Strange Archeological Discoveries in a Ghost Town

[@jimbayler4277]

@Below the Plains: Get yourself a Beckson bilge handpump. I've seen you digging in a couple of three flooded pits.... can't be easy and must be cold. I do sprinkler/irrigation repairs and have to deal with flooded pits filled with mud, water, and debris. The Beckson bilge pump is simple, light weight, designed for dirty water, and is quick and efficient. I've had mine for years and it still works fine. For a long time, I just kept it tossed in the back seat of my crew cab (much abused) It takes a lot of the misery out of having to deal with a flooded pit. I just looked it up and you should be able to pick one up for under $60. The pump is well worth the price.

[@Mael01369]

Thank you for doing such a good job with your excavation research and recording with informative text and tasteful music. I wouldn’t change a thing.

[@philipcallicoat3147]

Every time I see you wearing gloves, I breathe a sigh of relief.. Tetanus shots up to date??? Tom, you're a gifted young man and no drama....! 🕊️🇺🇲

[@williamheden6794]

Your knowledge amazes me. Thank you for taking me along. From Ohio.

[@BelowthePlains]

haha im jake who makes the videos and runs the channel, but yeah, when we go dig he will start pulling out bottles and he will know exactly what every bottle is and the date range within a few seconds.. blows me away, and i actually accused him of just making stuff up when i first went digging with him.. but he's the real deal lol. thanks for watching william from ohio! glad we could take you along

[@davebudrus46]

Your camera guy puts us right in the hole with you great job filming

[@BelowthePlains]

haha thanks! and thanks for watching

[@lesliemcgaughey8038]

Thank you for showing at the end, the clean bottles and the figurine was super cool, plus the salt shaker was s Bonus!!

[@JUNEYMOON9881]

I'm so glad your back. I watched the old videos over & over. Thank you for dealing with the water!! Makes a bit of a mess . Great Video !!

[@BelowthePlains]

oh yeah i know.. it was a nightmare but when its dark grey skies, the colors in the video turn out so vibrant, so i think im gonna stop taking rainy days off, bc the picture quality is just too good to pass up. and we're glad to be back, things have just been a bit crazy lately. glad to hear you like our videos! and thank you, thats so kind!

[@jasonshelley7303]

Awsome! We missed you guys

[@BelowthePlains]

haha thanks! yeah we've just been really busy now that its nice enough to dig in our area. might be a little slow for the next few months but we will pick back up during the fall for sure. got a good one coming out on sunday tho! thank for leaving us a comment! glad to be back

[@terryflora9268]

Glad to see a new video pop up Missed them Hope all has been good

[@BelowthePlains]

yeah everything is good! just been a little busy and been having some technical difficulties.. we are trying to make higher quality videos and the transition has been brutal.. screwed up a few videos and had some major setbacks but we have been figuring things out so.. the videos are hopefully gonna get alot better. learning as we go... But thanks, im glad you were glad to see our latest video! thank you for letting us know and leaving us a comment. makes my day when strangers on the internet are kind to me! thanks!

[@jamesonheche2899]

Wow, the video is awesome! thanks for sharing. Glad to see you have new videos coming out again!

[@BelowthePlains]

well thanks! glad to be back, just been super busy lately

[@jamesonheche2899]

@@BelowthePlains keep your head up!

[@rockfishmiller]

You guys take me back to when, as a kid i used to dig for brown, long necked beer bottles from the 40s. Keep up the good work, be safe, cheers from the west coast of Canada.

[@jsteelsadventureandvariety]

A windy, soupy dig of treasures👍 nice finds and nice work as usual guys, enjoyed watching🙂

[@BelowthePlains]

hahah yeah.. could have been older tho! thank you, and thanks for watching

[@notinmanitou]

So glad to see a new video from you!! We enjoy your videos so much!! We like the research you do and how professional you are. Hope to see more from you!

[@BelowthePlains]

oh well thank you! thats so kind. always makes my day when i get nice feedback! yeah its good to be back, we just had a lot going on and some technical difficulties, so... it may be a little slow over the summer but we plan on things picking back up by september.. but we have a good one coming out this weekend. probably sunday at 6, but possibly earlier or even on saturday. well thank you for leaving us a comment! thats really nice of you, dont hesitate to comment in the future. thanks!

