USA Runabout Success Story

Tales from the "Electromagnetic Prospector"

Reggie Shoeman tells Accurate Locators about his experience using the USA Runabout

As a long time bottle digger and artifact hunter, I am constantly looking for easier and more efficient ways to locate and recover the antique bottles, pottery, coins and other historic or potentially valuable items that were lost or tossed down the "little house out back". In the days before indoor plumbing the Outhouse or Privy as it was often called, was often used for trash disposal as well as it's intended usage.

Our search for that better way to find bottles led to the website of Accurate Locators. My partner James Campiglia of Bozeman, Montana and I purchased a Runabout from Accurate a few months ago.

In the past I have used a spring steel probe rod to shove in the ground and "feel" the difference between undisturbed ground and the filled in outhouses, wells, trash pit or other areas near the homes and business sites of early settlers.

While good items were found, it was often not an easy task to find these holes; many were undoubtedly missed by probing, especially in areas that receive little precipitation. Most of my early digging was done in Nevada and Arizona; hours were spent probing thru desert baked soil underlain with rock. Now, however, Accurate Locators has taken the hunt for glass and other treasures to a new level. My partner James Campiglia and I employ a USA RUNABOUT along with digital maps and GPS technology for a quick and accurate survey of areas that are likely to hold a miners discarded whiskey bottle, the saloon girls perfume vial, or who knows what else.

I presently live near Des Moines in central Iowa. There are millions of acres of farm land across the nation that hide often long forgotten sites of early settlements. Railroads bypassed these towns, the river changed course, these communities then shriveled on the vine and died. There were around 4,000 post offices in the state of Iowa alone. Well over half of these historic sites, I believe, are in a farm field or on a open parcel of land. The potential for recovering great items is boundless.

When looking for the potential sites in an area that have good potential I use the Runabout with the custom built 8 foot antenna which can be mounted on the back of a vehicle. And we have a jerry-rigged garden cart that enables us to walk around in more confined areas.

I generally use what Accurate Locators calls the "Live Mode". The laptop computer gives a 10 color readout, the higher electromagnetic fields present, such as an old cook stove thrown in an outhouse buried several feet deep would probably read as a red anomaly. If you passed over a plastic water line, the display would tend to read a dark blue indicating a lower magnetic field.

The optional 8 foot custom antenna, in my opinion was well worth the additional cost. I can survey an area in a few hours that would take a few days or more without the larger antenna. There is no need to grid out the area you are searching. I push the cart across the yard looking for a variation in the background color on the laptop computer. When I approach the side of a brick lined well, or perhaps a brick lined outhouse I will tend to get a dramatic and sudden change from a lighter background color toward a bright red. The width of the potential dig area can normally be determined by a quick glance at the screen. Most outhouses behind a residence are 4 feet square or so. If the target takes up half the screen then one side of the spot is about 4 feet wide.

Using the live mode I can slowly back away from the anomaly until the color changes to the background color. Using a slow back and forth motion I can normally pinpoint where the side of the possible hole is within an inch or two!

If this potential spot is in the middle of a farm field I mark the GPS position and save it in the Terrain Navigator Pro software (made by Maptech) and drive back to the spot next week or next year. My GPS is accurate to about 7 to 9 feet most of the time, and I can relocate this anomaly in 2 or 3 passes, thanks again to the 8 foot antenna!

There are many uses for Accurate Locator imagers. A Runabout can easily locate tiles used to drain farm fields. These are often difficult to locate with a probe when they need repair. Clay tiles especially are a strong target.

Hanging the large antenna off the back of a vehicle I have personally located several transcontinental pipelines near each other crossing under a highway. I was traveling at least 50 miles per hour! These were probably 10 inches in diameter or so. However, I also found much smaller water lines crossing under roads while traveling at the same speed. Accurate Locators is even better than advertised!

I am currently involved in researching many spots in the Western states. Spring is coming. Hidden tunnels, opium dens, trash dumps, and the old prospector's outhouse are all waiting to be found with your ACCURATE LOCATORS.

Thanks for the great product,

Reg Shoeman
Madrid, Iowa

Please check out our website OUTHOUSEPATROL.COM. We will be adding more pictures of some of our finds, and some of the actual "RUNABOUT" scans of the ground at a number of historic sites around the country. This year, rather than the cornfields of Iowa we are headed to dig the Gold Fields of MONTANA! Not for gold this time, but to dig the dumps, privys, wells, and cellars of the pioneers.