Great spot, but need advice

I have a spot fairly close to my house.  They had a lead smelter there and a subdivision  not far from it.  Over the years the yards of these homes became contaminated and the lead levels were high.  The county bought out the property and I have a map that dates back to 1908 that shows all of the properties that existed then.  The other thing is....alot of the homes are still there.  My problem is.....is it really that dangerous and long as you keep your paws out of your mouth, and clean all your gear when your done....or am I off base here.  I think it could yield some great finds, but don't know about messing around with soil like that. 

Unless you intend to eat the dirt there you should be okay.
Check for coins and haul any lead scraps home for recycling.
siegfried schlagrule

Unless you intend to eat the dirt there you should be okay.
Check for coins and haul any lead scraps home for recycling.
siegfried schlagrule

I agree
Sometimes if a jurisdiction want property they will make up stuff to. There was some property near me that was supposed to be contaminated with asbestos but when the cleared it there were never any monitors on the fence and no one ever wore the protective suits or respirators.   Just don't eat the dirt.

vayank54 & seigfried are correct.   You can detect with no health consequences.   In fact, this whole "lead contamination" site-designation stuff is a big joke.   There was a site, for example, in an urban demolition site, in an older section of town our town, where routine soil samples showed "lead contamination" (they surmised that turn-of-century lead canning processes in old stores there had been the cause).   A big political bruhaha developed over funding to clean up this municipal site, various levels of government tussled over who was going to foot the bill, as it required trucking to take the removed soil to a "superfund" toxic waste site many hours trucking-drive away.   

Ultimately, the soil was excavated out to super deep (6 ft. or something) for an entire half-block square area, and re-filled for urban renewal.   During the excavating process, we were md'ing it, and bottle diggers were all over it, since it was our china-town district here in our city.   As we hunted during the scraping process, sure, we dug some lead globs here and there, just like you would in ANY old-town urban demolition site.   No more than anywhere else.  I had to chuckle when I thought about how much hysterics there were.   I mean, if those same health officials knew how much lead exists on beaches (sinkers, bullet tips, old industrial junk, etc...) they'd probably shut down a lot of beaches that had industrial history.   

Lead was the "plastic" of yesteryear, and it's everywhere in older industrial junky sites.   Some places just get the attention, because someone smells "deep pockets finances", for work to be done "cleaning up" sites I guess.

I agree with the other posts. And i would also add that it would take years of constant exposure to the levels you would receive before any ill effects showed up..You are getting more lead than that in your drinking water in all probability..

lead is currently selling for around a dollar a pound.
thankfully a pound of lead doesn't take up much space.  LOL

I only have one question? where do they think the stuff came from in the first place, did they dig it out of the ground or did Spock beam it down.

[Why is lemonade made with artificial flavor and dish soap is made with real lemons?]

I know what I'd do

They claim the smelter caused the contamination, and after more research, it was the smelter that had to do a buyout of the property.  I have some old sanborn firemaps from as far back as 1908 and it shows the whole town.  I have located on the maps a few wells and areas of interest I am going to hit first.  From what I have found, the town has history back to very early 1800's, and comparing the maps I have to google maps satellite images, the area has not changed much, as the road and lots are all still the same.  I will be going on Saturday and will post more info and pics of any finds...Thanks for all of the advice!