They look more like fishhooks than boot tacks!!

The hooked nails to me look like they were driven completely through a board and then bent back over on itself. I would bend nails like that on an exposed piece of board that I would be handiling and didn't want to get poked.

Its amazing some of the thigs the old timers worked at. A few miles from Three Faults a found an old ore chute, but the metal was so thin, I could not see it supporting a shovelworth of material. Between the mill on the San DOmingo and the Dam in that area, there's some old relics around there.

Thanks Chris, That makes since to me. Of course I was hoping it was from something more exciting but the mystery behind the things we find out in the middle of no where is a lot of fun and never knowing what some one might find. Thanks again.

I got another theory what those curled over nails could be, I was told they may have been used on an old chair to tack down the cushion, and later that part of the chair was burned or had rotten away. Maybe the area I found the nails/tacks was an old camp site? The next time I'm back there I'll check out the area some more and see if I can find some more clues. Good enough reason for me to plan another trip to Three Fault, oh ya, and find some gold too.

I was told by a friend that the small bent nails were used to hold fabric on home made dry washers.

That makes even more sense, the next time I'm there I'll work the area some more, maybe they left more than some nails. It sure is a good looking claim hopefully someone will do some drywashing on the claim and post there results.

Shoe tacks and upholstery tacks are great clues at times. Both were used with Drywashinig in those days. I feel like it was whitherever was easy to get when going into town to get supplies. Shoe tacks small flat heads were many times at a premium while cloth tacks larger sometimes a little rounded were easier to get. More folks fixing shoes over chairs. :-)
In either case when I start finding these I stop detecting and spend some time looking for old flattened out over time Drywash tailings and coarse piles in the area. When I find those its always coarse piles first with the detector then the tailings dry panning. Works for me most of the time. Then there are the times that tacks are just tacks on the ground.

I just don't want to pass up any clues the old timers my have left behind, the next time I'm in the area I will be looking at the area again with new eyes, I wish I would've spent more time thinking about it when I was there. Not just slow and low swinging the metal detector but I also need to slow down and pay attention to the clues from the past also. I won't be heading to AZ until next November, but when I get back I'll post any knew info I find and how I did. Three Fault is a 40 acre claim so if anyone metal detects the claim and finds some more of them nails check it out and let me/us know how you did. The area was on the west side of the claim about center, on the south side of one of the small washes that run west. Maybe nothing, but the area needs to be checked again, plus the claim is some real good looking ground and is worth checking out.