New here and looking for any new spots in Houston for digging

[cabmccord14]

Any ideas?

 

[Newtothiss]

Can't help ya..

Diggers are like fisherman, we don't just run our mouths about the spots (or even potential spots).

I will say this, RESEARCH! RESEARCH! RESEARCH!
Go over plat maps, old maps, aerials, etc..

Get creative and talk to old folks that have lived in the area for a long while.
Walk creeks, find old roads and homesteads.

It is honestly a ton of work.
And actually digging can be brutal (in a good way kinda).

Best of luck!

There are some phenomenally insightful, knowledgeable and helpful folks on here.

 

[willong]

Any ideas?

Welcome to the forum!

If you are not too shy and can handle rejection when asking people for permission to dig in their yards, you might be a candidate for privy digging. If that sounds like your cup of tea--it is not mine--begin by pouring over Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for old Houston or other towns in your region. Compare the neighborhoods on those early maps to recent satellite imagery to see if there exists any possibility that you could probe out location of turn-of-the-20th-century outhouse pits. Watching a few videos posted to YouTube by "Below The Plains" channel will give you some insight into the process--I recommend beginning with their earliest productions as their later episodes feature more of the in-pit extraction and less of the exploratory grid layout and probing work that goes into locating the pits. Earlier episodes also showed zoom into the Sanborn maps that faded through into Google Earth view of same location.

Aside from knocking on doors to seek permission, the process is probably more challenging to locate TOC dumps that one can dig these days. There is a family of bottle diggers who regularly post videos on YouTube. The patriarch of the family has been digging antique bottles for more than forty years. Awhile back, they actually purchased a house and property because the place was built on an old landfill--that should give you some idea of your challenge if you seek "new spots" to dig for handmade bottles. If your interest is later 20th century stuff like ACL soda bottles, prospects are probably brighter.

Good luck.

 

[hemihampton]

Welcome to the forum!

If you are not too shy and can handle rejection when asking people for permission to dig in their yards, you might be a candidate for privy digging. If that sounds like your cup of tea--it is not mine--begin by pouring over Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for old Houston or other towns in your region. Compare the neighborhoods on those early maps to recent satellite imagery to see if there exists any possibility that you could probe out location of turn-of-the-20th-century outhouse pits. Watching a few videos posted to YouTube by "Below The Plains" channel will give you some insight into the process--I recommend beginning with their earliest productions as their later episodes feature more of the in-pit extraction and less of the exploratory grid layout and probing work that goes into locating the pits. Earlier episodes also showed zoom into the Sanborn maps that faded through into Google Earth view of same location.

Aside from knocking on doors to seek permission, the process is probably more challenging to locate TOC dumps that one can dig these days. There is a family of bottle diggers who regularly post videos on YouTube. The patriarch of the family has been digging antique bottles for more than forty years. Awhile back, they actually purchased a house and property because the place was built on an old landfill--that should give you some idea of your challenge if you seek "new spots" to dig for handmade bottles. If your interest is later 20th century stuff like ACL soda bottles, prospects are probably brighter.

Good luck.

Thats sounds like Digger Dave in Indiana?

 

[willong]

Thats sounds like Digger Dave in Indiana?

Bingo!