Is this a cistern or flooded cellar hole?

JakePhelps

JakePhelps

Silver Member
Jul 7, 2005
3,020
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Massachusetts
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Tesoro Cibola
I was told this thing i found in my woods could be a cistern for the town or something...At first i thought a flooded cellar hole, but then i noticed that even when it was really dry there was water in it still ???? So im thiking a cistern, isnt that when they built a small pool-like thingy around a natural spring?? An help would be a huge help to finding out the history of my woods :)? I think im getting closer, putting together the clues can be hard after 200 years of change to the landscape and such.? I think the huge rock wall i found out there was from the cemetary across the street which was founded in 1852, so the rocks must have been dumped by the cemetary back then when digging plots out.
 

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dig a few of those iron hits to see if they are nails. if they are and it is a spring house i would guess that there will not be anything in it. however......if people were getting their water from it there should be some other foundations of old houses around. people didnt build springhouses miles and miles from where they lived! check the surrounding woods in all metal for concentrations of square nails.there could be a real hotspot somewhere nearby in those woods.have you tried to research the area at the library or historical society? that may be a good thing to do on a cold or rainy day.i hope this site pans out for you!
 

I went to the library today and checked out two huge books on the history of westminster, so i should be able to find something...Here is one thing i found in a part of the book:

"A thousand dollars was raised in 1891 and a pipe was laid from a spring in a pasture owned by Mr. William Carter, Also according to the records, a cow met her sudden and violent demise . She had chewed on a stick of dynamite"

The land i am detecting on was formerly owned by william carter back in the olden days. I thought the bit about the cow was interesting, hope i dont find dead cow parts out there :D
 

i dont know about cow parts but maybe a pipe?! one good thing about people digging ditches and bending over to manually lay pipe............they may have lost coins!!
 

very true...I have not yet seen nor located any form of pipe around there escpet for the one farther up the hill but thats only an inch or two in diameter...probably not wide enough for water flow.
 

well...........at any rate good luck and keep us posted! :)
 

Thats the right size of pipe for those types of springs. They were gravity fed so when the water got down slope it would have a little pressure behind it and if you used a bigger diameter pipe if there wasn't enough water flow the pipe would be a breeding ground for mosquitos. I used to have one of those where I used to live. Ironically I used to live in Westminster, Maryland. Go figure.
 

I have one on the property that I own in Georgia. It is out of a rather large spring and used to supply the whole community of about 15 houses around the 20's and 30's. It is a four inch terracota tile pipe that went to a tank where there was a pump. One of the first community pump houses in the area.
 

jake , did you ever try following the small diameter pipe to see where it ended ? i was serious about them often being run from a creek to a well hidden whiskey still.....they must have gotten the term ''milk dud'' from when carters cows ate dynamite and didn't blow.... ..also what would there be dynamite in a cow pasture for ? maybe mining activity ? wish your site was a little closer to me i would come help you out, but then again, with the seemingly incredible site you have, you might try to see if i would eat some dynamite !? ha.............be careful, good luck............gldhntr
 

any time.....kind of makes you wonder where they came up with the blow pop, butterfinger,sugar daddy and a few others.............g
 

LoL :D The dynomite was there to blast the hole around the spring then put rocks there, if you lived here you would know what i mean when i say digging a hole for a fence is nearly impossible :-\ Soooooo many rocks in the ground, but anyway, i tried following the pipe many times before but its just a dead end. The ends of it are threaded.
 

Is the pipe all curvy or is it in a straight line? If it's fairly straight then just string line it. .89 cents will get you 250 feet of masons string. Stretch it out in the direction that the pipe goes and keep on going straight. You never know what you'll find. Try it.
 

Thats what ill do! Thans for the idea :) unfortunately string is impossible due to all the trees, but maybe if i use a combo of string and a lazer pointer.
 

Illl head out tomarow after school and get some pics and try and follow the pipe. The pipe does go downhill, suggesting its an older one.
 

I know this tread is really old, but I'm wondering: Jake, what did ya find in the tub?

I know it?s winter in your area, so if you are getting back to the site over summer and looking for new ideas, might I suggest:

Chlorine tablets for pools. Just chuck them in and in three days the water will be bleached, the mosquitoes dead. You might be able to see to the bottom and have a better idea if the spot is worth detecting. With chlorinated water, you can take a swim without worrying about catching something funky. Besides, summers coming and having your own water hole will come in handy on 90 degree days.
You can get chlorine tablets at any hardware store for near 5 bucks or less... I think.
-Henry
 

Personally I would use a gallon or 2 of bleach, like for doing laundry, that is what is used to kill bacteria in well water!

As for the pipes that you found, my grandfathers farm house was moved 200 yards downhill from the spring house back in 48' with 6 teams of horses, 2 pullin and 4 holdin it back.... then they used lead pipe and it was I believe about 1 1/2" to the house, I replaced it in 71' with plastic cause I didn't have any pressure, when I dug it up you couldn't have gotten a pencil lead through the corrosion in the pipe.

Sounds like a real interesting site you have there, looking forward to seeing any progress you make there!
 

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