To a casual observer, the rusted railroad ties, old bits of metal, and scraps of steel may seem like stuff that should be carted off to a junkyard.
But for Tom Harden, these bits of rusted metal unearth stories of days gone by.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Harden, who is president of the West State Archeological Society, can pick up a rusted railroad spike and tell you about the trains that used to rumble down tracks in Lutz and Odessa, carrying lumber harvested from those communities.
He can hold old metal buttons — taken from a wooden “treasure box” — and recount how they popped off the dungarees of mill workers, and over time, were buried beneath the soil. He can show off a flattened shotgun shell casing that he estimates was fired somewhere around the 1870s.
With these metal props, Harden spins tales about the days when lumber was king in northern Hillsborough and central Pasco counties.
“A lot of the railroads that we have here would serve a lot of the logging towns,” Harden said, crediting much of his knowledge about the area to local history books written by Elizabeth Riegler MacManus and her daughter, Susan MacManus. Harden also credits accounts shared in “The History of Keystone, Odessa and Citrus,” a local history book edited by Henry C. Binder, a longtime civic activist.
Harden has spent decades hunting for treasures and finding clues that unlock the stories of men and women who settled here, worked here, had their families here, and moved on or were buried here, too. Equipped with a metal detector, he walks about easements of public roadways, or on occasions where he has permission, scouts out freshly dug construction sites, or on private lands.
He has a waterproof detector that he takes to the beach.
When Harden’s not actively detecting, he enjoys going to flea markets and swap meets to find items to add to his collection.
He has a penchant for signs, which decorate fences and buildings in his backyard. He also enjoys looking at artifacts from the past.
One of his most treasured finds is a historic photograph of the Dowling Mill in Odessa, at the northeast corner of Gunn Highway and State Road 54. He was so excited when he ran across that, Harden said he would have paid $100 for it. But it was priced at $35 and he managed to negotiate that down to $25.
Harden’s interest in treasure hunting began when he was a wee lad, and his fascination for history began early, too.
“I grew up in South Carolina,” he said, a place steeped in Civil War history.
Metal detecting came into his life during the Civil War’s centennial, which was commemorated from the late 1950s to early 1960s. A lot of people were getting into searching for objects from the war, and Harden joined in.
When he’s out with his detector, Harden occasionally finds a piece of jewelry or some coins. He also finds remnants of an earlier time — such as rusted parts of old machinery and other stuff of everyday life.
For instance, Harden has some old rusted irons. He picked one up and explained how they would “heat up the stove and set that rascal on the top and then, when it was all ready, they would press clothes with that. That was really labor intensive.”
But, he noted, “People paid attention to those details. They didn’t have the fabrics that we have today.”
He grabbed a trio of ax heads: “You will find these in the logging camps.”
But that’s not the only place. “You’ll find them elsewhere because people had to chop their wood,” Harden said. “They didn’t have the utilities that we have today.”
He has covers from old wood stoves, valves from steam engines, and parts of rakes, shovels, flywheels, and boilers.
As Harden talked about the history of Odessa, Lutz and Land O’ Lakes, he painted vivid pictures of life during the mill heydays.
“They would send the timber cruiser,” Harden said. “He would go out in the woods and mark pine that was worth cutting to bring back to the mill. Then you would get the logging crews that would go out there.
“A lot of the lumber businesses, especially the smaller ones, the ones you would see out here, just north on (U.S.) 41, in Lutz and Land O’ Lakes, and operating out of the forests to the east and west of 41. They might have mules that would skid the logs out, and they’d bring them up. There would be like portable sawmills.”
After the mills were gone, people took up citrus farming, Harden said. Many of those groves have since succumbed to blight, disease, winter freezes or residential development.
Subdivisions now stand where the scent of orange blossoms once perfumed the air.
Harden enjoys sharing the joy of discovery that can accompany metal detecting.
“When people go out and detect, I always tell them, ‘Dig up the iron. You never know what you’re going to find,’” Harden said.
It doesn’t even take a special trip to find interesting objects in the ground, Harden added.
“When you’re planting the plant in the ground or hoeing the row to plant the tomatoes, or whatever you’re going to plant — you might turn up that old iron object and wonder, ‘What is this? Where did it come from?’”
Anyone who wants to know more about metal detecting is welcome to come to a club meeting to find out more, Harden said.
“The club’s open to anyone who has an interest,” he said. “Guys, gals, children.”
He encourages people to come for a visit. Like him, they may just get hooked.
“It’s fun,” Harden said.
The West State Archeological Society meets the last Tuesday of each month at the Forest Hills Recreation Center, at 724 W. 109th Ave., in Tampa. Doors open at 7 p.m. The meeting runs from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Club fees are $25 a year per family.
Published August 20, 2014
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