Jan/Feb 2017 - DISCOVER 1

Discover Magazine is a publication featuring customer finds and helpful hints.If you’d like to share your own finds please visit https://www.whiteselectronics.com/finds/

Jan-Feb 2017

DISCOVERPublished By

WORLD WAR II RELIC“Home At Last”

Most treasure hunters jump at a chance to metal detect vacant city lots, especially when it’s on city property, and especially when the city has cleaned the top soil off to put in a paved parking lot.

I drove by one Sunday in May, while the dirt was being removed and the grader was still on the lot. I stopped and got my metal detector out of the back seat and started hunting. In a few minutes I received a signal for a dime, and dug up a 1917 mercury dime. A few steps further I dug up a 1919 mercury, now I was having fun. I also found other old coins, toys, old bottles...

But my best find was when I got a signal for a quarter, only it wasn’t a quarter - it was a bracelet with a U.S. Army insignia on the front. On the back it had a name and date, 12-29-1930. I knew if it was possible I would try to find the person it belonged to and return it. The name wasn’t in the local phone book so I went to the internet, and sure enough I had found the old soldier with a birth date of 1929-1930, along with a phone number. He was still alive and lived in a small town in Oklahoma.

The first attempt to call was no answer, so I tried again on a Sunday afternoon, and his wife answered. I explained who I was and that I had found a bracelet that belonged to her husband. She told me that he did live in Blanchard, OK., back in the 50’s after returning from a tour in the Korean war, and before he spent two tours in Vietnam. She told me that he also was stationed over-seas in Germany, France and also stateside before retiring in 1974 as Chief Warrant officer 02, with nearly 23 years of service.

Now at 84, in failing health, Mr. Lushbough sat up in his easy chair as I presented to him his lost bracelet along with an Army button from a uniform that I had found nearby the location of the bracelet, and my own thanks for his service to our country.

by Brad Patterson

Jan/Feb 2017 - DISCOVER2

EDITOR IN CHIEF - Melissa WiseEDITOR - Tom BoykinGUEST WRITERS - Listed on articlesFind the hidden clue in this issue and submit your answer for a prize (details on pg10).

EDITORIAL STAFF

Santa Claus paid his yearly visit to the White’s Electronic’s factory on December 24th, only to find the factory empty. Not a creature was stirring... even the mice had left to visit family in Newport for the holidays.

“Usually they leave a pinpointer or extra coil out for me at the factory, but this year they must have forgotten,” the usually-jolly man said, looking off into the distance. “They will learn... They have been very naughty this year.”

According to local sources, Santa left White’s Electronics a mountain of pull-tabs that covered the entire production line on Christmas Eve. The collection of metal is expected to take several days to clean up.

“They’re... everywhere...” said Carlene Erickson, head of production. “I don’t know where to start. I understand coal, but pull tabs? Who does that?”

With workers returning to the factory after the holidays, the rush is on to clean up the mess left behind by Ole Saint Nick. Management has contacted several recycling facilities but none seem able to handle such a large volume of scrap metal.

“If only we’d left out a TRX or DigMaster...” Customer Service Rep. Mary Hudson said.

White’s plans to leave out a fully-loaded V3i next Christmas with a full compliment of accessories. Sorry Santa!

MX SPORTpro-tips

1 EASY ON THE GAS The MX Sport has an incredible

amount of power available. But you don’t have to go “full throttle” all the time. A SENS setting of 6 or 7 is all you need in most spots. In heavy iron a lower setting of 4 or 5 will keep chatter down without sacrificing much depth.

2 PICK A PROGRAM Coin and Jewelry is a great starting place for “turn on and go” detectorists. All-metal mode gets you maximum depth with VCO audio, VDI numbers and selectable Iron Grunt. Relic mode combines the VCO of all-metal with the Tone ID of Coin and Jewelry.

3 STAYING GROUNDED In areas where your MX Sport falses, try locking the tracking button to keep the ground setting in place. Another option is to use SAT (self-adjusting threshold) to smooth out the detector’s response.

4 TRASH OR TREASURE? Sometimes it’s tough to tell if

something is worth digging or not. Solid VDI readings that only vary a few points (say 80-85 for a US Quarter) are worth investigating. If you still aren’t sure, try sweeping the coil from different angles, and even lifting it a few inches to see if the VDI holds true. If it does, DIG IT!

“They’re... everywhere.Who does that?”

SANTA VISITS WHITE’SLEAVES PULLTABS!

