Just one more pass and I'll be done

[3Ts]

I've been needing to work on the drainage around our cabin for a while and everything finally came together so I could actually get out there and move some dirt. Got the excess dirt removed and had almost finished the contour of the swale to direct the water around the cabin. Just one more pass, and I hit a piece of metal that was now sticking up in the air. Apparently it was laying over in the grass and when I hit it, I straightened it out. I went to grab it and pull it out, but realized it was an anchor of some type. So 6' deep later, I finally dug it up. Good thing I have a backhoe on my tractor. I'm going to have to get a battery powered angle grinder with a cutoff wheel.


Never seen a ground anchor like this before.


So, I get the hole filled back in and compacted the best I can as I go and move out from the cabin a little ways to remove the top few inches of dirt to ease the slope a little. Dang if I didn't hit a tree stump. Oh well, it shouldn't be difficult to get out, it been there at least 7 years so it should be mostly rotted and come out easily. So I dig out a little on each side and don't see any roots, I take a closer look and pick up a piece that broke off, smells like cresote. It's a telephone pole that had been sheared off just below ground level and I need the area to be 6" lower for proper drainage. So, another 6' deep hole to get it out. I didn't get accomplished what I set out to do today. One deviation to the plan after another.


But it was a nice day out. It's been months since I was able to work outside so I took advantage of that. And suffered the consequences. I am bright red, so lots of skin cream to lessen the sunburn. But still, it was a good day today.

 

[Thomas]

Is there name or ID tag?

 

[countrybumpkin]

And the anchor was a guy wire anchor for the old pole.

 

[EddieWalker]

My land used to belong the the US Army during WW2 as Camp Fanin. I own Rifle Range number 4. Where the targets where located, I've found something very similar that was used to hold the wood posts in postiong that held the targets. There is a line of them 600 feet long. I've taken out dozens of them, but mostly just cut off the long metal part and leave the rest in the ground.

Not sure what you found, but it is very similar to what I've found on my land.

 

[3Ts]

And the anchor was a guy wire anchor for the old pole.

That was my first suspicion, but the anchor is 45' from the pole and is vertical. It seems to far away to be an anchor for the pole, and the anchor rod was vertical. Any kind of force at an angle would have pulled it over. I'm wondering if it was a building anchor like what is now used for mobile homes. Previously, I've found 2 electric ground rods near (i.e. 10' to 20') the anchor and I've been told there was once a barn and mobile home here. I did find concrete sewer pipe, but did not trace it to see where it went.

Is there name or ID tag?

It's pretty well covered with mud and corrosion. I'll look but I don't expect to find anything with the corrosion that's on it.

 

[lman]

I've got an area at the rear of my property that was a burial place for rocks and other junk. I figured that out when I was going to use some of the dirt for fill and realized that wasn't going to work. There is a rock slightly exposed and I have to resist the urge to dig it up. The last time I dug up a rock there, it took a few hours to remove a rock about 30" in diameter.

 

[BrokenTrack]

I used to pound ground rods in vertically, and huffed and puffed as I did it, but now I just take my backhoe and dig a pit 4 feet down, and six feet long. I put the ground rod in horizontally, and just run a longer wire up out of the hole. Most of the time the wire is going in a trench anyway so there is not extra digging, but it does cost a bit more for longer ground wire, but it is cheap enough and worth it.

Interesting find though.

It is neat what is down in the ground. You think, "I am digging virgin ground here", and then...you find where someone has been there before.

 

[kthompson]

Broken Track, I thought the ground rod had to go in vertically as it needed the depth for moisture for electoral ground connection. Of course the moisture level varies greatly, here a foot and we have it most of the time.

 

[Ken]

I've been needing to work on the drainage around our cabin for a while and everything finally came together so I could actually get out there and move some dirt. Got the excess dirt removed and had almost finished the contour of the swale to direct the water around the cabin. Just one more pass, and I hit a piece of metal that was now sticking up in the air. Apparently it was laying over in the grass and when I hit it, I straightened it out. I went to grab it and pull it out, but realized it was an anchor of some type. So 6' deep later, I finally dug it up. Good thing I have a backhoe on my tractor. I'm going to have to get a battery powered angle grinder with a cutoff wheel.
View attachment 651397

Never seen a ground anchor like this before.
View attachment 651398

So, I get the hole filled back in and compacted the best I can as I go and move out from the cabin a little ways to remove the top few inches of dirt to ease the slope a little. Dang if I didn't hit a tree stump. Oh well, it shouldn't be difficult to get out, it been there at least 7 years so it should be mostly rotted and come out easily. So I dig out a little on each side and don't see any roots, I take a closer look and pick up a piece that broke off, smells like cresote. It's a telephone pole that had been sheared off just below ground level and I need the area to be 6" lower for proper drainage. So, another 6' deep hole to get it out. I didn't get accomplished what I set out to do today. One deviation to the plan after another.

View attachment 651400
But it was a nice day out. It's been months since I was able to work outside so I took advantage of that. And suffered the consequences. I am bright red, so lots of skin cream to lessen the sunburn. But still, it was a good day today.

There is a reason it is called a bell anchor.
dig hole and place anchor in the hole then pound the bell down and spread the anchor.
65 years ago was hired to install coax cable for the cable system . and summertime dried ground it was hard to get a hole. (Before modern digging tools) and since the Telephone system was on strike hired 2 men to help in installing the coax cable. about an hour they quit saying to far from the telephone line . Hired 2 Green Card employees and showed them what to do. thinking they understood went to another site to check on the work. returning to feed lunch and they had set 4 of the bell anchors and refilled the hole with dirt. impressed with the work and since they were finished paid with a bonus. later the crew was connecting the cable to ground anchor realized the workers had dug deep enough to bury the anchor then pounded the rod into the ground. spreading the bell anchor ruined the use again so purchase a replacement at then 45 bucks apiece.