I was told that the folks on the outdoor forum might be able to help me out. My grandfather (class 0f '14) lost his aggie ring in a stock tank in 1914. The tank is about the size of an acre with a mud bottom and very little to no obstuctions. The tank is on private property and the only thing in there, other than a mint condition 1914 aggie ring is maybe a beer can or two. The tank is only about 6-8 deep and visability is about 1". I posted this topic on the general forum and got some great responses, but they told me that someone on the outdoor forum had a similar story. This would be one of the greatest ring finds of all time. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Anyone got a metal detector? A snorkel and one of those is all you need.

There was one a while back about a guy who lost his ring in South Padre (ocean) and found it 4-5 months later. If it's there, it's still there. Wait for a drought, get a metal detector, and go to work.

Good luck.

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If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English, thank a Soldier.

I wonder how many feet of silt now cover that ring?

I hope you didn't lose too many lead fishing weights in there. They'll make for a false positive.

For sure that ring needs to be found. But it will be a real chore because in the past 90+ years I expect the ring is most likely now buried in at least two feet of silt.

If I were you I would run the situation by folks at either the Institute of Nautical Archeology (George Bass) for tips on equipment available that would be useful in detecting the ring ... or maybe folks at the Archeology and Anthropology Department (Vaughn Bryant, Jr.) who have also done some underwater searching.

Just a sidenote, the folks in the Oceanography Department have some neat devices for grabbing good size hunks of mud for topwater investigating that might be easier than snorkling ... I think it is called a Benthic Grab ... might be worth a phone call to one of those folks for advice.

Good luck.

Edit: Particularly with Vaughn Bryant, chances are he has a student (or a group) in the department in serious need for a thesis project. Free labor and resources are a neat possibility.

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 9/5/2007 3:59p).]

a snorkel won't do it. you need to be closer to the bottom. someone will have to dive it.

[This message has been edited by Lazlo Hollyfeld (edited 9/5/2007 3:59p).]

quote:

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I wonder how many feet of silt now cover that ring?

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That was my first thought. I would guess a few feet. That is if nobody happened across it if the lake ever dried up any time in the last 93 years. There is probably all kinds of small metal under the muck from over the years.

By the way I sould love to hear how this shakes down for you.

[This message has been edited by MasterAggie (edited 9/5/2007 4:04p).]

Wow, fossil, great advice. I really appreciate you taking time with that info. I talked with my pop and he seems to think that they may have dredged it some time ago which means the ring could be in the tank dam itself or worse buried much deeper than hope. At any rate, the tank is primarily a watering hole for cattle and nothing else, but it probably made for a good swimming hole back in 1914. I also know that it's never been much of a fishin hole or has been frequented by anybody over those 90+ years.

Best of luck. Here's to hoping it was dredged. That could make for a million more possibilities - like, sitting in the bank deposit box of the now old old man that ran the tractor those many years ago.

If that tank were dredged between 1914 and about 1950, the only equipment available for the task was a Fresno Scraper (sometimes called plow) drawn by a couple of mules. The farmer waited until the tank dried up and scraped out the silt. That was hard work for the tailman on the scraper and the mules so any dredged material would be close by the pond, not necessarily on the dam.

After the 1950s bulldozers and tractors with scrapers became more available and could have scattered the silt over a wider area ... but more likely building up the dam and forming the spillway.

Whatever, I would consider the possibility that the tank had been dredged as good news because metal detecting on dry land is a lot more comfortable than thrashing around in 8 feet of water.

Fossil, I agree with your last post (on dry land) however, I have no idea how far into the earth a metal detector would locate something the size of a quarter. The dredging would have occured within the last 20 years. I have a call into the folks that own the property to get more specifics. I've also just e-mailed Mr. Bryant in the Arch. & Anthro Dept. for his input.

After you have done the research for feasibility with the departments listed above, next you need to gain the approval of the landowner for access and for permission to stir up his water hole.

After you get a plan together and have an idea of the costs, the next call would be to Porter Garner at the Former Students Assn concerning funding for the project. Heck, my donations over the years would be enough to fund the search.

Well, i didnt know that piece of information.

SO you are talking about a ring lost in 1914.

It MIGHT be in the tank

or it MIGHT be dredged and somewhere else?

Tha odds of finding it are diminishing.

Are you friendly with the owner of the property?

If not, you may be spinning your wheels for nothing.

I'd say that gaining permission to search the property is your first step. Some landowners don't like people snooping around.

just left the land owners a message. This tank is just outside our old homestead and the land belongs to distant cousins, so yes, gaining permission should not be an issue. Those folks knew who my granddad was. I want to also mention that he graduated as a civil engineer and was all southern guard for the football that won 1912 Southern Championship. I could post on this all night but as a rookie, I only have one more post before I have to wait 24 hours to post again. Thanks again for all the great responses.

It wouldn't take that long to drain the tank...

We're talking about 2.6 million gallons of water/mud (give or take) at 500 gallons per minute, that's 86 hours of run time. If it's really worth it to you, rent a big ass three phase Godwin pump or similar, and git 'er done in about 9 hours.

Of course, at that flow rate, you've probably already shot the ring into where you're draining the water, or chewed it up in the pump... so the slow single phase route would probably be the way to go.

I'd be interested to help on this project if you get serious... let me know.

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[This message has been edited by aggiestud (edited 4/9/2008 4:56p).]

At this point, you might have to drain it and then go through the mud and silt a shovel full at a time. Build a wire screen with the openings smaller than the ring, dump the mud onto the screen, and wash it out with a water hose.

