88 replies to this topic

[Bill Z]

but... this isn't like it was ancient Egypt. This stuff is only a little over a hundred years old. We have extensive written historical data from the era.
When a lake is dewatered the bottom is usually scraped by bulldozers and the material is usually dumped miles away. Just seems to me that the alarm about taking nails and bottles is just a little overkill. Are you telling me no one has officially dug up around Mormon Island? Why arn't they out there now?
It would be fun to find a couple old coins or something. I hear what you are saying but seems like overkill to me. If my grandson and I went out there with a metal detector and found an old coin - it still doesn't make sense to me that I would have to leave it in the mud.

It's state park property and thems the rules. It is basicaly to keep people that go to parks from picking them clean. Like seashells and rocks at the beach. If they didn't have rules, I could see where someone would begin taking down the stone walls to build a cool looking stonewall in their front yard. If everyone that went to the park took one item home with them, the parks would be picked clean of their natural beauty.

When I was out there this past weekend, I was having to tell my 5 year old son to just look and to not pick up things and move them (or throw them in the lake).

[4thgenFolsomite]

but... this isn't like it was ancient Egypt. This stuff is only a little over a hundred years old. We have extensive written historical data from the era.
When a lake is dewatered the bottom is usually scraped by bulldozers and the material is usually dumped miles away. Just seems to me that the alarm about taking nails and bottles is just a little overkill. Are you telling me no one has officially dug up around Mormon Island? Why arn't they out there now?
It would be fun to find a couple old coins or something. I hear what you are saying but seems like overkill to me. If my grandson and I went out there with a metal detector and found an old coin - it still doesn't make sense to me that I would have to leave it in the mud.

I know, I understand how you feel exactly. It is fun to go looking for old things. But those sites date as early as the gold rush era and the settlement era immediately after. We may know a lot about California history in general, but we don't know that much about Folsom's gold rush era. We know who lived in some of those locations in the 1850s through 1880s, but we don't have that much information about their operations. Data from those digs will prove really wonderful additions to our local history. There are very few, if any, artifacts at the Folsom History Museum that you can take your grandson to see. But, while its fun now to go for a walk at the lake and see what you can find, what about your grandson being able to take HIS grandson to the museum to see some of that early Folsom history.

And no one has done an official dig at the lake. The dam was completed and the lake filled decades before NEPA and CEQA were enacted, so the Army Corps of Engineers just ignored those sites, other than moving the cemetery. And clearly they weren't bulldozed, since those stacked rock foundation are still standing. I know it seems like overkill, but when you take that old coin home, its only fun for the two of you for about a day and then it goes in a drawers somewhere. But that coin, bottle, whatever, and the information it adds to the overall picture is really part of all of our history.

[john]

The area I found is actually nowhere near the downtown area... that area is probably so low it will likely never be seen unless we get no rain this year. There may even be another bridge below the water if 4thgen is correct.

I'm checking out more today to see what else I can find and document.

[MSgt]

Actually I was looking to start up an argument but you guys are just to dang nice. I see your heart --- but if we find an old coin or an old skull with an arrow through it in my back yard then we are keeping it! ...or Kit Carson's pistol... not to mention the buried treasure... and when I find that pot of gold....

[4thgenFolsomite]

Actually I was looking to start up an argument but you guys are just to dang nice. I see your heart --- but if we find an old coin or an old skull with an arrow through it in my back yard then we are keeping it! ...or Kit Carson's pistol... not to mention the buried treasure... and when I find that pot of gold....

by the way, you might want to check into the Passport in Time (PIT) projects the US Forest Service conducts each year. These are great opportunities for volunteers, like yourself, to work on archaeological digs and studies on national forests throughout the US, including California, Nevada, Oregon and even Alaska! www.passportintime.com. You just might want to take your grandson! Now that is an experience you would really get a kick out of!

[BuffaloRon]

I'm wondering who moved the items (glass bottles, nails, tools) and put them on the rock in the original introduction photos? Just curious.

[john]

could be anyone, there were so many people who found it before us... most people are still unaware that it's not a good idea.

[Bill Z]

The area I found is actually nowhere near the downtown area... that area is probably so low it will likely never be seen unless we get no rain this year. There may even be another bridge below the water if 4thgen is correct.

I'm checking out more today to see what else I can find and document.

I was thinking that what I was looking at seemed more like storage and that the actual town would have been closer to the river bed which I could tell was still a ways away. Is the water still going down? I may want to go explore some more this coming weekend if the lake is still dropping.

[Darth Lefty]

I'm checking out more today to see what else I can find and document.

Yes, I was wondering if this was the "winery" a previous poster mentioned, after all.

[john]

I checked at lunch, everything in the area od MI is underwater. Not much I found at all, other than an old plate. That area could be a winery... when/if the water gets lower it will be easier to tell. It's gotta drop quite a bit for M.I. to be visible.

[Bill Z]

I checked at lunch, everything in the area od MI is underwater. Not much I found at all, other than an old plate. That area could be a winery... when/if the water gets lower it will be easier to tell. It's gotta drop quite a bit for M.I. to be visible.

got any maps, or rough sketches to show what is where?

[tessieca]

It's supposed to rain again this weekend. It might be best to go before then.

[john]

got any maps, or rough sketches to show what is where?

I've got a Google Earth mashup I'll be posting in the next few days...

[tessieca]

We went out there today. Lots of people have read about it and are out looking. Below the earthen dam next to Folsom Point you can see the canal that went from Salmon Falls to the Mormon Island area. Mormon Island itself is showing just a little bit now, and you cannot walk out to it. It's north of Folsom Point and has mostly stumps showing right now.

The area where John took the pictures is closer to Brown's Ravine, and most people aren't making the effort to walk out that far. The water level is even lower than when the pictures were taken. We found many walls, some steps, lots of artifacts, rusted pieces of bolts and wires. We think the biggest building structure (in John's picture) may be the winery mentioned by an earlier poster. There are lines in the dirt outside of the structure that may have been grapevines. It's pretty cool.