Questions about digging for bottles

[dapperandy]

I recently posted two bottles in here that I found in a creek that runs about a half mile long. One, a 1938 O-I soda bottle and a 1945 O-I ketchup bottle.

There is stuff dumped throughout pretty much the whole stretch of creek, broken pieces of bottle can been seen, tires, metal stuff, etc. etc. In some spots, more concentrated than others. A blend of older stuff and relatively new. Among other things I found an old sterling silver spoon. All of these were surface finds.

What bugs me is there might be plenty of great bottles still intact hidden with all the pieces and shards I have found.

If I decided to start digging, I'm not even sure where to start. Any tips on locating the best spots?

Also, any tools that are helpful or just use a simple shovel?

Any other tips would be appreciated.

[sodetraveler]

Shovels have the unfortunate tendency of breaking bottles

If you plan on digging on the sloping stream banks, I would recommend a potato fork. This looks just like a pitch fork except that the tines are bent at 90 degrees to make more it like a rake. I like to use a full size potato fork with the handle cut short. By "short" I mean that I generally cut about a foot off. This makes it easier to carry through the jungles in Hawaii, but you may preffer to leave the handle alone.

If you are digging on flat ground you will probably want to risk using a shovel until you find concentrations of glass, bottles or whatever. At that point you'll want to use a probe for digging - or at least something more delicate than the shovel!

Where to dig? Good question! Even if I was there looking at the creek I wouldn't know for sure. If you're serious about bottlin and you have the place to yourself, dig it all! Start at the bottom and work up slope so that you don't have to go back later and dig through your own duff pile to get at the rest of the dump.

Have fun and good luck!

ST

[bottles10]

Shovel ,3 or 4 prong potato rake, And a good pair of leather gloves Work gloves, A long screwdriver comes in handy to for probing.Be fore you start look for broken cork top bottles Art deco pop bottles and embossed Milk bottles Also pieces of jugs or pottery but in a stream that stuff gets washed down river so it can really be mixed up. Also look for Marbles Clay,stone or glass. Good luck

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

dapper ~

I once encountered a similar dumping area years ago in Oregon. After several return visits and some experimental digs and general poking around, I discovered that most of the soda bottles I was looking for were on the lowest part of the site. I guess most of them either rolled downhill to begin with, or else gravity migrated there over time. And then after determining that, and wanting to do as little "dirt" digging as possible, I started by moving as much of the larger surface stuff by hand that I could until I got down to the bottom of the pile. Not suprisingly, most of the bottles I found were under everything else and were abundant and in pretty goood shape.



I suspect you will likely find bottles almost anywhere along the line, but I recommend my "bottom of the embankment" approach. The worse that can happen is you will fall in the creek like I did one day ... but I suppose that's the nature of the beast.

Oh yeah, the four prong digging rakes are great. Just hook it over the edges of those old tires and give it a yank! Works every time. And gloves are a must unless you have bionic hands.

Good luck - and keep us posted.

SBB

[gleaner1]

Gloves are for big sissy-pants I love you guys, not because you wear gloves, but simply because you dig. True love here.