bottle dump

[LuckyDragon]

how do you locate a an old bottle dump?

[creeper71]

look for old broken bottles an crock peices an those enameled pee pans... when you see this stuff on the ground kick the dirt around to see if you see whole or broken bottles... if so keep digging until you find no more glass or bottles..or til the ground changes colors....

[swizzle]

I've found a few following stone walls over steep banks and in steep ravines or little niches off of creeks. Walk creeks until you see some shards and try to follow the shard trail upstream. A metal detector or a bottle probe would be helpful there. Keep looking and asking and you'll find something to dig sooner or later. Swiz

[Newt]

1.Find an old map of the town your looking to hunt(as new as 1930's)-some of these
have old dumps marked.
2.Find where the poorer part of town was and look for dead-end streets.
3.People tended drive to these areas and do the Out-of-sight,out of mind dumping.
4.Look and see where the current dump is. Most of the dumps have older dumps nearby.
5.I wouldn't dig anything that has bottles with screw tops.
6.The best dumps I've dug were pre-1906.
7.Sometimes you'll find dumps just after this period, they can have a good mixture of screw tops and pre-machine too.
8.Find some old timers and ask where the old dump was.
9.Most important is the research and TIME(unless your lucky!).

Everything I've listed here is for finding TOWN dumps. There were plenty of dumping areas that will never be found
because some used to dump down hillsides and ravines.

Good luck!
Newt

[Gonehunting]

old homesites and look for the privys. I have found quite a few bottles along with dishes and other things in the bottom of them..Mostly laundrum. Privys are usually north and east of a house. dumps are also near them usually in a ditch to the north of the house, alot of the towns in Indian territory had bottle works companies. My hometown did and I found alot nearby in the ground, you never know...maybe this helps.... GH

[Newt]

1.Find an old map of the town your looking to hunt(as new as 1930's)-some of these
have old dumps marked.
2.Find where the poorer part of town was and look for dead-end streets.
3.People tended drive to these areas and do the Out-of-sight,out of mind dumping.
4.Look and see where the current dump is. Most of the dumps have older dumps nearby.
5.I wouldn't dig anything that has bottles with screw tops.
6.The best dumps I've dug were pre-1906.
7.Sometimes you'll find dumps just after this period, they can have a good mixture of screw tops and pre-machine too.
8.Find some old timers and ask where the old dump was.
9.Most important is the research and TIME(unless your lucky!).

Everything I've listed here is for finding TOWN dumps. There were plenty of dumping areas that will never be found
because some used to dump down hillsides and ravines.

Good luck!
Newt

I should have said "rode".



Good points GH.

Newt

[Gonehunting]

1.Find an old map of the town your looking to hunt(as new as 1930's)-some of these
have old dumps marked.
2.Find where the poorer part of town was and look for dead-end streets.
3.People tended drive to these areas and do the Out-of-sight,out of mind dumping.
4.Look and see where the current dump is. Most of the dumps have older dumps nearby.
5.I wouldn't dig anything that has bottles with screw tops.
6.The best dumps I've dug were pre-1906.
7.Sometimes you'll find dumps just after this period, they can have a good mixture of screw tops and pre-machine too.
8.Find some old timers and ask where the old dump was.
9.Most important is the research and TIME(unless your lucky!).

Everything I've listed here is for finding TOWN dumps. There were plenty of dumping areas that will never be found
because some used to dump down hillsides and ravines.

Good luck!
Newt

I should have said "rode".



Good points GH.

Newt

thanks you too. Its funny how we take for granted the stuff we've learned in the past. good luckdragon

[gleaner1]

There are so many bottle dumps that I would say that only a very small fraction have been discovered. There are so many bottles in the ground, we have not scratched the surface. Many of the great notorious dumps in the 60's and 70's were usually found by big (or small) construction. All the old village or town dumps have been dug....easily researched and found.

The best diggins I have seen were from old village dumps dug in the late '60's, early '70's by absolutely fanatical pro's. These guys also did well asking permission to access old 1800 to 1850 homes. There are many great dumps within 200 ft of any old home. Try to find it. It wont be easy, but it's there, waiting...

I remember in Tampa Fl in the mid seventies we were driving thru a part of the city and I saw a crowd of people diggin in a area the size of maybe a couple acres, all freshly bulldozed, glass everywhere, it looked like a bonanza. l wonder if anyone here remembers that one. Another great one was in SF, not too long ago. They found a decent Bryant's megaphone worth about 60K and a damaged one.

A good dump dug around here was discovered in the '60's when they set a high voltage power line in a swampy area at the end of 4 old streets that were abandoned in the 1890's. Killer dump, pretty much dug out now.

1. Metal detect old foundation areas....not for coins....but for rusty iron. Most OLD houses have backyard dumps and they are full of iron crap.
2. Look in the woods. No grass in the woods. Rusty old cans, broken glass and broken crocks tell the tale. These are easily seen, so the competition is hot on it. Get going.
3. Newer dumps usually cover the old ones. If you see 1950's crap, 1850's stuff may be 3 or ten feet below.
4. Never expect an easy hunt. The bottles are there, but ya gotta work for 'em. Ever try to dig thru roots and rocks and crap down 3 or 4 feet? Or deeper? You will if it's a good dump.

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

I am a little behind the rest of the pack on replying to this topic, but it has been my experience to ask the "Oldtimers" in the area. These old guys and gals love to talk about the old days, and often know the location of more dumps than you can shake a shovel at. And I'm talking about the older the better, like people in their 80s and 90s. This was the case with one old dump I was directed to back in the late 1970s. I found so many cool ACL soda bottles in that dump, that I bet I could go back today and dig up more. And for anyone living in or near the state of Oregon, I will gladly give you the exact Google Earth coordinates if you are interested. I currently live in Southern California, and haven't been back to Oregon since I left there in 1995.

SODABOTTLEBOB