[@_spider_jeff]

It's a shame wasn't earlier but still fun nevertheless. Thanks for bringing us along!

[@BelowthePlains]

yeah.... that's what i always think when i hit this era.. this is the latest id be willing to dig, but.. up here the best prime locations are gonna be 1870s to 1890s.. and they seem to be harder and harder to come by lately! well thank you for watching and leaving us a comment

[@susancousins8766]

Very nice finds 👍😊

[@BelowthePlains]

yeah.. if only it was a little older! thanks for the comment

[@marykaystreasures]

That Thomas Edison bottle was really neat you was in the slush and the mush and poor you I enjoyed your video keep on digging glad to see you back 👍👍👍👍♥️🙂🗝️

[@BelowthePlains]

hahah thanks! yeah it was a nightmare.. everyone really seems to love that thomas edison bottle. it was pretty cool though. thanks for watching and leaving us a comment!

[@williamfoster7165]

hey! a new video! thanks for sharing!

[@BelowthePlains]

thanks for watching!

[@cferguson3368]

Love your final statement. Putting all that mud back in had to be a chore.

[@BelowthePlains]

yeah is sucked.. and i just did another pit like that last night and the night before.. i had to take a day off today after all that. got another one tomorrow, but i think its gonna be a good one! thanks for the comment!!

[@KaylaMaria16]

I love the little figurine with the bird and mushroom 😍

[@andrewchase7684]

I was wondering what happened to you guys! glad to see you got some new content! Thanks for sharing. Great video by the way!

[@Project_Cummins]

Literally you have the best job / hobby ever. Your collection must be amazing. Love it, thanks for sharing

[@BelowthePlains]

hahaha thanks! yeah it has its ups and downs but.. its really hard to make it work. but yeah, its awesome alot of the time and the freedom is amazing.. and doing these videos is both of our new passion projects so.. it a wild ride but we're both happy to be able to pick up and go where ever we want and explore for a living. well thank you! and thanks for leaving us a comment

[@johnsnow6586]

Awesome u guys put out a new video!

[@BelowthePlains]

yeah, good to be back. thanks!

[@hchilless3467]

Great video. 🙂

[@BelowthePlains]

thank you!

[@rebecar-g7631]

Always love going on your journey with you guys. We need to touch base soon. Great job!

[@BelowthePlains]

haha yeah, just keep commenting on our most recent videos and we can figure something out sometime. well thanks! glad you could come along! thanks for the comment

[@oldschoolman1444]

@@BelowthePlains cool finds, if you run into any Merrigan people tell them hi from distant cousin on the west coast. =)

[@EmptyNestAdventures]

The proximity to where a building sat and how big the indentation in the ground made me suspect it was an outhouse pit. Those were used as garbage pits too.

[@ThomasQuigley-b1b]

I'm old enough to say that is without a doubt.

[@BestSellers2122]

It’s crazy to me that there is a place in our country where there are actually fewer houses than at the turn of the century. North Dakota is truly a special place.

[@diggun]

Interesting - I've found Hilex bottle caps but never the bottle. It's cool to see what the bottle looked like! Looks like a muddy mess but really cool finds, thanks for sharing!

[@dbdriggers3690]

Love the information you Share thank you

[@BelowthePlains]

i get this comment a lot, and i have to say.. its probably one of my favorite comments, because finding all that information on some obscure product is probably the most time consuming part of editing these videos. So, im glad people are actually reading it! thank you, we appreciate that very much

[@therelicextractors4761]

Good digs for what ya had to deal with !!

[@keithstudly6071]

I am thinking of the life of the people who filled these pits and remote they were. Even a recent newspaper from Minneapolis or Chicago would have been studied for days to pass the boredom. The first radio receivers must have been incredibly important to the folks in these isolated settlements. It also makes me a bit sad that most of these places never grew beyond their initial settlement. Many towns were there to service the railroads with many of the people working for the railroads at stations or crew change points or to service the locomotives. When the railroads went away there was little to keep the people occupied. The places Tom Askjem digs seem to the remains of a forgotten future.

