# New to this site



## ravinedigger (Jun 5, 2008)

Where to begin...we live on a small farm with an old log cabin in Missouri, and we've been here for the past 18 years.  Just recently, our interest in the history of this place really started taking off.  We started researching the previous owners of the land, back to 1876 thus far.  We discovered two dump sites when we first bought this place.  We cleaned up/removed the first dump site, which was mostly late 1940's to early 1970's material.  The second dump site was nearly forgotten about until just recently.

 When we started researching the history here, we decided to have a look around at this second dump site.  It is at least 800 feet from the cabin, in a wooded ravine at the edge of a field, whereas the more recent dump site was only about 100 feet from the cabin.  From the plat maps that I have (1876, 1898, 1930, and present day), there is no sign of a house site closer to this dump site than the current cabin, though I won't rule that out just yet.

 I'm getting off track here...anyway, we have only explored a small portion of this dump site so far.  We've also only gone down a few feet.  We've pulled about 200 bottles out of this spot, most of them dating between T.O.C. and the early 1940's.  Most of the bottles have been cleaned up and packed away for the time being, but I wanted to show off some of the bottles/jars that are starting to accumulate on our shelf here.











 Here are some of the other finds.  If anyone recognizes any of these, I'm always happy to receive more information on them.

 Mahdeen Hair Tonic bottle (dates between 1907-??):









 Herpicide Quality Products for the Hair and Scalp (unsure of age):





 Schenley Whiskey decanter (dates between 1933-1964):





 Face creams???:





 I have no information on this one:





 A few mason jars.  The one on the left is a Ball Mason dating from 1923-1933, the middle is a Ball Mason dating from 1910-1923, and the one on the right is a Presto Mason, which I have no information on.  





 This is the back of the Presto Mason.





 A Jersey Farm Dairy Co.  This one is really cool in that the dairy that it came from was located only a block from the house that my dad grew up in, about 30 miles from here in St. Louis, MO.





 A D.C.S. dairy.  I have no information on this one other than that D.C.S. was located somewhere in St. Louis, MO.









 A couple of old lightbulbs.  I believe that the one on the right is an automotive bulb.





 We've found a few of these tiny bottles.  Most of them still have a rubber-like stopper in the top (it looks like the eraser off the top of a pencil).  To me, they appear to have held some sort of medicine that was administered via needle.





 We've also dug one positive privy hole, and one hole which turned out not to be a privy hole.  The positive privy hole is stone-lined, with the stone foundation still sticking up out of the ground.  Unfortunately, we came up empty handed on that one.  The other hole was a definite depression in the ground near the dump site that we've been digging.  It felt like a privy hole to me when probing, but we hit solid rock 5 feet down, with no sign of artifacts.  Since I know that this land has been inhabited since at least 1876, I'm just dying to find some mid-late 1800's bottles.  No luck yet, but we'll keep going at it.

 Sorry for the novel, and thanks for the great website.

 -Rod


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## madman (Jun 5, 2008)

hey  welcome  looks like youve got 1900s to 1950s  time to make a probe, to find the old trash pit behind the cabin, or where youre digging now dig deeper mike


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## kanudigit? (Jun 5, 2008)

Keep diggin!


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## madpaddla (Jun 5, 2008)

Gotta run cause the game is on.  But here are some useful sites for ya.  Welcome to the forum and a great hobby.  Looks like you have some 1930's meds, milks, and I really like the Herpiside bottle.  Neat.  Congrats on the finds.  Many members are glad to help.  They helped me.  Welcome and good luck with finding more:
Forum Resources 
Bottle Marks
Bottle ages
 Madpaddla


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## capsoda (Jun 5, 2008)

Most of your bottles are from 1900 to about 1940 ans a few are newer. Check this link for info on the Mahdeen.
http://www.mahdeen.com/history.html 

 Here is info on the Schenley.
http://www.bartonbrands.com/schenley.html

 Milk bottles and fruit jars are always good finds. If you started at one end of the dump then the other end is likely older stuff.

 Nice finds and welcome to the forum.


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## ravinedigger (Jun 5, 2008)

Thanks for the replies, guys.  

 Mike, I made up a probe a while back, and I'm getting the hang of using it.  I haven't used it much in this dump site, but from what I have felt there, it goes pretty deep.  Hopefully the bottles will get older as we go down.

 Madpaddla, those links are great.  Thanks.

 Warren, I found that page through Google when we dug the Mahdeen bottle.  It's always neat to find some of the history behind these bottles.

 -Rod


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