2001

January 13th.

Forcast for the Cincinnati area for Saturday January 13th. 2001 is - Sunny and warmer with a high temperature of 45 degrees. Oh good Lord here I sat with no permissions.

I called my diggin Buds Rod and Mike. Rod was hung over from his Birthday celebration and Mike had to work untill 11.00 am. Mike said he would be at my house by Noon. We thought we might go and probe some old spots where we had not been able to locate the pits.

At ten I was on my Counties Auditors websight looking at street loads of pre-civil war houses. I poked out my chest and took a deep breath and started cross referancing owners in the phone book. By 11:30 I had two fresh permissions, one an 1865, the other an 1855. SWEEEEEEEEEEET !!!

We decided to start at the newer place and proceed to the older one. At the 1865 we quickly found a pit by gridding off the rear portion of the yard. This could be a good pit as the building sets on the main drag and may have seen use as a tavern or hotel. We thought we would go probe out the older pit at the other house first and to indroduce ourselves to the owner.

The nice lady showed us where the outhouse building was that she tore down 50 years ago when they bought the house. There was a nice depression. We figured the older pit would be nearby and in about 20 minutes had found it. Here we go.

The pit showed age early as we were pulling out yellow ware and Rockingham frags from the top two feet of fill. We were also finding wax sealer mouth frags and then... an open pontil base frag and a few rolled lip frags. Can you say,"Oh Yea !!!"

At about five feet we were into the use. An aqua panel of a pint sized scroll flask caught my eye and I tried to pretend I didn't see it. Then I found the sheared lip and the open pontiled base. That one is for Thor, the rest are for us, I said.

Unfortunately, this pattern would prevail throughout the dig. Thor took all of the good ones. A cobalt blue square chemist bottle embossed New York and Newport, a fancy and large pickle jar with embossed designs and panels, and a six sided cathedral pepper sauce, smashed to pieces. Ten open pontiled puffs, all with at least some degree of varying damage. Our thirst for glorious victory quenched by a draught of humility from the fountain of the bottle Gods Valhalla. With another notch upon our wooden handled battle axes, we live to dig again.

The Hornets nest

My partner Rod said,"Its cool man, we're in there". So, early the following morning we WERE in there. This pit was behind a large two story 1850 that was right at the crossroads of the State line road and Market Street. As downtown as you can get in my town.

Without warning, a head pops up over the privacy fence which is right at the edge of the hole and scares the seeds out of all three of us. "What are you guys doin"?, asked the smiling Older man. "Oh, we're diggin' a privy for the old bottles", I said. "Well who gave you permission to do that"?, inquired the man. "The girl who lives here", said Rod. "Well, keep on digging untill the police get here, because the bigger the hole, the worse its going to be for that girl", said the guy, still with that smile on his face.

"Oh gee wiz sir, we thought it was ok". "We can fill it in right now no problem". "We thought the girl had the right to give us permission and the last thing we're looking for is any trouble".
"Oh your not in any trouble", said the guy, " but that girl has finaly placed the straw that broke the camels back and she is OUTA HERE !!!

For the next 10 minutes we chatted with the property owner. The whole time he had this HUGE smile on his face. He didn't really act like he was mad at us, so we asked if it wouldn't be ok to keep digging, seeing how we were already 4 or 5 foot deep. "No, No, I don't think so", he said. "We can fix it up so it looks as good as new", we promised. "That dont matter to me", he says, still smiling.

Finaly, Mr. Police Man showed up. He might have been delayed by quickly researching the laws of tennantship, as when he explained things he seemed to know what he was talking about. He told the old guy," If the tennant gives these gentlemen permission to dig, and they are not purposefully causing destruction to the property beyond what they plan to repair, then this is a civil issue, NOT a criminal issue, and the only way you can stop them from digging is to get an injunction, and if you do that this hole will be dug and refilled before you could ever possibly execute it". My wright-up in the local paper must have been working for us as the Police Man continued," These Gentlemen are only looking for old bottles, and we know they are not out to destroy anyones property". " Therefore this is a civil issue between you and your tennant".

The big wacky smile faded from the guys face and appeared on ours. " You mean they can keep on digging if they want to"? He asked the officer. "Yes, as long as the tennent says they can", replied the finest Police Officer to ever patrol the streets of Harrison, Ohio 45030.

Well, it would have been fantastic to keep on digging. We were right on top of solid glass and had just uncovered some way old bottle frags and some cobalt slipcup decorated stoneware frags. But, Rod and I recognized the property owners name, and we were sure he knew alot of the folks here in town, so we decided to keep the peace and we told him we would fill it in if he wanted us to, and then asked yet again if it wouldn't be ok with him to just finish it up real quick. " No, No, just fill it in". "I want it filled in", he said.

So we did.

Never dig a privy without PROPER permission. Being told no in the begining would have been better than covering up all that visible glass. I may need some light therapy just to get it out of my head now.

Coming up next. We have an 1860 right on the main drag in town with a round lined pit that probes like its 5 feet accross. A biggen'.
Also an 1819 Grand two story federal style brick. We dug a stony on this sight last week but it did not show decent age being from the 90's. We got a lydia pinkams and five broken doll heads, a few extracts, and some other barely blown nuthins. But, the pit had never been dipped, hopefully indicating a pattern, and we are hoping to find at least a couple more pits. The owner is a long time customer of mine and a super nice guy, who is also interested in what we may find.

A market street pit

This pit is behind an 1860 two story that sat on the main drag. We were hoping to find that it had seen use as a hotel or boarding house or a tavern. The garage in the back went right up against an alley so we were somewhat foiled in that regard. We located a pit and opened it up.

We could find no walls so we assumed it was a woody and were hoping for some age, as most of the woodliners are older around here. At five feet deep, suddenly, there were brick walls. Someone had removed the top five feet of bricks and we were afraid they would be in the pit. Digging all those bricks is never much fun. Turns out the bricks were not in there. But, niether was the age. A 90's pit with fairly slim pickins.

Its everybody's favorite band, the Privy Diggers, Mike and Rod, Hammering out some riffs on there craftsman axes.

A neat but broken apple green insulator, a strap sided ponds 1846, a rumford chemicle teal sided, a light amber cone ink, and a terra cotta trade pipe. Sliiiiiim Pickins...

Here is the teal rumfords. Not a bad window bottle.

Next weekend I think we will try our pobing techniques on the 1819 I have permission for. A technique mike has been having some success at is angle probing for walls rather than shooting straight down for the crunchy contents. With a seven foot probe, you can really cover some yard this way.

The Shaft of Misery

My brother and I had done some painting for the owner of an 1819 Brick house. The house had been torn down and a new frame house erected on the same sight in 1913. The little town has its history very well recorded in a book called,"the Saga of the Paddy's Run". In this book was a picture of the original house. In the picture, just behind the corner of the house, was a small outhousish looking building. I investigated the sight of where the little building would have been and discovered a sinkhole. Pushing my seven foot probe down into the sinkhole revealed no layers, but pop after pop of glass or ceramics. We probed for walls and found a stone liner, but it felt really small.

It must be a privy. My brother, Rod, and I started removing the sod for a test pit. In the top three feet of a very clayish fill we were finding redware and yellow ware frags. The stone lining was taking on a small round shape. It looks like a well, I said. But as long as there is glass in it, lets keep digging.

The walls were so tight I had to kneel beside the bucket and fill it with my mini razorback shovel. The only way I could dig it was by doing spirals. It felt like I was digging a spiral staircase. The yellow ware kept on coming so it was hard to stop. Before we knew it we were 8 feet deep and pulling out one after another molded yellow ware wax sealer fruit jars. Each one was the same size but had different patterns molded into it. There were several different patterns. Finaly after tossing up about 15 broken ones, I found an intact one. Sweeeeeeet...

Right after that I found an intact stoneware wax sealer fruit jar, then a large, maybe two gallon terra cotta flower pot and a whole blue spatter ware tea saucer.

Well, that inspiration we got from finding the fruit jars wore off after about 7 more feet of dirt was removed without another intact piece. The broken ones just kept coming though. It was all yellow ware and salt glazed. Jugs, crocks, jars.... Tons of it...all broken.

At about 15 feet we called it quits. I stuck my seven footer through the floor and heard pop after pop as it buryed itself to the handle. Oh well....

Here I am ready for the shower holding the jars we found.

It was a muddy mess. This was one of the sloppiest digs I have ever been on. Pure Muck !!!WE LOVED IT !!!

So.... was it a well ??? Who knows. We found no seeds at all. No bottles either. But it was definately under where the picture shows an outhouse building. Unless they had "well buildings" ???. And who is to say that the well didnt dry up so they might have used the hole for other things like a privy ???. Will the mysteries never end.

We have the permissions, only time and effort is between us and the spoils of a half dozen pits. Stay tuned for more bottle digging action.

You Broke My Heart Baby

With the weather warming in short bursts, we are taking advantage of every diggable day. Today Rod, Mike and I found ourselves behind a small 1850 in Harrison. We had already dug three pits here, with almost nothing to show for it. We had located a woodliner before we left on the last dig, and started a test hole.