[@ISCDesignArchitect]

finally.. been waiting for ur vid:)

[@sbdiaries]

Hello friend despite the high water table ,you kept on digging 😀. And we're rewarded with many old bottles ❤🙋

[@cecoya]

That looked like some muddy fun, every young childs dream too. lol Don't go digging too deep though it will probably get worse. Great finds love that little bird statue too. Happy digging and have a great day

[@vsoraya]

It's so refreshing watching your videos. I was only wondering if you have to pay any fees, like permits to dig up in these places. And also, do you need to report your findings?

[@jeffclark2725]

Great video, these are very educational, all the history

[@deweygill1973]

The documentation and history of the excavated items makes the channel most interesting. As a new subscriber, I am wondering what you do with these items. I assume they are cleaned first, and you must keep some or most of them. Do you sell them as well? I see you find multiples of some pieces

[@BelowthePlains]

yeah we used to sell some, but not really anymore. we keep some, we rebury some, we donate a bunch to local historic societies.. the vast majority go to the homeowner tho. we just dont have the space to warehouse all of them. we will just rebury them if no one wants them or if they are at risk of being thrown away. well thanks for subscribing, hope youre enjoying the channel

[@deweygill1973]

@@BelowthePlains I figured you must make some sort of deal with the property owner. Donating regionally produced items to local historical societies is a great idea. As a student of pop culture and fan of old consumer goods I appreciate your effort. As you know, some of these small localized soda and beer manufacturers were very short lived and left little evidence of their existence outside of their containers. Many (40+) years ago a friend and I used to dig the hillsides behind abandoned farmsteads here in Wisconsin for old containers. I still have many of them

[@twindiggersminnesotapamandpat]

We applaud you staying with it digging in that muddy water. That was a lot of hard work. Great video and camera work Tom.

[@BelowthePlains]

haha thanks! yeah it was a nightmare but.. kind of been digging everything i can get lately just for content! well thank you for watching and always commenting!

[@richardbeee]

Years ago way out in the desert i found an old battery. In a wooden box and it was stamped Thomas A. Edison. I later found out that they would put them every so many miles on the telegraph as some kind of booster. I also found out that right up the road and around the bend was the site of an old ghost town. Long picked over but now i wonder if they ever picked under. Hmm............Great dig! Sure got some fortitude there to keep pressing on thru the mud and water🙂

[@BelowthePlains]

hahaha yeah that muddy mess sucks!.. and that was one of the worst! and thats very interesting. i had no idea they had those little booster stations. its always cool to find something that says thomas edison on it. if i ever found something that said tesla on it, i would keep whatever it was tho, he's my hero! and id be willing to bet that ghost town still has its privies in tact! thanks for watching and commenting

[@richardbeee]

@@BelowthePlains Someday i may just get back there. Battery was donated to Edison Museum somewhere back east. My wife, God rest her soul, did it.

[@SuzanneWho]

After watching you sift through the muck, I just have an overwhelming need to take a LONG shower 😁

[@mrsseasea]

My grandparents on my moms side, did not have electricity or running water till the early 70’s, i remember going to the outhouse early in the morning or late at night being so scared!

[@jerryblum277]

Great video!

[@BelowthePlains]

thanks for leaving us a comment and thanks for watching!

[@saraanddarrinmoneer3696]

Tom sorry I have not been watching, summer is here and we are getting out to DL and enjoying ourselves!!! I will catch up this fall

[@jimmysinclair6943]

Nice finds! Too bad it wasnt a few decades older, but not a bad pit for how new it was. Keep up the good work, and stay safe out there!

[@BelowthePlains]

my sentiments exactly! thanks, and thanks for the comment!

[@thecatsmeowfromny]

Love the Japanese bird figurine! Glad it wasn't broken too!

[@therelicextractors4761]

I remember digging the creek bed down the road from my house..2 feet of muck but 2 nice blobs popped out that day lol

[@BelowthePlains]

haha.. yeah that sounds like you had a little better luck than we did.. we actually just dug a really wet one yesterday and.. it was better than this pit, but it wasnt 2 blobs good! thanks for watching

[@BestSellers2122]

Ookie… I would have stopped as soon as I saw water…. You EARNED every one of those bottles…..

