Old dump site on property .

[cowboy357]

I,m Curious if anyone else has ran into old Dumpsites on there Property You Weren,t aware of untill its to late ? lol . Our property is on the river & I knew there was an old dump on the riverbank Far above the waterline I,ve been dealing with the last year or so. Removing Old tires & Larger metal items, Having them Hauled off & Covering the rest with dirt . To make it Useable property for kind of a park area . No big Surprise there right. lol .

Then a week ago I start clearing property along a slew on The far north side of Our property for Reasons I,m not even sure of right now. haha . Only to find that What appeared to be a Burm or kind of a hill , Is Nothing but another rather large above ground dumpsite . Boy did I open up a can of worms .

It appears to be at least 75 to 100 years old by the items I,ve found so far . Bottles, old toys , Car & farm Equipment parts , Also old oil field equipment & windmill parts . Most Items far beyond saving but interesting none the less . I,m now trying to figure out what to do with all of it & so far moving it 2 tractor Buckets at a time (When the Wife is able to help) about 500 yards to the old dump site down by the river . Also sorting out the Larger metal items & Burnable Materials to Dispose of Properly .

I was just Curious if Others have been through this before & how You handled it ? Or if You just left well enough alone ? As it seems like I,m far from being done & now Really curious as to What interesting things We might still find. I,ve never posted any pics here yet, So I might try later to show what I,m talking about If anyones interested & If I can figure out how to. Thanks . CB

 

[randy41]

I would be wary of coming in contact with unknown and possibly toxic waste.

 

[Luremaker]

I think every farm around these parts had a dump somewhere on the property. Mostly household waste and old farm machinery. There was an old Inn that closed in the 1920's on my property and I find lots of old bottles and broken cups, plates other kitchen items. A neighbor has found a gold mine of antiques on his property. He has lots of metal like old balance scales, horse bits, brass items etc. He's been hauling it to flea markets and selling it all. He's having a great time. Steve

 

[MicroPilot]

Be careful of not running afoul of the gubberment! (EPA and or local blight ordnances)

 

[tallyho8]

It is very common for farmers in this area to dump all their trash in an area of their property that is not used and bury it over time. Since we are in a very low area, these dumps are usually used as landfill and are never dug up. The good part is that if that trash is 75 years old or older, there is probably no toxic waste in it.

I tried this practice a couple of times years ago but I soon discovered that I always wound up with the pile in the wrong place and had to move it again. All my trash goes to the local dump now so that I only have to move it once and never see it again.

 

[mjarrels]

All old homesteads have a "dump" site... called an outhouse!

mark

 

[atgreene]

I have two on my property, both have yielded hundreds of bottles, cans and artifacts. My father has several on his property, as well.

In Maine you have the right to dispose of anything on your own property that comes from your own property with the exception of asbestos, lead paint items and oil everything else can be dumped on your own property, including shingles.

Unless it's recently dumped, I doubt you have much risk of polluting anything anyway. Every old farm had it's own dump, most people would be shocked to learn that the trash truck hasn't done weekly pick-ups for the last 150 years.

 

[LBrown59]

Be careful of not running afoul of the gubberment! (EPA and or local blight ordnances)

Get the Gov in on it & It could cost him an arm and a leg or 2 in fines and clean up fees.
It's the land owner that's guilty not the person or party that put it there.

 

[RobJ]

I know where there is a 1977 Chevy 4x4 pickup burried on our lease. It caught fire (actually not that bad either) and there was a track hoe on the lease we were using. When the time is right I'm going to dig it up and sell it on Ebay!

 

[LBrown59]

Most people would be shocked to learn that the trash truck hasn't done weekly pick-ups for the last 150 years. :

After 150 years it's probably in the trash heap too.

 

[Willl]

We have people here that do this to their place even today.

 

[schmism]

ours has/had one. going into the ravine on the back side was littered with glass. back in the day you didnt have plastic, it was either metal, paper, or glass. so the metal items rust away to nothing, the paper degrades fairly quickly but the glass sticks around forever.

this past winter myself, the wife, and a helper friend pulled about 300lbs of glass out of the area. Got most of it that wasnt already buried under 4" of dirt.
I took it to a large municipal recycling drop off that uses mixed all in one glass,metal,AL,plastic drop off scheme. that way i didnt have to wory about removing any rusty old tops and cleaning them up nice.


its generally not an area we will use either just wanted to clean it up.

anything burnable gets burnt, any metal items gets tossed in the scrap pile, and glass gets collected for recycling.

 

[Ridgewalker]

I had a large trash pile on my place...lots of metal that got scrapped, tons that got burnt and I still filled up 3 roll off containers with the leftovers.

It made a huge difference and was worth the effort and expense.

