I really enjoy watching you dig history. It isn't just watching, it is also learning history as you tell us about the finds, plus having the information on the screen.
My family was in living in Yankton SD in the 1880's till about 1894 when they moved to Irene SD. Some of the bottles you're digging up could have been handled by my great grandfather, Rasmus Hansen. Great to see history from that time frame.
I think you are the luckiest person to be doing what you do. My dad took my brother's and I into the Sierras in an area where gold settlements were and we found old cabins and bottles and old pans etc I had the time of my life. That's what got me started the love of old bottles
Don’t remember every viewing an episode on a Thursday night, I was surprised and so happy to see this dig, another time travel into long ago…. I love taking these trips with you and never leaving the farm, your amazing! Great Dig! ! ! !
I've been sending my 90 yr. old friend some pics of your finds. They had a pit but never threw anything in it except lime. She was amazed at what you're finding.
Remember if this was an old 1880's Saloon, there would have been a group of working ladies on the second floor, those perfume bottles and med bottles maybe came from there :)
I never thought I would like watching privy digging.,Tom, you're the exception... Good podcasting and excellent editing...👍 PS.... I'm subbed with no regrets... Simple and straightforward.... Always a pleasure... Especially since I have been through most of the North Dakota villages you are doing most of the digging....❤
Ah, yes. There's nothing like digging up an old outhouse without any protection. Why not expose yourself and the world to unknown viruses and bacteria living in a capped bottle for 150 years.
hahaha hey! got some people in their late 60s who sometimes come and help us dig. i know im gonna be doing this til the day i die! well good luck out there, and make sure you got someone to go with you to make sure you're okay!!! stay safe! and thanks for watching!!
My ancestors moved to the Dakota territories as homesteaders. They ended up in White (SD). He had a farm and also a minister at the Baptist church. It is amazing what you find in these privy pits!
Would you ever consider doing a "behind the scenes" video? I would love to see some of the ways that you research your areas, the best way to gain permission for the excavations, and even what you say and discuss with the homeowner in order to be allowed to dig. I love watching your digs, but I'm one that wants to know the best way to do what you're doing, and do it in a way that preserves the finds, is nondestructive to the property, and also follows local laws and regulations. Just a thought, anyway. Thanks!
I was thinking the same exact thing. I would love to see how you check for the right area to dig, how far down you actually go, what you do with all your finds, and what made you get into this in the first place???
Your amazing knowledge knocks my socks off... but each sherd of pottery/ salt-glazed crocks🥰 china etc makes my heart skip a beat. I *really* enjoy watching your digs & appreciate you both for the difficult work you do. 🙏 Pat- Yukon Canada
My first thought about that "perfume bottle" at 1:01:51 was actually a candle holder. It seemed too narrow to hold much of anything. But then again, perfume bottles often don't hold a lot because the perfume turns sour too quickly to keep a lot at once.
Tom, I'm curious does anyone sift through the dirt after you move it to check for smaller relics like coins, buttons, marbles and such? I'm sure folks using the outhouse might drop stuff from their pockets while doing their business. Thanks for the great vids!
I’d think it might be difficult to sift it with just how much broken glass and pottery is in the midden he buckets up. He seems to mostly only grab either complete bottles, or pieces he finds of significant interest, otherwise the rest says in the midden. What’s good though, is at least then any future archaeologists way down the line could find the fragments/buttons etc he leaves, even if the stratification is now gone. What he could do is use a metal detector on the spoil heap though!
What an amazing hunt. Definitely one of my favorites……..Been detecting a family friends house in upstate ny for the last few years. Original 1735 house. I’d love to probe around it. Wish I had a clue on what to do. Might just wing it. This is right up my alley
Were pits like this the normal thing back then. So a house, or saloon would dig a pit and put all their trash down in it. Were there any maps of the area back in the 1880s to see if it was a Saloon there? I love this channel. Thanks for this x
Hi Tom 👋 👋 👋 and hi jake yes you can tell that it was a saloon out house pit glasses 🥂 and soda bottles Tom what is your oldest bottles you have found I really enjoyed watching your videos always intresting all the best Andrew south wales uk 👍 👌 😀 🇬🇧
In the last hole there is such a thing as too much stuff in a hole! Lots of things get broken. When you find lots of whiskeys and lots of perfumes you might have an saloon with some women employees if you know what I mean. Great stuff!