[@paulmusgrave3387]

The water level there is insane. Was this town in a swamp?

[@BelowthePlains]

hahaha no, i think it had been raining for a few days and the ground was saturated and it just caused it to drain into the hole from the surrounding ground... it was really strange tho. ive only see that in this town before

[@timmatheny-lo9ze]

When I was a boy growing up in Iowa. Would ride my bike and look for pop bottles thrown out along the road. 3cents each return at the grocery store. What a cool idea. Miss those days.

[@rebeccapinion4997]

What happens to the old bottles you find? Do you sell them?

[@garruling]

How do you know where to look? Are you using a detector of some sort?

[@ritahall8653]

Do you keep all the stuff for yourself or do you share it with the landowner

[@mandybrown7758]

You work so hard getting to those Bottles, and it's just you most of the time and that hole was pretty tough and nasty, I always wondered where the water comes from in some holes and not in others? I always enjoy your videos and I apprechiate the hard work researching areas and unearthing those amazing bottles

[@BelowthePlains]

ah thank you! yeah its just me and my friend most of the time. the water in some holes is from the water table in the town.. it is kind of surprising tho when its that high up.. makes me wonder how the area doesnt just wash away! well thank you by the way! glad you enjoy the videos, and thanks for leaving us a comment!

[@TheYammerHammer]

Best archaeological fine on youtube

[@BelowthePlains]

hahahaha thanks

[@jeuelblodgett7674]

Do you sell any of your finds ?

[@JamesWestAZ]

G;ad to see a new video guys. Been missing you, and the digs. Have to say this was sure a messy one. The old Edison bottle was pretty nice find tho. And the figurine. Going to make a comment here, and I'm sure you've been asked this before.................. But seeing you digging in this old privy, the lime, the clay top......... possible Spanish Flu era. Not to mention what some of those old concoctions might contain....... You guys are I hope up to date on any, and all vaccinations right? Makes me worry should you get cut, or anything happening and either one of you catching something. Yeah, I know....... I sound like an old mother hen, but just concerned for you both. And your health and safety...............

[@JamesWestAZ]

@Tom A LOL, yeah you most likely are Tom. But I appreciate the reply. :)

[@BelowthePlains]

yeah of course. we've been super busy lately but we pretty much reply to every comment on our most recent video, so if you ever have any questions, dont hesitate to ask and we'll get back to you! thanks for commenting in the first place

[@shakascloset1700]

Tom & Jake FTW 🤘👍

[@BelowthePlains]

hahaha that was just tom and one of his other friends with him that day.. i thought it was weird tho bc his voice sounds like mine

[@alanatolstad4824]

I'd appreciate a weather report at each of your dig sites. The wind on this edit makes me think of a line in the opening song of HOW THE WEST WAS WON: "...the only good guy on the prairie, where the wind blows so hard you have to walk sideways to keep from flying...".---It's possible that the green bottles were SQUIRT? As a kid in the 50's, I loved getting that from Grandma when she worked at the restaurant in Dazey. The bottles today are still green!

[@BelowthePlains]

omg you've been to Dazey?! that was one of my favorite places to dig! idk something about that place is just the quintessential representation of a small town in north dakota! i love the little town and im hoping to go back there someday soon. i spent like 2 months there and learned everything there was to know about the history of the town, and i really enjoyed putting those videos together. but yeah im not sure what those bottle were, but that green color was just gorgeous in the lighting that day. but i guess i didnt even know that squirt was around in the 50s so its definitely possible. that or 7up.. 7up was super early. and yeah the wind.. it's absolute hell to get the audio right on such a windy day, but im actually really happy with how it turned out. the wind can really effect the mood of the video and it almost made it ominous sounding, which i thought paired well with the ghost town vibe. it wasnt spooky or anything but it was.. almost melancholy to think of the little town that once thrived here for a short time, and now is mostly gone. anyways. Thanks for the fun comment! and thanks for watching!

