Treasure hunting in Lake Winnipesaukee

[bilproject]

Originally Posted by ocgirl

TITLE XIX - Public Recreation - Champter 227-C Historic Preservation
Penalty
Section 227-C:17
227-C:17 Penalties. –
I. Any person who, with the purpose of defrauding anyone or with the knowledge that he is facilitating a fraud to be perpetrated by anyone, makes or alters any object so that it appears to have value because of antiquity, rarity, source or authorship which it does not possess, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall forfeit to the state the equivalent in dollars of profits made by the sale of the fraudulent objects.
II. Notwithstanding the provisions of RSA title LXII, any person who knowingly appropriates, excavates, sells, purchases, exchanges, offers for sale, transports, receives, destroys, or in any manner alters any historic resource located on state land, under state waters, or removed from same, except in the course of activities pursued under the authority of a permit or preservation agreement, or as exempted in RSA 227-C:12, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment for a period not to exceed 6 months, or both; shall forfeit to the state all materials appropriated; and shall reimburse the state for restoration of a defaced or destroyed property.
Source. 1981, 504:5. 1985, 345:3.

The object would have to have been designated as historic by the Federal or State Government for this law to be applied. This state code applies to sites already designated as historic. Application here in this discussion of finding lost items on the lake bottom is taking it out of context.

Most of you older folks know full well that the lake was literally used as a dump for glass, cans, old boats for years by shoreline and island residents. Paper garbage was burned in 55 gallon drums. Right off my dock on Bear is where the hotel dumped it's trash when it was in operation