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All Forums >> [Bottle Forums] >> Digging and Finding >> Probing a canal?

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Probing a canal? - 12/30/2003 7:11:26 PM    Redtailx   Posts: 8 Joined: 10/22/2003 From: Philadelphia Status: offline I live in Phila. and I'ld like to try to search for Bottles in a canal that was built in the early 1800's. It's about a mile long and about 20' wide and I'd say about 6' deep with not much bank access. There are old mills all along the canal. I'm thinking it should be a prime bottle spot, but I'm not quite sure how to aproach it. I have a feeling the mud will be too soft to support My weight. I do have a Kayak that I could work out of. Any suggestions? Post #: 1

RE: Probing a canal? - 12/30/2003 8:04:31 PM    Pontiled   Posts: 411 Joined: 8/27/2003 Status: offline Definitely bring the kayak. Even if the sediment looks dry and hard enough to support you, don't rely on it. By the way, be careful that this canal isn't Park property. Good luck and keep us informed. _____________________________ Mike Russell Author of: The Collector's Guide to Civil War Period Bottles and Jars -- Third Edition (in reply to Redtailx) Post #: 2

RE: Probing a canal? - 12/30/2003 9:04:51 PM    Harry Pristis   Posts: 495 Joined: 7/24/2003 From: Northcentral Florida Status: offline What an interesting challenge! Your description of the depth of 6 feet is a little vague. Do you mean that it is 6' from the land surface to the hard bottom or 6' of water to an unknown bottom? Unless there is no current through the canal, it certainly will have sludge on the bottom from nearly 200 years of algae blooms -- nasty, stinky stuff. If there is a current, there may be less sediment to deal with. I imagine that there is plenty of trash, perhaps some industrial toxins like PCBs which persist in river sediments. The first thing to do is test the bottom. How deep, how hard, are there deeper holes. You can take bottom samples, if desired, with a length of thin-wall PVC pipe. You can do that from the bank with two 10' lengths secured together with a small, self-tapping screw or two. When you see what's on the bottom, it may guide your approach. If the bottom is not too nasty, and the absolute depth (water surface to hard bottom) is 4 feet or so, you may decide to jump in and grub with a rake. Do not wear chest waders to do this; if you step in a hole, the waders can fill with water and you could drown. Use a wet-suit (or even a dry-suit in the winter). If the absolute water depth is 6 feet, or so, and the bottom is not too nasty, you'll have to scuba-dive the canal. If you don't want to do that, keep your eye on the water level throughout the year to see if the depth ever is such that you can wade. If the bottom is too nasty or too deep, you will have to work from the surface. It would be difficult to work from a kayak, but a small, aluminum john-boat might give you enough stability. You could consider sampling the bottom with clam-forks to see what comes up. You could build your own dredge to pull across the bottom (steel frame, wire mesh, electric winch on your SUV). You could build a long-handled dredge to rake the bottom. There's a project for your winter months! Good luck! Let us hear how it goes. ---------------Harry Pristis < Message edited by Harry Pristis -- 12/30/2003 11:06:35 PM > _____________________________ ______________________________________________ Visit The Demijohn Page at: http://members.aol.com/pristis/index.html (in reply to Redtailx) Post #: 3

RE: Probing a canal? - 12/30/2003 9:11:13 PM    Pontiled   Posts: 411 Joined: 8/27/2003 Status: offline I just thought he would want to keep his expenses down, but play it safe. Do what Harry says if you can afford it and if you think it's worth the expense. _____________________________ Mike Russell Author of: The Collector's Guide to Civil War Period Bottles and Jars -- Third Edition (in reply to Redtailx) Post #: 4

RE: Probing a canal? - 12/30/2003 11:55:28 PM    IRISH   Posts: 1238 Joined: 11/23/2002 From: cockatoo Australia Status: offline As Harry wrote do NOT use any sort of waders, the best way to find out anything about it is to put on a wet-suit without a lead belt (so you will not sink out of sight ) and get in. The best way to find bottles is with a long probe and pull them up with your feet. Don't worry about the nastyness of the bottom it can't be any worse than the dig showen on oz-riley's web site (western districts creek dig), that was in an old canal that had all sorts of weird stuff dumped in it plus 130 years of stagnating (it takes about a week to get the smell off ) we are both still alive so far ,so you will be ok . (in reply to Redtailx) Post #: 5

RE: Probing a canal? - 12/31/2003 10:16:20 AM    Redtailx   Posts: 8 Joined: 10/22/2003 From: Philadelphia Status: offline Thanks for the input, it's a great help. The canal is stagnant and has been for quite some time, also that 6' is just a guestimate of how deep the suface of the soft muck is. Im sure it's going to vary over the mile stretch. Thanks for the heads up on not using the chest waders, that was going through my mind also. Any tips on probing? sound or feel between rock/stone and glass? thanks again _____________________________ }>X))))(@> (in reply to Redtailx) Post #: 6

RE: Probing a canal? - 1/1/2004 5:41:49 AM    IRISH   Posts: 1238 Joined: 11/23/2002 From: cockatoo Australia Status: offline The best (only) way to learn the different sound between rocks and glass is just getting out there and probing, after a while you will get to tell mostly and won't need to dig up rocks (although I still pull up the odd bit of Quartz etc.). Good luck and don't forget to tell us all what you find. (in reply to Redtailx) Post #: 7

RE: Probing a canal? - 1/6/2004 8:30:32 PM    Redtailx   Posts: 8 Joined: 10/22/2003 From: Philadelphia Status: offline Bummer, as it turns out the canal is a park system and it's got all kind of regs against swimming, fishing, wadeing, bla, bla, bla. so it looks like a no go . thier's been some talk of dredging the hole system, so maybe I can get my way in, when they dredge. In the mean time I'm looking for other canals that have since been for gotten. (in reply to Redtailx) Post #: 8

RE: Probing a canal? - 1/6/2004 11:37:47 PM    Pontiled   Posts: 411 Joined: 8/27/2003 Status: offline That's why I had asked about whether or not it's Park Property. I could tell you about the park property all around the Washington, D.C., area, but it's patrolled and I've heard of a few fellows who really got the screws put to them. I knew one fellow who dug one site for awhile (he's passed on now). He was pulling out a lot of early material (1860's to about the early 1880's). You should have seen what he found! He went to the site to dig more and saw 2 fellows being put into a Park Police cruiser who had tried to dig where he had been. _____________________________ Mike Russell Author of: The Collector's Guide to Civil War Period Bottles and Jars -- Third Edition (in reply to Redtailx) Post #: 9

RE: Probing a canal? - 1/7/2004 12:13:00 AM    Harry Pristis   Posts: 495 Joined: 7/24/2003 From: Northcentral Florida Status: offline So, let the state do the dredging for you. It will be a whole lot easier to find bottles in the sludge that's been dug up. If you are lucky, you can follow one of the trucks to the dumpsite which is not likely to be on park property. Some bottle-hunters may be raking through the newly-dumped muck every evening after work. Be bold and resourceful (but not on federal land). -----------Harry Pristis _____________________________ ______________________________________________ Visit The Demijohn Page at: http://members.aol.com/pristis/index.html (in reply to Redtailx) Post #: 10

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