Gilmore, Idaho Detecting Trip

It’s now December, 2004 and the ground outside is frozen. A lot of us enjoy finding tokens with a metal detector, but the weather makes it pretty much impossible for a few more months here in Idaho. So, here’s a tale of my first detecting trip of the year to Gilmore, Idaho this past spring.

G-Man, Dale Austin and I met at the Sage Junction weigh station at 8:00 A.M. Sage Junction is about 20 miles west of Rexburg and about 20 miles north of Idaho Falls and is a good meeting point for trips to Gilmore. Dale and Greg both loaded their equipment and themselves into my faithful truck and off we went. The old Gilmore town site is about an hours drive so as usual we had time to B.S. about finding a Blazing Rag Saloon token or any of the other rare Gilmore tokens.

Gilmore is a fun place to detect because of all the open space and solitude. The ground is not to hard to dig and most of the finds are pretty well preserved. Most of the tokens from there are rare and even coins are often hard to find. I have to admit that Gilmore has skunked me more than once, but not this day.

We arrived at Gilmore and drove up into what used to be the main street area not far from the old Gilmore Merc. building, which still stands. We were all soon heading out in different directions with our arms swinging and our hopes high. I headed east down the hill. Greg stayed in the area up above the main road and Dale headed southeast down the hill towards the area where he had found a Gilmore /Pool Hall token last fall.

Time flew by with an occasional uneventful find. The first "keeper" item I found was an aluminum comb with advertising on it from "R.R. Dodge & Co. Caldwell, Idaho." I have since found the "R.R. Dodge & Co." listed in Caldwell as Wholesale Liquors in 1909. I kept heading east away from the main town site and wondered farther down the hill than I usually detect.

I eventually came upon what looked like an area where a building had been. There was a large hole with some bricks lying around. As I started down into the hole I got a good signal. Out popped a nice Benedict & Wilson (Gilmore)//Good for/12 1/2c/in trade; round, brass, 21mm maverick token. This is the most common token from Gilmore but is still an exciting find. I detected around the area for about another hour without success and then decided to take a lunch break. I detected my way back up the hill to my truck and had lunch. Since I was already pretty tired I decided to drive my truck down to the area where I had found the token.

Back detecting again I soon found my second token of the day; a rare Brough & Gertridge / 12 1/2c // round, aluminum, 24mm maverick token from Salmon, Idaho. The 12 1/2c is cut out in the middle of this token which makes it neat. About this time Greg and Dale had wondered down the hill to get some lunch. Meeting them at my truck I showed them my finds which produced the desired envious responses. Greg had also found a Benedict & Wilson token in the upper town site area but we all decided to stay in this area and detect.

Six P.M. rolled around and Dale and I were pooped and ready to leave. Greg invoked the work until sundown rule which had proven successful for us the past summer at Haden. With about an hour left we all went back to work. About 15 minutes later Greg hit a "glory hole" with six Benedict & Wilson tokens in it. I also found 2 more Benedict & Wilson’s in the same general area before sundown. Finally about 7 P.M. we called it quits and headed home. Arriving back at Sage Junction, Greg made us take him to BJ’s Bayou restaurant in Roberts (Market Lake) for a real Cajun dinner.

What a great, exhausting, memorable day of detecting. In all I think Greg found seven Benedict & Wilson tokens and a couple of wheat pennies. Dale found a couple of neat medals and a couple of wheaties and I ended up with 3 Benedict & Wilson tokens, 1 Brough & Gertridge token, an 1 wheat penny.

Dale went back a couple weeks later and found some more Benedict & Wilson tokens in that same location. I’m speculating, but I imagine Benedict & Wilson store may have been at that location. More likely it was the house of Benedict or Wilson since I’m pretty sure the store was located on main street. None of us found any of the other rare Gilmore tokens which means we still have more days to spend at Gilmore. I know there’s a "Blazing Rag/Saloon/Gilmore/Ida." token waiting out there somewhere!!