[@alanatolstad4824]

@@BelowthePlains My Mom's handyman cousin caught the Soul Train 2 years ago, & about 5 years ago I asked him how many people lived in Dazey (at that time) & he quickly replied 88, that included the cats & dogs!-We couldn't make it back to the Farmstead (over near Ashtabula) this summer because my 90+ Mother had to stay home to get a new aortic heart valve. Hopefully next year, because I found black mold up in the bathroom that likely came d/t a warped flange in a down pipe. Grr.

[@BelowthePlains]

yeah that black mold can be really bad for your lungs! and yeah i talked to a guy who lived his whole life in dazey last year, and i asked him how many people live in dazey, and he said the census said like 110, but he knew everyone in town and counted them, and he said it was more like 65

[@TheLeonDarko]

I have stumbled upon a few dump sites that were very old but I have yet to find anything SUPER neat... how do you know where to look??

[@ronaldforkner4741]

My Grandkids and I enjoy watching the videos! Thank You !

[@leinanightray4294]

Really makes you wonder what went through the mind of the people who threw whole undamaged items such as that figurine. Granted, it could just have been that they didn't find it worth keeping around, but I always wonder about the story behind.

[@Factory_Muff]

A child threw it. Children have a fascination with throwing objects down wells and out of high rise windows. Especially in olden days when kids actually played and enjoyed mischief.

[@cabinvibeetsystore9094]

New sub ! Liked 🙏😘

[@BelowthePlains]

Awesome! Thank you! That makes me day

[@Leed216]

What do you do with your finds?

[@BelowthePlains]

we keep a few of them. tom collects sodas and i collect small embossed bottles. the vast majority goes to the homeowner/landlord, but sometimes we give them to the local historic society if we have them in contact.. they usually quit accepting bottles after awhile tho, bc they get so many they dont know what to do with them all.. a few of the pieces we've found have ended up in museums.. and if its stuff from like the 60s we just rebury it, and try not to break anything.. hope that answered your question. i appreciate you watching!

[@danielkonczal2547]

If you had the opportunity could you find older items deeper in that pit ? Pre 1900’s?

[@irenefitzkee535]

Love that checkered pattern liquor bottle. Do you sell them?

[@BelowthePlains]

umm, i think we gave all these to the homeowner. i dont think those ones were really worth anything, but typically we donate or keeo most of them. Thanks for watching!

[@mavericktheiceman1155]

Awesome

[@BelowthePlains]

Thanks!

[@RZ500KID]

All kinds of crap in there 😂😂😂, watch out for the Floaters of Stuff!! I couldn't do it. You are a brave person.🇨🇱🧨💣🍺🌮💥

[@hummerfan9360]

So much harder to dig in the water.

[@louyeo6571]

You guys ought to take out shares in a detergent company - you sure do make some laundry! Been enjoying your videos from the comfort of the sofa in Devon, UK

[@stratocaster1greg]

Tom do you ever find any marbles? Thanks Greg.

[@triciac1019]

A bit wet there! Still finding some good things.

[@therelicextractors4761]

Tommy , some of those patterned whiskey flasks can fetch a good $$

[@BelowthePlains]

hmm.. good to know.. i think we gave those to the homeowner.. gonna have to send him a bill!

[@TaneKarnes]

Maybe invest in some fishing waders? Cool videos 😎

[@therelicextractors4761]

The Thomas Edison bottle is the harder to find oval shaped..The also came in round cyliders approximately 2oz in size

[@BelowthePlains]

wow you sure do know alot about this era of bottles.. i guess i typically dont dig this range of bottles but i was kind of surprised by how decent of a pit it turned out to be. thanks for letting us know

[@swbottles]

The figurine from the latrine, would be a better title. I don't think any archaeologist would want anything to do with that modern stuff, lol. No disrespect, it reminds me of the many digs I've done finding 1935 to 1945 era bottles.

[@BelowthePlains]

yeah i know exactly what you mean. the only problem is, up here, sometimes we dig pits that have 30s stuff on top and 1880s stuff at the bottom. thanks for watching

[@goldmagnet]

Wow what a sloppy muddy mess, was that town built on a swamp.

[@BestSellers2122]

Nice!

[@thomaskeil1437]

How about a quiet water pump to try to keep pace with water table?

