How far are dumps from town typically?

ericp501

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Our town dates back well into the 1700s with a creek that winds all through it. I was looking at the map and think I know where the old dump might have been, only problem is its downwind to the town so an unlikely spot.

There's another spot that very well could have been used, but it looks to be a little over half a mile from the main part of town. No big deal now, but I'm wondering if that would have been considered too far back in the late 1800s.
 
old dumps

If its an old town they started right in town. Most old homes had their own bottle/garbage pits right on their property. The would fill one up then dig another and so on.
 
I've heard of trash being found in old outhouse holes. If you look on youtube you will see videos of folks digging in old outhouse holes and bringing out old bottles and all kinds of relics.
 
If they had community dump sites , today , those sites could be right in the middle of town with the way cities have spread out over the last 100 years . For instance,,,,the city dump my dad used to go to back in the late 60s and early 70s was on the outskirts of town , today , it's a golf course well inside the city limits . And , a lawyer I know ,, owns an old building 2 blocks from the county courthouse , it's an old 2story building , he uses as his office . He said the paperwork says that when the building was built , it was outside the city limits , now it's right in the middle of downtown .
 
Two I know of were about a mile or less away from town,seemed to be downwind also.
Here,the Pacific ocean blows eastward
 
Often they were along rivers or creeks, especially if the banks were long and deep enough. They weren't just downwind of town, they were downstream from town too so you weren't contaminating the water someone else was drawing from.
 
I was working a job in Alexander Virginia back in 2001 sewer treatment plant. It was off of Route 1 and 495 we could actually see 495. They were digging down in the ground probably 10 to 12 feet for foundations and we hit a trash dump there were literally hundreds of old bottles. Actually just about anything you could imagine being in a dump. I was down in a ditch welding some pipe and they were some sticking out of the dirt I gathered up a few of them.
 
Look for the ravine's outside town and look for row houses and near river for dumps . Old maps are key find old dumps and privies
 
I just found one litterly next to the road. From people tossing bottles out car windows all the other trash rots away but the bottles stay. Mostly beer bottles but did I picke out one that wasn't a screw top and two other neat looking bottles.
 
I've heard of trash being found in old outhouse holes. If you look on youtube you will see videos of folks digging in old outhouse holes and bringing out old bottles and all kinds of relics.

Be careful digging in others if they are not at least 1000 years old many nasties can still alive
 
How Far Are Dump Sites From Town

Hi...I have located major dump sites here in Dallas, Tx right on the edge of downtown that dates from the 1870s to the 1930s...Keep in mind that the creeks and rivers that ran thru towns were filled or rerouted like here in Dallas...By looking at old city maps of Dallas, I discovered filled creeks and a major river, both of which had been changed one way or another by man...

Success was easy once I new exactly what had happened to all of the trash, etc...I have found hundreds of old bottles that were intact and thousands of antique bottle parts and necks at the same major dump site over the last several years...

Of all the 35 years that I have been metal detecting, this major dump site was my best honey hole...Just visited the site this week...You can view a lot of the bottles that I have posted on my face book page which is Robert Lee Rigdon...

And like someone else stated, dumps were in older homes back yards the same as water wells which I have discovered, yield a lot of artifact once a bulldozer strike through one...Good Luck...
 
Most old homes had a dumpsite right on the property somewhere if the property was large enough. Usually out back somewhere out of site. Many personal dump sites were behind a bluff , in a ravine , or high creek/river bank. Many small towns may not even have even had a community dump site , everybody had their own up until people started living on small parcels where they couldn't hide it. As cities grew the need for a community dump did too. A lot depends on the size of the community and its history.
 
Often they were along rivers or creeks, especially if the banks were long and deep enough. They weren't just downwind of town, they were downstream from town too so you weren't contaminating the water someone else was drawing from.

Absolutely correct!
 
The town dump in the town over from me dated from the c1860s to the 1930s and that one is west of town. The prevailing winds come mainly from the west so it looks like that wasn't a good idea. :no:
 
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