It’s so fun watching your adventures and I’m sad because I know it’s getting cold now and of course the videos will slow down understandably, so I’ll enjoy replays😊❤ Be Blessed you two!
Oh my gosh! I found your channel tonight and ended up watching for hours. I have always loved treasure hunting in dry creek beds with my grandkids. The kids and I may start checking out our back yard.
When I lived in Howard SD I bought an old house and remodeled it. In the back yard was an old outhouse pit with a one hole concrete top over it. I removed the top and the hole was almost at ground level, and over grown with weeds. I got some good fill dirt from a local construction site and filled up the remaining depression and seeded it with grass seed. It's at 107 N. Vermillion St. I sold the house and moved to Sioux Falls 25 years ago, and never told the new owners about the pit. It is on the south side of the back yard behind the old garage.
The angel on piece looked like a candlestick holder, but had a much closer look. Lots of pressed glass in different forms & always many prescription, ink, glue & condiment bottles. Great job team!
I've never seen a two-prong fork like that - did you cut it down from a four-prong? To think some of these things may well have existed in the Civil War era.... amazing history. Another question: Have you dug these pits further east in the US, area settled earlier, and if so how old have the items been?
@@BelowthePlains I have a question what do you do with all the dirt after you dig it up? Do you sift through it all to see if there’s any change or buttons or small pieces that wouldn’t generally be found with just a shovel?
haha its the same map we use over and over again.. we actually get a lot of shit for putting that in the title, but its 100% true. if you look closely at the birdseye map at the beginning of the yankton videos, you will see all those smudges and marks on it. thats because that picture was lost until i think the 90s, and that the picture we use is the only known copy to survive to this day. some guy found it (it might have been in his basement, i dont know, i never met the guy) in his attic, and hung it up on his wall. eventually someone came over and noticed what he had, and he ended up donating it to the museum. then in the 2000s they digitized their archives, and put it online, and thats how we came across it. and obviously, thats how we find all the places that we dig... but i also believe a similiar thing happened with the sanborn maps too. i think a large stash of them were found by the grandson of a fire insurance agent, and many of them were lost to time, and they have been slowly added thing to the library of congress website... so every few months we check back, and see if they have any new north/south dakota ones, and if we find an old one, then we will try to head to that town and start knocking on doors. just thought id clarify.. but thanks for watching
Wow - a Fantastic and Long Dig Video - History Unearthed and Preserved from the 1870/80/90's - some rare Pieces ! Thank You and many Cheers from Australia !!!!
Where I live, in Tyler Texas, they are about to demolish an entire city block downtown, in order to build a new courthouse. This downtown square was platted in the 1850's, all lots were sold by the 1860's. The front facing section of the square is thought to have brick buildings dating to the 1870's, unfortunately back in 2009 a terrible fire destroyed what the historic preservation board was trying to save. They kept the face and some side walls intact, but the backs are just gone and empty. Two of the buildings in front have a name spelled out in brick, and the name also appears on an iron door platform. I looked the name up, he immigrated to the U.S. in the 1830's, crossed the continent and was in California for the gold rush in the 1850's, before coming to Tyler at the end of the 1860's, where he had a leather tanning business in the 1880's there. Weird thing was, he is not a 'noted' person in the history books here that I can find. ( note: they are not demolishing the entire downtown square. They are demolishing the western block. ) I found out about the history of our downtown square by reading a state archived thesis published in the early 1940's. The gentleman who wrote this thesis, did not mention that his own father arrived Galveston after sailing from Europe in the 1840's. He walked from Galveston to this area because he had a friend living here. Then he ended up getting kidnapped by Indians and was held captive for a couple weeks. He managed to escape and walked back to his friend's house wearing no shoes, and navigated by the stars. I read that online, it was written by a woman who bought a house that just happened to be built by the man who wrote the thesis, dad. I do not know why the man who wrote the thesis never mentioned what happened to his father. What he did mention, however, is a specific house that he insisted then, was built in the 1850's. He noted the specific address, so I checked it out. It was listed on our historic home records, but the people who own it do not seem interested in showing it to the public. It has what looks like the original fencing, with the maker on the gate. I looked that up, and it fits with the timeline. I never lived in a town that had so much visible and tangible history. I love mundane early Americana. I am so sad that they are going to demolish so much of it next month. I wish I could have seen those buildings before the fire. I had just moved here, and I didn't know about the downtown square at all.