PULL-TAB FACTS:The first pull-tab was invented in 1962 by an engineer who couldn’t find a bottle opener for his beer.

The ring-style tab was introduced in 1965, an im-provement to the original “zip-top” tabs.

In 1975 the “StaTab” was introduced as a result of people swallowing ring-style tabs.

Once an artifact (i.e. a pull-tab) becomes 50 years old, it makes a site eligibile to become an archaeological site.

The Ronald McDonald foundation collects pull-tabs

Jan/Feb 2017 - DISCOVER 3

Nearly 40 years ago, as a teenager, Andy Willoughby received his first metal detector … and that began a lifelong obsession with finding treasures. Growing up on the sacred land that is the Battle of Franklin, in Tennessee, what has been termed the “five bloodiest hours of the Civil War,” or the war of Northern Aggression, as he likes to say, metal detecting was a natural extension of Willoughby’s love of history.

He fondly recalls - and still has - his first White’s metal detector – a 4900/D Pro. It hangs proudly on the wall now and is retired with

great memories.

Almost ten years ago he began offering for sale the White’s Electronics line of metal detectors and accessories at the family hardware store. His experience with White’s led to that decision, but the fact that they have been and still are made in America makes them a great draw for the customers.

When the MX Sports were received, he bought one immediately and took it home to scan the yard. Having previously detected the land with other White’s detectors he was unsure what, if anything, he would find.....

After only a few minutes, he was excited to show his wife that he had found a chewed hospital bullet on the property. The bullet was at least 150 years old and showed teeth marks from a soldier, who undoubtedly had bitten down to avoid the pain of a Civil War-related wound.

“It still fascinates me that you can scan across the ground and this machine will find something that has been buried for years, in some cases more than 150 years.” It is this passion that has fueled his appetite for detecting. His collection of Civil War relics and artillery is among the largest in the area.

Over time he has shared the thrill of the hunt with many of his friends, and even his wife. At a moment’s notice anyone in his circle of friends, with detector safely tucked into a car trunk or the back seat of a pickup, is ready to hunt a spot in the area where permission has just been received.

“With the popularity of metal detecting, the key these days is to ask permission first,” said Willoughby, who typically carries written permission when detecting on other people’s property.

“Our city, like so many others in this country, has experienced rapid growth in housing and commercial building. I have friends who are builders who have given me permission to hunt on property before the building begins. In this area, you never know what you will find.”

People often ask what his greatest finds have been, he responds, “Buttons that still have the original gold-gild on them and bullets that have been carved by soldiers. The anticipation of finding something that has been in the ground for hundreds of years or even more is what keeps me going. It doesn’t have to be a valuable piece, it is just that feeling that I am the first one to find and touch something that someone left behind oh so long ago.”

His passion for metal detecting is so well known that the local police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have enlisted his help in finding items related to open cases.

When talking with people about metal detecting Willoughby encourages those new to metal detecting to start with an entry level machine and work their way up. “If you get into this hobby and get frustrated you aren’t going to stick with it,” he said. “And for a great introductory price, you can have all you need right at your fingertips.”

Willoughby’s collection of White’s metal detectors is so comprehensive, his wife called White’s Electronics in Sweet Home, Ore. and ordered a floor display for all his metal detectors at home.

Written by Donna O’Neill

“It still fascinates me that you can scan across the ground and this machine will find something that has been buried for 150 years.”

White’s Electronics is proud to have dealers like Andy on the team. Find your local dealer at whiteselectronics.com

DEALER SPOTLIGHT ANDY WILLOUGHBY

Handy Hardware --- Franklin, TN

Jan/Feb 2017 - DISCOVER4

RELIC HUNTER PROSPECTOR COIN HUNTER BEACH HUNTER

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Find a Local Dealer | 1-800-547-6911 | www.WhitesElectronics.com

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What year was the first Morgan Silver dollar minted?

Jan/Feb 2017 - DISCOVER 5

If you ask any metal detectorist what is one thing on your bucket list that you’d love to dig, chances are you’d hear “A George Washington button.”

It was always on my list after seeing some fellow detectorists post them on the internet forums. I was always hunting parks, schools & older standing homes and noticed most of these were dug at colonial sites. I got in touch with one of the local guys who hunts these colonial era cellar holes and decided to invite him down where I knew of a couple stone foundations from the 1700’s in my home town.

