History is found in the Dirt

PALMER — The club started with four guys at a card table in 2011. Now the Mat-Su Dirtfishers Association has over 170 members, including some international members. All of the club members look for things in the dirt.

Thursday night, at the Moose Lodge in Palmer, over 30 members of the Palmer Historical Society listened to Doug Cruthers, President of the Mat-Su Dirtfishers Association, explain the ins and outs of metal detecting. This was especially interesting to the Historical society because many of the Dirtfishers’ finds are clues to the history of the Valley.

Cruthers explained that his club is made up of amateur archeologists who love and appreciate history in the same manner as the Historical Society.

With a large grin, he added, “We just like getting dirty about it.”

He says metal detecting is an increasingly popular activity and highly addictive. Members have a passion for history and a curiosity to discover whatever is “in the ground.”

Cruthers emphasized that club members have a strong sense of ethics and always ask for access permission. Trespass is not part of their game.

The lure is the unknown. He showed slides and held up objects that were found in this area of Alaska, including old nails, coins, keys, and childrens’ tin toys.

“Our finds tell us a story of the site. We can tell if there was wealth or poverty. We can figure out who lived there....boy children or girl children. Were there dogs? Were there horses? What type of work happened on the site? Where were the original structures?”

The toys or tools found buried help reconstruct the history. Supplementing the finds with additional research of tax records or land status documents help the mystery unfold.

“That’s the real treasure,” says Doug.

He had stories about discovering old military POW camps, forts, structures, important keys, WWll German buttons, and sentimental lost rings and bracelets. An important find was a 10 oz bar of silver found in a chicken

coop. Once in downtown Palmer, he found an old and special baby silver spoon of a young man who died early. He finally found the family and returned the spoon to them.

The Palmer Historical Society crowded around the treasures after the meeting and enjoyed homemade rubarb cake. They meet on History Night on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at the Palmer Moose Lodge.

The Dirtfishers have a large metal detecting hunt set up for Saturday, June 24, 2017 at Horse Heaven Farm on Palmer Fishhook Road.

The Frontiersman newspaper sponsors the Dirtfisher’s Association by keeping a jar full of Canadian coins in the Publishers’ office. The contents are traditionally offered to the group to salt the annual hunt.