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Bottle Digging!!!
Ahhh, this was my extreme obsession, when I lived in gold rush country out west. No bottle target was too hard, or too much work, or too anything. I hope the pics turn out ok, the quality might be low. The pics are digital re shoots of film pics, so hope for the best.
This target was an 1860's hotel privy in Nevada City California. It is behind an operating business now, under their concreted parking lot. The bigger issue, it was adjacent by just feet to an outdoor cafe, and up against, by feet of a city fire hydrant. The first order of business, jackhammer open the right spot, pics one and two,, then put up a privacy fence, pic 3. Tarp off the remaining concrete surfaces so they wouldn't be stained by mud. The gal in pic 4 is the property owner who operated the business out front. She popped back every 5 minutes to see what we were finding. Pic 5, we needed big tough guys to haul up buckets of dirt and bottles. The hole got down to 45 feet. Climbing out was hand over hand up the rope. whew. Pic 6 was backfilling with a tractor. Lots of water compacting the backfill too. Pic 7 shows in the process of cleaning up before re concreting the opening. Pic 8 shows some of the booty. Lots of bitters, pontil, whiskey flasks, meds, blob sodas,pot lids. Took 2 days to open and close the hole. Lots of tylenol the next morning, What fun :crazy:
This target was an 1860's hotel privy in Nevada City California. It is behind an operating business now, under their concreted parking lot. The bigger issue, it was adjacent by just feet to an outdoor cafe, and up against, by feet of a city fire hydrant. The first order of business, jackhammer open the right spot, pics one and two,, then put up a privacy fence, pic 3. Tarp off the remaining concrete surfaces so they wouldn't be stained by mud. The gal in pic 4 is the property owner who operated the business out front. She popped back every 5 minutes to see what we were finding. Pic 5, we needed big tough guys to haul up buckets of dirt and bottles. The hole got down to 45 feet. Climbing out was hand over hand up the rope. whew. Pic 6 was backfilling with a tractor. Lots of water compacting the backfill too. Pic 7 shows in the process of cleaning up before re concreting the opening. Pic 8 shows some of the booty. Lots of bitters, pontil, whiskey flasks, meds, blob sodas,pot lids. Took 2 days to open and close the hole. Lots of tylenol the next morning, What fun :crazy:
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