Secret tips to find old TOWN dumps

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Arob

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Hello again everyone - its me Arob from Canada

As you all know I have blog named Dumpdiggers in which I record evidence of my own passion fopr antiques and collectible bottles and pottery as I interview other experts, profile cool relics and occassionaly describe my own adventures out digging dumps.

Yesterday I posted an ariticle i wrote entitled How To Find Old Dumps and its really got people talking today - I'm glad I deliberately made it a serial by adding the #1 behind the title. Now of course I hope to share more wisdom here in this 'blog strand' but alas i only have so much knowledge to give... right now.

And that is what brings me to the subject of this post - does anyone else here feel like sharing their 'tried, tested and true' ideas with me and with others here in this thread?

What tips or 'empiric wisdom' could you personally donate to neophytes seeking their hometown's first dump - answer me 'How do you go about finding old dumps?'
 

rlo

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what a fantastic site! I have been wondering how to find the old dump in a town close by. It was a boom town, founded in 1804, but now is barely surviving. I will follow your suggestions. thanx for the site!
 

myersdiggers1998

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what we like to do is walk creek or river beds,look for shards of glass,chunks of metal,or an ash layer. sometimes its large chunks of concrete or bolders that hide a good digging spot. also google earth is a good way to zoom in on a good dig.[&:]
 

idigjars

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Hi Rob, I was just talking to Tim from Canada and he told me about your site. Thanks for the link. Best regards Paul
 

Arob

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Yes I don't know where I'd be without Tim.
I guess I'd out looking for collectibles in antique stores I suppose... I'd probably have a lovely connection of ketchup bottles.
myersdiggers1998 nice tip - a nature walk along a creek where you look for anything but nature in the soil of the shoreline - good one. Come on everyone else... what else could give away an old town dump? what other clues? tips? wisdom? anything
 

tigue710

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old guys are always a good start...

they are all different I can tell you that, but most importantly no matter where you live you gotta find the places that were considered bad land... were no one wanted to build, or could not build... another tip is there never seems to be just one... every 1/2 mile of town will have a different dumping area... a town with a population of 10,000 at the turn of the century will usually have at least 5 dumps, all the same period, and 5 is on the low end... one other thing, dont waste your time on the poor side town unless your getting older then 1890... go for the rich guy dumps if digging t.o.c.
 

sunrunner

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all this techniques are good ones,and iv used all of them to grate success, but most of thus dumps have been dug out for a wile,now i use maps and sanatation department records, old news paper articles on city cleanups may tell u were thay had a dump in thate town, the town consel minits were some time recorded and were printed in the paper,iv always have found,somewere in thus minits,who thay gave the contracit for haulling awy the garbage to and were thay dump it. also a lot of environmental agencies now post epa research map of old land fills granted some a marked as supper fund sites , but iv found a few land fill from the 20s and 30s thate mite be ok, if you can get to them.( a lot are under parks and golf couses ).alos two good books garbage in the citys and street cleaning and the disposal of acitys wastes by george waring. sunra.
 

Arob

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I updated the blog to include #2, and #3 in the series. The last post deals with farm dumps. I describe how they occur, what to look for, and what to expect when digging them. I tried to incorporate all the great information you guys have been leaving here - if you dont see your wisodm transcribed there its beacuse I'm saving it for a post more directly related to the other types of dumps. But seriously thanks again. And I linked the second post in the series right to this discussion in this forum.
 

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