Drove my Chevy to the Privy, but the Privy was gone.

[ModernMiner]

Ever since I saw that show "Cash & Treasures" this week about finding bottles in privies, I've been dying to dig the one out that I posted previously. Let's just say, my finds weren't as glamorous as what they found.
I had dug down to about the 2 foot deep level in the past and found a crystal candy or sugar bowl lid , broken glass pieces, and some nylons. After watching that show & seeing they were down about 6 foot in their dig, I figured that maybe I hadn't dug down near enough. Well I dug down to about 5 feet and wasn't hitting squat. Not even broken glass. My detector wasn't picking up anything either. I stuck a probe in, but only came up with red NC clay. At that point I had learned three things:
1) NC clay soil is a real @#$&*! to dig.
2) You can actually sweat like a dog in the winter even at about 35 degrees.
3) I had overshot the dark doo-doo layer about 3 feet back up!!! It was nice compost now.
Anyways, I found a graniteware pot (you can see it by my bucket), a marble, a bumper guard from what I think is a 1950's car, a small metal suppository ( ),and a round metal whats-it.
No old bottles, and my arms and back are killing me.
I think I'll just stick to cache hunting & coinshooting now on this particular property.
The good news though is, my wife says it looks like I lost some weight since I started back up MDing.
Have a good w/end,
MM

 

[duffytrash]

that marble looks to be either a akro patch {they went out of bussiness in 51} clarksburgh wv ..its hard to make a definate id without seein both poles. purty commonmaybe 1-3 dollars depending on condition, ...akro made mostly corkscrew types but they did produce some patches........im leanin towards akro....http://www.marblealan.com/akro/ a royal....

 

[Bavaria Mike]

Nice post MM! I have always wanted to dig an outhouse, thanks for sharing the nice pics. Looks like it could have been a little wider than you dug, maybe something else in there. HH, Mike

 

[staceysallaboutu]

Well MM very nice try any way. I love old bottles and finding them is almost like finding an old coin. In the Cities and towns and sometimes in the country the people used to dump their garbage in the privy to get rid of it. But most of the time the people in the country on the old farms used to give the food waste to the chickens and hogs and what little garbage they had left. Like bottles and jars and cans and such they used to use over and over when they did discard them they didn't like to fill their privy's up they dump them over a slope, in a ravine, on the back side of a stone wall, anywhere they would be hidden but not far from the house. Back of old sheds were used alot too so many places . Anyway they didn't have to worry about the stink because of the food refuge we to the live stock.

I seen cash and treasure too. What i dont think they hit alot on was the ash layer. when probing I fell for the ash layer and look for the ash on the end of the probe. In my experence no matter in a privy or a dump The settlers usally dumped the ash from the fire place and/or cook stove in the dump where they discarded the rest of their trash.

Good luck Most of all Have fun I always enjoy reading your post.

Stacey

 

[Charlene]

Great pictures, and admirable determination to dig in north cakcalakee clay. Well at least you came up with a clutch plate for spare parts... oh what am I thinking, you drive a Chevy, you're not going to need any parts.

 

[TimmyNY]

the round thing with the springs in it is a clutch plate from a car

Tim

 

[ModernMiner]

Looking at the construction of what remained of that outhouse, it doesn't appear to be all that old. Maybe that's why you didn't find much. Somewhere there is probably a much older pit, and maybe the only way to determine where is to look for slight depressions in the area, different vegetation, or probe it.

The marble is nice, but not worth digging out all that clay. LOL You deserve lots of credit for trying, that's for sure. Better luck next time, I really wouldn't give up on privies.

TT,
I think you are correct in the idea of there being an older outhouse on the property. The reason I say that is, someone was living at this old property into the 1950's, because I found other items (clothes, shoes, bottles, newspapers) from that time period. When digging the privy, all my stuff was from the 1950's too (marble, nylons, car bumper guard). It was also found very shallow (2 feet), so maybe it wasn't used for too long?
I will be going back out to probe around for an older location as soon as the probe I ordered comes in the mail.
I hope I find one.
-MM-

 

[ModernMiner]

Great pics and enjoyed reading your thread.Gee some-one may thank you for digging out the privy."ITS NOW READY FOR USE ONCE AGAIN"

T.P

TP,
That was hilarious!!!!
Thanks,
MM

 

[ModernMiner]

Check out privydigger.com .Bongo

One Mans Trash is Another Mans Treasure

Bongo,
Thanks for that website. Very cool. A lot of good info there.
-MM-

 

[ModernMiner]

that marble looks to be either a akro patch {they went out of bussiness in 51} clarksburgh wv ..its hard to make a definate id without seein both poles. purty commonmaybe 1-3 dollars depending on condition, ...akro made mostly corkscrew types but they did produce some patches........im leanin towards akro....http://www.marblealan.com/akro/ a royal....

