halfdime
Silver Member
I'm posting this here because it probably gets the most views. I've grown to like digging privies, and I decided today to try my luck in my own back yard. I know the neighbors had several, and we live in an old neighborhood; why not us? I took my probe into the yard and began poking about as far from the house as the neighbors privies. I hit something solid about 6 or 8 inches, so I poked again, and again, and again. Solid. I thought perhaps an old privy had been capped, so I started to dig; sure enough, there was a large rock laying flat, and I could see a little opening to one side. I pushed the probe into it and hit water. Off came the rock, and there was a small oval opening, maybe 1.5x2 feet. Next, I got a long pole and got a depth; it was about six feet to the bottom. I began to bail the water, stirring up sediment below and giving off a sewer type smell. Once the water level dropped, I noticed a pipe running out of the hole, away from the house. Immediately, I figured septic tank, except that it is stone lined like a well or even a privy. A little more investigation revealed a pipe coming in from the direction of the house, making this a septic tank. My question, since the hole could have been easily used for a privy, has anyone ever found a privy made into a septic tank? I know our house has been hooked up to the public sewer for a long time; in fact, we just had to replace it in January! I'm dying to dig the whole thing out, empty the pit and do some searching; who knows what might have gone down a drain decades ago?
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