I found these in the same area as that plow, but couldn't figure a way to get them in my pack. It was a real surprise to be way back in the back country and stumble across four of these sitting in silent testement to mans conquests of the late 1800's, I found an old cemetery down in the valley quite a bit from here and all of the stones dated from the late 1800s to the very early 1900's. So that tells me about the age of this site. This looks to be a small town that was just let go back to Mother Earth and it is slowly melting back into the ground. There is a number of old cabins that are still around, mostly melted down also. I couldn't find any round headed nails any where, they were all hand made square nails....
This is an old charcole oven, there were a few others there also, they were used around the region I guess to produce charcole for the ore melting ovens that were else where, there is even still fire wood hand cut with axe's in some of the ovens ready for fireing..One could come into here and burn camp fires from wood that was cut a hundred years ago.
ELCHSR real cool finds and great pictures. I once found an old grave site that had a tombstone that just read "Unknown Pioneer" This was up in the sierra mtns of Calif up around the Donner Lake area. Makes me think that it could of been one of the Donner party. I spent a a few hrs just sitting there letting the mind go back in time. This was before the GPS and digital cams so it is just a memory know. Been back in the area a few times but never could find it again. Very cool stuff.
I found a tombstone outside of Reedsville Penna, in a fence row had the deceased name on it and birth date. Then it said died between May 30, and September 1, 1857. You would think they coulda narrowed it down a little closer than that.
I don't know. I suppose if I was in the situation they were in or like the group in the Andies, perhaps I would. That is something that I don't even want to think about.
But alot of us are in the back country and some far enough that in certain situations, it may become necessary...
I know after one gets hungry, a lot of things we are squeemish about right now don't seem to matter much when it comes to the choice of living or dying...
When in a survival mode you have to adapt to survive so until put into that situation you really don't know how you would react to the situation I suppose.