# Minneapolis Bottle Dump Site hauled off



## MNJars (Mar 26, 2013)

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, so my description will have to do.  I work in the commercial construction industry and was just out on a building site in an older part of Minneapolis.  I noticed some bottles in the superintendant's office (maybe 15 or 20 different bottles of all kinds of types) so I asked about them.  He said these were the ones that were brought to him when they were excavating and the owner kept some of the nicer ones.  So I asked how many were there.  He said they opened up some voids that were filled with THOUSANDS of bottles all over the site.  So I asked what happened to them all and he said they were all hauled off and thrown away!  That is a serious bummer as I'm sure there were some decent regional bottles based on what I saw on his window.
 I am not the biggest expert on bottles, but I would estimate most of the ones in his window were 1900-1910.


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## tigue710 (Mar 26, 2013)

bummer, they often burn the dirt form dumps because of contaminants or bury it under a very large cap layer.  In CT in one city they hauled all the dirt to processing plant where it was screened and sorted, smashing all the glass into bits in the process...


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## MNJars (Mar 26, 2013)

I could see shards of old glass in the remaining piles of excavated dirt.  The site used to be a building years ago and was cleared so I imagine some of the basement of the old building was loaded with bottles and used as a dump, then covered over with dirt for a parking lot until now.


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## tigue710 (Mar 26, 2013)

Could have been built on a dump site, old foundation were used as dumps sometimes too, more often in areas were a large amount of destruction occurred all at one time though, in example city's in heavy battle zones of the civil war, San Francisco after the earth quake...  Quite a lot of early dumps were used as a means to fill and level low lying areas that were built upon after the fill was completed...


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## Noleakjohn (Mar 28, 2013)

Thats a crying shame, i have followed dump trucks to ther dump sites that i watched being filled with bottles to see if i could have any chance to get in there and dig thru the mounds but you can never get permission to play in there dirt.


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## epackage (Mar 29, 2013)

Hey John are you a plumber?


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## rockbot (Mar 29, 2013)

They got to burn the dirt because of contaminants.... sounds scary... and we are digging this stuff? lol




> ORIGINAL:  tigue710
> 
> bummer, they often burn the dirt form dumps because of contaminants or bury it under a very large cap layer.  In CT in one city they hauled all the dirt to processing plant where it was screened and sorted, smashing all the glass into bits in the process...


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## ironmountain (Mar 29, 2013)

I feel your pain. So much history broken and thrown away. not to mention nice glass.  

 I do IT work for a fed run senior citizen apartment bldg. (there are 2 bldgs a mile or so apart).  The maint. guy tells me that if he'd known that I collect bottles, he'd have had his friend save me a 'truckload' that he dug up when digging a foundation hole.  He said there must have been bottles 6' deep. This bldg was built in the 1800's.  The prvt drive that leads to the parking lot of the other bldg has a spot that caves in every few years. he said that it'll cave in, they'll clear out a bunch of bottles and trash and after fixing it, it'll cave in again because there's another layer of bottles and trash further down......

 pic of the bldg with the cave in. Was a school. this pic is circa 1905...


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## RCO (Mar 29, 2013)

unfortuently in major towns and cities alot of the older dumps have been built on or destroyed by this time . but in the country alot of good sites still exist if you know where to look for them . 

 at the time they moved that dump they maybe didn't realise the bottles would of been so desirable or they felt digging the dump would of cost them too much time and money as they would of fell behind on whatever they were building or doing with that site


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## Noleakjohn (Mar 30, 2013)

Yes Jim I own Stillwater plumbing in Stillwater Mn, the birthplace of Mn very old house here.


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## Noleakjohn (Mar 30, 2013)

I was able to get a few bottles from that site, a buddy of mine was running a skid loader there and picked some up for me, local stuff i don't remember what, i'll let you know what i have latter when i get time to look in the box, i think local whisky a drugist, cod liver oil and some beer.


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## Noleakjohn (Mar 30, 2013)

Here in Minnesota they don't stop they dig and haul them away, i'm always trying to dig the sites they dump at, but i have had no luck with that yet.


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