The Major Fruitport township train wreck of the 1880's

Home
United States
Fruitport, MI
The Major Fruitport township train wreck of the 1880's

Found by Nathan Near. A Major train wreck that happened in Fruitport township in the 1880's

10/15/2025

I went metal detecting on the far north east side of the wreck site today! Found a few possible wreck parts, and also quite a few non track related things!
Everything is at least 100 years old except 2 shot gun shells, which include: 1 Spike, 2 joint bar track nuts, 1 track bolt, 1 broken bolt with nut attached, 3 Box car wheel truck bolt washers, and 1, 11 inch long rounded iron plate!

08/26/2025

Humidity is going down, and the days are getting colder, so it is about time to go back out metal detecting at the wreck site!
Today, though it was only for 30 minutes. I went metal detecting at the wreck site, where I had went back to the wreck/track part dump that I discovered on March 20, 2021 (Where I had found 8 wreck parts, 9 joint bars, and other parts all within a 10ft area). Today, to continue the collection from the dump I had found a total of 9 pieces of metal, including: 1, 13.5” bolt, 1 spike, and 8 square nails (4 of them being broken). While I was also digging (note that I found all of this within a 2ft area!) I had also found a broken tan brick!

08/10/2024

I went metal detecting on the north east side of the wreck site today! Had a good time with finally getting back out there! With it being mid to late summer, I started the day off with locating and successfully digging up a object that I had located back in late 2022 with a friend who had a special metal detector that could detect up to 20+ feet deep, that was specialized to only locate objects bigger than a wheel cap, but unfortunately we weren’t able to at the time due to the area being flooded. Luckily today the area was dry and I was fortunate enough to finally dig it up! Finding out, that one thing was surprisingly only 3 inches deep into the ground! After digging up that mystery iron plate, I had time to metal detect! I found a couple keepers today! Including: 1 large broken iron link of chain, 1 modern lead bullet, and 1, 1870’s spike that is in good condition!

05/03/2024

I went metal detecting on the southeast side of the wreck site today! I sadly didn’t find anything that screams wreck related, but was glad to get back out there. Everything found is 100+ years old including: 1 square head bolt with nut, 1 small broken piece of iron sheet metal, 1 small iron nut, and 1 square nail! (Not pictured and I didn’t keep, but I also found 1 full joint bar, 5 broken spikes, 2 track nuts, and 1 track bolt)

03/14/2024

I went metal detecting on the southeast side of the wreck site today! I sadly found mostly track parts but I did find a few keepers! Everything but 1 is 100+ years old including: 1 piece of rail (Funfact: I found it almost 2ft down and I am pretty sure it is original 1870’s rail!), 1 big nut, 1 bolt top, 1 square washer, 1 small nut, and 1 squished 22 casing!
The bottom picture is all the track parts that I didn’t keep!

03/13/2024

I went metal detecting today on the south east side of the wreck site! Found quite a few wreck related parts! Everything is 100+ years old including: 2 pieces of a journal box (I actually found them both within 20 feet of each other and after bringing them home I found out that they line up to make up a bigger piece!), 1, 8 1/2 inch long bolt, 1 box car door bracket wheel, 2 nuts that are attached to a broken bolt, and 2 square nails!

03/05/2024

I went metal detecting today on the west side of the wreck site today! Found quite a few keepers! Everything but 1 thing is 100+ years old including: 2 14+ inch long bolts(one with a square washer on it!), 1 mystery iron plate that broke off something, 2 shorter square head bolts, 1 possible iron knife blade, 1 squished lead bullet, 3 square nails, and 1 22 shell!

02/07/2024

Starting the 2024 treasure hunting season at the wreck site with a 2 day hunt! Day 1(Yesterday), I did something new to me and I magnet fished the creek! Unfortunately, I ended the day with finding nothing but a few tiny pieces of rust. Day 2 (Today),
I went metal detecting on the south west side of the site, which is also the first time using my new machine(Minelab Equinox 800) on the site! I found quite a few keepers with 2 of them being guaranteed wreck parts! Everything is 100+ years old including: 1 big broken spring, 1 square head bolt, 5 chunks of melted lead, 1 broken iron piece, 5 chunks of iron, 1 square nail, 1 lead bullet, and 2 shotgun shells!

01/29/2024

While patiently waiting for the snow to melt to begin the metal detecting season at the wreck site, I pulled out all my findings from the 2023 season at the Salvage site to show you all a comparison from 2020(the year I first discovered the site)(bottom picture)to last year’s finds (top picture)!

(In the picture of this year’s finds, the bag on the left is from the Archaeological dig I did in the summer, and on the right is the broken blue pottery that I still need to see if I can piece together to identify what it is, also the bag that is by the mostly complete insulator is the 2: 51oz mason jar bottoms that have PAT dates on them!)

12/08/2023

I went Digging and Metal detecting today for sadly the last time this year at the Salvage Site! I finished up the glass pit where I found the insulator, and a bunch of broken glass + I had time to metal detect after digging up the pit! Found a few interesting things in pit, including: a broken window (broken into small pieces, but could be scaled to a 3x3’ window), 2 bottoms to a Mason jar (which both have a PAT of NOV 26 67(1867!) and finding out that they were 54oz BALL Mason jars!), and some broken pottery ( I found so many pieces to it that I will try to piece them together and try to identify it)! When I metal detected I found a few keepers which all are at least 90 years old including: 1 iron sink clogger, 1 Iron or Brass Ring (my second ever ring and first of the site!), 1 chunk of iron, and 5 Square Nails!

12/05/2023

I went metal detecting at the salvage site today for the second to last time of the season! Found a few “I don’t know what these things are” things I wasn’t expecting to find! Everything is 100+ years old including: 1 mystery iron square thing (the big one on the right), 1 mystery part (the top one with the round hole), 1 1880’s shot gun shell, 1 mystery lead or brass k**b, and 2 whole and 3 broken Square nails!

11/21/2023

I went metal detecting on the east side of the Salvage site today! I found quite a lot of large keepers for metal detecting the site now 60+ times! Everything found today is 100+ years old including finding an interesting pit of metal which includes 2 14+ inch long bolts, 1 mystery 2 foot long square and round rod, 1 mystery iron part, and 1 mason jar lid! In the pit I also found lots of broken 1800’s Mason Jars, and an almost complete Insulator! (I did not keep any of the broken glass) Everything that I found while metal detecting includes 1 iron bracket, 1 broken iron wheel, 1 iron staple, and 2 an a 1/2 Square nails!

Address

Fruitport, MI
49444

Website

https://sites.google.com/view/railroad-salvage-burn-pit/home

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Major Fruitport township train wreck of the 1880's posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Want your organization to be the top-listed Government Service in Fruitport?