you find a path in the woods, your best bet would be to check it, because most paths are not new, and have been walked on for centuries. Most paths were eventually made into roads . Searching near the road may be a good idea, because people walked along the road years ago. Keep a lookout for overgrown paths, and old wagon roads. These usually have stones imbedded in them so that the wagons wouldn't sink in the mud.

Riverbank hunting

We seem to have the best luck at this type of detecting. Waterways were the first form of traveling, so be sure to check around old marinas, and especially old ferry launches. The old timers in your area may be of some help giving you locations of their old fishing spots. Old swimming holes are good, because when it's really hot people shed the clothes, and jump right in .

A man in New York asked us to find a gold cross and chain that fell out of his pocket as he was undressing near such a swimming hole in the 1930's.

If you see pieces of broken pottery or glassware you can almost bet it's a good spot. Remember the colonists had to wash their clothes in the rivers, and creeks. We have found losts of old buttons. Check around old bridges and train stops, you may be lucky and find an old token.