BYWAYS PLUS: DATES! - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

Treasure found by professional TH'er George Mroczkowski at San Sebastian Marsh on the Anza Trail. Some
may date back to 1774 and Juan Bautista de Anza.
surface that it has sunk. Usually this is
all you need to work the coin from the
ground. A few taps from the handle of
the ice pick will quickly cover the small
hole you made. If the coin is a bit deeper,
a sharp knife can cut a cone-shaped plug
in the sod. After removing the coin,
replace the plug.
Nor is the relic hunter immune from
this rule of ethics. In one Arizona ghost
town we were denied permission to
search because those ahead of us had
dug holes that cattle would stumble into
and break their legs. So, when digging in
areas where protection of the sod is not
important, at least fill in your hole after
recovering your find.
Also, before filling in that hole, don't
forget to go over it again with your detector.
You may have removed one item
only to find there were others. Recently
at a local beach I recovered four quarters,
two dimes, and a penny from a
single hole. But I almost walked away
after pulling out the first quarter because
I was talking to a friend and not
really concentrating.
A helpful tool for coin hunting on the
beach or in the desert is a strainer made
of wire mesh large enough to let the sand
through easily, but small enough to
52
catch any coins or rings. Many of the
coin or treasure shops offer commercially-made
versions of these sand
scoops for $10 to $15.
Many valuable finds have been made
under the floorboards of old, abandoned
buildings. Charles Garrett in his book
"Successful Coin Hunting" tells of a
TH'er who found a $50 gold coin worth
several thousand dollars between the
window and window sill of an old house.
People distrusted banks during the
1930s and buried money and valuables in
odd places.
It's best to work with your detector for
a time, get to know it, and decide what
kind of treasure excites you the most.
Then concentrate on that area of
treasure hunting and become an expert.
Your interest someday might take you on
a search as exciting as the adventures of
professional treasure hunter George
Mroczkowski. Pronounced mro-kow-ski,
George is the owner of a treasure shop in
San Diego's historic Old Town, known as
the Gem & Treasure Hunting Association.
George has made headlines many
times since 1962 when he retired from a
20-year Marine Corps career and
became a professional treasure hunter.
He is perhaps best known in San Diego
for his work in recovering artifacts from
Old Town. His finds have helped to fill
blanks in the history of California's
oldest city.
George and his TH'ing friends have
worked at the Mission San Luis Rey in
Oceanside, California, and he has played
an important part in training and assisting
local law enforcement agencies in
using metal detectors to locate evidence.
One of his most important jobs came in
February 1978 when San Diego's worldfamous
Aerospace Museum was destroyed
by fire. Lost in the ashes was a
priceless collection of aviation artifacts
including Lindbergh commemorative
medals and a pen taken to the moon by
U.S. astronauts. These items and hundreds
more were recovered by George
and his search team.
His longest search, however, involves
the historic Anza Trail, that 1,700-mile
route followed by Spanish explorer Juan
Bautista de Anza when he brought the
first overland settlers into California
from Mexico in 1774, and then again in
1776. His 20-year search has been fruitful.
He has dug from the sands many artifacts
thought to be lost by the band of
[Continued on page 57. ]
me Desert Magazine/March 1980