A Strange Sink Spot in the Woods Leads to an Amazing Discovery

Tom Askjem excavates the former lot of the McComb Hotel in Hunter, North Dakota #history #treasurehunting #vanlife #asmr #archaeology #wildwest #bottledigging #artifacts #metaldetecting #magnetfishing #mudlarkingtreasures

[@aprilanywhere3879]

Come on people watching...if you enjoy Tom's videos, give him a "Like" 👍😀 and Subscribe! He gives us so much info on daily history.

[@craigwills1615]

Thank you from New Zealand!

[@Poppy_the_boxer]

​@@craigwills1615 Good to see another kiwi here! I love Tom's videos

[@Bottldiggerofnz]

@@Poppy_the_boxerfrom NZ to mate👍

[@donnapetersen5271]

I’ve done both! This is my first time seeing one of his videos! I love how informative and interesting, love watching from southeastern Oklahoma

[@kapok7228]

Nice to see you stay dry for a change, Tom. Great video once again.

[@aprilanywhere3879]

That ski! Today I watched a video of you (years ago)with carriages and a ski vehicle of early 1900s, I assume you were detailing them. Beautiful! And that stove you were working on, WOW! You are so talented! 🤩

[@cferguson3368]

It is awesome video.

[@stubstoo6331]

Yes there's only two Pontiac carriages remaining, and Tom has one absolutely beautiful.

[@karenwright9123]

I agree.

[@woodsend8133]

Really enjoying the additional info you are giving, especially how things are made and used. Give us more please!

[@Beanieweenieable]

Tom is a true privy king! HIT THE LIKE BUTTON NOW!

[@karenwright9123]

I always do. He's such a nice digger and knows so much about his craft.😊

[@AnneWilliams-u5s]

I always hit like! His videos are the best!😊

[@Spikedgriffon]

We had a bunch of “glasses” from jelly jars when I was a kid. They put popular cartoon characters on them, so we begged mom to buy them.

[@Aegopodium]

In Germany we kept mustard glasses as drinking glasses. They still come without a screw top until today.

[@Diane-f1x]

I always love it when you find an Alton ILL bottle. Was born in Alton in 1948. My Grandfather and my Aunt's hsb worked at the glass works. My Mom worked at Western bullet factory during WWII. Thanks for the memories. ❤

[@jimh598]

You can tell it's fall in the Midwest. Tom went from wearing wife beaters to insulated coveralls!

[@MarciaShackelford-st5bt]

You could occasionally see leaves fall into the pit also.

[@MarciaShackelford-st5bt]

You could occasionally see leaves fall into the pit also.

[@alanatolstad4824]

Plus the occasional sniffles from a cold nose.

[@oleradiodudea.m.4735]

Loved the liquor jugs in particular!

[@speedfreak8200]

Liquor in the Front Poker in the Rear ..... said the pool hall sign

[@deloradeabel8487]

Love the history & all the pat.meds&the jug!Thanks Tom & crew!PS love the hutch!

[@bouncerslabrealnature9143]

Tom, thank you for continuing your marvelous content and great educational experiences. 👍🏆

[@sarahtalbott4025]

I wish I could give you 100 thumbs up Tom.

[@ABeautfulMess]

You saved my night..bless you. I was so bored 😊

[@laurelshugars2866]

Tom! Long time no see. Great animated intro. As usual, love the graphics and you are using an attractive typeface (sort of sepia-like). Sweet Kilmer's sample. And nice score on the meds and two jugs! Thank you.

[@patty4091]

Nice finds! Two intact jugs! The soil was nice for you, not wet or hard, even though you had those pesky roots! A hutch is very nice too.

[@RiverCityMiniatures]

As a doll collector, I absolutely adore when you find dolls and doll parts in your digs. The oldest doll I have is one that was made by someone local to the area of where I thrifted it in southeast Iowa. It was made in the 1930s I believe.

[@aicirtkciub9167]

Yay a whole hour. Looking forward to this!

[@selinasteve]

I have been digging an old privy/ drop dunny here in Australia 🇦🇺 and as strong as I am, I need to borrow a man 😜because the ground in like cement in this one 😅🤣 I have a few to crack open, wish me luck 😂🫶🇦🇺

[@AnneWilliams-u5s]

Again, great fun! Too bad about all those roots but the dirt was dry and looked soft. Such great finds! Thank you Tom!😊 ❤❤❤

[@carolynsimone8647]

Oh, what a dig...this was a good one...2 jugs and a hutch...the bottles cleaned up good...thanks for posting your hard work about our past...🥰🥰

[@DiggingTimesPast]

Another successful dig. That hutch was a nice bottle. Those are my favorites. Thanks for sharing your finds!