Tyler is one of my favorite E. Texas towns, I always thought it has such a pretty downtown, especially the old Smith Co. courthouse! I hate that they didn't restore the old courthouse, but the Texas expansive clay soil does a number on building foundations over time and often it's too expensive to repair. I looked up the design they are using for the new courthouse. Yuck! Looks like a hospital but uglier! Tyler is famous for its roses, so there's no shortage of those beautiful, fragrant flowers growing everywhere. Jefferson is another E. Texas town I used to love visiting. They even celebrate Mardi Gras there! I'm sure a lot has changed since I was there last, 28 years ago
I found a perfect bottle like the green preserve bottle you found. I was exploring a ghost town...no buildings left. The area was mined before the Spanish Conquistador explorations. I was scanning the area and saw a crude foundation across the wash. Under a Palo Verde tree I saw the lip standing proud in the leaf debris. The area is thick with rattlesnakes so one must go slow. I found a dozen bottles and cardboard boxes that patient medicines came in....very dry area. When I returned the next month a mining company had fenced off access then started an open pit...the difficulty of access and the snakes gave me the impression that few ever tread after mining had ceased.
When you say drinking glass or jelly jar, you know they sold jelly in jars made for drinking glasses when I was a child. Just found your channel, love it! I live in what was once a one room mountain cabin built 1915. Before that it was one of the town's original 15 tent houses 4 walls and a canvas type roof. I have found a number of things just digging in the flower garden, a somewhat terraced garden. (Old bottles, old tools and locks.). There is a sink hole about50' from the house I have been raking pine needles and small branches over 40years. Going to find something to poke down there like you do. I know where the old outhouse was, right where the best lilac trees you ever saw is. You have made me think I should have dug more when I was younger!!! And wow, this other area I found a ways out from where I keep a small camper... Ever hear of anyone using sand as a floor up in the mountains?
Loved this video. I've enjoyed detecting since the '60's. I've always heard that lime in a dig meant it was an outhouse. Lots of trash was thrown into the holes. AND, that the Small Pox virus can still be alive in them!
I just discovered your channel and have been binge watching now for a couple of days. I enjoy reading your info inserts and like the fact that you give a detailed description of the type and date of the bottle. I have done a little bottle digging and found it quite hard. I admire your determination to clear the entire pit. I know for a fact I would not be searching around in the water and toilet muck. I like all vintage bottles but especially like stoneware ink and food jars. The glue bottle with brush would have been an ultimate find for me. Also absolutely love the cone ink bottles you have found. I would love to have one of those in my collection. Thank you for sharing and please keep safe. 😊🇨🇦
Its been said great video thanks for taking us along. I only member seeing you get worn out on couple muddy pits. truly awesome finds. Looking forward to the next good work.
We bought a cabin with an outhouse….I wonder what was in there. My grandpa had an incinerator, But I sure there was an outhouse at some time. The house is relatively near the Mission San Jose.
My grandfather was born in 1899 in Portobello, Scotland (a beach community very near Edinburough. He loved marmalade and his mother did too. Now I think I understand why.
Hi Tom, there are some British mudlarks who would go crazy over some of your finds. I was wondering whether some of those seeds and grains you find in the pits would actually grow and give you the old style fruits, it would be a cool experiment. Happy digging Tom cheers!!