Duffy,
Thanks for that great info and website. It's guys like you that are a BIG help to others on this forum.
It looks like my marble may be one of the "popeyes" or "special three color" marbles?
When I'm done here I'm going back to check out that website. Very cool stuff there.
Thank you,
MM

 

[ModernMiner]

Nice post MM! I have always wanted to dig an outhouse, thanks for sharing the nice pics. Looks like it could have been a little wider than you dug, maybe something else in there. HH, Mike

Mike,
Those pictures were taken kind of early in my dig. I kept digging down in a small area (about 2' x 2') to see if there were any artifacts down deeper, rather than digging the whole outhouse floor section out to the 5 foot level I dug to. Once I realized there was nothing down deep, I went back up to the dark ash level (at 2' deep) and dug the whole floor section out. That 5' deep hole came in handy to put all the dirt back in from the 0-2' level. If I had hit anything down deep, you can believe I would of stayed with it until I cleared it all out.
My other fear in the dig was just hoping that old outhouse didn't collapse on me. As you can partially see, there was a large tree resting on the roof. At least I had my cell phone. Can you imagine having to call the police or fire dept. and having to tell them where you were trapped?
-MM-

 

[ModernMiner]

Well MM very nice try any way. I love old bottles and finding them is almost like finding an old coin. In the Cities and towns and sometimes in the country the people used to dump their garbage in the privy to get rid of it. But most of the time the people in the country on the old farms used to give the food waste to the chickens and hogs and what little garbage they had left. Like bottles and jars and cans and such they used to use over and over when they did discard them they didn't like to fill their privy's up they dump them over a slope, in a ravine, on the back side of a stone wall, anywhere they would be hidden but not far from the house. Back of old sheds were used alot too so many places . Anyway they didn't have to worry about the stink because of the food refuge we to the live stock.

I seen cash and treasure too. What i dont think they hit alot on was the ash layer. when probing I fell for the ash layer and look for the ash on the end of the probe. In my experence no matter in a privy or a dump The settlers usally dumped the ash from the fire place and/or cook stove in the dump where they discarded the rest of their trash.

Good luck Most of all Have fun I always enjoy reading your post.

Stacey

Stacey,
When I go visit my Dad in Indiana, we go out in the country and dig out old bottles in the ravines. Like you mentioned, people would just dump their stuff out on the side of the road. We've found some very neat old bottles out there, including late 1800's whiskey bottles.
Thanks for your post,
MM

 

[duffytrash]

i can say that its definatly not a popeye. a popeye is clear/white and 2 other colors that corkscrews..thats a patch marble...theres tons of stuff on idin marbles and from a pic its real hard..once you see a popeye youll never forget, theyre real beauts.

 

[blurr]

Timmy is right. Clutch pressure plate.

John

 

[ModernMiner]

Timmy is right. Clutch pressure plate.

John

At first I thought I found an old sundial with Roman numerals.
-MM-

 

[TreasureTales]

Texas Connection and Daydream got it before Timmy, so let's give all of them credit for a correct ID. You guys did great.

Now what are those aluminum clips? They don't look like any clothes pins I've ever seen, but I haven't seen that many. LOL

 

[duffytrash]

MM heres a couple popeyes

 

[Montana Jim]

Texas Connection and Daydream got it before Timmy, so let's give all of them credit for a correct ID. You guys did great.

Now what are those aluminum clips? They don't look like any clothes pins I've ever seen, but I haven't seen that many. LOL

TT... MM asked that in the "What is it?" Forum... I found this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-ALUMINU...QcategoryZ1527QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

 

[TreasureTales]

Texas Connection and Daydream got it before Timmy, so let's give all of them credit for a correct ID. You guys did great.

Now what are those aluminum clips? They don't look like any clothes pins I've ever seen, but I haven't seen that many. LOL

TT... MM asked that in the "What is it?" Forum... I found this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-ALUMINU...QcategoryZ1527QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

Hey, thanks Montana Jim, that's some great ID work you do. I learn so much from the folks like you on this website. WTG

 

[blurr]

Texas Connection and Daydream got it before Timmy, so let's give all of them credit for a correct ID. You guys did great.

Now what are those aluminum clips? They don't look like any clothes pins I've ever seen, but I haven't seen that many. LOL

Sorry guys, I read through too fast. Good ID to Texas Connection and Daydream!!!

John

 

[ModernMiner]

That's the great thing about this forum. Somebody out there can ID just about anything. This place is a wealth of knowledge, and you should all be glad to be a part of it.
HH,
MM