The owner might like getting his pond deepened.

By the way, if you dumped mud onto the screen as you pump the water out, you could use the water you drain to wash out the mud.

you might want to make some type of grid if you drain the pond using electric fence posts and bailing twine so you can keep straight where you have searched

Lost my ring last January in a stock pond. Went back 2 weeks later with a metal detector and found it after 6 hours of searching. I was using a waterproof one (rented for like $80-100 for the weekend). I believe the guy said it could sense metal up to 6" deep in mud. Who knows how deep it could have sunk in 90 years though. Good luck and let us know what happens.

a good family friend lost his aggie ring (class of '48) in his front yard while mowing grass in the 70's. In the 90's, he was at his new house on the lake diving around and found a man's wallet. The ID in the wallet was for a man that now lived at his old house where he lost his ring. He called the man and said, I found your wallet and I used to live there. They were chatting and the man said he found an Aggie ring in the front yard. my family friend asked for a friendly trade, but the man refused and wanted $1,000 for the lost ring! our friend told him he was crazy and ordered a new one.

the end.
i'm a good story teller.

just got off the phone with the current land owners (distant-distant relatives). They've never had the tank drained, dredged, or cleaned out. It's only been used as a watering hole for cattle for as long as they can remember. She did give me a contact of the previous foreman and said he would probably know, but she still doubted it's been done. She also mentioned that it nearly dried up a couple years ago during that north Texas drought, but it's back up due to the heavy rains this spring and summer. She seemed pretty excited about me trying to find it and said anytime I wanted to try, just let 'em know. I guess it comes down to equipment - what to use and how to use it.

After all the rain this year you definitely picked a fantastic time to begin this endeavor. Best of luck!

With the depth that you are talking about, it would seem that scuba gear and an underwater metal detector are the tools you are looking at. Now, if you have the means to drain the pond/tank, your options open up considerably.

If you have to go the scuba route, I'd make up a few dozen floating markers out of some fishing line, a sizeable weight and something as simple as a cork. Scan the bottom of the entire lake, marking hits with one of the floating markers. Then systematically go to each marker and identify what caused the hit.

Somebody mentioned a grid pattern above, and that's a good idea. It should save you the headache of going around in circles.

Good luck though. Keep us updated with the progress too. This would be a cool story if you end up finding it.

does a creek feed the tank, or does it just catch drainage from different areas? at any rate a couple of floods could have washed the thing downstream anyway.

but with faith, i bet it is still in there and could be found.

one of our neighbors who grad in the 50s lost his ring in a corral. he found it a couple of years ago while they were working cattle after he noticed something shiny along the fenceline. he had already ordered another one, so now he has 2 rings.

If that stock pond is holding water after 90+ years and has not been dredged or cleaned out in recent memory, finding that ring is a doable project. This description indicates the pond is located in open grassland pasture and not downstream from cultivated fields ... and most likely in a west Texas county with rocky soil and 20 inches or less rainfall a year.

Over the years it may have experienced considerable silting but not nearly as bad as near cultivated land (stock ponds downstream from fields can silt up completely within five years ... and I have had to extract cows from tanks like that where only the nose and eyeballs were showing and it would take ten men all day to get them out.)

You need a fairly accurate measurement of the depth of the water. Anything more than about four feet would be too deep to use a standard metal detector. (I doubt you could talk anyone into loaning a magnetometer for a few days.) So some drawdown of the water level might be necessary.

As far as water search procedure, I recommend a 14' flat bottom skiff to be used as a barge with 2 or 3 underwater metal detectors in use covering the same path. Lay the path out by use of the T-posts someone mentioned above with a length of 1/2 inch wire rope connected to the post anchors across the pond as the searching guide and for pulling the barge along by hand. The posts and the connecting wire rope could be repositioned after each drag.

While the water search is in progress, you need other teams on land searching with detectors for 50-75 feet beyond the water edge.

I do not anticipate a need for heavy equipment but if the need arises I can think of several sources who would be willing to donate.

Just whereabouts is this? We could call together a Texags Pickup archaeological dig!

That is a great story! I really want you to find it. All I gotta say is if your going to do it, do it right so you don't get discouraged and give up. Take a weekend off and go to town on that tank. Set up a grid and use whatever equipment necessary to search. Good luck!

I'm down for that Maximus.
I'm acertified diver and always like to help a fellow Ag out. Plus it would make a kick ass story. Let me know if you need a hand man.

So this tank is in North Texas?

Dude, if this is in North TX, I am down for helping. Most of the pumps and stuff that we would be using would be available for rental.

I have the hookup on pump and generator rental if we get serious.

I can't stand this "only 5 posts for rookie status", business - therefore I'm limited. The tank is in Clay County (north Texas) south of Henrietta. Based on the reponses to my original post, I believe I will take on this project and it sounds like I've got some good folks on board to help me. Right now the tank is at its usual level and it might be best to let it dry up a little before we take serious consideration. The owners I talked last night and they might let me drain some of it as they seemed pretty interested in the story as well. A professor in the Nautical Archaeology Dept. said I could borrow his underwater metal detector as well. Please keep the comments coming as I am very interested to what yall have to say. Thanks again

emkat,

Although you only have 5 posts as a rookie, you can edit your existing posts as often as you want. So if you have responses, just keep editing your last post.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Henrietta,+TX,+United+States+of+America&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 9/6/2007 6:28p).]