Metal Detecting. October 18, 2018

Copyright © 2018                               John F. Oyler 

October 18, 2018

Metal Detecting

The Bridgeville Area Historical Society kicked off its 2018/219 program meeting sequence with a presentation entitled “History Hounds – Preserving and Saving Local History Through Metal Detecting” by two hobbyists, Rob Hilt and Rob Best.

Mr. Hilt had given a talk on the same subject last Spring; this time Mr. Best provided some additional information. The two speakers discussed their hobby and their commitment to local history. The audience was duly appreciative and asked numerous questions following the presentation.

In Mr. Hilt’s presentation last March he mentioned the fact that his colleague, Mr. Best, had found an interesting artifact in Beaver County that might have significant historic implications. At that time I wrote “At one point he stated that one of his colleagues had found an artifact from the LaSalle expedition in 1669, in Beaver County.” and reported my interest in learning more about it.

Consequently when Mr. Best discussed this artifact, I paid specific attention to his interpretation of its significance. This time it was described as a “grant marker”, proof that some government had granted land to someone named de LaSalle in 1609. 

Fortunately he had brought the artifact with him and had it shown prominently in a display case. It is a lead disc about three in diameter and perhaps three eighths of an inch thick. On its face, inscribed with a dull tool are the words, “CHEV. DE LASALLE” and the numeral “1609”.

When I inquired about inscriptions on the back of the disc he promised to email me a copy of a photograph of the reverse side. It shows, inscribed with a sharper tool, “CCS”, “ECB”, “AOUT”, and “30”, and “22” inscribed with a die of the numeral “2”.

My first impressions were that “CHEV.” was an abbreviation for Chevalier, a term of respect which has been applied to Rene-Robert Cavaier, Sieur de La Salle, the famous French explorer. “AOUT”, of course, is August, in French.

It also appears that different tools were used on the front and back of the disc, suggesting that different persons did the inscriptions. The fact that “22” was made by a specific die is also a little puzzling.

Mr. Best speculated that “1609” was a date and that it implied French presence in Western Pennsylvania in the form of de La Salle at that time. This seems unlikely; the French had only gotten as far as Quebec in 1608, and Rene-Robert de La Salle wasn’t born until 1643. 

Nonetheless this is an intriguing artifact. We amateur historians have two basic fears. We worry that some bit of information we uncover may have historic significance and we are not sufficiently knowledgeable to recognize it. Similarly we worry that we may incorrectly imply something historic to an item we report.

Both of these concerns are relevant to this artifact. I asked two of the folks in the audience what they inferred from Mr. Best’s presentation. Both of them reported that some French government had granted land in Beaver County to La Salle in 1609.

In an effort to help Mr. Best learn more about the artifact I have attempted to contact a number of historical organizations and individuals in an effort to find an explanation for the inscriptions on it. It will be interesting to see what response we get.

Assuming the artifact is authentic it could provide information that would change some of our interpretations of local history. La Salle’s famous 1669 expedition into the “Ohio Country” is a well-known subject of controversy. At this time it is believed that the expedition was restricted to the Great Lakes and that he never reached the Ohio (or Allegheny) River. Could this artifact refute that opinion?

It is easy to suggest alternative explanations. We know that La Salle himself issued land grants from Lachine, his seigneurie on the Island of Montreal; perhaps the marker from one of them found its way to Beaver County. 

One of my colleagues commented on the similarity of the artifact to the discs used to provide benchmarks? Could “1609” be an elevation? Or is this merely the residue of a high school history project in 1922 by two students with the initials “CCS” and “ECB”? 

We hope some professional historian specializing in La Salle or in Western Pennsylvania history will be able to help us unravel this mystery.

The next Historical Society program will be on October 30, 2018, t 7:30 pm, at the Chartiers Room of the Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Department. Todd DePastino will discuss “World War II on the Home Front”. 

We octogenarians are a little bit insulted to learn that we are now considered part of history. To us, World War II is more “current events” than history.