Pit Dumps - Why?

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Pit Dumps - Why?

#1

Post by kamsquared »

Why did people out west or southwest feel the need to bury their trash in pits and then cover it in feet or several feet of dirt?
Was there a federal or state litter law about how to get rid of your garbage?

In the Midwest, we would scatter dump or dump stuff in ravines or holes......nobody is digging a hole to put garbage in.
Especially in the Yoopee of Michigan, you will not be digging a hole to bury trash due to the bedrock and the perma-frost!!

Somebody explain this to me.


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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#2

Post by burgiedave »

My understanding is depth was required to match their theory for sanitation. When San Jose built the 280 on the outskirts of downtown a portion of this site was the town dump. Sealed off around the time WWII began this finding brought the beginning stages of the process to a halt. Barely 25 years having passed this discovery made newspaper headlines. Bottle diggers swarmed the off limits section and had a field day.

Unable to maintain the nighttime safety desired and popularity of uncovering town history it was made public: the site was open to the public for two or three days, which to dig. From this event many items from the dig now rest in the historical museum and, obviously, in community hands. Time frame matching the forced closing of the short run of the nearby St. Claire Brewery, the city historian told me items not carted away by employees went directly into this pit (the head count at that time was less than 75,000). Sure puts one in a dream state as to what trash was placed and then, slightly more than a generation later, rediscovered.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#3

Post by Scott Rollert »

Having been born and raised in Colorado, I can remember back in the 1960s camping with my family, the National Forest Service actually encouraged people to bury their campsite trash.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#4

Post by The Brad Meister »

I always assumed it was to keep bears and other undesired wildlife away?
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#5

Post by Cap-Sealed »

It's NOT just a western thing...there are pits back east too.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#6

Post by bantam10 »

There’s pits here too. And I’ve found some in the UP as well. I have such horrible luck finding dumps that I focus entirely on pits, and They’re fun to dig/find.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#7

Post by kamsquared »

bantam10 wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 1:46 pm There’s pits here too. And I’ve found some in the UP as well. I have such horrible luck finding dumps that I focus entirely on pits, and They’re fun to dig/find.
Ok, so why did people bury their garbage in pits back east?
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#8

Post by kamsquared »

bantam10 wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 1:46 pm There’s pits here too. And I’ve found some in the UP as well. I have such horrible luck finding dumps that I focus entirely on pits, and They’re fun to dig/find.
I've never seen a pit dig in the Yoopee! That's cool. What part of the Yoopee? Do you have pics? Interested to see how deep it was.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#9

Post by iggyks »

[/quote]
Ok, so why did people bury their garbage in pits back east?
[/quote]

In the Robert Ruark book The Old Man and the Boy, about growing up in coastal North Carolina in the 1920s, he describes his job of burying campsite trash in a pit during fishing or hunting trips. I think, since there weren't trash cans provided in that era, the slobs left their garbage strewn at the campsites and the responsible folks buried it. Nobody "packed it out." It was a camping/ picnic thing though, right? Surely nobody dug pits at home.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#10

Post by kamsquared »

iggyks wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 7:48 pm
Ok, so why did people bury their garbage in pits back east?
[/quote]

In the Robert Ruark book The Old Man and the Boy, about growing up in coastal North Carolina in the 1920s, he describes his job of burying campsite trash in a pit during fishing or hunting trips. I think, since there weren't trash cans provided in that era, the slobs left their garbage strewn at the campsites and the responsible folks buried it. Nobody "packed it out." It was a camping/ picnic thing though, right? Surely nobody dug pits at home.
[/quote]

That makes sense for campground pits as you describe. But burying your garbage all winter long in a state where it's normally snow covered would not be very feasible.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#11

Post by bantam10 »

kamsquared wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 7:35 pm
bantam10 wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 1:46 pm There’s pits here too. And I’ve found some in the UP as well. I have such horrible luck finding dumps that I focus entirely on pits, and They’re fun to dig/find.
I've never seen a pit dig in the Yoopee! That's cool. What part of the Yoopee? Do you have pics? Interested to see how deep it was.
Eastern part in the middle.. One was about a foot deep, very wide and still producing... with several years of Cans mixed in. Other was just a few inches under the surface. I consider any deliberate act of burying cans a “pit”.
E3F7FCB2-C0E2-4FDA-B811-62FCC816A568.jpeg
26FE44AB-95F2-4056-9FCA-869FB5B12745.jpeg
F2BF6A88-4FA9-4539-AFE4-10E64D02C30D.jpeg
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#12

Post by bantam10 »

Michigan pits in general aren’t very deep. So you won’t really compare in depth like out west. Here’s a few more. I’ve also ran into at least 2 larger dumps that are pits as well.