The debris was way old down to a layer of cobbles at about 4 feet. Under the cobbles was some sterile looking fill with a big time lack of shards. Mike was digging on one lung and the cold got him before it was over. He peeled out at about 2:00 pm. Right after he left we hit a layer of all open pontiled frags. Balms, linements, and lots of un embossed puffs, all broken. Then the scratchers plastic tine caught the broken edge of a large whittled embossed panel that said," yellow Dock & Sarsaparilla", another shard said Gysott's. Oooch. I caught a flash of green and pulled out the big op base of a Dr. Townsends Sarsaparilla, with nNo top to be seen. What age, What taste this guy had, but why always broken !!!!!.

As I tunneled under a sturday clay fill wall, I noticed a pocket of action in the other back corner of the pit. I used my headlamp to look up under and saw the base of a big sided bottle. Come on be whole !!! I cut the dirt away with my knife and was making decent progress when suddenly the bottom of the bottle fell off onto the fluff pile. I pulled it out and saw it was the base of a big Cincinnati Cobalt Root Beer.
I carved out the top half of the bottle and read, "H. Nash Root Beer Cincinnati". It was only broken bad enough to be worthless, yet was glueable enough to torment me well into many sleepless nights. It sits above my monitor as I type and it mocks me with its many cracks and fissures. Someday folks. Someday the good ones will not be broken, and I will be there waiting.

The remains of the Dr. Guysott's Yellow Dock and Sarsaparilla.

The base of the Dr. Townsends Sarsaparilla

The H. Nash Root Beer.

More Slim Pickin's

Today, Thursday, Rod and I went back to one of his permissions and dug a stone liner. It was fairly large and about ten feet deep. It started out 90's and stayed there all the way to the gravel bottom.

We found a terra cotta point pleasant trade pipe, an unembossed cobalt ink, A black transfer patterned china lamp finial, a marble, a catahrr cure, and a pattern molded desk ink.

Saturday we are returning to the 1819 brick to look for the pontil age pit.

Arms like Noodles.

Today Mike met me at my house at 9:00 am. We headed further back into the country, to the sight of the 1819 Brick house. The concrete lined pit was visible at the back corner of the gravel driveway. We ignored absolutely everything about it except for its position. The 1890 stone liner had been dug a couple weeks before, and it was located katty corner to the concrete liner and about 15 feet away. This was the area where we would concentrate our probing in hope that an older privy would be nearby.

We proceded to stab the ground completely to death for the next 90 minutes. We fiddlefarted around and we scratched our heads and took short breaks to rub our arms and grimace and say things like, "can you imagine what might be in a hole this old", and, " from the fancy yellow ware that came out of that well we dug here I just bet they could afford the good bottles", and, " Dang my arms are tired".

The owner stopped by and we explained how we were not able to locate any other pits after such a long grueling search. He said, " well why don't you go and try at my other house up the road, its an 1816 and there is a privy still standing".

We had our probes in the truck and our foot on the gass in 30 seconds. When we got there we surveyed the backyard and started probing around the standing outhouse. Now this might sound familiar, but here go's anyway, we proceded to stab the ground completely to death for the next 90 minutes. In the course of the stabbing and jabbing and the wrist shattering "shallow stone hits", mike picked up a few glass shards from the top of the ground. He called me over and said, "what does this look like to you"?. It was a piece of a gen. George Washington Historical flask in clear glass. Dangit !

After the flask frag, a renewed strength came into our noodle feeling arms and we stabbed some more. The owner came out into the backyard and told us about yet another old house that was now gone but we were welcome to go probe if we wanted. This was the house he grew up in and while he didn't know the exact age, he was sure it was pretty old. So back down the road we went.

This house was actually located in the massive front yard of the first place we were probing. John walked us right up to an exposed concrete lined pit. A curiouse depression next to it drew the attention of my probe. First the four footer, layered with some potential. Next in went the seven footer, and at 6 feet it was all crunchy and sweet. We quickly found the walls and spread out the tarps.

We lifted out about three feet of shovel grabbing clay and then suddenly hit a seeded use layer. As soon as the clay had been removed, Rod stopped in. He never had to probe a single stab and hopped right down into the glass. Thats ok though, we let him put all that clay back in. lol ;)

The contents of the pit were mixed. We found some frags of some highly decorated mocha and sea-weed yellow ware. But in all there was not much in the way of intact bottles. Mike handed up an F & G offset dome ink with a lip chip. We found and intact Saratoga Dressing and some other non embossed polish bottles. Also a few newer extracts and five or six un embossed medicins. We found some open pontiled base fags at the bottom, and one squat soda from Hamilton Ohio with the top missing.

We left most of the bottles for the owner and I gathered up the rest and put them in the sifter to carry back to my van. When I looked down into the sifter as I was carrying it and I saw the bottles and broken yellow ware, the only thing I could think of was the broken shard of the Washington Flask. I will most likely, being driven by forces greater than could ever be suppressed, return to that 1816 and probe my poor arms into noodles once again very soon.

I have news of a local 1835 tavern, and of a line of cabins under where now modern houses are.

The Giant Slot Pit.

Rod got us another permission. We send him to the door and his silky smooth charm bewitches the homeowner in three minutes flat. They cannot tell him no, and why should they ? After all, he is their new best friend in the world.
Meeting people is as fun for Rod as digging up the bottles. The homeowners who share our interest in old bottles make it fun for everyone. I am always pleased at the look of amazement the homeowners and spouse, and especialy the kids show when they see the huge pile of bottles that came right out of there own backyard. Even though we tell them we will find bottles, it doesn't really register untill they see all of them. Handing the curiously observing little girl or boy a couple of marbles or a small porcelin dolls head from the pit is totaly priceless. The look in their eyes alone is worth the entire effort. They are always amazed. They think of how many times they played right over that very spot while just under their swingset was all this cool old stuff.

We met at the 1850 house and saw a medium sized back yard. The only thing that could foil us was a small yard shed, right in the middle, about three feet from the back alley. We started probing and within five minutes Mike thought he had a "maybe". We decided to run a grid and about 30 minutes later had covered most of the yard. We went back over to Mikes maybe and probed for walls. Mike located three walls but could not find the fourth. Finaly he found something like a wall but it was so far away from the opposing wall it would mean the pit was 8 feet long !!!
We started a test hole and had shards and bone down to three feet so we opened it up to find the three walls. After finding them, we dug down the long walls in search of the fourth one. We found it where Mike had probed to, 8 feet away !!! It was a four feet wide by 8 foot long stone liner. The house has been a duplex since it was built so the outhouse must have been some kind of duplex to match.

We decided to dig out a four by four area, 1/2 of the pit, down to about four or five feet to try to guage the age of the use, before removing the entire amount of dirt. At five feet we were into late 70 bottles and glass. We probed for depth and concluded the bottom was about three feet away. We double checked the stability of the fill in the undug half of the pit, and decided it was safe to go for the bottom on the current half.

We hit bottom and the bottles and shards were as close as they could get to being open pontiled, but were not. From this side of the privy we got about 40 bottles, some embossed. On the bottom I found a piece of stone ware wedged at a dangerous looking angle into what apperared to be a cathedral pepper suace bottle. After removing the shard, the bottle popped out intact. Sweeeet. Another minute later I uncovered the bottom of a yellow ware bowl, which also was intact. It was a banded yellow ware handled bowl, about 6 inches accross. We also found a small bottle with one long word in German wrapped around it going downward about four times. Mike was in charge of taking home the bottles to wash for the pick, So I don't have pics yet, but I will get them and post them here.

We caved in the other half of the pit and started bucketing it out. It was all soft and fluffy from the cave in and easy to shovel. We found many more bottles in this side also. Mostly un embossed medicines and shoe polishes. The homeowner was very graciouse and enjoyed the dig and the bottles we left. We re-filled the pit, and since there was no sod, we seeded it in and put down straw.

Next, I just recieved permission to dig an 1810 cabin. I went over to probe and could have left the probe at home. Five perfect depressions along the rear fence line mark the spot of our next adventure.

Busy busy busy.

We have been digging but nothing worthy of an official update. We dug the 5 pits behind the 1810 log cabin. Turns out that the place was lived in up to 1990 and there was never indoor plumbing. Hence, all the pits had been dipped and filled with "modern waste". That was on Sunday March 25th. Yetserday, the 31st, Mike and I went with a work buddy of his to California Ohio, about 10 miles east of Cincinnati on the Ohio river. We dug a nine foot round brick liner with almost nothing in it at all. It was a wet hole, meaning the bottom held about a foot of black water as we dug. Mike said many of the downtown Cinci holes were wet like this one. Most of his best bottles came out of wet holes. None came out of this one though. I have a day off work this tuesday as my brother and business partner is going to a Red Wings game. We have a very small 1860 in Harrison to dig.

