f1addict
Active Member
After reading that the road to my favorite place was on the verge of opening (it closes for the winter due to snow) I decided to make the almost 400 mile journey back up the hill to see what things looked like. My timing was perfect as the highway that leads to the road that leads to this particular dump opened sometime during the five-and-a-half hours I spent driving up there.
You never know what you're going to find up there. This picture was taken at 7:00am on Sunday. The road that leads to the dump is located under that snow, somewhere.
...And this was three hours later.
I wasn't planning on digging there, I was just curious as to how it looked at this time of year. While the highway was open, the road that leads to and passes by the dump was definitely NOT open. In fact, the road was still buried under several feet of snow, and after about a half mile to mile hike to the dump, I found that it, too was covered in several feet of snow.
This is a view of the dump site as it appeared on Monday morning. It's located under the shadow of the tree on the left.
This time of year the snow on the south-facing slopes melts much faster than that on any other side, so the snow was definitely thinner there, with a few patches of open ground near it, but very few. Plus, the dump itself sits in a small depression so the snow is actually deeper directly on top of the refuse pile.
As I said, my intention was not to dig here, I was just curious. In the past year I have found another dozen or so potential sites that may or may not contain anything worthwhile. For the most part, I just like looking and have never kept a bottle or can that I found for myself, they've all been given to someone else.
Speaking of cans, that was truly the purpose of this trip. Hemihampton and I have been discussing old beer cans quite extensively over the past year and he's actually gotten me kind of excited about what they represent and their collectability. I found a potential location last year, one with a few cans strewn about and decided to go explore the area a little further.
This is an example of what remains of some of the buildings in the area.
The previous two photos are what I found last year.
And this is what I discovered over the weekend.
Most everything in the area is early to mid-30s era. I know that there are t.o.c. dumps there (probably under what appears to be a 30s site) because most of these homesteads were prospectors heading back over the mountain after failing to capitalize on the Gold Rush. Many of what remains of the old buildings dates back to the mid-to-late 19th century.
On this trip I managed to find the main dump while wandering around the desert in a sort of grid pattern. I only spent a couple hours looking but found a few cans that (compared to the cans from the now snow covered dump) were in very good condition. Most were flat-top cans, indicating that this particular location was more modern, maybe 40s or 50s at the surface, but there were a few cone-tops on the surface as well so who knows. I found a couple bottles while I was there. I'm only learning to date these things, but I'm guessing they're fairly modern. Still neat to find, though.
These are the bottles. From left to right, probably a whiskey in a "Federal Law" flask, a little Parke-Davis med bottle, what looks like a face creme jar labled "Woodbury" on the bottom, and another small bottle embossed "Fitch".
Here's the can group that I brought home for Hemihampton. These were the best examples I found in my short time there.
An Acme flat-top.
This is an Eastside cone-top. The back side is crushed.
and here are two shots of an Eastside flat-top.
One problem I found is that old cans are apparently a cozy place for scorpions to spend their days. When I discovered that I decided that I would not risk getting stung and closed up shop until I'm better prepared to minimize the risk of getting stung. These are the little scorpions, maybe an inch and a half or two inches long and my understanding is that they are more dangerous than the big ones. I wasn't going to risk it.
You never know what you're going to find up there. This picture was taken at 7:00am on Sunday. The road that leads to the dump is located under that snow, somewhere.
...And this was three hours later.
I wasn't planning on digging there, I was just curious as to how it looked at this time of year. While the highway was open, the road that leads to and passes by the dump was definitely NOT open. In fact, the road was still buried under several feet of snow, and after about a half mile to mile hike to the dump, I found that it, too was covered in several feet of snow.
This is a view of the dump site as it appeared on Monday morning. It's located under the shadow of the tree on the left.
This time of year the snow on the south-facing slopes melts much faster than that on any other side, so the snow was definitely thinner there, with a few patches of open ground near it, but very few. Plus, the dump itself sits in a small depression so the snow is actually deeper directly on top of the refuse pile.
As I said, my intention was not to dig here, I was just curious. In the past year I have found another dozen or so potential sites that may or may not contain anything worthwhile. For the most part, I just like looking and have never kept a bottle or can that I found for myself, they've all been given to someone else.
Speaking of cans, that was truly the purpose of this trip. Hemihampton and I have been discussing old beer cans quite extensively over the past year and he's actually gotten me kind of excited about what they represent and their collectability. I found a potential location last year, one with a few cans strewn about and decided to go explore the area a little further.
This is an example of what remains of some of the buildings in the area.
The previous two photos are what I found last year.
And this is what I discovered over the weekend.
Most everything in the area is early to mid-30s era. I know that there are t.o.c. dumps there (probably under what appears to be a 30s site) because most of these homesteads were prospectors heading back over the mountain after failing to capitalize on the Gold Rush. Many of what remains of the old buildings dates back to the mid-to-late 19th century.
On this trip I managed to find the main dump while wandering around the desert in a sort of grid pattern. I only spent a couple hours looking but found a few cans that (compared to the cans from the now snow covered dump) were in very good condition. Most were flat-top cans, indicating that this particular location was more modern, maybe 40s or 50s at the surface, but there were a few cone-tops on the surface as well so who knows. I found a couple bottles while I was there. I'm only learning to date these things, but I'm guessing they're fairly modern. Still neat to find, though.
These are the bottles. From left to right, probably a whiskey in a "Federal Law" flask, a little Parke-Davis med bottle, what looks like a face creme jar labled "Woodbury" on the bottom, and another small bottle embossed "Fitch".
Here's the can group that I brought home for Hemihampton. These were the best examples I found in my short time there.
An Acme flat-top.
This is an Eastside cone-top. The back side is crushed.
and here are two shots of an Eastside flat-top.
One problem I found is that old cans are apparently a cozy place for scorpions to spend their days. When I discovered that I decided that I would not risk getting stung and closed up shop until I'm better prepared to minimize the risk of getting stung. These are the little scorpions, maybe an inch and a half or two inches long and my understanding is that they are more dangerous than the big ones. I wasn't going to risk it.
] Thanks for the update, Much Appreciated. LEON.
