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300 Dead Indians Exhumed
Posted by NASA-Tom
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Re: 300 Dead Indians Exhumed July 23, 2015 05:51AM |
A story about Indian Head pennys... bear with me
Trans-Mississipi Exposition Omaha, NE 1898: The lagoon
The lagoon in 1908 (In Kountze Park)
The lagoon modern day (In Kountze Park)
(Picture 1) In 1898 the Trans-Mississippi Exposition was held in Omaha, Nebraska covering 184 acres. 2.6 million people attended. Buffalo Bill Cody even had a wild west show there. It lasted about 5 months... then they tore everything down. All those beautiful buildings were made of plaster! Here is the lagoon in the center of the exposition.
(Picture 2) After the exposition and everything was torn down. Omaha designated 2 square blocks that were in the middle of the exposition to become Kountze Park. Here is the lagoon in Kountze park in 1908.
(Picture 3) Kountze Park modern day. Old lagoon, all dried up in the middle. When I was a kid they used to flood it and people would ice skate on it. The park was always heavily used. My dad told me in the old days before air conditioning scores of folks SLEPT in the park to beat the heat. I am 67 years old. My family was the caretakers of the park and we lived in the building at the bottom right hand corner of the picture. We lived there from 1953 to 1964 and moved because the neighborhood was getting rough and had become maybe 80% black. On the other side of street (not shown) is an ancient baseball field and basketball courts.
In 1971 I got my 1st metal detector. I headed straight for the park and I knew it's history. For one thing it USED to have a huge playground with swings/slides/teeter totters/etc marked by the blue X. I knew If anyone else had a metal detector (but I never saw anyone else with one) they would head for the modern playground. But I knew where the old playground was. Well I headed for the old playground spot. It was astounding metal detecting! Silver halves an inch deep... and lots of late 1800s and early 1900s coins. I went there every chance I got. Both blocks of the park had tons of coins. 3 cent pieces/shield and V nickels/seateds/barbers/etc... it had it all.
Oh... and Indian heads. After going there for a few years I started to notice a pattern. There were lots of Indian Heads in the lagoon. I think during the exposition people threw pennys in the lagoon for good luck, and lots of them. So I concentrated on the old lagoon for a few years, looking for Injuns. One day, if I recall, I got 108 of them. I'm not exaggerating over the years well over 1000 of em, maybe 2000. In the 1980s I often took friends who had detectors with me and they got their share, also. The rest of the park continued to give up old coins but the junk (stupid pop tops and screw caps) was getting bad. And the neighborhood by then was nearly 100% black. Every day you could (and still do) hear gunshots. Rough place, not for the faint of heart! The park still has a lot to be found. The junk is bad. And at 67 I am starting to lose my nerve. My wife will not let me go there alone. I have been there with my son who is 32 and has a detector but it has been a couple years. It was a great testing ground for a long list of detectors I have owned. The story of a VERY special half dollar I looked for, and found, there. My best find ever! From a 2013 post here: [www.dankowskidetectors.com]
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2015 04:59PM by Lipservice.
Trans-Mississipi Exposition Omaha, NE 1898: The lagoon
The lagoon in 1908 (In Kountze Park)
The lagoon modern day (In Kountze Park)
(Picture 1) In 1898 the Trans-Mississippi Exposition was held in Omaha, Nebraska covering 184 acres. 2.6 million people attended. Buffalo Bill Cody even had a wild west show there. It lasted about 5 months... then they tore everything down. All those beautiful buildings were made of plaster! Here is the lagoon in the center of the exposition.
(Picture 2) After the exposition and everything was torn down. Omaha designated 2 square blocks that were in the middle of the exposition to become Kountze Park. Here is the lagoon in Kountze park in 1908.
(Picture 3) Kountze Park modern day. Old lagoon, all dried up in the middle. When I was a kid they used to flood it and people would ice skate on it. The park was always heavily used. My dad told me in the old days before air conditioning scores of folks SLEPT in the park to beat the heat. I am 67 years old. My family was the caretakers of the park and we lived in the building at the bottom right hand corner of the picture. We lived there from 1953 to 1964 and moved because the neighborhood was getting rough and had become maybe 80% black. On the other side of street (not shown) is an ancient baseball field and basketball courts.
In 1971 I got my 1st metal detector. I headed straight for the park and I knew it's history. For one thing it USED to have a huge playground with swings/slides/teeter totters/etc marked by the blue X. I knew If anyone else had a metal detector (but I never saw anyone else with one) they would head for the modern playground. But I knew where the old playground was. Well I headed for the old playground spot. It was astounding metal detecting! Silver halves an inch deep... and lots of late 1800s and early 1900s coins. I went there every chance I got. Both blocks of the park had tons of coins. 3 cent pieces/shield and V nickels/seateds/barbers/etc... it had it all.
Oh... and Indian heads. After going there for a few years I started to notice a pattern. There were lots of Indian Heads in the lagoon. I think during the exposition people threw pennys in the lagoon for good luck, and lots of them. So I concentrated on the old lagoon for a few years, looking for Injuns. One day, if I recall, I got 108 of them. I'm not exaggerating over the years well over 1000 of em, maybe 2000. In the 1980s I often took friends who had detectors with me and they got their share, also. The rest of the park continued to give up old coins but the junk (stupid pop tops and screw caps) was getting bad. And the neighborhood by then was nearly 100% black. Every day you could (and still do) hear gunshots. Rough place, not for the faint of heart! The park still has a lot to be found. The junk is bad. And at 67 I am starting to lose my nerve. My wife will not let me go there alone. I have been there with my son who is 32 and has a detector but it has been a couple years. It was a great testing ground for a long list of detectors I have owned. The story of a VERY special half dollar I looked for, and found, there. My best find ever! From a 2013 post here: [www.dankowskidetectors.com]
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2015 04:59PM by Lipservice.
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Re: 300 Dead Indians Exhumed July 23, 2015 10:45AM |
Trans-Mississipi Exposition folks getting ready to throw their pennys in the lagoon! 
And the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show
ozzie Omaha DID great after the exposition! They were in trouble, financially before it. Short video about the exposition... very interesting [www.youtube.com]
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2015 05:11PM by Lipservice.
And the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show
ozzie Omaha DID great after the exposition! They were in trouble, financially before it. Short video about the exposition... very interesting [www.youtube.com]
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2015 05:11PM by Lipservice.