[@amyjowilliams6089]

Another excellent video! Tom! The two jugs were quite the find! Looking forward to your next video and learning more about historical bottles. Have you dug any older pits from circa 1850-1870s?

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

I dug many 1870s pits on Fort Pembina. I’ve also dug some pre-civil war pits out in Eastport, Maine, Galveston, Texas, and California. I’ve dug many 1870s pits in Yankton, South Dakota

[@amyjowilliams6089]

@ that is fascinating! Thanks for responding!

[@melissafedele6568]

Wow! Love that perfume bottle! Man, those salt glaze jugs..amazing. l love that old key you found!😊

[@lyndamac1058]

Thanks for the video, I enjoyed it. I loved you weren't wading in mudding water and I had a chuckle at how you pronounced Claret 😂

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

It was nice not having to deal with the water table, that’s for sure.

[@JaneGreen-u4r]

Can you imagine living in a time when a traveling doctor would come and set up shop in a hotel for a while and then move on? It wasn't that long ago that things were so different. My mom was born in Williston in 1917. Wild west times.

[@dannmccord1923]

Awesome jugs. Love the hutch. It was beautiful. Always love your videos. Thanks for a dry pit for you❤❤❤❤

[@Just-A-A-Ron]

I'm just sayin, if a guy diggin holes on KZbin were to put out a T-shirt that said, "We're in a solid use layer, look at the undigested seeds" a guy watching that guy would buy it. 😆

[@joeseiller2478]

Hi Tom! Great dig!!! I'm from Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Just a few miles from Sikeston. That Hutchinson is Awesome 😮🎉❤!!!

[@bethcorey6022]

Nice camera work by someone .❤ Tom I like that when you find something cool, you give what you believe to know about it but if you are incorrect you write it on the screen, not like some I’ve seen who Don’t correct themselves. It shows you are humble and willing to be corrected ❤❤

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

I’ve dug nearly 2,000 pits in the past 18 or 19 years. It never ceases to amaze me that there’s always something new to find/learn about.

[@JulieMelberg]

That address on the bottle showing Main Street in Kansas now shows that property as a bank called, Home State Bank & Trust. Cool!

[@sharimott607]

The whiskey jug is awesome 😊

[@Emy53]

I am certain there are trillions of treasure beneath us. I love what you do.

[@marylavine2632]

Ĝreat dig. Love the history. Makes me think of what people were doing at that time in history. Thank you Tom and crew

[@MarciaShackelford-st5bt]

Great video Tom. Loved your finds. Those roots WERE terrible. So much so that it looked like alot of the bottles were full of them. Reminds me of an old septic line I had to dig up one time. Roots were preventing any black water from flowing through. Fun times. Keep on digging!

[@conniemoney4459]

Wow! First time seeing anything from your channel and I LOVED it. Fascinating.

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

Welcome! Thanks for watching!

[@conniemoney4459]

@ my pleasure, I am an old lady who loves history and collectibles…but this video was top notch

[@daviddarrall9384]

Thank you Tom, sheer enjoyment! 😊 UK

[@MarshaChalupa]

Tom I love your videos, so addictive! Looking good too! 🥰

[@atuuschaaw]

Loved the twofer on the jugs! Incredible! ♥

[@kristijensen7457]

My favorite is when Tom says, “huh” bcuz I know it’s about to be good.

[@ToddTheJoker]

Thanks Tom! Interesting dig!

[@larrykoroush6995]

Dreaded words, "This pits done." Nice variety, Tom. My favorite was the bluing.

[@1978JonBullock]

Tom, the Verity of finds is really something else. Thanks for sharing your finds with us.

[@markmcintosh9448]

My favorite videos to watch!! Thank you for sharing Tom

[@rogerb4971]

Absolutely a delight to watch! Tom is the bomb!

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

Thanks!

[@tammyaskjem9871]

Another excellent video, Tom! Great finds! Thanks for taking us on the dig with you!!

[@marydalton5752]

This was the largest variety of finds out of any dig I've watched before! Excellent!

[@metaldetectingthenortheast1294]

Can honestly say your content has taught me a lot on bottles. Finally got my first piso's cure for consumption.

[@melindawhite5198]

How u find these spots amazes me.

[@karenwright9123]

Digging up history,again. I love the little doll heads and that "frozen Charlotte",it gives just a little insight into a long ago little girl's life. I hope she had a good one. Those salt glazed jugs were so very nice,you lucky!!

[@alanatolstad4824]

He once wrote the history of Frozen Charlotte, that I then had to read up a bit further on how the doll got its name.

