Tools I use for Locating Pits, Dumps, and Privies part-1

By Tom in IL
Hello, my name is Tom and I was asked to write monthly articles for the Treasure Depot's online magazine bottle section. I volunteered to do this because I enjoy locating and digging bottles from the past. Metal detecting is my first love, which I do first at a home site, followed by locating and 
digging the dumps, pits, or privies. I just want to make it clear that I am no expert on this and I am still learning each time I go out. I want to share the things that I have learned, to help you have some success in locating bottles or other relics that may be found in pits, dumps or privies. I'm not familiar with the values of bottles or what some of them were used for. Other people may be more helpful in those areas. With that said, I'll begin by talking about some of the tools I use to locate and dig areas that hold bottles.

The most important tool for me is the probe. It is my "underground eyes". There is no way for me to tell what's under the surface of the ground except by "feeling" my way around with the probe. They can be made in different sizes but too long of one is too hard to push and too short of one will not get you a good reading of the ground. I use a 4' long X 3/8" dia. spring steel rod welded to a 1" dia. X 12" long pipe T-handle. I "force" screw a nut at the end of the rod up an inch or two. This has to be tightly screwed on or it will come off when pushing or pulling probe out of rocky, hard ground. This can be welded on if need be. The purpose of the nut is to make pushing and pulling of the probe easier.

You will not be able to push or pull the rod from the ground if it is not on. I got my probe from a friend who collected the steel rods from cars in auto salvage yards. They were found in the trunks of large sized autos and from the front hoods used to support the hood when opened. There are also the long crank-rods used to crank the tire jack up and down that can be used. The steel should be able to spring back when bent. Other types stay bent and have to be constantly straightened and get all "nicked" up after time. A friend of mine put foam tubes on his T-handle to help ease the work on his hands. I held off doing this to mine because I thought it would "cover up" or take away some of the sensitivity from the handle. I want to make sure I can "feel" everything I'm probing. I haven't tried his yet so I can't say for sure if this would be true. You might want to paint the handle a bright color to help yourself find it if it was left in the woods or field. Next, I will explain what the probe can tell me. The nut at the end of the probe can reveal some information on soil types. After pushing it in the ground and bringing it back up, you can observe small dirt samples from the top side of the nut. Clean it off each time you want to get a new sample before pushing it back in. You can determine if you went into a clay layer or if you're into the dark rich privy dirt or gritty gray ash pit type soil by examining the dirt that the top of the nut has brought up. 
This picture shows some examples of what I'm talking about. When the cleaned nut has been pushed into the ground and is starting to be pulled upwards, the immediate soil sample gathers on first. As it continues on up, the topsoil gathers around next and if the probe scrapes against a brick, a sample of it will collect on also. Don't forget to check the end of the probe because samples of soil will stick to it too. Try and grind or "rough" up the tip for better soil adhesion. By "feeling" (probing) my way around, 

I'm getting an idea of the depth of the "debris layer", clean topsoil layer, and subsoil or clay layer. The debris layer would be the part from the surface to the clean layer that has any kind of man made items in it. This layer will vary in thickness due to farming or construction or any kind of alteration made by man. The clean layer is unaltered and in it's original state and is followed by the subsoil or clay layer. After "probing awhile, I am getting an idea of the surrounding ground type. For example- I'm probing a house site in a farm field, and as I push the probe in the first foot to 14" due to the plow depth, I would be "feeling" the probe hitting brick, china, glass, crockery, iron debris, foundation stone and whatever else might be scattered around from the time that the house was in use. After it goes past that layer, it will go into the clean or unaltered layer and depending on the topsoil depth of the area, will enter into the clay or subsoil layer.

After doing this awhile, I'm getting used to the depths of each layer. When I feel something different that is not typical of the previous "probes", I'll clean the nut off and push it in that spot again and examine the dirt samples brought up by the nut. A spot that was dug as a privy will have a different feel than the typical surrounding soil layers. Keep in mind that all this varies from location to location and from state to state. River bottom ground might not have a clay layer that is reachable with the probe. Hard rocky soil will have it's own characteristics and likewise for each region. You just have to get used to the type that your dealing with. 

I think I'll end this article here and talk about the other tools next month. I went on kind of long but this IS the most important tool used by me to aid in locating these pits. I just want you to have a better 
understanding of how it can help you in this. Bye for now. Tom---Tom in IL