5/1/05

    We started out on an empty corner lot. Steve had a pit lined up right in the corner by the alley. There must have been a drive there. Very compact and gravelly. Tree roots and wire screen made the first few feet tough to get through also.

Dave starting #1

    There were a few slick bottles and some rotted out metal stove legs a couple feet down. I was pitching dirt like mad. Steve laughed and showed me a PJ Kohlman JR  hutch bottle that came out in a shovel full. How do you miss a hutch bottle? On his turn, he came up with some nice jugs. One had a wire handle, maybe a kerosene container. The other a larger whiskey jug. Steve also got three more Kohlman hutches.

Kohlman JR hutch with the bell in the center.

  The pit was huge 5x5x6. Most of the stuff was in the fill rather than the use layer. An intact oil lamp and a few Kilmers finished up the better stuff.

Stuff to haul home

    We had one young girl stop by and want a ride to a "job interview." I quickly passed it off to Steve, it wasn't my truck. Steve was neck deep in the hole and had to explain to her we were somewhat busy.  Two strangers, covered with dirt, and had a hole already dug, what was she thinking. Other than that it was very quiet down there. Steve attributed it to the can of "Deep Hood's Off" we had found on the last dig.

    Off to the next dig. Which was a complete 180 from where we were. Nice house in a beautiful part of town. Steve's buddy Rob talked to his neighbor lady and she said we could stop by anytime. The house looked older. The owner, Heather, said it was from about 1900. 

   Steve had the pit all marked out. It wasn't very deep, but there sure seemed to be a lot of glass in there. Every time he probed he was clunking on something. We stretched out the tarps and started digging. It was pure sand and the digging was easy for a change.

Easy digging

    Heather wanted to watch. She was very cool and was excited by the bottles we started to pull out. One of the first ones out was a blob top Pabst Kenosha Branch. Then we started to find a lot of food bottles with the labels still intact. Must have been the sand, never seen anything like it. A citrate of magnesia, Buffalo Lithia Water 1/2 gallon, local druggist Hurd, a broken Warners Safe Cure, were a couple to pop out. We cleaned up and gave her most of the bottles. It is always fun when the owner gets into what is going on!

Steve and the goods

Heather with Emily holding a tiny bisque doll head.