Where does trucked in dirt come from?
johny mc. said:
Seriously- think about it- that land that is now suburbia was once a corn field-was once a plain-was once a ....
Good Point there.? ?I posted a reply to another thread that might have gotten kind of lost.? This might not be the best place for it either as it is not along the lines of the original topic but it does go with what you said.?
In addition to the past history of a piece of land, and who might have passed accross it in previous times... there is also the issue of where did the components of the landscape come from when it was developed.?
Take some developments in my area.? I will use one that used to be a large convent.? ?They had many acres of land and closed doors and sold the land to a developer who leveled all the original buildings.? ?They graded the entire property and erected a HUGE pile of dirt on one end of the land.? ?Then, started building condos on the other end.? As has been the case with other developments I have seen, they will probably use that mountain of soil,? Much of it highly desireable top soil. to landscape around the new structures.? Grade the land and pitch water away, build burms for privacy and visual interest....? ?Then, as they start to develop the area where the mountain currently exists, where will they take that?? ? Eventually, it all has to either be redistributed over the property, or trucked off site.? Meaning, what ever treasure was on that site, might find itself to somewhere else entirely.?
Some may be taken to local landfills where it will be used to cover the compacted garbage.? Probably the lesser valuable stuff.? ?But, what about the best top soil.? Perhaps the very soil that contains the best jewelry and coins.? ? ?
The post I read that had me thinking of this had to do with a woman finding an old class ring in her garden.? No idea how it got there.? She located the original owner who couldn't understand it either.? I assume they had never known eachother and the owner had never been in the area where the ring was found.? That would leave one strong possibility.? ?The ring may have been lost somewhere else, scooped up in some soil from a construction site and then sold and deposited in the other womans garden, in a load of soil brought in by a landscaper or developer.
We have had such projects done in our yard.? ?Building an addition on the house, filling and sodding over an old rose garden that used to be the central focal point of the yard when we moved in,? We had a neighbor put in a pool.? That caused enormous amounts of water to shed out of their yard into an orchard behind us.? The water would then come under the fence and flood our yard and was threatening our basement and foundation.? We then built up our garden to keep water from the other peoples yard from getting to our yard We also had to grade our yard away from the house....? ? ?They bring dump trucks full of dirt in.? My question, where does that come from.? ? Maybe someone elses yard or from a construction site where soil was graded away for development or some other improvement.? ?
So, even if you are in a brand new neighborhood, or one of little history, you might not want to ignore the possibilities.? Our house was built in the 50s and the subdivision was laid out in the 20s.? I just looked online for maps, following a link posted last night, and the service said they only had maps dating to 1926, for our area.? This area was, as I understand, farm land before that and maybe wilderness before that.? ?The area, not quite to our neighborhood, was once Potowatami land.? up until, almost 1840.? ?So, I wouldn't expect to find much here.? But, when I have gone out with my detector,? I have hit on many targets in our lawn.? I haven't dug them because it has been too dry lately.? Don't want to kill the grass.? Now it has been raining a lot and is too wet.? But, I do intend to dig some of those targets.? Most register as coins or rings.? They are probably aluminum roofing nails or something.? But, you never know.? I especially intend to check what was once the rose garden.? We have lived here since 1964 and any coins, that might have been lost out there. would probably be older than that.? ?Certainly a lot of chance for silver coins. Ie, pre-1964 Quarters, dimes....? I just learned that, while away in college, my brothers took my old detector and found a pruning clippers in the middle of the yard.? Probably lost when it was a rose garden out there.? ?Who knows what else the previous owners could have lost or what might have been brough in when we resodded our yard and they had to fill with trucked in dirt.?
