I came away from a visit with Don Bauer this week with some lost hopes rekindled.
Bauer is as much of an outdoorsman as anyone I know. He relishes opportunities to hunt big game, is right at home on the family farm behind the wheel of a tractor or with a bale hook in hand and, when there’s nothing else to do, is just as apt to spend an afternoon wandering along a stream bed.
His recollections about meandering the nearly dried-up Big Creek last summer got my attention.
Big Creek for years was one of my favorite haunts to hunt artifacts discarded by the ancient people who lived hereabouts, especially when much of its bottom was exposed by dry weather.
Dry creek beds come as close to being the holy grail of artifact hunting as there is. That’s where you find the very best pieces, ones that have not been routed from underground and broken by a plow or chisel. They are just as they were fashioned by calloused hands centuries ago.
I have found many nice points on rock bars and eroding from cutbanks along Big Creek in years gone by, and I have hope, with my titanium hip healing nicely, of getting back in the hunt again. It was his mention of ideal conditions, before my surgery and when walking was an ordeal, that set my mind to whirling.
I’ve not found a point for several years, but I still know where and how to look and intend to again.
For years that was a consuming hobby, but I haven’t quit collecting, just turned a corner to another venue. More recently I’ve reverted to my childhood passion of collecting coins.
Then, I was more of an accumulator— still am, really. I have refined my interest to include foreign coins and also have found that currency is an interesting part of the hobby.
Coins from U.S. mints have a historical progression, while currency is much more diverse, particularly in that printed prior to the 1920s with its fascinating artwork.
Foreign coins and currency, from about World War II and back, also have engravings that can occupy me for hours on end.
Wife Beverly mentions often that we need to downsize, divest ourselves of “things” we’ve accumulated so the kids and grandkids won’t be burdened. However, I like to note a few bags of coins and several small boxes of stone tools don’t take up much room.
Bob Johnson