Another Harrison Pit

Last night I recieved a phone call from a bottle digging enthusiast from Minnesota. Dusty said he was in Cincinnati and wanted to meet and check out my collection. I have chatted with Dusty on the net a few times and he sounded like a nice fellow. We agreed to meet at Arbys in Harrison where he could accompany us on a rare Tuesday dig. My brother, who is my business partner, was going to Colombus to see a Redwings game, leaving me free to do my favorite thing.
At Arbys, two guys came walking up to Mike and I with big smiles on their faces. Dusty introduced himself and his buddy Kurt. We convoyed down to the old part of town and wheeled up on a very small two room 1865 house.
Dusty and Kurt informed us that they still had two feet of snow on top of a foot of frozen solid ground back in Minnesota. They had been digging dumps and doing really good, with many ironstone snuff jars and stone ware jugs and crocks, and many bottles. They were very polite and inquisitive and it was our pleasure to fill them in on the fine art of privy digging. Dusty had just recieved the two probes he ordered through the mail and was anxious for the big thaw to try them out.
I myself found two pits in the first two minutes we were there. We decided to open up the pit with the least debris and depresion first. At about three feet I pulled out a broken Hostetters stomach bitters. This pit went to about 5 feet and while it did have good age going for it, nothing much was recovered.
The other pit was opened and dug down to about 5 feet before we hit the first of two layers. The top layer was mostly un embossed medicins and dated to around 1885 to 1900. The lower use layer went back maybe another 10 or 12 years to the early to mid 70's. Unfortunately this layer was mostly sterile too. The prizes of the pit were two matching smooth base squat soda's. They are aqua "George Deffren" Cincinnati. The cool thing is, like the Cincinnati Gilligin hutchinson bottles, these also had eagles embossed on the back of them. We also got an intact stone ware ginger beer, a very small Kilmers swamp root sample bottle, a blown oil lamp, and a wierd pot metal 1896 silver dollar, about twice the size of a real silver dollar. There were a few broken figurines found. One was a fellow in a ceramic bathtub.
This pit was directly under a small tree that the home owner did not want destroyed, so we painstakingly tunneled under it. This pit finished up at about 7 feet deep.
It was our pleasure to have Dusty and Kurt visit us, and we hope to dig together sometime this season. Check out the link to Dusty's web page below for some pictures of his bottles, snuff jars, and stone ware.

Left to right, Dusty, Me, Mike (in the pit), and Kurt.

Above is the oil lamp, the wierd silver dollar thing, the ginger beer, one of the squat soda's, and the swamp root sample bottle.

I have just recieved permission to dig the privies of the old town hall, circa 1865, in my township. I just can't get enough of this stuff !!!

Return to Wakefield

Awhile back, last season, some of you may remember when I dug a pit on an 1840 homestead, and the pit turned out to be a tree stump. Today, Mike, Rod and I returned for some serious probing.

The original owner was the first store keeper in my town, perhaps as early as the 1820's. We probed for two hours. We were also probing behind the present property line of the 1865 town hall in hopes of finding a pit but we could not locate one there. I spoke to my Historical Society friend Jim, and he informed me the property line is the same now as it was when the building was put up, so the privy that is there now, a concrete block twin, must have been put over the original pit after it was cleaned out sometime in the 20th century.
So we headed back over to the massive yard of the 1840 frame house. Finaly I had a "maybe" in the back corner of the lot. I had found a stony place where my probe would not go in more than a foot. Finaly after geussing where the corner of the pit might be, I was able to get my short, then my long probe in, and without a doubt had glass pops at 6 feet deep.

My seven foot probe plunged down to the handle with nary a bottom in sight. Usually at this point we probe diagonaly to locate the walls of the pit so we know where to cut the sod. It makes the finished job look nice and neat that way. But there was so many rocks in this one we could not follow our normal procedure. We opened it up and started hauling out massive chunks of limestone. After about an hour, our rock pile was three times the size of our dirt pile. Finaly at 4 feet the rocks ended and the fill was now nice and soft. We side probed and found we were nearly in the middle of the pit and cut more sod and enlarged our hole to the stone walls.

The signs were not too good. We were finding plastic bags and aluminum foil at 5 feet down. I stuck my long probe straight down to guage the depth and bottomed out just before my knuckles hit the dirt, meaning the pit was going to be fairly deep for the country location at about 11 feet.
At 7 feet we were into solid use and lots of bottles. Unfortunately the age did not improve, as most of the bottles were from the late 80's. Finaly near the bottom the age improved a bit. The last two feet of the pit was from the early 70's, and we started to be a little more carefull with the scratchers. This pit held many wax sealer fruit jars. We found an unembossed amber wax sealer, a few balls, some 1858 patent masons, and a Star Glassworks embossed wax sealer in aqua. I found a killer little emerald green tapered lip gargling oil. Check out the pictures below.

Above is the keeper pile. The "throwback" pile was huge. We found many embossed medicins, one of which was a ,"Pain King". We also got a local bottle with a mans face embossed on it. It said, "Konjola".

A buddy of ours who lives nearby was watching and helping us, and while he was scratching through the dirt pile he found an arrowhead. While I was at the very bottom of the pit, another one popped out. They are both from the moundbuilder culture. The bigger one is an Adena Point.

Well, that about wraps this dig up. We filled in the pit and were glad to see the dirt fit back in very nicely. The sod was replaced and I seeded it for good measure. Another time capsule found and dug. Who would have dug this pit if we hadn't ? No one. Not a homeowner. Not an archaeologist. Nobody. My share of the finds from this pit, along with many other bottles and artifacts, will be offered for display at the new Harrison Branch Public Library, currently under construction. If you come to visit the new Library, be sure to check out all the bottles we have found. Thanks for your interest and support. Edwin G. Brater lll. Privydigger and student of History.

Missing

New pits are the pits ! We dug two turn of the century pits the last couple weekends with nothing much worth mentioning. We are planning on returning to a couple yards that have "holes" missing in the privy timeline. One of the yards is missing the 60's through 80's. Another is missing the pontiled age through 70's era pit(s). We also have a fresh 1850 to go and probe.

The bottles are waiting, patiently, nestled snugly in their warm, soft cocoon of black dirt and seeds. Silent and content, time passes swiftly for them, as a year seems like a day, a decade like a week. They have become dormant and even the ghosts of their users have moved on. Seed bubbles lost in a vacuum of total darkness, they have lost all memory of a warm hands grasp, and have abandoned hope of a spot on a shelf.

It is I who shall unleash the sunlight upon and through your whittled surface. To lovingly clean and admire and hold with a trembling hand. To place high in a shrine of glory upon a shelf with like kind. Ancient bottle, thy artistic and fragile nature doth caress my callused hands. I bear witness to thy beauty by the scars of battle that I wear in your honor. Obstacles overcame, I have persevered to great end, and your beauty has been justified.

We have a long summer full of digging ahead of us. Hope everyone takes the time to get out and enjoy some bottle hunting this summer. Time doesn't make itself, we have to make the time. Good Hunting !!!

The Regency Salon

Today Rod got us permission in the yard of a local beauty salon. The beauty salon property was formerly the backyard of an 1850 house. The lot had been sub-devided. Rod thought the privy should be located somewhere on the beauty salon property.

When we got there, I realized there was not much "lot" left. There was a four foot wide strip of grass along the fence that devided the properties. Mike went to the end of the fence and began probing his way along side it. I was surveying the ground and noticed the slightest depresion near the fence. Mike was heading right toward it. I quickly ran over to the depresion and shoved my probe in. Crunch-swoosh-crunch-pop. Mike looked up at me. He was only three steps away from hitting it himself. He brought over his long probe and we pushed it into the short probe hole. More of the same, untill his handle hit the ground. Its at least 7 feet deep, he said. We probed for walls and found a square stone liner. It was located smack dab in the middle of the only 4 feet wide diggable area. We lucked out. Time to see whats in it.

We tarped the ground and removed the sod and began digging. The sign was few and far between. We had gone four feet down before hitting a use layer and it looked to be from the 1880's. We started finding those annoying un embossed clear medicin bottles with the graduation markings. The next bttle was a castor oil. Then it got older fast as we found the oldest style bixby bottle, and an iron pontiled un-embossed utility bottle.

Mike was down in the pit when we finaly hit the seeds and he pulled out an umbrella ink. Smooth base, maybe early 80's. Hey its embossed, he said, and handed it to me to read. It was a weekly embossed "J.D. Park and Sons / Cincinnati" Kewl. We found a few *******, a broken dolls head, a couple carters cone inks, and a local brookville Indiana hutchinson. Under the hutchinson was two matching Lawrenceburg Indiana squat soda,s. The age seemed to be getting older. Then we found half of a porcelin egg. While we were backfilling the pit we found the other half. It was a perfect fit. A glu-er for sure. Farmers used these porcelin eggs to put under a chicken to entice it to lay eggs of its own. At the bottom of the pit Mike found a "The Hero" fruit jar. Then Rod found the glass inside threaded lid to an eclipse jar. Cool. They are fairly rare. Another was found in the fill but was broken. We also found a John Smith and an Indian Kickapoo oil.

Above-Most of the keepers.

So it turned out to be a pretty good pit. We were finished back filling it by 3:00 pm, so I decided to go home and make some points with my sweety.

Next weekend, Jason Blevins from the Historical Bottle Diggers of Indiana is coming down to help us with a pit. Wish us luck and come back to see what we find. PRIVY DIGGING RULES !!! Amen and pass the gravy

May 5th

Friday night. The day before a dig. I'm anxious like always and can't get the thought of digging bottles out of my head. Jason (Historical Bottle Digger of Indiana) just called to tell me that due to vehicle problems he will not be able to make it. Darn. MORE BOTTLES FOR US !!! Lol. Just kidding Jason. You are always welcome to come and dig with us. So its me, Mike, and Rod. We will be digging at an 1840 house. It was built by a railroad tycoon. He was instrumental in the earliest railroads in Southwestern Ohio. He was a real heavy drinker and he insisted on throwing out and purchasing a new historical flask every week. He always through his flasks and bitters and op colored medicines into the privy pit with a delicate touch, so as not to break them. Well, now I'm reaching a bit. Lol. Its nice to dream.