[@jonamici437]

The first California Fig Syrup I dug was that variant. Nice finds.

[@Looter8TreasureHunter]

Another amazing dig. Love the jugs and hutch. Great job sir!

[@juliekala4372]

Hi Tom. Love your finds and always look forward to seeing what you have discovered. Over in Australia, we call these outhouses, outdoor dunnies!

[@jacquelinesaunders3041]

Super finds from all over the place Tom. Love your stoneware liquor bottles. ❤

[@VolcanoTimeLapse]

Nice love watching!!

[@tammyfreeman6802]

Omg Tom, I'm from Sikeston, Mo. 😮 So glad you didn't have to slosh around in the mud and the muck this time. I could not believe you said," Sikeston, Mo'. I liked to have flipped the phone out of my hand! Lol. The reason I ask what you do with all your bottles, is because I'm wondering if you ever do give aways? Or auctions? I would love to have a bottle from The Tom Askjem ❤

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

Thanks for watching! That Sikeston Hutch is one of the farthest-traveling Hutches I’ve found. The farthest was a Toronto Hutch that I dug at the Fort Pembina site. I haven’t had much time to sell anything. All of my free time has been put into digging trips and some books I’ve been writing. I may get some free time this winter and get a site going but I’ve been hoping to have a site going for a couple years now.

[@tammyfreeman6802]

@TomAskjem. Thank you for your consideration in the matter. I know you have to be an incredibly busy young man. Thank you for your videos. They are a highlight in my life.

[@henryhewlett6048]

Tom you are amazing , and I love your videos xx uk

[@PamelaMarkiewicz]

Love your videos. Always something special 😊 love from Australia

[@samsager1]

Awesome assortment of goodies!!! I still have never found a skeleton key!! Great video fellas!!

[@davevollbrecht9489]

Always enjoy watching your videos buddy keep up the great work stay safe 😊

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

Will do. Thanks!

[@manderson3231]

Great finds!!🎉

[@richardbauman4731]

WOW , that was an epic haul !

[@danhutson3460]

Hello Tom, Senoia, Georgia here. Enjoyed your video & it has to be fun not knowing what you will find with every scrape of the trowel.

[@Spikedgriffon]

Nice! Loved the variety.

[@wadehendryx7378]

Nice jugs Tom. I'm sure that was said many times below me here. Hope you're doing well. Great video. Take care. 😊

[@speedfreak8200]

Howdy Doody from Orygun.... my dad was born in Minot 1917

[@alanatolstad4824]

"Traveling doctor", why not? There were circuit preachers when a town or other location didn't have enough population to support their own.---Try to imagine the last person who handled those jugs...what would that person say now!---I'm always pleased when you show dolls, and pieces of dishes.---The sound quality was really sharp tonight!---And I'm also always pleased to hear the birdsong.

[@debbetts8155]

Love watching your work. How do you get the glass so clean. I have several bottles, but I can't seem to get them cleaned up like yours.

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

Sometimes soap, water and a cut up piece of cloth, fished around in the bottle with a piece of wire cleans them. Other times an overnight soak in muriatic acid does the trick. With certain oily contents, sometimes dawn dish soap or gasoline cleans it. A case by case scenario

[@janiemckee9944]

Enjoy all your videos keep up the good work

[@Christine-fg2re]

Thanks Tom

[@toddcathyfranklin4189]

Great stuff

[@markjones6181]

Thanx for sharing Tom love to see the antique bottles and all the info you share.....🔥🔥🔥❤️👍🏽💯

[@dirtclodmetaldetecting]

Awesome finds! Loved watching!

[@user-mf6wg9wo3y]

Those dolls are really cool!

[@pauljefferies2091]

That was a Newman flask. They are pretty old. I have only dug them out of 80s holes. They come embossed as well. I dug one that was embossed from The Dalles, Oregon. They do not do very well in the ground though. Usually flashes in them or some sort of damage when they are buried.

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

I appreciate the info! Do you know what glasshouses produced them?

[@pauljefferies2091]

@@TomAskjem.LostHorizons I am not able to find that info yet. I know that the flask was a C. Newman Patent 1876 Baker Bro & Co.It had a shot cap that also fit as a cap. They came in clear and amber. Not very good glass but I do not know the glass manufacturer who made it...yet.

[@jacobkuykendall9325]

I still shake my head and wonder how you manage the smell. Lol very cool jugs man!

[@MarciaShackelford-st5bt]

He says most of the pits don't smell unless there's a wet pit. Then it gets stinky!