C0B2B7C8-AF5D-4553-A471-7F77B9445EE9.jpeg
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22F5B49E-C449-48AA-9BEB-04FD5D609DAF.jpeg
1495A790-07CD-4F6F-9F04-5E9F17A16565.jpeg
371A55F2-16DC-4099-B128-C8627B1DD8F9.jpeg
AD0A4464-A9CB-41D9-877D-356BEEF0551E.jpeg
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#13

Post by YooperAho »

ehy! yooperaho here. Pit Dumping.
You Funny! Where talking Rock Pile. Get PISSED. Just to plant a Mail Box Post .
Ya bury TRASH. :smt017
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#14

Post by kruegerbock »

As someone who's dumping career is 40 years in the past, my experience with digging for cans was that even If I dug a few feet down in to the incredibly acidic NJ soil, the only reason the cans were below ground was that people tended the throw their trash in to a natural feature such as the bottom of a hill, off a cliff etc. It was absolutely going to be below the elevation of their house. Also, a whole lot of leaf litter had covered up the dump site after it was being used, as eventually trash pickup occurred in the area, or more houses were built so people stopped throwing all their trash out wherever they could.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#15

Post by iggyks »

kamsquared wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 7:51 pm
iggyks wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 7:48 pm
Ok, so why did people bury their garbage in pits back east?
In the Robert Ruark book The Old Man and the Boy, about growing up in coastal North Carolina in the 1920s, he describes his job of burying campsite trash in a pit during fishing or hunting trips. I think, since there weren't trash cans provided in that era, the slobs left their garbage strewn at the campsites and the responsible folks buried it. Nobody "packed it out." It was a camping/ picnic thing though, right? Surely nobody dug pits at home.
[/quote]

That makes sense for campground pits as you describe. But burying your garbage all winter long in a state where it's normally snow covered would not be very feasible.
[/quote]

Agreed, burying all your home trash in pits would be crazy!
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#16

Post by kamsquared »

bantam10 wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 8:37 pm Michigan pits in general aren’t very deep. So you won’t really compare in depth like out west. Here’s a few more. I’ve also ran into at least 2 larger dumps that are pits as well.
Nice sandy soil under the pine trees in the Yoopee will give you some good can conditions. Once you dig another foot down you'll run into a glacial boulder or an actual piece of bedrock! I'm not sure I would consider those "pit dumps" but you are correct if they were intentionally buried. Most often that is just leaves and needle decay over the last 70 years or so.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#17

Post by Beercanpete »

One factor here is soil conditions. It was MUCH easier to dig a hole to bury trash in many parts of the west than in New England at least. New England has got to have the rockiest soil in the US--hard to dig more than a foot down and not hit something big.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#18

Post by bantam10 »

kamsquared wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 11:25 pm
bantam10 wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 8:37 pm Michigan pits in general aren’t very deep. So you won’t really compare in depth like out west. Here’s a few more. I’ve also ran into at least 2 larger dumps that are pits as well.
Nice sandy soil under the pine trees in the Yoopee will give you some good can conditions. Once you dig another foot down you'll run into a glacial boulder or an actual piece of bedrock! I'm not sure I would consider those "pit dumps" but you are correct if they were intentionally buried. Most often that is just leaves and needle decay over the last 70 years or so.
I was completely unaware of there being bedrock up there.

And these are absolutely pits. Notice the amount of cans/bottles in such a relatively small/tight spot all completely underground.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#19

Post by Onefineday »

In Michigan many had cabins "up north" of where they lived full time that they owned for weekend use only and often times only during the warmer months. If there was garbage pick up, they simply were not there to put it out and the other option would have been driving perhaps a sizeable distance to the local dump, which may not have been open when needed and at the least would have taken valuable weekend vacation time away from recreational activities. For only warm weather weekend only garbage, it was much easier just to dig a hole and bury it.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#20

Post by Scott »

there are several types of pits. Out west we have the big ones that might be six feet deep and four to five feet across. These typically date from the 1930's to 1950's and were dug in more organized higher use recreational areas for garbage disposal. Many of them had a metal lid on top to keep animals out. When they were full or the decision was made to decommission them, the lid was removed and they were filled in. Often they would top it off with large rocks and sometimes dig another a few feet away. Depending on the amount of use, the age of cans in these pits can span for several years up to as much as fifteen. I've found plenty of pits with late 40's cans on top, several feet with no beer cans which were the war years, and then hit a layer of instructionals at the bottom. With lots of people using them, these types of pits can have a nice variety.