Rod and I probed this particular yard for about three hours one day and didn't stop till we were wore completely out. Nothin'. Then, yesterday, as I was cleaning up from work ( I'm painting this house) I noticed a depression in the yard way out to one side. My probe told me I had something. Every where I probed, I bottomed out at about 5 feet and upon inspecting my probe tip after each try found red dust indicating brick. I then probed for walls and by found it was indeed a walled pit. The white dust on my probe told me it was stone lined, and the shape is square.

So, whatever it is, we will find out tomorrow. We are meeting at the arbys at 9:00 am to start our newest adventure in bottle digging. I am anticipating the morning, and a new days sun shining through whittled glass.

Fernald Uranium Processing Plant

In the 1940's, the US government deicided to build one of their biggest follies in my country neighborhood. The old timers around here still refer to it as "The Bomb Plant". In the 1980's it was learned that "TONS" of radioactive dust was accidently emitted into the air. A class action lawsuit netted everyone within 5 miles of it about 10 grand each for "Emotional Distress". I was a claimant and recieved my paltry amount of hush money. Anyway, while it was being built, the construction crews based their operations out of a lot in Harrison. This is the lot that we dug on over the weekend, and it was their cistern that we were digging. It was full of "purchased" fill. Nice brown sand with no glass at all. We probed till our ears were red just hoping to pop through at least one piece of glass. The pop never came. We abandoned it after an hour of wasting time.

Mike, Rod, and I then went on an emergency permission getting rally. We talked Rod into asking a guy that kicked us out of a pit awhile back. He smiled real big and said HELL NO !!!. We proceded to obtain two more "no's" in the next hour. Rod got tired of it and split for his crib, while Mike and I continued, determined to find something to dig. At 3:30 pm we finaly got the ok from the barber. We probed up an interestingly shaped Oval stone liner and started digging.

The pit was almost sterile. It was six feet deep and had broken crown tops at the bottom. The ten or so whole bottles we got we offered to the barber who was happy to have them. Our defeat was not due to lack of effort.

Most privy digging stories on the web are all about positive experiences. I want to let other diggers know that not every attempt is a big success story. I would like nothing better than to schpeel off about all the killer bottles we found in each and every pit we dug. Rather than to do that, I will post stories about the reality of things. The reality is that not all pits are located under the rainbow. Not all pots are filled with gold. Many are filled with our offerings of sweat and toil and have no prizes to speak of. Thats just how it is. So, I hope I have been able to accurately portray the experiences of the average privy digger.

On the upside, I have just recieved permission to dig in a location where I have been anticipating digging. It is an empty church yard now. It used to be full of a row of houses that date from 1815 to 1850. There were at least three houses, maybe more. All were built before 1850. The lot is only about an acre. I am stoked about it. We dig this weekend.

The Churchlot Privies

The church was built in the 1840's. The houses that paralleled the church were built in the 1830's to 1850's. Before that, starting in 1815, a row of log cabins occupied the same location. These cabins and houses sat on what was known as the "Shaker Road". In 1825, a group of Shakers established a colony just two miles up the road. Known as the Whitewater Shaker village, the village became very successful in selling seeds, brooms, and bonnets.
The corner store here in my town of New Haven has been in continuous operation since the 1820's. The store sets just opposite this same row of houses. The houses are all long gone. Only the old timers can remember them. The church has since purchased the property and now maintains a nice large lawn over the entire sight. The caretaker for the churchyard is a friend of my wife's family. He is in his 80's, and can remember living in one of these houses as a boy. He became interested in our idea of digging the privies right away. He told us the story of how when he was a youth his mother took away his rifle for pointing it at someone in play. "She took it straight out there to the outhouse and tossed it in", he said. "So if you find it I would sure like to have a look at what condition it might be in".

Mike and Rod met at my house and we drove to the churchyard, just two blocks up from my house. I showed Mike where I thought I had probed a pit. He probed the spot and agreed it was, as we popped some glass in the process. Mike quickly found the walls by a difference in the resistance of the ground. It was a wood liner, which meant it might be good and old. The sod was thick. And we started removing it out to the walls. After four feet of fill was removed, Seeds and ash came up on the tip of a shovel full, and we slowed down and leveled off at that depth. I got in and pulled out the scratcher. The first glass I found was some really thin windowpane. Shortly after, I scratched up a bottle. I spun it around to look at the bottom. Open Pontiled. I started wiping the sides. On the fourth side I felt the embossing. It said, "Dr. S. Weaver / Cerate / Cincinnati. Cool!!!. In another minute I had a second one just like it. As I finished off the layer, I found one more bottle. It was larger and also open pontiled. It said Dr. Hooflands Balsamic Cordial. The crack in the neck soon widened and the top fell off. Bummer.
One op puff rounded off the pit, and we filled it in. Next please.
Right behind this pit was another. It was even older and contained no glass at all, and behind it, another just like it. Sterile of glass, 5 feet deep, thin layer on the very bottom. We trekked across the churchyard with probes in hand to the sight of another house. First depression had snap crackle and pop. Probing beside it we found two more pits. We opened up the depression and found concrete blocks and pink plastic tampon applicators. Ewwwwy!!!
We filled it right back in. The next pit went to about 6 feet and contained about 10 pint and half pint clear and aqua pumpkin seed flasks, and a few slicks. That's it. We followed with the third pit and it contained about 12 un embossed strap sided and coffin flasks. This guy was a drinker. We started probing in the same vicinity as these three pits and Mike located what he thought might be yet another. When I probed I could only feel the subtlest difference. We popped it open and sure enough, it was a privy. It was shallow at 5 feet, and only contained two bottles, one open pontilled puff, and an open pontilled twelve sided aqua utility bottle.
We finished back filling this pit at 1:00 am. We started at 10:00 am. 15 hours of digging and we were pooped. We had a great time and got to talk to many interested people who stopped to see what we were doing. We will be returning to this lot to look and probe for more privies. There should also be some cisterns and wells worth checking out.
As I write this, my digging partner Rod (Indiana) is at the hospital having a baby girl, (Congratulate him at indianarockshop@aol.com.), and my other partner Mike is getting ready for a privy digging weekend road trip down to the Tenn. Georgia border. Rod, may your Baby be healthy and bouncy. Mike, May your excursion lead you to a bushel basket of yellow/olive and cobalt USA Hospital Dep. Bottles. So many that you want to give me a few.

A Midsummer Nights Dig.

Rod and I went back to the church lot this afternoon, May 26th, to investigate an area that felt different with the probe. We popped open a test hole and had lots of shards right away. The shards ended at about 16 inches deep on top of undisturbed clay. Must have been a small dump. About four feet away we encountered what felt like a hole bottle with the probe, about a foot deep. We dug down to it and it was indeed a whole bottle. Lydia Pinkums number 47. Oh Boy. Rod split and I went home and took a siesta. At about 7 pm I decided to go back and probe some more. About five feet away from the two holes Rod and I dug, I got a hit on the probe. This was deeper, about 4 feet. It was major layered and had a springy rusty metal obstruction at the bottom. I cut and removed the sod and started digging. Mike showed up to help about 8 pm. This pit contained a huge amount of rusty metal and enamel ware. Under the metal was a layer of glass. One of the first bottles we found was small but heavily embossed. It said " Thomson Pho's Co. Chicago / Wild Cherry Phosphate / Directions:One teaspoonfull extract three of sugar one glass water hot or cold drink freely".

We also found a huge sheared lip Sanfords Ink, an Ayers Cherry Pectoral, an olive oil, a cobalt, an amber, and a clear utility bottle, and a teeny weeny little Caldwells Syrup Pepsin.

There were no seeds or dark soil at all. We think it was just a dump.
On Saturday June 16th we will be digging an 1870 school house above Hamilton.

(Note) I have been really busy working lately. Dig frequency will increase starting now. It is the medicine that heals my wounds. My elixer of life. My tonic draught of passion. Right On !!!

New Miami School House.

Rod, Mike and I met at my place at 7:30 and headed up to New Miami. When we got there we were surprised to find such a killer looking old brick school. It said 1870 on the date stone. The back yard was fairly large. We tromped around the back edge of the property and located two cement privy liners poking up above the ground. Then we found another concrete sanitary type privy foundation. The area between and on each side of these cement lined pits had been dumped on and was two feet higher and all humpy and un-even. After an hour and a half of probing we called it quits. POOP !!! Now what ???

We looked over our options. We were determined to dig some bottles. We decided to go back to the church lot near my place. An hour later we rolled up and started probing. The first test hole turned up nothing. So did the second. The third hole we dug was a privy, but must have belonged to one of the 1815 log cabins as it was completely sterile of any glass or artifacts. Just dirt. We decided to open up the pit under which we dug a two foot deep test hole on a few weeks ago and filled in for lack of age. We decided to check a little deeper to see if things might get older. They didn't. At five feet we were hauling up metal screw caps full of seeds on the tip of the shovel. It was only a six foot deep pit. We abandoned hope on it at that point and filled it in.

