Bottle Dumps

[rustycoinUT]

I am looking for any info on how to locate and dig bottle dumps. For the past 8 months i have been working a huge ghost town and i see really old broken bottles everywhere. At the time this town was inhabited where the old miners buring the bottles or were they just to plain lazy?

Is there a tecnique for locating these dumps. I know there is bottles in them thar hills. I would appreciate any help that can be given.



HH
rustycoin

[PAPPY]

I have lived in the mountains for most of my life and I have discovered that you can find bottles anywhere. I have collected and sold bottles for some 40+ years. Old towns usulally had a public privy and you can locate many bottles in the old privy's. You can do this with your metal detector or a probe. Your probe should be made of metal, approx. 5' in length and sharp on one end with a wooden handle on the other. When you probe you can FEEL each time you contact glass or metal.Privy dirt is usually softer than any dirt around it and after that it's a matter of careful digging. If you live in the mountains like I do I have found that ANYWHERE you can pull off the roadway especially turn outs you will find bottles over the hill. These bottles pile up after a period of time so if you check these places DON'T be disapointed if at first you find newer bottles. THE OLD BOTTLES ARE UNDERNEATH>>>>You have to do a little work to get to the BEST.
If there were salon's, taverns,glass makers in the area they had to have a place to dump the bottles once they were empty. REASEARCH can help you locate these places and find possible bottle dumps.
When your town is doing construction on sidewalks or grading for new buildings is the time to get permission to look for bottles. I have literly seen dump truck loads of bottles carried away to be dumped. Find out where they are dumping them and they are your's for the picking.
Talk to people that have lived in your area all their life and they certainly can point you toward the old bottle dumps....PAPPY

[PAPPY]

Don't use them myself but I would think a good pair of Mule Construction Gloves would serve the purpose...PAPPY

[rustycoinUT]

Thanks for the help Pappy. This town i am talking about has been ( ghost )for 95 years now and none of the people that lived are still alive. I do have an old map of the city. I am currently looking to see if there are any laws about digging in the city itself. It is now on the historical register and i have been in touch with some of the land owners there talking to these yuppie's is like and i am about what to do next.

I am working on another place that i allready have permission to hunt and it had 4 houses kinda like a comune. The outhouse is still standing. I am going to hit this place hard I think i can find the trash area there pretty easily.


HH
rustycoinUT

[catbird]

i have found where there is a old well that is in no further use is a great place to find trash and old bottles from the old days . they had to feel them up so why not feel with what they discarded. i have found a few old bottles in them. hope this helps, catbird

[greg N.B.of P.A.]

Hello Boobie, you asked about protective gloves to use in bottle hunting, I work in a copper fabricating plant. We use these gloves that are tightly woven with little rubber dots all over them. They protect us from getting cut by sharp metal. Probably will work for you in glass situations. Ive used them in trashy digging areas. I 'll throw a pair in my car for you. Good finds, greg.

[Joe(TX)]

The old timers were lazy. I have found many bottles in ravines and the banks of gullies. Some dumps were found alongside an old barbed wire fence but still a long ways off the main road. Some areas especially in rural areas were just designated or used for dumping and many dumps can be found scattered all over the place. Some old timers dug pits and threw all their garbage in it and once it was full, covered it up with a foot or so of dirt. These type can be found with a detector with a large loop searching in the all-metal mode. Ignore small signals and concentrate on all the very wide signals. If in doubt, always dig. Use a shovel and a bottle probe and also a home made sifter helps. One would be amazed what comes out of these dumps besides bottles! I have found coins, buttons, religious medals, toys, watch fobs, etc. GOOD LUCK........

[Toxic_Waste]

I am sure there are old dump sites every couple of miles all over California, where I live ... in fact, I know of several local places where there used to be a house in the old days and now there's nothing left but the trees and maybe a chimney or foundation. But the problem is the private property issue.

I'm not sure about other states, but many (if not most) property owners here would just as soon call the National Guard if you even accidentally glanced sideways at their land, rather than allow you to set foot on it. They are very distrustful. There are fences and padlocks and "Do not trespass" signs everywhere I go. I wouldn't call this "the friendly state," that's for sure, although to be fair, there ARE exceptions.

[JoAnne]

I understand completely Toxic because it is the same way around here. Everything is posted or they have made it a historical site and non MD. I am going to research places outside of Plattsburgh to see if I can find any where the people might be more cooperative. HH JoAnne

[Rocke H]

Hi All. After moving to California from South Dakota my parents sent me to my moms family corn farm in eastern South Dakota. Mom wanted me to see how the rest of the world lived. While I worked my butt off. I did have some fun. One was digging in the old wells. I only went down a coule feet but found every thing my uncle tossed away. Two well that go back to 1889. I am sure its full of all kinds of goodies. Now I live in Hawaii and found that old toilets are where all the home trash went. I talked to the owner of the farm I lived on and he said as a kid, he broke most of his bottles as he tossed them into the old toilets. But!!!!! We found older toilets and the bottles were not broken. Also found were old toys and parts of old dolls. Bottle pis are in,,,,Hawaiian bottle discussion. So,,,look for old wells and toilets as well as camp areas and cliffs where trash was tossed. Take care,,,Rocke.