10/17/04

    Steve emailed early in the week and said Craig landed a couple permissions. They were in a good part of town, I was pretty excited.

    It was early when we met and we had some time to kill. So, we fueled up on some breakfast at a local greasy spoon. I haven't seen Craig all summer. So, it was nice to catch up on stories and fill him in on all the great digs he missed out on!

    Afterwards, we met with Lewis the property owner. Craig met him through a mutual friend. Super, super, great guy! He brought out a TV so we could catch the Packer game. Made a fire to keep warm with.  He even ended up grilling hot dogs, brats, and all the fixings for lunch for us and the neighbors.

Lewis and crew enjoying the game.

    The first pit was found in the center of the yard. I think this was actually a trash pit. Lots of newer screw top type bottles and garbage. While one guy was in the hole, the other fellers probed the rest of the yard for pits. We were having trouble find another. There was a 4 foot high brick fence along the back lot line. There was a narrow strip of grass between it and the neighbor's garage. Steve jumped back there and found a couple spots right away.

Pit 1

Craig in the first pit

The take

    The first hole was filled in and we started on the next. It was a little cramped back there but we made due. About one foot down, Steve finds a broken clay beer. A couple more shovels, and an deep aqua flask top.  This could get good!  A little bit later out came an open pontil small cylinder. A Doctor McClane's American Worm Specific. Cool! 

Steve with a "less filling" clay beer variant

Crude, drippy glass to get a guy going!

Close up of the American Worm Specific.

    We found a bunch of smooth base unembossed bottles and that was the end of it. Steve took the probe and checked the sides to see if there was another pit next to this one. Sure enough he found one. A lot of pottery and fruit jar shards came out. A pint Hero jar was the only intact, embossed bottle. It was a pain digging. We were tunneling over from the previously dug pit and it was very cramped. We finished it off the best we could and moved on.

    Then next pit was also going to be a tunnel job. This time, we needed to get under the above mentioned brick wall. Nobody was looking forward to this dig.  Steve was the first to reach the the ash layer at the base of the wall. I was hoping it wasn't just fill put in when the wall was constructed. Then,  he finds another broken clay beer. Cool, another older pit.

    On my turn, I was pretty surprised to see a cobalt looking blob soda in the debris. My mind was telling me to get an "as found" pic. But, my danged hands couldn't wait to see if it was embossed and intact. Sure enough, a pale cobalt L Werrbach/ Milwaukee Wis blob soda.

Dave with the Werrbach blob

Close up of the L Werrbach soda.

    Steve was up next. It wasn't to long before he found a very cool looking onion skin marble. Then, he too has a Werrbach on the run. Same color as above with a little variation in the embossing and some neck damage. 

Onion skin marble. Steve's new camera sure takes great pics!

    A few cone inks, Lea Perrins, open pontil olive oil, clay cone ink, wines, etc. were also found. As well as a tall, square import med from Fort Madison, Iowa. The embossing read Geo H. Schafffer and Co Pharmacists. It had a small monogram encircled with "Right Goods At The Right Price."

    It was getting late. We have one more pit to open up there plus a couple more spots to check out thanks to Lewis.