We like to spend a lot of time in the Chippewa River. Rather than moving along with the current, we scrounge the banks and bottom of the river, hanging onto rocks as we move slowly along.
Wallets, purses, credit cards and drivers licences are common finds. Many of them belong to foreigners of various overseas countries. There's a hotel near by that has a lot of items stolen from guest's rooms.... and they end up in the river (sans money).
But speaking of money, we regularly find coins of all types under the bridge near Tim Horton's. Some of them date back to the early 1900's. Sometimes we spend an hour just scrounging under the bridge.... cell phones, jewellery, fishing gear, bicycles, newspaper boxes, old cars and assorted other junk are also regular finds.
But the best find so far is a George II bronze half penny which was minted between 1723 and 1754. It's not in great shape or very valuable, but it's a great conversation piece. This was sitting perfectly on top of some fine gravel just off the bank of the river (10' ffw). My buddy had an equalization issue so I stopped and waited and there it was. It was several weeks later that I was able to identify it as it was crusted up pretty good.
We also find old clay pipe stems and pieces on just about every dive. They're community pipes which were available at the hotels in the area. When the guests finished smoking them, they obviously just tossed them into the river.
Lots of old china pieces in the area as well.
Old bottles are also a regular find. Some are valuable (but not to me), some are just junk.
Since they reversed the flow of the river back in 19??, every year, another layer of silt is stripped away from the bottom, revealing new treasures from years gone by.
The Mighty Chipp is one of my favourite dives. Anyone that's interested in joining us in a scrounge can drop me and email.
