The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 42, October 21, 2007, Article 10

ARTIFACTS FOUND DURING CONSTRUCTION AT CARSON CITY MINT

Yesterday the Nevada Appeal published a lengthy article
on artifacts recently recorded by archaeologists working
on the grounds of the old Carson City mint building:

"It came as no surprise to anthropologist Gene Hattori
when construction crews working on the Nevada State
Museum project turned up signs of buried artifacts in
the courtyard next to the historic old mint.

"In fact, he anticipated it, making arrangements with
Reyman Brothers Construction of Sparks before they
even started digging.

"Less than a week into the project to connect the old
mint building with the museum annex, Hattori, curator
of anthropology at the museum, and his assistant, Cindy
Southerland, found themselves in a four-foot-deep trench,
carefully outlining the walls of an old pit where
workers at the mint long ago buried some trash.

"The pit was next to where the old steam boiler that
powered the coin presses and other machinery in the
mint once sat.

"'When they shut down at the end of the federal fiscal
year, they'd replace the old boiler tubes, replace the coin
dies and bury the trash,' he said. 'We haven't found any
assay crucibles, what I'm hoping to find is old coin dies.'

"A project seven years ago turned up several old coin dies,
all deliberately damaged by mint officials so they couldn't
be used to make counterfeits. Hattori said those were found
just a few yards from the new dig.

"After five days of careful probing - and with Southerland
running every bit of dirt through a fine screen to make
sure nothing is missed - they found a number of items for
future study, including a piece of a crockery ale bottle
and a glass stopper for a chemical bottle. There were also
fragments of other liquor bottles.

"'And we did find a cast-iron rectangle, we do not know
what it is,' he said.

"In the pit Friday, he pointed to a collection of steel
barrel hoops. The wooden stays had long since rotted away.
On the other side, he pointed to a thick layer of charcoal,
evidence of the fires that powered the steam engine, which
powered the coin presses through a series of leather belts.

"'In fact, there was an article in the Appeal at the time
complaining about the cord wood piled too high on Curry
Street,' he said."

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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