Public or private?

[JGUIS]

Let's hear from you seasoned veterans on this one. If you had to choose, which would you pick? A public dump which has been picked at over the years, and was moved around by, and run over by equipment. Or a farm or house dump, that may have been set on fire a time or 2, but otherwise has been left alone for a hundred years. See, I have a four acre city dump dating from the 30's back, but everything found while scouting was broken, and the layer I hit on a hillside is only around a foot deep. I do need to hit some other areas out there, but it's on top of a hill? The houses and farms I found (5 total) are in the middle of nowhere, and date to the 1800's. Two are still standing(barely) and the others are either collapsed, or foundations. The 2 standing have obvious low spots behind them, but I could only top hunt last time I was there. I have too much to keep me busy this summer, so I'm trying to decide where to concentrate my effort. Thanks in advance.
Josh

 

[southern Maine diver]

Hey Josh...

Good question... I'm not a digger, I'm a diver and I do things differently, but if I had my "druthers" I would choose a quiet, out of the way place.. a quiet place where you could become one with the bottles... where you could put your ear to the ground and listen to them calling you...[8|]

A bit strange, I know... but really, the out of the way places would make for a more enjoyable dig. Out of the public eye... nobody coming up and asking you what you're doing... not drawing much attention... I'd go for the small dumps, farms, privy's but this is from a diver, not a digger. Underwater, I'm always by myself... no one looking over my shoulder... no posted signs... no cops... quiet, peaceful, relaxing.. no rush... very enjoyable.[]

Wayne

 

[jerseybones]

Josh, Wayne is right! Take it from a well seasoned digger and diver. Nothing like the peace and quiet of the deep woods or the dark waters...but Wayne don't go tellin everybody, pretty soon it will be wall to wall divers out there!.(Just kiddin.) I'm new to the forum but not to digging and diving for bottles. Really enjoy seeing all your dive treasures. Will post some from down here in N.J. when I have time to get the pics together. Would be fun to get together for a dive sometime too. Ken

 

[bearswede]

Don't give up on that four acre dump, tho... There's still stuff there... Look around the bases of trees for pockets of bottles that were missed...


Ron

 

[Caretaker maine]

Josh, I have dug both types of them, and dug nice stuff from both, but I agree with all, don't give up on the town dump, might be a place if it's close to hit for a hour or two, but those farm dumps are quiet and you seem to fall back into the old age when you start pulling old bottles out of the ground, and you can leave your hole and know nobody is going to dig it, I'm not a seasoned veteran but I like to dig bottles, I say enjoy the country, it being devoped quickly[]

 

[Mainepontil]

I love the farm dumps but it seems like most of them have been dug, especially the ones which are visable. You need to find the buried ones with no sign of dump at the surface, that is where you will get the goods. Use a metal detector or probe.

If it were me I would dig several deep test pits in the big dump to check for undug layers. You are much more likely to find some rare bottles there. The large town dumps always have a great range of artifacts. Over the last 3 years that's all I've focused on, the larger dumps. It has paid off big time, my basement is FULL of bottles.

Joel

 

[JGUIS]

The dump is close, but I think I'm missing the sweet spot. You can check out the paper embosser I found there in unexpected finds thread. I found it and a Armand cold cream rouge brass container which cleaned up nice. I cant find much online about either one of them. Seems like the spot I hit in the dump is 30's trash, but I cant figure out where they started the dumping. I'm also considering some privy digging, but not sure of the luck here in Ohio. The original part of my house was built in 1906, and I've heard that there was one in my backyard somewhere. There's no low spots to speak of, and I've already run a metal detector all over it. There are also a couple ghost towns in my county, mining towns that disappeared. The only thing that worries me about them is the fact that there are also several missing cemeteries around them. As much as I would like to verify a missing cemetery, I'd hate to do it 6' underground with a shovel in my hand. About probing, I've tried to make it work out for me, but it hasn't so far. Probing at the dump, which is about 1/4 glass, 3/4 dirt, yielded far too many falsies. The house yard I probed the other day was filled with rocks, and hard to even sink it without hitting one. Maybe someone with some experience will come to Perry county one day and show me how it's done, until then, I'll have to settle for the ones that most of you throw away.[&o]
Josh

 

[JGUIS]

Here's a few things I found at both places. The house was surface hunting only.

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[JGUIS]

I know, check out the photographing bottles forum. I will, right after

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[JGUIS]

I visit the cleaning bottles forum. I just need some better brushes.[8D]

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