Then you have your individual pits that were dug by campers (often hunters) in primitive areas. These are smaller but can still have some substantial size if you happened to have a large group of people. Normally these are "one and done" meaning a hole was dug, the garbage from that single stay was deposited and then it was backfilled. This was common practice back in the day and I have old forest maps that instruct you to "burn or bury your trash". Out of sight, out of mind was the thinking at that time.

Sometimes you have to put yourself in the position of the person decades ago and ask yourself "where would I bury my trash?" If the ground is hard and rocky look around for a nearby area that is not. I remember one time when we were at a campy spot next to a lake. The ground was like concrete but there was a small hill nearby. Up the hill a bit was some nice soft soil where the digging was much easier. Sure enough, that's where all the pits were located.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#21

Post by keithker »

@Scott Kind of ironic to see your comment....being an unlucky dumper winner and all.....

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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#22

Post by Scott »

keithker wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:52 am @Scott Kind of ironic to see your comment....being an unlucky dumper winner and all.....

"The luckiest dumpers don't rely on good fortune, the unluckiest do."
I was relying on good fortune that day - hence the multiple flat tires and the coveted award. Had I been more prepared and brought TWO spare tires, rather than hope one was enough, the outcome would have been luckier.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#23

Post by Dixie Dave »

This has been some interesting reading, problems that people in different areas encounter in finding old beer cans outside. I always figured can condition would be a lot better up north because y'all don't have the rotten climate of the Deep South. Hot and humid and lots of rain leave things so bad the aluminum rusts.

My two cents on the whole thing: you won't find pit dumps in my neck of the woods. Water table is too high. Consider that most of the suburbs and a good portion of New Orleans itself are nothing but drained and reclaimed swamp. Don't know about the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Better soil for cans, and a lot of pine trees, which are can-friendly. Mississippi has red soil in many places from its high iron content, so I would think that any cans buried in that would have been toast long ago.

I've seen enough pictures of pit dumps. They look like a lot of fun to find and work. Hope I get a chance to visit one someday, or at least get out for a couple of days hunting for them.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#24

Post by Ted Wolfe »

In West Virginia it was too easy to throw trash over the hill or pile it up near the creek for the next flood to carry off. I've heard it said that our state fish is the white plastic milk jug.
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Post by Cap-Sealed »

why.JPG
why.JPG (24.94 KiB) Viewed 3497 times
From an old USDA Forest Service map...... this should answer WHY?
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#26

Post by kamsquared »

Cap-Sealed wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:35 pm why.JPG
From an old USDA Forest Service map...... this should answer WHY?
That makes sense. It sounds like that was also the case at camps and houses depending on the climate.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#27

Post by Bob L »

For the record... the UP has a good number of pits. Surface dumps are more prevalent, but dug/buried pits are certainly out there. In general, the condition of UP pit cans is not all that great. The coarse sandy soil allows too much air/water infiltration. Some gems pop out now and then though.


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Last edited by Bob L on Sun Feb 28, 2021 10:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#28

Post by Cap-Sealed »

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PA is loaded with pits too. Conehead and the Big D have done quite well there....but it is easier to find surface dumps back east which is why most guys don't go thru the trouble of learning how to metal detect to pit dig. We go thru layers of multi-sized, interlocking rocks and boulders to get to the good stuff.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

#29

Post by beerhunter14 »

I don't recall seeing pit dump in Northern Wisconsin. I think it because of the soil condition where I live. You may find 1-2 inches of black dirt, any deeper you will hit clay and rocks !!!! While digging, you may find Lake Superior Agate, which it might worth more than a beer can ?? The only pit dump around here , I can think of is a old outhouse than was built 86 years ago.
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Re: Pit Dumps - Why?

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Post by beerhunter14 »

I don't recall seeing pit dump in Northern Wisconsin. I think it because of the soil condition where I live. You may find 1-2 inches of black dirt, any deeper you will hit clay and rocks !!!! While digging, you may find Lake Superior Agate, which it might worth more than a beer can ?? The only pit dump around here , I can think of is a old outhouse than was built 86 years ago.
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