It was 3:00 pm. We had been at it hard for about 6 hours with narry a bottle between us. I suggested we go to Harrison and partake in a joint emergency permission getting rally. Rod went to his Grannies to grab some grub while Mike and I creeped through the allies looking for a suitable prospect. Rod called my cell and said he just got a permission at an 1880's in town. It wasn't very old but we had nothing else so away we went. 5 minutes later we met Rod at the house and in another 5 minutes had a smallish rectangular stone liner probed up. We opened it up and away we went.

This pit contained one bottle. It was not broken. It was a 1950 Coke bottle. Oh Joy !!!

We were defeated for the day. Positively Pooped. I made up my mind to hit the permission getting trail hard in the coming few days, and we headed off into the sunset.

The following day I cold called an 1865 in town and the feller was very receptive to the idea and said, "Go ahead". Saturday Morning we will be digging again. This is a neat place right on the Avenue. There are old houses on all sides so it might get good.

Now THATS entertainment !!!

The place I had permission at had a small enough yard, yet the privy remained hidden as if concealed by magic. We thoroughly probed the yard with a tightly executed grid. Our elderly and gracious host recollecting a half-century of backyard information, including old brick walkways, disused septic tanks, a large barn, and the past location of a formerly mighty Elm tree. The bane of our efforts was the post 1900 cement block garage that set squarely in the corner of the lot. We thanked the owner and moved on.
We cruised the alleys. We ogled the stone foundations and nice back yards of many mid 19th century homes. I knocked on two doors, Rod knocked on two doors. Half went unanswered, the other half were maybes. We went to a garage sale at an old looking place where the tenant informed us…he was only a tenant, and the owner lived far away. We set out on foot. Up the sidewalk with our brochures holstered for quick draw and our jaws clenched firm with determination. We would knock on a hundred doors if that's what it took. It only took one.
The nice lady said her husband was around the side of the house, talking with some friends. Rod asked what his name was and she told him it was Larry. We walked around the corner and three men stood talking together. They stopped talking when they saw us. Rod broke in and started his spiel. "Hi, I'm Rod blah blah blah, blah dig a giant hole blah blah, blah lots of bottles no garbage man blah blah our story in the newspaper". I chimed in with some important stuff Rod left out like," Put it back right blah blah blah no smell just dirt blah blah, blah big fun".
Larry and his friends were amused. The big fellow said, "Larry is the only thing around here that's full of poop". They laughed and we laughed. Larry asked some questions. Our answers were, "we use these probes", "bottles mostly", and, "yea we're crazy". Larry told us he and his wife and friends were members of a 60's car club and were getting ready to go to a car show in their hot-rod. He thumbed back over his shoulder and led our eyes to the cars out in back. There sat a cherry black convertible t-bird, a custom painted metallic t-bird, and custom kit roadster. Our gaze returned to the faces of the three men who were wearing the smiles most often seen on the faces of brand new mothers. In that instant Larry became very cool in our eyes. In a brief moment of silence, our wild sides and quest for adventure were shared by a twinkling that passed from eye to eye, and Larry said, "have at it boys".
Five minutes later Rods magic probe sparked and crackled and puffs of green smoke from the handle holes told us he had found a pit. The 7-foot probe confirmed and we laid out our very best blue polyvinyl.
Larry and his buds were pulling out as we started to open up the pit. The top-heavy sound of loping big blocks filled the air as our reflections waved back at us from the mirror perfect paint on the passing cars.
The privy walls were probed and boundaries marked. It was going to be a rectangular stone liner. This property bordered the alley to the rear and along the side. This pit was only a few feet away from the crossing of the alleys, which turned out to be the epicenter for the entire blocks social mingling. The first character in this play of many acts was a nice and very interested and energetic fellow. I had run into him a few months earlier while metal detecting. I suggested that he go and get his detector to go over the dirt pile with, and he wasted no time in doing so. He was back in a flash with his 10 year old son and his son's friend. These two boys were well behaved and respectful, but would constantly try to attain a vantage point that would allow them to view the bottom of the pit, placing them too close for comfort. They moved back swiftly when told to do so, but the curiosity of a ten year old boy while watching a possible treasure being uncovered is a mighty force, and would draw them back to the edge of the pit time after time. The mans son found the first artifact tossed out onto the dirt pile. It was a Harrison, Ohio centennial brass key chain. It was tarnished but legible and the boy beamed when we said he could have it.
The first sign of glass was at about 4 feet deep. First up was a common un-embossed medicine, then a few more. Some blue banded yellow ware shards and very sick shards of wax sealer fruit jars had our hopes up that it may get old at the bottom. Mike cornered a heavy amber bottle. He pulled it free and wiped the dirt from the front of the bottle. It said," the Maltine MFG Co. Chemists New York". It had an early hinge mold base. We were in the top of a layer of glass that held a few keepers. He handed up a Chamberlain's colic, cholera, and diarrhoea remedy with a tapered applied lip, and a Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup.
Next Mike found two matching "Floraplexion / cures dyspepsia, livercomplaint, and consumption " bottles.

About this time my cousin Jerry showed up to check out the dig and see how we were doing. While we were talking with Jerry, a fellow came down the alley and asked if anyone had a big hammer. "Well look who it is", said Jerry. Turns out it was George, a painter that used to work with Jerry. "Yea George I have a big hammer in my van", said Jerry, "what do you need it for"? "I can't get my rear hub off and I'm trying to put back brakes on my car", said George. Jerry loaned him the hammer and George walked around the corner and for the next 45 minutes we listened to him beat unmercifully on his rear brake drum. Finally he came walking back down to the dig and said," man you aint gonna believe this". "My emergency brake was on the whole time". "As soon as I released it the hub just fell off". George was a real genius.
Rod got into the pit and started handing up the bottles. Many un-embossed medicines and a few keepers, including a killer little rolled lip " Doct. Marshals snuff", and an"Excelsior sewing machine oil".

About that time Jerry looked at me and said," who's that"? I turned to look and up through the alley towards us walked none other than Buckwheat himself. Buckwheat was mighty puzzled by our activity so we enlightened him on the fine art of privy digging. He was a nice fellow and seemed incredulous yet interested. "Where's your place"? I asked him. He pointed to a nice big two story circa 1870 house with a visible cement privy foundation in the back yard, and room on each side of it for other earlier privies. Long story short / we dig at Buckwheat's place next weekend.
It was my turn in the pit so I jumped in and started scratching on a fresh layer. I found the bottom about 16 inches under me and finished off the pit. The bottom-most layer was solid seed about a foot thick. In this layer most of the bottles were broken but I did find a "J.M. Ruffe Jr. Druggist Covington, KY" and four trade pipes, one of which was made out of yellow ware.

An hour later the pit was filled, seeded, and strawed. There was no sod to begin with, but there will be soon. It was a crazy dig with many interesting characters. We all had a blast and are looking forward to digging on this block again next weekend.

Damons Crib

Mike, Rod, and I met at Arbys at 8:30 am. We were ready for action after a quick bite and convoyed over to the dig sight. The forecast was calling for highs in the upper 70's and mostly sunny skies. To sweeten the deal even more our pit was located in all day shade. I had bagged this permission and quickly found a pit last weekend while digging a pit up the block. It was still early so I just tapped on the door lightly and we began probing for walls. This would prove to be very frustrating as the walls we felt kept disappearing. We opened up the pit and found out the reason why. It was a wood liner that someone had shored up at the top with concrete. Eewwww ! The "C" word. We stood and looked down at the evil, post 1900 mixture of hardened lime and gravel. If there is one thing a privy digger loathes, its concrete Liners. In the past we have decided to dig them anyway, and wound up with bicycles and lawn mowers and toilets and you name it. Good things CAN be found in post 1900 pits…. but not often. It seems that each time we dug a concrete lined pit, visions of amber cokes and cobalt poisons would dance in our heads, while a rusty collage of twisted metal would fill our hands. In hopes that since this was just a topper and not a real liner, we opened up the pit and started piling up dirt. The first thing we found was a root the size of a schnauzer snaking its way from corner to corner. It was large enough to support a great portion of the Maple that was shading us so we decided to painstakingly dig around it.

The frags we were seeing were disappointing for the most part being ABM (Automatic Bottle Machine) but then a real sick and old looking chunk of amber would pop up. We surmised these older frags to be the remnants of "late throws". Whole bottles began to surface at around the three feet mark and were also ABM. A hefty clunk from my shovel indicated the possibility of a heavier bottle and after dusting the fluff from around the object a big aqua blob top appeared. Yanking it out of the loose dirt revealed a Cincinnati Union Bottling Works squat soda. Now we thought the pit was aging at a rapid pace. Not to be. Another 10 un-embossed medicines later we were five foot deep. A large amber semi cabin bitters top popped out of the fluff and scared everyone for a minute. It was a Doyles Hops Bitters. Then an Electric bitters panel fluffed up to torment us. A whittled, green case gin top was pulled free from a piece of rounded ironstone that turned out to be a debossed "Copenhagen Snuff" from Pittsburgh, and it was intact. A few minutes later the lid for the snuff was found. Kewel !!! We also found two glass dolls eyes, a trade pipe, a pictorial horseradish, a stove polish, a W. R. Mulford Chemist, an amber Globe fruit jar lid, and two weird fruit jar lids with threaded nipples on the top and small holes in the nipples. There are no makers marks but they have patent dates of "pat. Nov 25th 84. March 3rd 85. March 16th 86. June 26th 86. If anyone knows what these lids are for let me know.

