Searching for Dumps

[varanid]

I am reading on this site about finding old dumps. We have quite a few creeks and rivers, and I know where the old railroad bed was at, dating pre 1870. I do not have a clue where to start looking. I was thinking about going to a creek and walk near the river, keeping my eyes peeled for old bottles, old glass, pottery shards etc. I do not have a probe yet, how easy is it to find a dump by carefully observing the ground by the creek? Also how close to the creek or river are the dumps usually found? There are also some old train trestles nearby, I have noticed one guy on here digging around the trestles and finding bottles. If you were a beginner with these options where would you start and how?

 

[varanid]

I went down to a river near an old railroad bed, I walked around about an hour. I found an embossed pepsi bottle sticking partially out of the ground, I dug it out. It looks like it is after 1950, not sure of a date yet. I posted about it in the soda forum, will post pictures there tomorrow as well. I will keep slooking and maybe come across something a bit older next time.

 

[cobaltbot]

If there are cuts in the railroad bed (where they had to cut into a hill to put the tracks through) look where old houses are or were above the cuts on the hill, they sometimes used the railroad cut to dump in. Look around any huge trees and look for insulators where the lines would have been.

 

[varanid]

Thanks for the tips, I went around following trails, game trails etc today. I am just kind of trying to get a feel for things, I planned on climbing the hill to the actual railroad bed when I have more time and follow it a bit. d

 

[David Fertig]

Time. Time. Time. Walk. Look at the old maps. Talk to the old people.

You can't expect to get a deer every time you go hunting. Nor a fish when fishing. You have to dig a lot of junk to get the goodies.

Dave

 

[logueb]

Welcome to the forum. When walking the creek banks, check along the bank down to the water line. If there was a dump, there will most likely be bricks, concrete chunks, and large rocks exposed by the creek and river currents. Most early creek bank dumps were bulldozed right into the creek sometimes. That is something that would not be heard of today because of the enviroment laws. Back then it was an easy way to get rid of garbage, just push it into a creek or swamp. Good Luck and keep us posted on your finds. Buster.