central arkansas home site

[recycleater]

this site is on Alexander mt. right outside of little rock i have info of the site being a home stead in mid 1800. i was wondering about this foundation that looks to be sumkinda troff with dividers.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[Gypsy Heart]

Any idea on the length and width?
Could be a dogtrot cabin foundation .....

 

[recycleater]

its about 4'x12' in size. i have other pics i will post

 

[kenb]

Whats it made from?, looks like poured cement but I cant tell from the picture. Material might help age sight.

kenb

 

[recycleater]

its made mostly of stone and cement,looks to have a lip/step around the inside of it.

more pics

 

[kenb]

It looks like a great spot, how far apart are the areas in your pictures?

kenb

 

[recycleater]

the bridge is about 50 yrds from the rest and the foundations are about 20-30ft. from each other, 3 large building foundation and the troff here's another pic,

 

[recycleater]

another pic of the troff

 

[recycleater]

i think that b-4 spring and snakes are here that I'm going to dig the place.. there are new houses being built pretty close and if i don't do it soon i will never get the chance..

thanks for the replies to all !!!

 

[diggummup]

Keep us posted.That looks like a great old site! Good Luck and H.H.-diggummup

 

[arkobnrs]

My friend has something similar, but smaller I think, in her yard, I dont know what it was originally but the old lady who she bought the house from used it to keep her minnows in. We live in Arkansas too but not too near you.

 

[littleneckhalfshell]

can't really tell from the pictures, but a thought came to me, since you call it a "troff" and I make the assumption that there may be some thought that it was water tight at one time?

Back in the old days, (not really that long ago, since I remember them) Milk was put into steel 5 gal or so cans, the cans were usually stored in a "troff" filled with water and if possible, spring fed. It was an early form of refrigeration to keep the milk 'cool' until picked up by a wagon or flat bed truck. (I remember the flat bed truck version, not the horse drawn one) I believe there used to be such troughs at rail depots too for loading on to trains. If this is a fairly Large farm site, and there is any sign of a Dairy operation, then your trough may be a milk can cooler. Just a guess from left field. My Father-in-law began picking up Milk stored that way after
WW-II, loaded it on a flatbed truck and unloaded the cans at the Dairy. He later switched to the more familiar present day tanker trucks, I still have a few of the old Milk cans.

 

[Burdie]

I have seen something like it on the Santa Fe Trail in Kansas. It was spring fed and was used to water the oxen at stations. They were slanted just enough to overflow at one end. They were also used to keep some perishables. Burdie

 

[tabdog]

Hay Guys.

That's a cistern.

They got the rain water off the roof and filtered
it before it went in to the cistern.

They then had soft water for washing or drinking.

Happy Hunting,

Tabdog