After digging under the watchful gaze of the privy-master himself, Anthony Green (pronounced Ann - tow – nee), I finally decided to set out on my own to try to find untold treasures.  I was checking out the houses around my neighborhood on the 1907 Sanborn maps. 1907 is the earliest map available for my neighborhood.  Some of the homes are older, but for the most part these will be mainly turn of the century pits.  A great neighborhood to cut one’s teeth on, so to speak.A home at the end of my street had been recently torn down in order to expand a parking lot.  A quick glance at the Sanborn map shows a structure that could have been a privy or small shed.  I figured some probing was in order, so I took out my trusty probe and headed down to the lot. 

It hadn’t rained in a while, so the hard packed ground was nearly impossible to get the probe through.  After some cussing and sweating and aching arms, I still couldn’t find anything.  My probing was not over for that day, however.

The feller who lives next door to the empty lot was giving his dog a shave.  He inquired as to what I was doing, and I replied “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”  After discussing my pursuits with him for a few minutes, I noticed his property showing a privy on the Sanborn maps.  I asked him if he minded if I probed around.  He told me to go to town…or something along those lines.  He had mentioned that he had hit glass, etc. when he had put down some sod a couple years earlier.  I probed around the yard and started hitting stuff right in front of his garden….a lot of stuff.  I couldn’t probe without hitting a brick or rock or something.  Seemed like a good spot for me to dig.  I planned to come back later that weekend and extract whatever was hiding under the ground.

I went back on that Saturday and started digging.  I removed the sod and laid it on the tarp.  Removing the sod is much easier said than done.  Lets just say it wasn’t my finest moment.  Any way, I removed about a 2 x 2 foot area of sod and dug my shovel in.  I started hitting a few bricks at about 2 and a half feet.  Then I hit some more bricks…and some more bricks…and some more bricks.  Starting to get the picture?  Each brick has to be cleared out carefully because you don’t really know what your shovel might be hitting.  Is it a brick?  Is it a bottle?  You just don’t know until you clear it out of the dirt. 

I’m glad I took my time, because I started hitting bottles at about 3 feet down.  The first was a green aqua ABM Meyer Brewing Company Beer Bottle.  Meyer Brewing was a local Bloomington company (located where the Highland Golf Course is now, if you know the area) that was shut down by prohibition.  The fact that this was an ABM bottle had me a little concerned, but since I was still in the fill layer, it didn’t upset me too much.  I hoped for older bottles to show up…and show up they did….

 

 

Since I was now sure that I was in at least some sort of privy, I decided to widen the hole to get some room in the pit.  So I had to clear out more brick…and more bricks.  There was really a ton of bricks in there.  If I didn’t know anything else about turn of the century citizens of Bloomington, I would have guessed their only hobby was throwing bricks into privy holes.  I have a couple other theories as well.  This may have originally been a brick lined privy that they collapsed into the middle.  There was also a brick lined alley and walkway at the back of the property line.  They may have opted to tear up the walkway when they stopped needing the outhouse.  Either way, the end result is that I had to shovel out a never-ending pile of bricks.  The bricks continued all the way through the use layer down to the bottom of the pit.

 

As I was widening out the hole, I came across a large chamber pot buried in the fill layer.  As was the theme for this pit, it was completely surrounded by bricks.  I kept expecting the pot to come out in pieces, but I was able to pull it out intact.  It took over a half hour, but it was well worth it.  At this point I had to call it a day, as I had plans with the lovely Becky, and I was already running a bit late.  Most of the use layer will just have to wait until tomorrow.

 

 

Convincing Becky to allow me to spend another day on my hobby proved easier than I thought.  All I had to do was invite her to come along with me.  She brought Bubba, the 2 and ½ year old privy digger, and we set off as a happy privy digging family.  Once we arrived at the pit, I allowed Becky the first turn at churning through the use layer.  Before long she turned up a bottle.  Her voice got high pitched as she exclaimed that she was on something.  After instructing her on how to scratch around the bottle with the little plastic claw, she uncovered a pretty green Ball Mason jar.  Instantly, she was hooked. She also uncovered a really nice McAvoy Brewing Malt Marrow squat beer along with multiple slick meds and flasks. 

 

By the end of the pit, we had discovered a Snow & Palmer milk pint, a Chris Garver embossed med from Bloomington, and a few slicks.  We also turned up an old pocket watch that was corroded beyond recovery and an old axe head.  The milk, a pickle jar, and most of the slicks went to the homeowners.  We kept the rest, including the big chamber pot. 

 

Thanks go out to John and Amy, the homeowners, for allowing us to use their backyard for 2 days.  Thanks to Anthony for all the tips and tutelage, and for letting me borrow some shovels.  Thanks to the lovely Becky for tolerating and embracing our new hobby.  Thanks also to Baby J for being good and probing the dirt looking for lost treasures so Daddy and Mommy can dig.

 

Until the next dig….

Your guest digger,

Shawn