What a big difference it was hunting in the woods where these long forgotten home sites sit. Often these sites are overgrown or barely noticeable. Looking

at these foundations it’s hard to imagine this was someone’s home in the 1700’s. My first hunt at one of these foundations yielded some flat buttons and a 1807 draped bust large cent. I was hooked on hunting these types of sites at that very moment.

A couple years went by and I was still hoping for a GW button. I was digging many large colonial dandy buttons which are about the size of a US half dollar. Every time you see one in the hole you are mumbling to yourself “please please be a GW”! Finally after a couple years that day came. It was a hunted site as iron relics piled up on the foundation confirmed we were not the 1st ones to detect this site. Not many targets around the cellar itself...

I decided to swing along the old dirt driveway going up alongside cellar hole and my very first reading was a high 60’s to low 70’s VDI. It pinpointed at 2 inches. I knelt down dug the hole flipped the plug over and thought oh cool a cloaker or dandy button! But when I turned the button over in my hand and saw the oval in center and knew right away what I was holding!

I yelled “Hey I got a G.W.!” my detecting buddy at the time was like “Yeah ok....” like I was pullin’ his leg! I never trembled holding any of my finds and I can honestly say this one had me shaking.

So far in my detecting career I have found 12 1789 George Washington buttons. To be able to save this kind of American colonial history makes all the grueling hikes, bee stings, mosquitos, and ticks well worth it in the end.

Thanks to White’s Metal Detectors for making dreams come true, and thanks to my hunting partner Todd Hiltz - he’s found his own share of GW buttons and it never gets old!

Dave’s 12 GW Buttons - found with White’s

1st GW Ever!

2nd and 3rd found within 2 years

Cellar hole in the winter

Latest GW with the MX Sport

BUCKET LISTERS!GEORGE WASHINGTON INAUGURAL BUTTONSBy Dave Wise

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Let’s face it, what we do is pretty cool. We grab our gear and get out there and spend hours looking for treasures, be it a modern gold ring or a Colonial coin. We are kind of like Indiana Jones: passionate, thirsty for knowledge, and always looking for the next adventure.

What makes us even cooler than Indiana Jones, is the stuff we find. From the beach hunter’s jewelry to the relic searcher’s period shoe buckle, the finds are what drive us out there, over and over again. These discoveries come to define us, become part of us, embedded in our memories. And what better way to preserve them than taking a picture or video?

I’d like to share a couple of tips with you that might help you create this special photograph or video that will forever be part of your life journey’s diary.

Most importantly, have fun!! Taking pictures (or video) is like having another treasure hunt within the treasure hunt! Experiment with different styles and angles, play with colors or focus, get creative. Many many years from now you will look back through these pictures, smile, and say to yourself: Yes, I was Indiana Jones.

Written by Dominique Ivy DaSilva

When filming your hunts, don’t just show what you dug up. Even though the finds should be the main focus, establish the scene you are in. Share the beautiful field or private home site with your viewers, show an interesting flower or wildlife along the way, and include footage of you walking or digging. All this will add up to your own personal story, like a visual diary entry.

Pictures are just as great at telling your story. I use my iPhone 7 Plus (in a waterproof and dustproof case) to take pictures in the field. After snapping the photo, I use apps like Aviary that allow me to play with the colors and hues as well as put a selective focus on my object. Another way of preserving memories of your hunts is to make a collage featuring your site, your friends, yourself, finds, or whatever else you choose (it’s your story after all!). I use the app Union, for example, to allow me to feature several moments in one.

P I C T U R E P E R F E C T

TIP

1

TIP

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You can follow Dominique and her hunting partner Mark on YouTube and Instagram:

YouTube --- missoctane1

Instagram --- @SilverSlingers

Jan/Feb 2017 - DISCOVER 7

GET YOUR 2017 CALENDAR

ONLY $5!Order Yours Here

DJ YOST Tokens found with MXT and MX Sport

DIGGER BOB “Butte Nugget” - TDI SL

PATRICK MCCLOUDClass ring found with a TreasurePro

You are detecting and get a good signal. You dig out some dirt and recheck the hole and it’s gone. Now you check the dug out pile and still no signal. You assume that it was a false signal so you fill the hole back in and move on. When you dig out the dirt, it will sometime create a void and the signal will disappear. If you had dug a few more inches you would have found your target. I have found many good targets that someone else dug as the roots have already been cut. Good target responses don’t normally just disappear!---Bob Buttafuso---

DISCOVER TIP OF THE MONTH

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Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as Mormon pioneers, first came to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847 and almost immediately began to disperse as per the directions of the leadership of the LDS Church. Members of the Church were directed to relocate and settle in several directions to satellite the Salt Lake Valley, also north as far as Idaho and Wyoming, south to Las Vegas, Nevada and west as far as the California coast, in order to claim new territories, ports and resources before other settlers who were following or opposing the saints could claim them.

