Introduction
This page is a "how to" on privy digging. It is designed with the beginner
in mind but veteran bottle digger can find some good info here too. This page is
also geared toward ghost town bottle diggers of Pennsylvania. This is due to the
fact that I have not dug bottles in any other state or in any city.
Safety
Privies are full of broken glass, jagged rusty metal, large stones and can
cave-in at any moment. I would advise you to wear leather gloves, goggles, and a
hard hat if you are digging deep. When digging don't pry on roots or anything
else in the hole. Try to cut roots or any other obstruction. I have picked a lot
of dirt out of my eyes because I was prying and a root broke loose catapulting
privy dirt in my eyes. Don't tunnel. It is hard not to tunnel when you run into
a layer of bottles but tunneling can get your head smashed or buried in a cave
in. Always take a partner with you. It is smart to have someone to look out for
potential cave-ins or pull you out of a cave in.
Digging Tools
For starters, all you need is a round nosed shovel. If you want to find
more holes and break less bottles you will need a few more tools.
Probe- a spring steel rod from 4 to 6 feet long with a "T" handle. Probes
are used for finding privies. Ounce you are have located a likely spot, insert
the probe into the ground to feel for resistance, glass, leather, iron, ashes,
or bricks. You may want to practice with the probe to get the feel how various
materials feel and sound when touched by the probe. You can dig a hole, fill it
with ashes and dirt mixed in with some glass, bottles, (new ones of course) and
maybe some bricks, stones, and leather. Probe it and get used to how different
materials sound and feel. Don't slam the probe into the ground like a nut.
Insert the probe with some force but not enough to plow through a five thousand
dollar historical flask.
Cultivator- A long handled tool with four or five bent steel prongs on the
end. It is used to scrape away hard packed dirt and has less chance of breaking
bottles than a shovel does.
Trowel- Used to remove a bottle from packed dirt or debris. Used more like
a surgical instrument for removing a bottle from a tight area.
Sifting Screen- This one is a hobby by itself. As dirt is thrown from the
privy it is screened to remove fine ashes and dirt. When the small debris are
through the screen the remains are checked for coins, jewelry, small bottles,
doll parts, marbles, buttons, you name it! For years I thought sifting was a
waste of time. One day I was board and decided to build a simple screen and give
it a try. I was amazed. I found a barber dime, a watch fob, and a few marbles
and buttons in no time at all. Since then, me, my brother and our digging buddy
went sifting for a few hours one day and found a few more coins, a ring, a gold
broach, and some really neat buttons, one a union civil war button. We now plan
to go back and re-dig some of the holes we filled in just to sift!
A few other things you may want to bring are: a backpack and rags or
newspapers to wrap and carry your finds, an rope tied to a bucket for hauling
water from the privy, and a first aid kit with an eye wash bottle.
Locating The Site
Knowing what types of trees and plants were planted in your area in the
1800s will help you locate sites. Here in Pennsylvania you will commonly find
apple trees and barberry bushes scattered around old foundations. You may also
find lilac, osage orange trees, cherry trees, and sometimes daffodils and easter
lilies. You also want to look for old trees and hedges planted in a row. Just
because their are apple trees and some old barberry bushes does not mean there
was definitely an old structure there. They are just mean there is a chance that
there was something there. Some definite signs include stone walls, old glass
and porcelain fragments, ashes, broken bricks scattered about, and the two big,
100% likely hood of a dwelling are; a cut stone foundation, or a large gaping
hole in the ground with glass, broken bottles, boots, and smashed plates that
some other bottle digger who found the shitter a few years before you left open.
Finding The Privy
This part is best done in the spring while the ground is still soft, wet,
and the weeds are packed down from winter snows. The privy could be anywhere in
the back of the foundation usually no further away than fifty yards from the
rear of the foundation. Good places to search are near large old trees and
shrubs bordering a road or the back of the lot. When you see a indentation in
the ground, probe it. You will probably probe quite a few suspected holes before
you locate the privy. Ounce you do find a spot that you feel is an old out
house. Dig a small test hole in the center of the suspected area. Try to go down
about three feet or so. If you are finding that there is glass, ashes, and
porcelain you may have a privy. If the dirt you are digging up is clay mixed
with top soil and no glass or ashes you may still have a privy but you are
digging in dirt that was used to fill the privy. Ounce you have your test hole
dug and you are still finding glass or ashes open the hole up start digging
seriously. There is a good chance you have a privy. If you are not finding ashes
or glass and the dirt looks mixed probe the bottom of the hole. If you feel
glass or ashes keep digging and probing until you are sure that you have a privy
or not. If you hit hard yellow clay you probably don't have a privy but try to
probe it anyway. If it is an old out house you will find that the deeper you go
the darker the soil gets. You will also notice a wooden form surrounding the
sides of the privy. This form was built by the original privy digger to stop the
sides from collapsing. Remove the boards and check behind them for bottles as
well. When the form was built ashes where sometimes thrown in behind the form to
make it more sturdy and in with those ashes were the bottles. Older privies
(early 1800s) will be stone lined instead of wood. Now that you have located the
first privy of the site, it will be easier finding the rest. When privies where
dug they were usually dug near one and other. If was is more than one house in
the area privies where commonly dug in a row. When you find the second privy
pace off the distance of the first hole you dug and the new hole. Then walk that
paced distance to your next suspected area, walking in line of your first two
privies. This method should place you in the general area of the next privy. You
will find some holes that are shallow without any type of form. These are what
we call junk holes. They are good to dig and sift and they do have bottles but
not as many as out houses. Privies come in all shapes and sizes some small and
some huge. Like Forest Gump's mama says "Ya never know what your gonna get".
Bottle
Cleaning
Cleaning can be several different ways but
regardless how you do it you have to be very careful. Cleaning with acid is not
recommended. I have used muriatic acid on occasion to remove rust deposits and
stubborn stains inside of the bottle but with a little more work and patience
you can accomplish the same results. I have used a buffing wheel to remove
stains on common bottles of little value but this method isn't recommended
either. Buffing will lighten embossing and can leave the surface if the bottle
with a hazy appearance. Buffers will also heat the bottle which could cause the
bottle to crack. Bottles can be soaked in bleach and water overnight to help
remove dirt and stains. You can use denture cleaning tablets to clean the inside
of the bottle. Simply break the tablets into pieces and place them into the
bottle with water and soak. A bottle brush which can be purchased at your super
market is great for removing dirt from the inside of bottles too. For hard to
reach places inside bottles I have always used heavy gauge COPPER wire cut into
small pieces. Here all you have to do is cut the copper wire into small pieces
put them into the bottle with some warm not hot, warm water and shake the
bottle. The wire you use must be copper! Any metal harder than copper will
scratch the bottle. I have heard of people using sand instead of copper wire to
remove inner stains as well. A scrubbing pad works good to remove stains on the
bottles surface. When cleaning just remember to be careful.
Bottle
Age
There are a few features of a bottle that
will give you a good idea of its age. A pontil is a round glass scar on the
bottom of the bottle. Bottles with pontils were made before 1866. The seam line
will tell you the age of a bottle as well. A general rule about seam lines is
the lower they are the older the bottle. With some experience you will be able
to tell the approximate age of a bottle in a glance. Older bottles were crude.
The embossing on them looks rough and can be difficult to read. Older bottles
have more imperfections. They will often have many bubbles, uneven surfaces and
bent necks.