Around 4:00 pm we heard a horn blowing to beat the band out in front of the house where we were digging. A conversion van pulled up into the side yard and out jumped Buckwheat, yelling about how Rod was in his parking space. Buckwheat's real name is Damon. Damon was a riot. He had us laughing constantly. Damon was taking shots at us and acting like he knew us forever. He made us feel comfortable and welcome, and we left him a large pile of bottles for his kindness. We filled in the pit and finished it off with some grass seed and straw. Rod wanted a picture with Damon so I snapped one.

Rod and Damon (Spanky and Buckwheat)

Next weekend we have two pits at an 1865 in Reading Ohio.

Hams Burgers.

A sweet older lady who was very interested in our pursuit granted this permission over the phone. It was located in downtown Harrison, Ohio, behind a small 1860 home. We arrived at 9:00 am and Sarahmae greeted us at the door. We headed around back with our probes bouncing along behind us.
A chain link fence surrounded the back yard, but not entirely. There was a ten-foot strip of grass all the way back between the fence and the alley, and a slight depression drew the attention of our probes. The depression was a pit, but was located too close to the property line to dig without first checking with the neighbor. We worked our way back toward the center of the lot and found another pit just 2 feet away. This pit was probed for walls and had none. We shallowly vertical probed outwards from a surmised center until a change in resistance gave us an approximation of where the original walls would have been, and marked them.
The grass in this area was the struggling underdog in its competition with the flourishing wild strawberry, so the owner agreed with us that a freshly seeded and strawed repair would be the wisest aesthetic decision. The digging was smooth with few stones and minimal roots. Our progress was paused at the 3 foot level by the appearance of our first curious neighbor. This was no ordinary neighbor. This was the Living Legend Harry "Ham" Rolfes. Ham has been Mayer of our fine city of Harrison for more terms than I can remember. I am fairly sure he has served through three decades. He and his delightful wife, herself a patriarch of our community, were amazed with the concept of what we were doing. At this point it was concept alone, as we had not found anything to show them.
Mike was in the pit and with a wide grin handed up a very round rock, about the size of a golf ball. "It's a marble", he said. It WAS a marble. The biggest one I have ever seen found in a privy. It was at least 2 inches, but was beat to death. We had to get it wet just to see the swirl on the inside. We took a few turns in the pit and each found some keepers. While I was in the pit I found a sweet little glazed roman head face pipe. It said "Lewis" on one side of the stem, and "Case" on the other side.

Mike was in the hole and I was paying hardly any attention to the digging (probably gabbing to someone) and in the background I heard him say, "its blue". "Huh, what's blue", I said. "This Mason Jar", said Mike. "Hmmm, yea right", I said. ( I have had the pearlescent sickness of old glass fool me before too. Sometimes it makes bottles look blue, sometimes amber. Especially in the half darkness of the bottom of a pit. It fools the best of us.) He handed it up. I wiped it off. It WAS blue. Really blue. And still we had to jabber to each other like old hens that can't get the picture; It's not aqua…. It's not Ball blue…. Is it really blue? …I think it must be mostly blue…more blue than extra blue aqua? ….Its not cobalt…Its like light cobalt…We finally stopped and settled on cornflower blue.
It was about this time that an aroma filled the air around us and positively yanked on our stomachs. My mouth watered so hard it hurt. Ham was grilling up some steaks not twenty feet from our dig. "You're killin' us over here Ham", shouted Rod. Ham just looked at us and smiled. A few minutes later as I was peering intently down into the pit while Mike was digging, a plate with three hamburgers floated around my head and into my view. Ham had made us some burgers!!! What a guy. They hit the spot too.
With renewed energy we continued to dig. Rod found two local West Side Drugs / Harrison Ohio bottles. Rod thought he had found the bottom as the layer turned into a mostly gravel mix. One corner of the pit continued down through the gravel. Rod probed through the floor and determined there was more use under the gravel. He mole holed down the seedy corner and located another layer about a foot under the gravel. I got in the pit and started in the corner where Rod had left off and right away found a tapered lip peeking up at me. I carefully removed the bottle and it said,"Prof. Woods Hair Restorative". It was major crude and must have missed being open pontiled by about a week. A blob top rolled out from under my scratcher and it was a Lawrenceburg, Indiana squat soda. I removed most of the gravel cap and Mike got into the pit and started handing up pieces of a broken aqua quart scroll flask. A few minutes later he handed up an almost intact aqua pint scroll flask. The bottom layer was a foot thick and had many open pontiled base shards. Mike found four OP puffs and then it was over. Bottom.

While we were filling it in the owner came out and I gave her one of the Harrison Druggists Bottles. I was explaining to her that we always watch while re-filling in case a marble pops out. AS I was telling her this I found another face pipe in the fill pile. This one was an Arabian dude with the towel thing on his head. We finished filling the pit and seeded and strawed the area. Mike probed yet another pit next to this one and we opened it up. It was a stone liner. Three hours later we hit bottom and had two 1923 Christmas cokes for our efforts. We filled in the pit and seeded it in nicely.
While the face pipes and the blue Mason were decent finds, what really made this dig great were the people and the good cheer. Before we rolled out we left Ham a big pile of bottles. Thanks for them burgers…Ham.

Another Newport dig.

Mike called me on Friday night to let me know he had a permission in Newport Kentucky, land of the deep and home of the rare. Rod and I met Mike outside the front of the home where we would be digging. The house was very ornately decorated and in the heart of a quaint historical district. These houses were all built in the 1840 to 1870 time frame.
Mike led us around back to the tiny back yard where he pointed over to the corner. He had probed a stone liner a few days before and marked its location in the corner. We probed for other possible pits and after finding nothing conclusive decided to open up the stony.
Right away we were into bricks mixed in with a gravely mix. The bricks continued down to the four-foot level. Our progress was slow due to the stubborn nature of the bothersome bricks. At four feet deep the fill turned into mostly dirt and gravel, with a few stones and bricks mixed in just to keep us humble. At the seven-foot level we were really ready to see some glass. We didn't get any glass, but we did get……………more bricks. SOLID BRICKS!!! Hardly any dirt mixed in at all. In the bricks we found the molded clay tile top of a chimney. All of the bricks had mortar on them. Hmmmmm…we thought. Looks like somebody found a dandy spot to get rid of a dysfunctional chimney. Then a different style of chimney top was found. Well…that's two chimneys.
We continued to remove (dig is hardly the word) the bricks. We were now down past the 11-foot mark with no end to the bricks in sight. We were hand filling 5 gallon buckets with the relentless, never-ending bricks. 12 feet. 13, 14, 15 feet. Hey what's this stuff??? DIRT!!!
At 15 feet we hit dirt and the use started at 16 feet and went down to about 21 feet in the center. The layer was decent but did not get as old as we hoped it would. We found many local Newport and Covington embossed pharmacy bottles, a couple of local Hutches and Squats, an embossed "grandfathers clock" pumpkinseed, and a diamond and lattice poison.
It was a fun dig, despite the bricks and depth. We will be digging in Newport again soon. Sorry, no pics. My brother had the camera. Next week we dig in Harrison. The carving on the basement beam says "1820".

A West Harrison Indiana Pit.

Well…this was one of Rods permissions sooooo…hopefully the police won't be called. Bahaha funny huh Rod??? So we get to the house and like Rod said, this place had some "complications". Where the backyard had been was now a junk car strewn, greasy gravel coated mess. The lady in the house said the outhouse stood out on the alley side of the house so we began to probe. We definitely wanted to avoid the pit from the outhouse that she could remember. We were looking for a starting place to look for the older pit. We could not even locate the new pit so we all made our grumpy faces and called an end to it. We headed down the alley, which was in back of a neat row of log cabin based structures. They are some of the oldest in town. Just beyond the cabins was a frame structure with an 1870's air about it. Rod ran around the corner and was up on the front porch before anyone could stop him and a few moments later he came back with a grin on his face. "Go" 'he said.
We went. We ganged up on the backyard with two probes each and starting poking some serious holes in the ground. Here a maybe, there a maybe, everywhere a maybe, baby. Finally I popped some glass in an otherwise totally non-distinct pit. It was just two feet away from an almost TOO obvious sinkhole that was most likely the newest pit. We put our tarp over the sinkhole and dug the other subtle pit. This pit had a layer of only 6 inches thick, under about three feet of fill. Nothing was recovered intact, and the shards told a mixed story. A few small pieces were very bubbly and whittled. Many other shards were way too new. We filled it in and despite the sinking decided to do a test hole on the other pit.
Once we got started we found it hard to stop. There were no signs of age so we kept at it. At the five-foot level, under a half-foot of clay cap, we hit the top of a layer. The first bottle up was blown. Cool. Ya never know. We found six Kickapoo Indian oils in a row. Then we found two Indian sagwas with the Indian chief head embossed on the front. Mike was in the pit and I watched his hand wipe the seeds off of the side of a big cobalt bottle. It scared us for only a moment until he pulled it out and it was just an un-embossed utility bottle with the bottom broken out. We also got a hammered looking 1 & 3/4 inch clearish marble with something inside it. We will have to get it wet to see if it may be a figural sulphide. The pit was rather deep for the area at about 9 feet. All told we got about 15 Indian kickapoo oil bottles, 2 Indian sagwas, a buffalo polish, (this guy like to oil his Indian and polish his buffalo) a neat little spice bottle embossed with "Nutmeg", a stoneware pipe, a warners safe liver and kidney cure, a hostettors stomach bitters, a usa medicine company bottle, and a few others embossed medicines I cant even remember. It was a decent dig, and we were home before the sun went down. Again, no pictures, as my brother has my camera. Until next time, keep on diggin'.