[@shepherd4406]

The whiskey flasks were more interesting during this 20’s to 30’s period, with the decoration and embossing. The Arts and Crafts Movement and The Art Deco period seemed to encourage decorating everything. Refreshing for people after the utilitarian era before it. Now it was available to the lower middle class, and I imagine to the poor who were scavenging dumps.

[@Gloria-qy3dd]

Hi guys,the Thomas Edison is a collectors 💎. You guys found a honey hole.A portable pump would be great

[@TroubledOnePaydirt]

Why is there always lots of broken windows? Was that normal? Break a window and throw it in the out house pit?

[@AirplaneDoctor_]

There's a good chance the figurine was thrown into the outhouse pit on purpose just because of its origin. The layer it was found in seemed to be late 30's/early 40's so it possibly was pitched down there after Pearl Harbor. It was very common after Dec 7th for people to rid their houses of Japanese goods as a symbolic protest to the attack. It seems like a pointless gesture to us now, but the nation was attacked and people dealt with it in various ways. Dropping something they saw as a piece of Japan, then relieving themselves on it could be a personal way of displaying their feelings towards the Emperor and his military.

[@danielkonczal2547]

Such a cool thought….may be exactly correct…who knows?!

[@gregsteinke5421]

Can't imagine the har dship a woman went through in the winter months I grew in minot in the 60s 70s it was tough enough for me I moved to Arizona

[@00Z71-h7q]

You should come down to Texas! I know a couple good spots

[@willong1000]

@Tom A Were those still privy pit digs down there Tom? Or did you excavate dumps, or even just unearth randomly strewn items scattered by the hurricane?

[@saraanddarrinmoneer3696]

Tom was you in Fargo today on 25th St. in a white van that has Below the Plains on the side???? I was right beside you taking my wife to work

[@BelowthePlains]

What!?! are you serious there was a white van with Below the Plains on it? that has nothing to do with us! and no neither of us were in fargo recently, we've been digging elsewhere.. are you sure you saw that right? thats so random! god if you see it agian make sure you get a picture!!! maybe you just read it wrong? you have to get back to me and let me know, bc thats sooo random

[@BelowthePlains]

also we dont have a van

[@saraanddarrinmoneer3696]

@@BelowthePlains Thanks Tom!!1

[@elenaward280]

What is the creepiest thing you have ever found?

[@BelowthePlains]

probably a dogs skull.. it was starting straight up at me.. i actually have only ever seen 2 and they were both in the same pit.. i took a scoop of dirt out and it was just staring up at me. thanks for watching

[@PYRO307-i9i]

Hpw much for the eddison bottle

[@Endtimescoming]

OOH OOH I'm getting good at this, I called the Hi Lex bottle even before you have it out of the ground LOL Or I was lucky..probably that.

[@valkyrie1066]

We all travelled west for the dream. Nice to find some "non american ethnic" stuff, we know it is out there, we all went together. The jade statuette was very nice!

[@valeriejohnson5283]

Gee guys can you make the explanations for the town and buildings at the top of the video any smaller? 😂I barely can read it let alone finish what it says before it's gone. Us older folks can't see or read fast. Anyway, love the content of your finds and videos. 🍺😎🍺

[@mauriceclark4870]

How much would one of those. Liquor flasks cost back in the day !!??with. Liquor. Of course ??

[@kathrynsterk1545]

The brown pot you are calling a chamber pot looks like the baking ware my great grandma had....

[@ritahall8653]

Hard work

[@lynnerodgers4461]

Pretty nasty digging for sure. Hope you get some decent finds. The topsoil sure looks healthy.

[@ABeautfulMess]

People enjoyed their drink..lol

[@therelicextractors4761]

My dump is LOADED with Fletchers Castoria lol..

[@BelowthePlains]

yeah ive been finding a good amount of castoria lately..

[@rebeccasciutto2722]

The brown pot is a bean pot.

[@carolynsimone8647]

👍

[@cathybenson5119]

That figurine might have been thrown out because it was made in Japan if it was made before WW2.

[@janetfraser7869]

Love your videos, but my stomach can't handle you sticking your hands into undigested seeds water from an outhouse pit. Lol

[@allenwilson6564]

You need a sludge pump

[@TexasRed167]

Chinese railroad workers my friend ❤