Home

About Us

Meetings/Location

Rendezvous

Club Activities

Code of Ethics

Find of the Month

Dates to Remember

Club Information

Our Club Gives Back

Rendezvous Hunts

Helpful Links

Photo Gallery

Rendezvous Hunts I

Rendezvous Hunts II

Christmas Parties

Home | About Us | Meetings & Location | Rendezvous | Club Activities | Code of Ethics | Find of the Month | Dates to Remember | Club Information | Our Club Gives Back | Rendezvous Flyer | Helpful Links | Photo Gallery | Rendezvous Hunts I | Rendezvous Hunts II | Christmas Parties

 Email: westco@westcoasters.org
Text Box: History of Our Club Text Box: “We’re the newest prospecting, metal detecting, bottle hunting, dowsing and rock collecting club around.” This quote is from the very first Grubstake newsletter published in July 1985. The first meeting was held in June 1985 in the fireside room of the Garden Grove Women’s Club. The featured speaker was Jim Klein a noted author and prospector. Many of today’s traditions had their inception during that first year. Programs relating to our hobby, the monthly drawing, fieldtrips, Christmas dinner and fund raisers all got their start 25 years ago. To raise much needed operating funds, the club sponsored a fireworks booth during the first three years. This was erected in the adjacent parking lot and required 24 hour supervision. The huge tax responsibility and safety concerns prompted us to give up this promotion. One of our original members was Joe Davison, owner and operator of Follows Camp. This gold mining camp was above Azusa in the San Gabriel Mountains. Early in 1988 he presented to the board the opportunity to hold an open hunt in conjunction with his weekend Rendezvous. The board agreed and we planned a one day hunt for Sunday. On Saturday, it poured and poured and thankfully dawned sunny the next day. With this taste of success, Joe gave us the Rendezvous name and as they say, the rest is history. Sad to say, Joe passed away several years ago and Fellows Camp has returned to nature. Among the many opportunities for fun and fellowship were the numerous open hunts held in California. For many years a large contingent of West Coasters traveled to these hunts where we enjoyed the rewards of the search and treasured the new friends we made up and down the coast. Today many of these friends attend our Rendezvous. “Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers”. As a West Coasters, this is not necessarily true. Throughout the years numerous items have been found and, if identifiable, returned to their original owners. The most notable being class rings. Many graduates have gratefully reclaimed their lost mementos. On many occasions, individuals have approached one of us to search for a lost item of great value to them. This request is happily granted and we ask for and accept no reward. A few years ago a local community determined that metal detecting would not be allowed in their city. For one month our members saved all the trash that they had recovered. This very large mountain of garbage was shown to the city council and their policy was revised. Our members do their best to abide by the Code of Ethics. Toys for Tots, Salvation Army Christmas Food Baskets, CHOC Hospital and Ronald McDonald House have all benefited from contributions generously donated by our members. Over the years our members have discovered the value of fellowship and a heightened interest in history. In the process we enjoyed exercise in our great outdoors as we swung a detector, dredged for gold, dug for bottles or sifted old dump sites. Text Box: By Mary Lois VanSooy Text Box: Establish in 1985

Mary Lois VanSooy, member since 1985.

She  has been with the club since the beginning. Mary Lois is still extremely active with our Club and is currently our Historian and Parliamentarian.