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

Some pits are worse than others. In dry pits it usually just has a natural ground smell. Some wet pits can be horrendous, though.

[@COUNTTRUMPULA]

Dang! That's quite the haul! 👍

[@karenfrance2382]

Glad to see you now 😁

[@terrencebuller7676]

Hello Tom, great dig, my favorite finds would have to be the 2 liquor jugs. Be careful and stay safe. See you next time. 👍

[@brucemattes5015]

Growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, my mother loved *Kraft Pimento Cheese Spread* which was sold in tiny, 4oz. jelly jar style galss containers with a steel, pry-off lid that required a bottle cap opener to remove. She repurposed the empty glass tumblers as orange juice glasses because orange juice made from frozen concentrate was expensive for our poor blue-collar family; and no one got more than a 4oz. glass of OJ for breakfast. The same principle applied to both *Libby's Tomato Juice and Campbell's V8 Juice* which were sold in tall, 48oz. cans that had to have a triangular hole punched into their tops with a punch style can opener.

[@RCraig-rw4tj]

Those 4" X 5" pieces of glass could very well be photographic plates and not windows. Kept in the dark for many years, they might retain negative images of historically significant people and places. They can be copied and digitally enhanced fairly easily...

[@sharonvitori4101]

Love watching

[@deeanderson4440]

I LOVE your videos 😁😁😁😁

[@CatCmdr]

And what have we found? An undigested Tom, which proves this is a privy pit. Ye olde dumpster diving. 😉 Loved the dolls. 💜💜🤘💪🏼

[@jerrysadventures8952]

wow awesome fines tom good video

[@larisarogers2649]

Yay a clean dry dig today, with loads of stuff

[@kermitmawyer1743]

Tom. Yes. 😅😅😊😊😊😊

[@CharlieHood-e4p]

I'm a fan you got me into dump digging

[@leilanidewitt7442]

Congratulations on the jug and the frozen Charlotte

[@jimmylarge1148]

Crazy how I find the exact same stuff in Michigan that he does in a Dakota. The logistics were way better that people assumed I think. Even down to the “droning glass” I find them just like that.

[@dawnaparin4693]

Tom, you should come to Philadelphia! You would fine some really cool pieces.

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

I’m hoping to dig the East coast again sometime, Mass or Penn is on my radar

[@firecracker8071]

Did you do something different while recording felt much more live, felt like i was in the hole too

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

Each excavation is different. Some happen easier than others that’s for sure. In this case the pit hadn’t been “dipped” way back when which led to the finds being spread out, leading to a more natural feel.

[@firecracker8071]

@TomAskjem. thanks Tom great video

[@janiesippel225]

It would be neat to take the porcelain doll head and make her a body in the turn of the century doll style. ❤

[@bwilliams463]

Would small firms like local drugstores buy embossed glass more for the sake of advertising, to save money by having customers return them, or some other purpose entirely?

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

I was told that businesses would refill bottles from their firm at a lesser cost. The soda bottles had a deposit.

[@rollonbc]

Funny how u found a bottle from 1995 down in among the 1890s bottles…

[@betsywarner2773]

Love your channel! Maybe you could include pruners in your tool kit for those stubborn roots.

[@janelchambers6791]

I thought they had a bar at the hotel. Finding the two ceramic jugs confirmed it for me

[@larrywinemiller794]

I found a stack of those small rectangular glass panels and they were photo negatives with the dark part of a photo being black on the glass and the white being clear, I was 8 or 9 and I remember looking at them and they were civil war pictures with horses and soldiers and guns, with battle scenes I found them in a basement we had. no one wanted them and they ended up in the garbage. What a loss having pictures of the civil war and throwing them away in 1953. If they were underground they would be blank I guess.

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

Amazing story. I appreciate the info!

[@littlechicken1850]

Been obsessed with your channel! Random - do you have a subreddit?

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

No subreddit. Hoping to start a website this winter though.

[@GlynnSmith-cv3hy]

Do you list your bottles on any sites for sale? If so where. I’m digging a little. I was driving down my driveway in the country. I saw 3 depressions about 10 feet apart. I probed them. One had lots of glass. I plan on starting on it soon. Thanks for helping us learn how to find bottles. 22:42 22:42

[@TomAskjem.LostHorizons]

I haven’t had the free time to start an online store but it’s been on my mind for a while. I may hire someone this winter to start a website for me.

[@GlynnSmith-cv3hy]

I would like to buy some of yours to put on shelves in a good sized building. If you get the time. Like 30 or so of the nicer bottles. Not your best or anything. Maybe some you have several of each.

[@badmom2goody29]

Always inserting pieces, so many serving/reg dishes!