A Hometown Woody

On Friday I made a call to a man I had done some painting for a few years ago. He is the caretaker for the Shandon UC Church in Shandon, Ohio. I painted the inside of the Church and the inside of the parsonage. The parsonage is an old house dating from the 1870's. My Brother and I had done very well metal detecting the yard. We wound up with a half dozen Barber dimes, a few Indian Head cents, an 1872 British Farthing, and my favorite, an 1863 civil war store token that says, "H.H. Robinson Dry Goods / New London, Ohio". New London was the name of the town back before Shandon was chosen.
That was a few years back, so I was glad to hear that the caretaker remembered me when I called. I explained my new hobby to him and although very amused he granted permission for a privy dig.
Mike and Rod met me at my house at 8:30 am on Saturday morning and we peeled out for the green pastures and rolling hills of Butler County. Upon arriving at the parsonage house we saw how large the yard was. We probed the back line, the center from the back door out, down both property lines, and randomly stabbed every little depression we could find. There was one spot in the yard that had some crunch to it but the probe came back with a juicy black substance which I immediately christened as "Ralph Lauren # 17 , Essence of Bowel". "Too new", we choked in unison. I wiped the sludge from my long probe in the grass and we decided to pack it in and go on yet another "emergency permission getting rampage".
After many doors were knocked on and old prospects revisited and considered we were beat. Repeatedly getting courage up to knock on a door takes an emotional tole after about 8 or 10 times. I had one more door I wanted to bang before we called it a day. I had banged this door on three different occasions in the past and never got an answer so I was not really too ready when the door suddenly swung inward and there before me stood a very big dude. "Oh hey man I was wandering if we could dig your privy", I stammered. Lucky for me this guy had seen our story in the newspaper. "Cool", he said. "Go for it". I walked back down the sidewalk and around the corner to where Rod and Mike were sweating puddles around them on the hot, fresh blacktop parking lot of an old church. They both gave me this grizzled look like, "I can't be hurt no more than I already am so lets have the news". I gave them a spastic double thumbs up accompanied by a completely stupid grin and grabbed my probes and took off for the backyard. Oh Yea!!!!!
Forty minutes later we were digging in a woody on the rear property line. This pit was around 7 feet deep. At the four-foot level we were into the top of the use layer and the shards were promisingly sick. The first few bottles were common bimal medicines. Rod jumped into the pit and right off found this ungodly huge square base looking him in the eye. Mike and I were watching from above while Rod attempted to free the bottle. It just kept going down and down. When he finally pulled it loose and held it up we were amazed at how large it was. It was a huge pickle bottle, at least 14 inches tall and six inches square.

Rod uncovering a banded yellow ware chamber pot lid.

The big pickle makes the 9 inch Hoods Sarsaparilla look like a 3 in 1 oil bottle.

I found a local Lawrenceburg Indiana squat soda and an intact oil lamp. Mike pulled out a few keepers and then the bottom showed us its gravely face and it was over.
We continued to probe and quickly located a stone liner in the corner of the lot. We will be returning next Saturday to see what it is hiding.

I am behind in my updates, but not on the digs. We have been digging every weekend and I will be posting as time alows. Patience glasshopper. Patience.

Digdigdigdigdig.

The last few weekends have not been very productive for us. We got into a fine "nest" of permissions in the oldest Welsh settled community in Ohio, 1804. The first place was a nice brick two story, circa 1840. We found two pits in line with the standing outhouse. Test holes revealed both were concrete lined. We filldemin.
One yard over was a quaint little brick dating from the 1830's. The standing outhouse on this lot also had a depression beside it that turned out to be concrete lined. Moving back we located another pit, and if you are guessing it was also concrete lined, you win the seegar. I noticed a very faint depression way up next to the back of the house. It probed up as a pit and also as being wood lined. Cool!!! Finally. Hmmmm. Yummy. Crown tops on the bottom. What's goin' on here???
I think the deal is as follows; this country town is still not on the sewer. These folks used and re-used these pits plumb to death. Many of the neighbors we spoke with STILL used theirs. Where oh where doth thy ancient glass lie, oh sleepy peaceful village on the Paddy's Run???
Rod e-mailed me a picture of a yellow ware bowl we got from the same dig as the big slick pickle. Check it out below.

Late Breaking News……….. While foraging for a pit older than my granny's favorite shoes in the aforementioned peaceful village, I met and spoke to a very nice lady who happens to be on the townships historical society. She is the event organizer. She promptly organized for me to give a "privy digging presentation" to the members at a spring meeting. She said there might be many members interested in having their privies "catalogued". Kewel!!! I also just finished speaking to the display lady for the Cincinnati/ Hamilton County Library. She was delighted by the idea of making a permanent display of local bottles and artifacts in the newly constructed Harrison Branch Library. I am too pleased to donate bottles for public display. I think sharing this stuff is what it's all about.

I just received permission at an 1865 in Harrison for Saturday and an 1845, also in Harrison for Sunday. Wish us luck and come back to see how we do. I promise to try to update more often. Stupid job !!!

God Bless the afflicted. Gods wrath to freedoms adversaries

Trying to pick

Work is super hectic. It's the big stampede to get the exteriors painted before cold weather sets in. I have been working ten and twelve hour days 5 to 6 days a week, and on the 7th day I dig. Were it not for the 7th day of digging, my lungs would surely fail to expand; my blood would cease to flow. After work, the time spent with my family leaves but 6 hours a night for sleep. It is sometimes the sleep of a fitful mind, possessed by the desire for wavy glass in all the transparent colors of the rainbow. My focus fixed upon the millions of privy pits lying under the great cities of a great nation. Unknown to the masses, in the greater multitude will they be ignored for eternity except by those diligent and dedicated seekers of three-dimensional proof, physical evidence of a time before the memory of any living being, found in the form of our forefathers precious vessels. The simple ness of the times these vessels hail from imprints visions, contrived yet accurate, of a time where mankind was closer to the Earth, closer to God, and closer to death by a multitude of foes, none of which were actually cured by the contents as so proudly proclaimed in the glass words that embossed them. The hardships of the era are mirrored by the drippy crudeness and unrefined hand-manufacturing process of the bottles. Finding them imparts a feeling of great accomplishment, and in touching and holding them I am humbled by the comparative ease of my modern day existence. God bless the country that allows my freedom to be so expressed.

So with that said, I will quit flibbin my jib and tell you about the privy we dug this past weekend. We were planning on trying once more to locate the pit at the 1825 Welsh church and community house. Since the last time we probed, a man had shown me where, as a boy, he remembered the outhouse standing. He walked to an area about 8 feet from the back of the building, turned around and planted his feet squarely and said, "This is it".
Sunday morning dawned foggy and cool. Indiana and the Pirate wheeled into my driveway and began carrying boxes and buckets of bottles into my barn, 2/3rds of the bounty from the last 25 privies we dug together. Along with the half dozen 5 gallon buckets of bottles I had brought home to clean, it was quite a pile. We had each wrapped "the good stuff" in newspaper and we each had only one small box of these prizes. We agreed to make an early day of it if possible in order to return, set up the bottles, and do the big pick.
After arriving at the dig sight I confidently marched over and stood in our informants boot prints and repeated his phrase, "This is it". Mike walked over carrying "poker" and "feeler". (Short probe and long probe) He put his short probe tip between my feet, cocked his head sideways (as is commonly done by expert probers in tradition with the old school methods) and gave'er a shove, knuckles to the sod and out again. Then in went Feeler. Feeler tells no lies. She came back empty. Wuh-oh!!! We had already been over this entire lot, so we concentrated on the closely surrounding area hoping we were just off a bit. After 20 minutes we were starting to think about the pick again.
I had called my only other permission the night before and also that morning and got "the machine". In a desperate maneuver, with one measly bar on my digital communication devices signal strength indicator, I placed a wavering call to the homeowner. I heard the same voice but no beep. Oh……Hello…… Before I knew it, as I was still trying to accept that I was talking to a live person, I had the go-ahead. "Yea that's fine I can't wait to see what you find", she said, and we were off.
20 minutes later we pulled into the driveway of the BIG 1845 L shaped frame home. The backyard was medium sized and un-obstructed. The owner came out and we introduced ourselves. She was very polite and easy to talk to. We headed into the low spots with our probes, and on the rear property line we found a rectangular stone lined pit.
We probed and marked the walls and opened it up. Its funny how if we find old shards in the top foot of dirt we will comment how old the pit is going to be, and if we find new stuff we comment on how it doesn't mean anything. Hopefully what we were pulling from the top of this pit bore no indication of what it might hold in its depths, as by the time we were 3 feet deep, we had accumulated a very respectable sized yet uuugly pile of aluminum foil balls, Barqs crown top soda frags, plastic combs, and other artifacts of recent origin.
The gravel fill changed to clay at four feet and under a foot of this was some dark soil and more ash. This was a layer for sure. Mike cleaned it out to that depth and I hopped in to scratch. Bottles were soon popping up with the first being a John J. Smith / Louisville Ky. A matching pair of Halls Balsam for the lungs were uncovered from their resting places just an inch from each other. Rod went in next and pulled out a big whittled Mcleans strengthening cordial. He aso handed up a 12 sided umbrella ink and a cabin ink embossed The Western Ink Co. Mike finished the layer off with a J.F. turtle ink, a J.J. Butler domed ink, and an rrr radway.
I asked mike if he was at the bottom. "Hang on", he said, as he started to dig down one of the corners. "Nope", looks like another layer under another cap", he said with a grin. Mike cleaned off the 2nd cap and tore into a fresh layer. Right away open pontil puffs started popping out. He handed up a crude op cylinder ink and a smooth base cobalt ink. He was reaching into the corner and when he pulled his hand back out into view he was holding an amber Mrs. Allens Hair Restorer. I finished off the layer with a neat blue sponged handless mug, an 8 sided aqua umbrella, another aqua umbrella embossed Stickwell & Co., a yellow olive Hostetters stomach bitters, a barrel mustard, and a few more op puffs. I also handed up a damaged Udolpho Wolfes aromatic schnapps, and a damaged Booth and Sedgwigs cordial gin.

