Yesterday was a great day to be out in the woods looking for bottles! The first really warm day we had around here. I went with some bottle diggers from Bradford to an area a friend and I have been exploring for a several weeks. We ended up finding two or three abandon towns or smaller settlements (10 houses or so) from the late 1800's (1890 maybe). I made "mental notes" of everywhere we found bottles or glass on the surface and now, one by one we will go back there with a group and dig a bit deeper. Yesterday was such a trip.
The site we explored yesterday was the site of an early sawmill operaton that may have been from the 1880 or perhaps earlier, but then in the 1920 it was in the middle of an oil boom area, so that there is an "oil operation" right on top of what was a sawmill site and small town or settlement previously. We found several dump areas that had glass in them, but we explored an area we though was the biggest or what may have been the "town dump".
Our fist pass through the area weeks ago we found some "older stuff" just on the surface or sticking out of the side of the creek bank. But there is also some newer stuff mixed in. On our first pass we found a complte ink, a flask, and a few other older bottles that were broken, including some old medicines. Stuff that were from before t.o.c. .
But yesterday after some digging around we found stuff from t.o.c. all the way up into the 1950's! Quite a wide range if you ask me.
Yesterday there were four of us, and we had to sort through quite a lot of garbage and broken glass. It was a very rocky area, and we were digging in and around old cut stone foundations. So lots of broken stuff! And all the older bottles were broken. We didn't really get anything too old that was complte.
But we did get a lot of other stuff along with the newer bottles we did get. Among the "odd ball" stuff was oil cans, an old steel budwiser can, an old iron, a metal iron stand, two porcilin dolls, an old toy police car, lots of old tooling or machinery parts, leather boots, licence plates (one with my birth year on it!), and other stuff I can''t quite remember just yet.
One of the "best finds" of the day that we all would have loved to take home, was a newer "Dr Pepper" pop bottle that was from Kane Pa. It was a real heavy glass, and the letters were inlayed instead of raised.
The iron stand was really cool also! As was my "tractor" plate from 1955, the year I was born. We found a bunch of cool stuff, and maybe I'll remember more later!
Oh, and old tea pot from england that was broken.
Here is what I took home:
The site we explored yesterday was the site of an early sawmill operaton that may have been from the 1880 or perhaps earlier, but then in the 1920 it was in the middle of an oil boom area, so that there is an "oil operation" right on top of what was a sawmill site and small town or settlement previously. We found several dump areas that had glass in them, but we explored an area we though was the biggest or what may have been the "town dump".
Our fist pass through the area weeks ago we found some "older stuff" just on the surface or sticking out of the side of the creek bank. But there is also some newer stuff mixed in. On our first pass we found a complte ink, a flask, and a few other older bottles that were broken, including some old medicines. Stuff that were from before t.o.c. .
But yesterday after some digging around we found stuff from t.o.c. all the way up into the 1950's! Quite a wide range if you ask me.
Yesterday there were four of us, and we had to sort through quite a lot of garbage and broken glass. It was a very rocky area, and we were digging in and around old cut stone foundations. So lots of broken stuff! And all the older bottles were broken. We didn't really get anything too old that was complte.
But we did get a lot of other stuff along with the newer bottles we did get. Among the "odd ball" stuff was oil cans, an old steel budwiser can, an old iron, a metal iron stand, two porcilin dolls, an old toy police car, lots of old tooling or machinery parts, leather boots, licence plates (one with my birth year on it!), and other stuff I can''t quite remember just yet.
One of the "best finds" of the day that we all would have loved to take home, was a newer "Dr Pepper" pop bottle that was from Kane Pa. It was a real heavy glass, and the letters were inlayed instead of raised.
The iron stand was really cool also! As was my "tractor" plate from 1955, the year I was born. We found a bunch of cool stuff, and maybe I'll remember more later!
Oh, and old tea pot from england that was broken.
Here is what I took home:
