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Show Treasure hunters unearth relics from past on Bountiful's Main Street I siSn it ; - I 77 iwSv;; SI ' fyA&AA&M1''' J 1 x !o 3 I5 !l m X) 1 I m By LINDA FRENETTE Editor's lote: Linda Frenette is a free-lance writer and a member of the Bountiful Writers' League. This is the second of a two-part series telling about the hidden treasures from the past found on Bountiful's Main Street during the recent construction. Oeturning every spare minute, treasure hunters found quite a tew coins. With every pass of the grater's blades cutting deeper into the soil, older coins were turning up. The oldest coin was a 1837 Seated Sea-ted Liberty Dime found by George Buckway. That coin must have come over with the pioneers. In fact many of the coins could have crossed the plains with the pioneers. Very few coins minted later than 1920 were found. Most of the dates were in the mid 1800's through the early 1900's. Some of the coins may have been carried by men on their way to the Gold Rush in California. Cali-fornia. Many of them stopped in Bountiful to buy food as they passed pas-sed through. Some of the most valuable coins found were a 1860-0 (Minted in New Orleans) Seated Liberty Dime valued at approximately $150. An 1885 Liberty Head Nickel known as a "V" nickel because of the Roman Numeral 5 on the reverse re-verse was found, worth $140. Another 1886 "V" nickel worth $25 was unearthed. The largest denomination coin found was a 1922 Silver Peace Dollar Dol-lar dug in front of the Wight House clothing store. Until about 1944 homes lined this part of Main Street. Even in the mid-1900's a silver dollar would be a major loss. The bank was just south of this area. Was the dollar dropped as someone went to deposit it? Or was there ever a bank robbery and it was dropped by a fleeing robber? The most talked about coin was a $5 gold piece that nobody actually saw. Nobody knows who found it, or if it was definitely found. But like the "one that got away" it makes a good story. Another unusual find was a half-dozen half-dozen Shield Nickels (1866-1883). If only coins could tell their own stories, what history we could learn from them. Here is a list of the best coins found by the five treasure hunters s mentioned in the article. There are others who found coins that we could not contact. The coins found range between the dates listed below. 1 Flying Eagle Penny 1858 28 Indian Head Pennies 1861-1909 6 Shield Nickels 1868-1883 15 Liberty Head "V" Nickels 1885-1912 5 Buffalo Nickels 1913-1938 10 Seated Liberty Dimesl837-1891 14 Barber Dimes 1892-1916 10 Mercury Dimes 1920-1936 6 Silver Roosevelt Dimes 1946-1 964 2 Seated Liberty Quarters :... 1877-1888 1 Barber Quarter 1909 2 Walking Liberty Half Dollars 1926-1942 1 Peace Dollar 1922 Other relics included Utah Tax Tokens, usedin the early 1900's to pay sales tax. Today a sales token is still legal tender, although you may get a strange look from the sales clerk if you try to use one. Trade Tokens, given in change, were to be used in place of money. Many stores in the early 1900's used these tokens which read "Good for five cents in trade" and Coins, ammunition, locks and tokens were just a few of the hidden treasures from the past found on Main Street by local adventurers Jim Corn, Bryan Anderson, Robert Ruflin, Brian Frenette and George Buckway. other varying amounts. This not only ensured return business, but helped with the scarcity of money. A Utah Light and Transit Token, good for a child's fare age 5-13, was found in front of Bountiful Lumber, Lum-ber, founded in 1892. An old railroad rail-road spike was dug up. It could have been from the electric railroad rail-road that ran through Bountiful in the early 1900's. Silver spoons were found. How could anyone lose a spoon? Maybe a young child used it for a shovel as he dug in the street. When mother called him in for lunch he dropped it by the roadside and hurried in, and it was not found for almost a hundred years. Some musket balls were found, along with some Indian war vintage bullets. In January of 1852 four residents re-sidents of Bountiful and 15 Indians were killed in a skirmish. This inci dent was partially responsible for the starting of the Bountiful Fort in 1854. Military buttons, horseshoes and locks rounded out the collection. collec-tion. Brian Frenette concludes, "Linking with the past is one of the pleasures that comes from treasure hunting. And the excitement that you never know what is under the next stretch ahead." |
