There has been a love/hate relationship between the treasure hunter and doing the research necessary to locate new areas to hunt. When one field plays out some folks find themselves returning again and again trying to locate just a little leftover from their earlier finds. Many of us tend to dread research and some just can't find the time for it but if we want to be the first sometime to discover a new site instead of the last we need to spend a little time to do it.

I want to go over the methods we use to refresh or inform you on what to do. We tend to forget about some methods and go for the easy ones. I thought of this today because I just ordered an armload of historic maps from K.B. Slocum and hope to pick up a tip that I didn't know before.

Everyone has heard about going to the library and the library is our best resource but not the only one. At the library the things you want to research are the local books on the small towns around you and especially look for maps of the old home sites. I have found this to be a great asset. Next ask them for the historical section and don't forget to ask if they have any historic books not out on view. Libraries are bad about that. They take the good information and bury it in some dark closet of a room because everyone after all is after romantic novels or kid books or some other great waste of time. Our history never comes to the attention of most younger folks these days and it is a shame. Because of that the funding to provide enhanced historic sections has been allocated for fiction.

Ask the folks to see any maps they have or plats of the original townsite with the locations of old homes. Locate the section with the microfilm and ask about old newspapers on microfilm. You want to view the earliest dates and look for the stories about the first schoolhouse, church, and old sites where they held outdoor baptisms, old brush arbor locations, early swimming holes, picnic sites. Most all old swimming holes are no longer used today as foul water and air conditioning have eliminated swimming as it was once practiced but it used to be a hangout for kids or families on Sunday when the summer got really hot.

Next go to the tax office(shudder) and ask to see the town plat map. Note the section of the map that you want to research. Get the deed numbers from the plat book for the locations you want information on and then go to the county clerk's office. There they have maps and deeds with information that is very old and may go back to original owners. Locate the files with the deeds and look through the file for your deed numbers you got at the tax office. Note in these old deeds you may find a treasure you didn't expect. Some may contain crude drawings of nearby buildings or streams used to locate the property in the old days. The pictures may give information where old wells were or the layout of the early farm with barn, outhouse, house, sheds and other information you didn't expect, and may give you some new ideas to look up.

You can look at maps and obtain information from the state land office also but don't forget your best source of information. There may be still some folks who have lived in the town all their life and you might try the Senior's club and ask around for anyone who would help you. Most folks are always ready to help you and are glad that someone is interested in the earlier times. Check out the library around the magazine racks for elderly folks who are spending time reading the magazines at the library to stay cool or warm instead of staying home and heating or cooling their house which they may not be able to afford on our great Social Security program. Look at some of the last of the mom and pop stores in the town for older folks who might have time for you.

After all this remember the County library has much more in its historic section that all of the other libraries and it is well worth your time to check it out. They have great old maps of the area and lastly of all don't forget to ask them for non-fiction stories that they are hiding of the very old books. I have discovered finally.... a online historic book source and I have read first person experiences of people who where in this area of Texas before the war for independence and early life here and then I have read of someone's experiences of watching General Sam Houston who led the battle for independence speaking to a crowd in Galveston, Texas and then speaking to the Civil war troops stationed on the island and it was a very moving experience and had brought back my early Texas history lessons to a level that I didn't think was possible. Check out this site and remember it has a mix of very old historic books and new books too.

Most of all remember that bright experience you felt last time when you just got loaded up with new places to hunt and couldn't wait until you could check them out? Take a rainy or cold day for this and don't rush but ask around and make sure that they are not holding out on you something that would make your day!