 

[SPIKER]

AHH YOU PEOPLE OUT WEST! Back east a few hundred miles there was no trash pick up and in many places still ain't much of one! I have several (that are still left) there used to be about 10 of them. I've moved a lot and buried it in some cases continued to burn in others. We all have one or two if the place was occupied any time by man in the last 1000 years or so. You just have to find them. most of the stuff I've got left is in pretty bad shape. My brother & his boy have been hauling 2~3 compact pick up loads a week to scrap dealer down the road all summer long. Got them extra $ when they needed it & I'm glad to be rid of the un-slightly stuff. I bought this place that was commercial x-mas tree farm for 50+ years so lots of bad parts of equipment & car parts tossed in piles. Worst is the glass that has been tossed every where it seems, the last owners were big beer drinkers and any where they went they left a trail of blatz beer bottles luckily they did put the stuff from the house in 1 or 2 places so those spots are still left as they are really bad shape... I have a lot of old glass that is different but mostly it is broken or had been shot with a bb gun I'm thinking... lot of 60's & 70's glass avon stuff (must have sold it I guess the misses of the place?) some still had sealed contents but nothing that was worth worrying about for me anyhow!

it is looking better we will see how much more gets recycled by the family & me when I can get moving again...

Mark

 

[riptides]

I have been cleaning up our farm since we bought it some five years ago. Lots of old metal, some old equipment, lots of old storage bins, freezers, milking equipment and what not.

One of my most interesting finds is a stainless steel boiling milk vat, circa 1950. Another was a bubblegum machine rescued from the creek.

It all goes to the scrap metal dealers or the county landfill. At the rate I am going, and the stuff that is lined up, another five years and I should be done.

Just be carefull, some of that old metal is brittle and sharp. I always wear gear when I am around it. No telling what may pop out at you, or try and slice you.

 

[reddog176]

Going through one of the dumps on our farm, we came across an old glass bottle still fully intact from a local bottling company. We ended up selling it on ebay for $200. I guess that proves the old saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure.

 

[cowboy357]

Thanks for the input Ya,ll . Very interesting Knowing what others have found & how They handled it. I Never gave any thought about toxic waste in there . But as I was getting about to the halfway point yesterday It had a really Weird odor. Never gave it much thought as Part of it I assumed was from an old HUGE Rug of some sorts That appeared to be hand made out of small Twine of some type . Musta weighed 500 lbs but was kind of damp , & had to keep Cutting it up to remove it .

Shortly after I got it to where I wanted it, I started noticing My arms & face burning a little bit & have a **** of a sore throat this mornin, No clue if its a coincidence or not but sure has Me wondering . There were Lots of bottles ( Mostly broken ) & Cans in there also that some still contained something in them. No clue what though. Must of been 100,s of what appear to be old Moonshine bottles but only managed to save a few so far . In the Earlier stage of the dump I founs some aluminum Kegs that look Pretty old also. Not sure when they started using aluminum though . But intesting looking anyway .

I also found what appear to be 2 Really heavy , What appear to be Old solid steel axles With about 2 inch squared center about 4 foot long with about 1 foot on each end rounded off . No clue what They would have been used for either . Anyway I had to Quit because of rain & I was just making a mess & My lights quit working on the tractor . So if its not to muddy I,ll hit it again today .

Probably doesn,t make much sense to some why I want to clean it up, Just bored I guess . But so far I,ve filled 2- 22 foot steel containers with tin & steel , that after the container Rental of 200 bucks each time I still got about 500 bucks . Even after paying some of the dump removal fees I,ll make enough for fuel & beer , haha . Plus I still have about 2 pickup loads of Copper , Brass, & Aluminum & More Steel to sell . Cant beat that I recon. Anyway Thanks for the input again . Back to work as soon as the sun comes up. Ya,ll have a Great Day . CB .

 

[MicroPilot]

Get the Gov in on it & It could cost him an arm and a leg or 2 in fines and clean up fees.
It's the land owner that's guilty not the person or party that put it there.

Yea, that's want I meant.

 

[scott_vt]

Every old farm had it's own dump, most people would be shocked to learn that the trash truck hasn't done weekly pick-ups for the last 150 years.

Mornin atgreene,
Well in East Wells there never has been trash pickup thats why we all ride around in 4x4 pickups ! The Lincoln just wouldnt smell quite right after one soggy ride to the dump !

On the northeast corner of my property I have a small old dump site, heck I even found the old chaise lounge frame from my 85 year old neighbor Ethel, she says she hadnt seen that frame since the sixties !

I have found some old glass bottles and some of my favorities are the old style beer cans that you needed a church key to open, actually I guess thats only sixties vintage Schaefer and Reingold !

All in all its a good place for a budding Archeologist !

 

[Skerby]

what's the harm in just leaving it? maybe just get a metal detector and respirator and have fun with it!