Saints were commanded to make settlements nearly every 3 - 30 miles apart depending on how far people could travel in a wagon train in any one day over the given terrain while walking or driving a team of animals. They did this to ensure future travelers would have safety from the elements and from the threat of attack by the natives in the area as they rested, re-supplied and could get repairs. This plan served those purposes as well as for the speedy transportation of mail, goods and for the strategic benefit of the militia in quickly defending against threats. Forts were often built or were recommended to be built in many of these settlements for the benefit of settler, traveler and militia for the same purposes as were foretold. A few of these forts still exists today varying in construction and quality from piled mud over cedar post frames like, Fort Desert south of Deseret Utah, and the beautiful and well-crafted stone masonry walls of Cove Fort, in the same named Utah town of Cove Fort.

Artifacts in these types of settlements are vast but sometimes not as rich as in the east as they had a strict philosophy of use re-use or go without they closely adhered to, as this was a new settlement or reconstruction era. Importing goods transferred wealth was expensive, difficult lengthy and sometimes impossible.

Industry and craft sprang forth as if they had settled a new planet. The LDS were determined to do it on their

own, again for several reasons, one of which being the church itself was heavily burdened with debt, just as a new country would be. They did however eventually get out of debt with the aid of the Saints and a special mine or two “gifted” to the Saints by the Indians.

Their recovery was enough so that they made an earnest attempt at their own money, some of gold coins as well as paper currency, even attempted a new alphabet. Cities and towns flourished in their spheres of economic existence usually based in some sort of a part of the new economy, all vital and interconnected to each other in an empire sort of way. Much like the symbolic bees and the beehive, that Utah has been known for and that also still adorns the state flag.

MORMON SETTLEMENTSDISCOVERING UTAH’S HISTORYBy Skyler Duckworth

Jan/Feb 2017 - DISCOVER 9

The Saints sought statehood eventually as per inspiration from their scripture, to be good subjects and particularly shelter from the looming threat of war and continued persecution from their neighbors. With the issuance of “The Manifesto”, which controversially “ended” polygamy, a new governor as assigned by the President of the United States and of course a military installation near but not in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah became a state.

Since then, Utah has been an industrial, mining and energy Mecca, a military stronghold, internment and prison camp, military and rocket testing ground, harvested for oil and gas and a melting pot for all those who would come to work in these trades and those that support them, as well as refuge from oppression of the east, big city life and northern bankers. Pres. Lincoln noted and was quoted as calling Utah the nations “treasure chest” for reasons not unknown to many a prospector including the Spanish and obviously more so today, the largest open pit mine on earth, the Kennecott Utah copper mine. Also a large producer of gold and other minerals.

Utah has seen many changes and amazing growth in modern times, but much remains of those places that may be gone. There are local resources and people that still remember them.

Utah remains a great place to detect, treasure hunt, prospect and explore. In many a ghost town and in the edges of Utah’s rural towns, there still exists the trash dumps or piles of yesteryear that many folks have made

good bottle finds as well as other discarded household goods and unrepairable personal wear all found on or near the surface. Utah has many existing residences from the settlers’ time as well as public places to detect and prospect.

It’s one of places the West grew out of, and a place I am proud to call home.

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Customer Finds

Mark Lewis --- DFX Andy Phillips --- Prizm Bill Cummings --- XLT

Brandon Smallwood --- MXT Christina Earle --- MX5 Derick Hudgins --- Eagle Spec.

Annelyse --- MX Sport Gene Branton --- MX Sport Joel Zane --- TreasurePro

John Hughes --- MX Sport Ken Cole --- DFX Kirk Russel --- MX Sport

Lance Griffin --- V3i Dennis Newberry --- V3i Mark Vosmik --- MX Sport

Tom Warn --- V3i Will Lane --- MXT

©2017 White’s ElectronicsKnow the answer to our hidden clue?The first 100 correct submissions win a free prize! Mail your answer to:

Discover Magazine c/o White’s Electronics 1011 Pleasant Valley Rd Sweet Home, OR 97386