It was just after dark when the pit was re-sodded. We would have to wait until the following weekend to do the big pick but that was ok with us. We left a huge pile of bottles for the homeowner and drove off towards the orange western sky.
Next weekend we have a dig behind an 1830 hotel. Can't wait cant wait cant wait !!!!!!!!!!!

The Central Hotel salvage dig.

The central Hotel salvage dig.

Rod got a call from a friend of his who said something like,"Dueoooood we found a privy under my dads back yard down here in town and was wanderin" if yous guys wanted to dig it?
And Rod answered something like," O.K."!!!

Saturday morning we met and wheeled into the parking area where the pit was reported to be. Rods buddy met us and said, "Maaaaaan yous guys shoulda seen the other pit we found". "It had brick walls and was round and about 8 feet across". "We poured that parking slab over it last week so its gone but Maaaaan you shoulda seen it". Ouch.
OK so where is this other pit you mentioned", questioned Rod. "Oh its over here", said the Bud, and we followed him to an exposed concrete block lined pit. Ouch again.
They had taken off about a foot of top soil. Where their property joined with the neighboring lot there was a foot high wall of dirt. I walked along the property line and noticed some window pain and shingles poking out of the fresh cut. I inserted a probe and…sweetness. After more probing it was determined that the pit was actually on the neighboring property. "Oh that's cool too", said Rod. "I know that guy too and he doesn't care if we dig". It was then we realized this lot belonged to the old Central Hotel, circa 1830. We probed for walls and found three. The fourth wall was so far away we thought something weird was going on so we test holed a corner to examine the wall. A foot down and we had stone. We followed the walls around and opened up a 4 by 4 test hole. We took the hole down to about 4 feet, and while still in a shardless gravel fill, suddenly came upon a flared lip open pontil puff. That was all it took to convince us to enlarge our hole to a workable size, and to maybe see what the deal was on our 4th wall.
We had three walls exposed and our hole was 5 by 6. We probed over and found the fourth wall another 3 feet away. We took off another foot towards the 4th wall and was at the edge of our already burdened tarp. We thought that if it was not too deep of a pit, we could let the extra "hang". We had a nice sturdy clay cap about 16 inches thick at about 5 feet. Should be OK, unless it gets deep.
At about 7 1/2 feet we were wondering when the layer was going to start. It started suddenly and it kept on going. The bottom was at about 9 or 10 feet so the hanging wall would have to be watched carefully. Things got better and better as we moved toward the center of the pit. The owner stopped by and chatted. The neighbors were very interested and were a pleasant and curious audience.
Folks, I usually do a pretty good job remembering the order of the bottles that come out and who found them, but on this dig I did so much gabbing and yanking that I lost track of everything. Bottles were piled all around us as the sun was beating a retreat. Most everything was open pontil. We got a good many iron pontil soda's, both sided and round. The list of stuff found is as follows.

Op Fenimore's / Liniment / orpainkiller / price 25 cts.
Op Fenimore's / cough mixture / price 25 cts.
Op 8 sided Umbrella Ink.
Op pint scroll flask.
Op ten sided "Butler's Ink / Cincinnati".
Op cylinder "J.J. Butler Ink".
Op "Thomson's Eye Water".
Op "Barry's Tricophorous for the skin and hair".
Op "H.T. Helmbold / Cincinnati".
Op cylinder ink.
Op "Dr. Thomas / Cincinnati".
Iron Pontil Ten sided "B. Bick / Cincinnati" Mineral Water.
Iron Pontil twelve sided "W. Wilke / Cincinnati" Mineral Water. (2 of these)
Iron Pontil Tapered lip "WBT / Cincinnati" Mineral Water.
Iron Pontil "H & J Alwes / Cincinnati" Mineral Water.
Smooth Base "G. Mulhouser / Cincinnati" Mineral Water.
W.W. Lyman fruit jar.
Strap Sided Flask embossed," Geo. W. Robinson / No. 75 / Main St. W. VA.
And a few more I cannot remember. Also about 15 puffs, some sided.
I was able to take only a few photos at the dig as my compact flash card was full. Below are some pics.

We would like to thank the owner for allowing us to dig, and the neighbor, Rods Buddy, for clueing us in. Thanks guys.

This weekend, unless some bothersome pit full of killer bottles keep us from it, we will be doing the big pick. I will post an update with picks of the splits

The Big Pick

The splitting of the fruits of a long seasons labor was upon us. We found the necessary calmness of conditions inside of my barn, as outside the October wind howled under a sky filled with fat gray clouds. I had been setting up bottles for an hour or so before Rod and Mike showed up. It was very hard to maintain an order to the massive display. Many bottle types cross mingle into other categories. I had embossed pontil bottles together, but the pontil embossed inks were with the other smooth base embossed inks, and so forth and so on. Mike brought in the spoils of the last pit and set them up in their appropriate clusters.
When we finished setting up we started making rounds about the tables, looking in detail at the better pieces and checking for cracks and chips. We have found that no matter how hard you look at a bottle at the dig sight, you cannot be sure of weather it is intact and without damage until you take it home, clean it, look at it, put it away, and then take it out and look at it about 8 or 10 more times. It is amazing to me how damage can go un-detected even under a closely observing eye.
We reminisced on the digs we had been on and of all the pleasant people we met in the discourse of our strange hobby. Many eventful and humorous situations were relived in a jovial remembrance. Finaly the topic was shifted back to the task at hand, and the subject of focus settled on how to decide the order of the pick. I suggested we use a unique artifact we found in a privy a few months ago to decide. This artifact was found in the shallowest privy we had ever dug. The pit was two feet deep to the bottom. There were many broken ironstone dishes in the pit and not much else. One of the things we found was the broken handle to an ironstone lid. This artifact laid on my desk at home for a month or so. I would fiddle with it while on the phone and what not, always puzzled by the curious shape of the thing. It was pointed at the top, where you would grab it to lift the lid. This design did not make much sense to me. If the designer had intentionally wanted the lid lifter to drop the piece he could not have done a better job of designing this lid pull. One day as I sat looking at it lying in the glow of my desk lamp I noticed a few dimples in the face of one of the six flat sides. Upon turning it slowly while using the glare off of my lamp I discovered that it was actually some type of die. The dimples were 1 through 6 with the corresponding number opposite where it should be. I used a sharp marker and colored the dimples in. It was meant to be spun. It was a spinning ironstone game piece.

Rod and Mike had not seen it since it was dug, and when I pulled it out and showed them how it worked, the decision to use this piece to choose the order of the pick was unanimous. We also decided that who ever picked the game piece would from that point on be known as "the Keeper of the Die", and would have to bring the piece to all future picks. I cleared of a small area amidst the pontil medicines and spun it hard. The well balanced piece spun for a good 20 seconds before it hit the table and flopped around a bit to settle on a 5. "Solid", I said. The look of confidence slid from my face to Mike's when he spun a 6. Rod went next as Mike tried to encourage him by saying, "hey you can tie ya know". Rod Got a 4. As we suspected, the picking order was no big deal. We each got our first choice anyway. Mike picked the open pontil sided "Butlers Ink". I picked the iron pontil scroll flask. Rod picked the Robinson W. VA. Strap flask. The picking continued as the open pontil medicines and inks, along with the iron pontil sided and colored sodas disappeared quickly. We made our way around the display, picking and wrapping with newspaper as the wind shuddered the old building around us. After three hours of picking we were finally done. We made a large pile of nice embossed bottles that we all already had in our collections to give out to homeowners. Some really great old bottles, including embossed hutches and medicines, flasks, and druggists bottles.

We would like to thank all of the gracious homeowners who welcomed us into their yards and their lives for a brief period, and we hope we were able to bring to you some of the excitement we share in uncovering these all but forgotten bottles and artifacts. Thank You.

Eddie Brater lll.
Rodney Surber
Mike Kalchek.

This concludes the 2001 dig journals