The Adventures Of Hoss And Eagle Eye

Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", July 1987, page 27

It seems that CROWN JEWELS has told so many tales of the great finds "out west" lately. Between the sca CD 244 crosstops, Standard cable and the infamous "Beach Boys", we easterners have to get out and do some scratchin'! There are a lot of old lines back here that have some good, old and rare jewels on them.

A few years ago someone told old Eagle Eye of an abandoned railroad line that had some rare threadless used on it. Eagle Eye, for reasons unknown, never managed to do much with the information. During the past winter, he was talking with Hoss, a midwestern "lumberjack." Hoss is one of those energetic collectors. Mention a threadless line to him, and on goes the flannel shirt, suspenders, hiking boots and off he goes with rake in hand.

The two made some plans for a trip, and mid-April found them "on the road again." (Eat your hearts out, Beach Boys!) Upon arriving at their destination, the two had to first gain permission from the property owner. They approached one of those "little old ladies." She seemed friendly and very willing to help out. Then she mentioned some insulators she had. (Visions of threadless came to mind.) She scampered off, only to return with 3 very rare jewels. Neither of the two had any of the rare items she brought out for them to see. But then again, neither of them wanted the clear Whitall Tatums! She stated she wanted $6 for the three of them. The two responded that neither of them could use the Whitall Tatums. The "old bat" got real mean in a hurry and scoffed, "You'd best get out of here and get packin' down the road then. The information I've given you is worth more than that." Hoss, dumbfounded, responded he'd take two of them. She made it clear all three were to go. So Hoss gave in and bought all three. When all was said and done, she no longer owned the property the railroad was on anyway. But she did tell them who did. How kind of her! The two of them wasted no time gettin' out of there before she remembered owning any more insulators.

To make a long story short, the next hour found them driving back and forth from one residence to another, getting nearly chewed apart by "beasty" dogs. But it finally paid off, and by mid-afternoon the two were out on the old roadbed. What a start -- it sure made them wonder if it was worth it. It was late afternoon before they located any positive evidence of the old pole line. Hours of digging revealed no sign of any glass. Dusk set in on them and they called it a day.

The next morning found them up and at it bright and early. Early on, Eagle Eye suffered one of those "Dorito attacks." Hoss "lumbered" about at his usual slow but sure pace. By late afternoon, the two were going at it with lots of 'thusiasm. Eagle Eye had located some old wire where it had fallen decades ago. It was covered under the leaves, roots and fallen trees. They pulled wire for 60 or 70 feet, only to find its end without finding an insulator tied in. Further looking a ways down the old roadbed, Eagle Eye once again found more line wire stretching under the leaves and roots. He called Hoss over, who in turn started pulling it from the ground. About 60 or 70 feet away there was the other end to the wire. So Eagle Eye then proceeded to pull it up in the opposite direction, and after going what seemed like an endless distance, up popped an empty tie wire still on the line. Both had lots of 'thusiasm at that point and they carefully set to work digging up the area in hopes of finding a broken threadless.

Hoss "pulling wire" from under the leaves 
and roots in hopes of finding a threadless still "tied in."

 
A tie wire still attached to the old line wire, but no glass.

After digging up a large area, and no glass having been found, the two decided to once again call it a day since dusk was setting in. The next day found them fast at work, digging at three or four pole locations. But, as had been the case before, still no glass. Eventually, they did locate an old tie wire and once again set to work. Hoss found some old glass in no time, but it wasn't quite what they were looking for. It was a broken CD 133 Brookfield. After a long discussion, the two decided that since the line was built many years after the invention of threaded insulators, and since the Brookfield was as old or older than the line construction itself, it was possible there were never any threadless used on the line. The information that Eagle Eye was originally given was second-hand, so perhaps it would be better to move on. It's possible threadless were used there -- but, then again, maybe they weren't.

Parts of a CD 133 dome embossed Brookfield that led
Hoss and Eagle Eye to believe that maybe 
threadless weren't used on their mystery line.

That afternoon found them on another railroad in the area built in the 1850's. But a few hours of hunting on the well maintained line revealed nothing in the way of old glass. So the two headed back out on the road again for another destination.

The next day they arrived at their third railroad, and after driving next to it for a couple of miles, they decided to give it a try. They located a nice area with rolling countryside. The railroad went through a small cut, so the two set to work digging at an old pole location up on the bank. Within minutes, a broken CD 143 Dwight Pattern was found. No "biggie" but at least it was old glass and maybe it was evidence of where one of the poles stood over 100 years ago.

After three days of serious digging on the hillside, and no sign of any threadless, the two had all but given up at the place. Eagle Eye decided to tryout his newly fabricated "poker" in one of the nearby swamps. Within a minute or two, he hit glass and pulled up a broken cobalt blue bottle. A few seconds later, more glass was hit down in the muck. Up came a whole soda bottle. "Hey, this ain't bad." After he proclaimed himself an old pro at it, no more glass was found.

The next day, they decided to do some "surface checkin'" while the brush and grass was still dormant. They headed on out to another section of the railroad. After parking the vehicle, Hoss strolled part way up the embankment while Eagle Eye scouted the lower section of the grade. The first span revealed none other than a CD 742 M.T.CO. half exposed in the leaves. Once again the two set to work digging for another one, and an hour and a half later they decided it was more fruitful checking the surface. They continued walking the old grade and located some old CD 143's and 145's. It's fun finding glass, even if it isn't rare!

Eagle Eye raking away on a hill side for threadless.

The first M.T.CO. found, half covered with leaves. 

The next day they continued their search and this time it was Hoss's turn to find one. After nearly falling on his nose over a fallen tree, he spotted some glass about twenty feet ahead. There was the dome of another CD 742 sticking out of the ground. It was fairly well covered, but the part that was visible revealed it to be one of the dark teal colors. After unearthing it, a piece was still missing from the skirt, but some careful digging located all the glass. Once again the two did a little scratching around and then decided to press onward.

After fighting a jungle of thorny blackberry bushes, and an endless amount of brush, the two found themselves on a hillside covered with large trees. The ground was thick with leaves, which covered nearly everything. Just as the two were about to give up on the area because of the leaf cover, Eagle Eye spotted some glass ahead and it was his turn to almost fall on his nose getting to it in a hurry. There was another aqua M.T.CO. sitting perfectly upright in the leaves with about one inch of the dome visible. Closer examination of it revealed a small base chip, but it really wasn't bad.

A better view of the first M.T.CO. found (left) showing its 
excellent condition. The dark teal CD 742 is on the right 
and the middle CD 742 is another embossed M.T.CO.

The next four or five days found the two searching other areas on the same line, and still open lines from the 1850's and 1860's, but all they came up with was an aqua CD 127.

All told, it wasn't a bad trip. It isn't every trip that one makes when three threadless are found. And from various reports, it seems like a lot of others have been out hunting this spring. Word has it that a NY&ERR threadless, a threaded ERW and other rarities have been located. Maybe someone else will report their great finds. There still is some good hunting out there. We all need to get out and locate some of those jewels!!

A restored railroad depot on one of the 1850's lines adds 
to the sightseeing pleasures of getting out on an insulator hunting trip