By Matt Mackinder
Clarkston News Editor

Frustated all summer with how low the Mill Pond was, Clarkston resident Rick Detkowski decided to make the most of it before the wintry Michigan weather arrived.
“One Saturday morning in early September, I was sitting around with my girlfriend Caitlin (Foland) and thought we might as well make the best of the ugly pond, so I suggested some metal detecting around the exposed areas,” Detkowski said. “We started finding old fishing lures and other junk along Miller Road, but when I scanned near the shore behind my house, we started finding all kinds of stuff. Caitlin and I put in a few hours of digging over the next few weekends and my kids Jillian and Nick helped during the week.
“I don’t even swim in the Mill Pond, so diving to the bottom didn’t happen. We would use the metal detector and mark spots along the shore, then I’d come back and dig away. People driving by probably thought I was nuts digging up my shoreline like that.”
On the first day, Detkowski said they found parts to what appear to be an old chest or jewelry box – a keyhole cover, a lock mechanism and some hinges.
“At that point, I was sure there was more to be found, and of course, treasure,” Detkowski said. “The second day, I was out digging and talking with my neighbor, I happened to look down and saw a ring just lying there. Turns out it’s a 1960 class ring with the initials ‘JW’ on it. I’m guessing it’s from Clarkston High School because of the ‘C’ on the crest, but I haven’t been able to confirm.
“Now I was fully on board the treasure train so I started digging like crazy.”
After that, an old melted car tire, metal adjusters for an old pair of suspenders, parts from old porcelain decorations, small glass vials, pieces of porcelain plates, dozens of rusty nails, old toothpaste tubes, and huge amounts of coal slag were found.
“I have the remnants of an old coal chute in my basement, so apparently a previous resident of my house used to dump their slag into the pond, not exactly eco-friendly back in the day,” Detkowski said. “There’s so much slag that it made digging too much of a chore. It’s one of the reasons I stopped. My conclusion is that previous residents probably dumped all of their garbage into the pond at some point, based on the randomness of the items we found.”
Seeing the Mill Pond as low as it has been is something Detkowski had never seen before.
“I grew up in Clarkston and I’ve lived in this house 15 years,” he explained. “I don’t think I’ve seen the pond as low as it was this summer, so it was much easier to find stuff that way. We also discovered that there’s a layer of muck about 10 feet from shore that appears to be very deep. We tossed in some big rocks to test it and they never seemed to hit bottom.”
In reflecting on his hometown, Detkowski said, “I love it here.”
“We have a great community and I’m proud to raise my kids here, plus there’s a rich history to the area and I think the Mill Pond is testament to that, I’m convinced there’s more to find out there,” said Detkowski. “It would be shame if anything ever happened to it. Pond residents were recently informed that the owners of the dam want to either hand it over to the city or to the residents for upkeep and related costs.
“Otherwise, they might be forced to drain the pond. I sincerely hope it doesn’t come to that, but if it does, I’ll be out there with my metal detector and shovel.”