Ditchn

[Dirt fishing Wolf]

Ditch'n

Ever hunted the ditches beside old cemeteries, abandoned farm houses, etc.?
As a kid in the 60's I remember my grandparent putting $$ in the mail box for the mail. I see lots of these places out here, a drive by opportunity??

 

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[kimsdad]

Re: Ditch'n

When I see ditches, I think nuts & bolts & other pieces from cars that were thrown in there by snowplows. But kids played in them, too. I never thought about the mailbox thing, either. Sounds like they are worth a try - let us know. I'll bet someone here has tried them before.

 

[Lowbatts]

Re: Ditch'n

The ongoing expansion of Randall Road near my place gave me lots of opportunities to hit those ditches that had formerly been front yards of early farms for several years. Many miles of opportunities in fact. Harmony-Riley Road east and west of 20, that was expanded about 5 or so years ago and gave up some goodies.

I mentioned the ditches along Diggins Street to you earlier, and also Harvard Hills Road, from 173 to Crowley, where there are still goodies if my last trip there was an indicator. Of course the expansion of 20 from Marengo to GP was available back in the '90's also.

20 west of Elgin from the bypass to Graveyard Bend was sadly disappointing, especially in light of it's history as part of the 8-mile course of the road races in the very early 20th century. But when they were cutting and expanding along it's edges I had to hit it.

Take notice of rural road expansions as a silver lining sort of cloud. The work tears out some of the former yards of old homesteads but at the same time brings many goodies along the high edge of those new ditches.

Three nearby schoolhouses going back as far as the 1840's were destroyed as sites by such expansion, as these sat very near the old roads and are now under roadbeds. Where I can find such sites, I hit them Saturday morns until the crews show up, and all day Sunday if there's no work ongoing. Never had a problem at any of those sites either except during work and weekday traffic hours. Keep in mind, out of sight, out of mind.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, the more remote and obscure the site, the better my finds have been from relics to coinage. We have several stretches of road in this town that served as both picnic and parking areas from buggy to early auto days and some of them have yet to be hit, but I'm working on it.

Yep Neil, just about every imaginable auto part is laying along those roadsides also. Hard to find a spot where someone has not had a wreck or two over the last 100 years. Still hoping to find one of those Pierce Arrow hood ornaments....