question about bottle digging???

[lancemxt]

i have a couple questions on bottle pits because i have a few that i might go back to dig... there is one by my old house that me and my brother went to dig last year and we found alot of bottles and some relics but we never brought our detectors there so I'm going to go scan over it in the morning. but what i wanted to ask is one day me and my brother went to detect one of out main spots in the woods it was a celler hole and after detecting it till all you could hear was threshold we decided to go look around for the bottle pit because we knew that there had to be one around. after finally locating where the pit was we started to dig. upon digging the pit there were many bottles until we got about 5 feet down and the hole was all lined with slate rock all the way down in a circle kind of looked like a well but that was just the way the pit was set up. but after getting about 5 feet we couldn't find anymore bottles and there was like bark unearthing and we decided we had enough for the day. the question is should we go back and start digging it deeper we just couldn't see how there was no more bottles and the ones we were digging we fairly new (prolly 30's or 40's) is there more another thing i am going to mention is the stuff we found at the celler hole was old. there was civil war era buttons but the oldest coin was a 1899 Indian. my best guess is that the house was built in the late 1890's or early 1900's. if anyone with experience on digging bottle pits has ran into bark or wood in the hole then let me know...thanx for checking out the post. HH lance

 

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[acevillav]

I dug a pit once and ran into a similar situation. .I would get some graph paper and lay out a grid. of the area. Then run strings/stakes. This way you will be able to track your finds and narrow your search. Then dig a few test pits or try a metal probe to see if it hits anything deeper. I did not find anymore stuff but better to make sure. Check the area for cache sites. IE old walls , large trees, irregular features on the property. Try looking in your library's old records you may find some other info about the place. Good luck and keep us posted. Treasure awaits

Ace Villav

 

[lancemxt]

thanks for the advice ace... HH lance'

 

[lonewolfe]

Be careful digging in the pit you've already dug,

it sounds like the "privy" and you've hit the "cap" and if you break thru it, you could fall into a 20 ft hole,

a lot of them were capped of with wood tops,

I would certainly keep digging & removing the wood to see if it is a deep privy were older bottles may be,

just be careful, and use common sense,

also,

as someone above said,

dig some 'test pits' to see if you can locate other dumps, and or privy's on the site,

HH and good luck,

keep us posted,

Lonewolfe

 

[lancemxt]

thanks lonewolf you may have just help save my life because me and my older brother were planning on taking a visit there soon... i know that there has to be more. there should be at least. it is an odd pit though because it is all lined with this slate rock shaped like a water well but it is the bottle pit because the water well is right outside the celler hole and it still has a water in it after all these years. thanks for the heads up lonewolf.

and by the way nice gold coin find, I'm on my way to finding one soon if i keep finding productive spots but its getting ruff... HH and take care lance'

 

[allen]

good luck and be careful. keep on digging !!!

 

[lonewolfe]

thanks lonewolf you may have just help save my life because me and my older brother were planning on taking a visit there soon... i know that there has to be more. there should be at least.? it is an odd pit though because it is all lined with this slate rock shaped like a water well but it is the bottle pit because the water well is right outside the celler hole and it still has a water in it after all these years.? thanks for the heads up lonewolf.

and by the way nice gold coin find, I'm on my way to finding one soon if i keep finding productive spots but its getting ruff... HH and take care lance'

It's lined with rock/slate because it's more than likely a "privy",

not all privy's were just a hole dug in the ground with an out house sitting over it (that was the cheap/easy way out) and usually on a farm.

Some of the better longer lasting deeper privy's are lined with wood, rock, slate, etc. etc. and can be round, square, rectangle, etc. and at the end of their life, were filled in with trash, bottles, etc. and then capped off with a wood cap, steel or slate/stone cap, etc. They can also be from around 4ft deep to 20 ft or more.

HH, be careful, keep us updated, and good luck!

Lonewolfe

 

[lancemxt]

thanks again lonewolf so do you think that if we decide to go back we should continue to dig to see if there is anything under the wood?? the hole is lined in slate rock in a circle. how thick would the wood be? and how can i break through it without breaking my neck when i hit the bottom of the hole? lol just kidding but i do need some way of breaking through the wood barrier. any ideas HH lance'

 

[omnicognic]

Be careful, and keep us posted! this hole sounds like it has great potential!

 

[lonewolfe]

thanks again lonewolf so do you think that if we decide to go back we should continue to dig to see if there is anything under the wood the hole is lined in slate rock in a circle.? how thick would the wood be?? and how can i break through it without breaking my neck when i hit the bottom of the hole? lol just kidding but i do need some way of breaking through the wood barrier. any ideas? HH lance'

I'd get a "probing rod" of some sort,

you can buy them or make one,

T handle 3/8 inch stainless steel 5.5 ft long or so (not too long) otherwise you'll not be able to get any pressure to push it into the ground,

push it through the wood, and see if you can feel it hit solid matter,

if so, dig more because the likelyhood of more bottles/etc. is good,

if not,
walk the property looking for depressions in the ground that give clues to other dumps/privy's and probe those,

if you hit solid matter in any of them,

dig test pits 2 to 4 ft deep to see what you can find,

usually where there's one privy/dump, there's more because they only lasted 10yrs or so, then new ones were dug,

if you can locate where the 1st one/s are/were,

that's where you'll find the "old stuff".

Never "assume" anything while digging privy's,

it can be/is dangerous,

always have a 2nd person with you,

always dig outwards & around it/them a few ft & always have ropes attached to you/the person in the hole, so incase it caves in, you are safe, and can get out,

always test the depth of them, sometimes they are not solid, and can give way to falling,

take caution, and be safe,

keep us updated,

HH

Lonewolfe

 

[lancemxt]

hey guys. me and my brother ended up going to the bottle pit on Saturday but we got beat by the rain. we arrived at the celler hole and decided to go over the land with a little hunt because we let the site sit for a wile now and we thought that something may have turned up. as we were detecting for a about 30-45 mins we decided to go look for the pit in the over growin' brush and then all hell broke loose and the rain just started to back us away from the pit and we didn't get any digging in. but i would like to maybe try and go again one day here in the summer sorry for the upset if i come across a trip out there i will let you all know... hh lance'