Tunneling into a Hidden Cache That Hasn’t Seen the Light of Day in Over 100 Years

[@BelowthePlains]

Hi guys, we now have a patreon that you can go to and sign up to donate to support the channel. As of now there is no bonus content for signing up, but in the future there will be exclusive content and extended cuts of out videos for signing up. if you cannot afford to sign up, then we appreciate you all the same, and we thank you for watching the channel. heres a link for anyone who wants to check it out: www.patreon.com/belowtheplains link will also be in the description. thank you!

[@billkramer1853]

Thanks. Love your channel by the way keep it up

[@paulabumpas9642]

I absolutely Love Watching You Dig, and your knowledge of all you unearth is astounding. Continue digging because I will continue to watch

[@JUNEYMOON9881]

It always amazes me how you guys find these digs, and leave them like you weren't even there. Thank you ! Another good video!!! I really liked the dark green bottle. Loved it.

[@saraanddarrinmoneer3696]

Thanks John and Tom, Another GREAT vid

[@JHMDEUCE]

I just came across your channel. Fascinating! You're so knowledgeable. I subscribed about five minutes in. Fantastic!

[@jackgrayson832]

I appreciate that you post your research findings on the video... thank you for the adventure...

[@dawnhaynes7784]

Always a pleasure guys loved the video can't wait till the next one

[@iliketocomment8144]

That green bottle was my favorite find of yours. 👍

[@carolricks-mcdougald4138]

Have watched for a while, love the videos.

[@laurelshugars2866]

Thank you thank you thank you for giving us a longer view of the bottles. I especially appreciated being able to see some detail on the inkwell and Piso bottle. Beautiful Limoges plate!

[@joanneachildoftheking4199]

I have to admit to a fair amount of anxiety when you are so far down in the pit! Stay safe!

[@talen4941]

Can there be "bad air" as well.

[@MarciaShackelford-st5bt]

Loved the inkwell! You're brave to dig around propane lines and utility cables.

[@nateroberts3308]

I used to do this 20 years ago the pit i was digging was used until 1890. Made quite a bit of money as a kid. I would even find morphine bottles. Very few had any labels left after 100 plus years buried its a dirty job but worth it. Pretty cool you got a green one ive found them in clear blue green and a odd yellow colored one some brown.

[@twindiggersminnesotapamandpat]

Tom, a lot of hard work digging three privies. We enjoyed all of your finds, and all of the research you do and knowledge you share. Take care.

[@Achunk89]

Man I love these videos. Hooked.

[@budboggess5575]

You're the calmest... most informative person ever!!..what's your background?...you started out in another job!.. please God let you be a Surveyor!!

[@ShroudedinLove]

How do you determine the exact spot where you want to dig? I love watching your videos, and seeing things people used so long ago still intact in many cases. History and culture unveiled.

[@dirtdigger949]

He uses a probing rod and looks for softer parts of the soil as were the outhouses are or wash areas or trash dumps with the maps he has he can get fairly close to were he needs to be. Hope this helps.

[@demsakawalkinglatetermabor7ion]

And listens for the Rod to hit or scrape glass. When u pull the rod up, look for stove ash on it.

[@ValerieDee123]

I loved the Piso bottle. As always those heirloom seeds.

[@jeffclark2725]

Great adventure, thanks for bringing us alongon your adventures,probobly spend couple hours with the property owners after the filming is done seeing what you found

[@jessicag4195]

Wow! Being from Racine, I really appreciate that Johnson Wax bottle. 😄

[@kaolinwasher]

Exelent dig , thomass. I pray more permissions come your way

[@jerryblum277]

great video guys that last pit was really loaded!

[@RealityCheck1956]

Just curious if those old outhouse pits retain any of the odor? It is strangely fascinating watching you dig into these!!

[@juneyshu6197]

Right!

[@wgrillojr]

A lot of the time when you hit the use layer it is filled with old seeds that haven't decomposed since they were eaten 100 years ago. It's kind of funny thinking of them passing through a person who has long since been gone from the Earth.

[@cecoya]

It is amazing the amount of medicines/bottles that are found. I know most of them contained alcohol as a base ingredient that everyone wanted back then. Have a great day and wear your gloves in those pits.

[@vmwindustries]

Love the historical photos as well!

[@carloslaguna-driscoll5319]

Reminds me of digging in my backyard growing up. My house was built in 1989 and still had horse hair plaster on the walls when we moved in. I'd find Indian pennies, old bottles, and little bits and pieces I was too young to appreciate. I'd love to go back and see what I could find.

[@williamheden6794]

Another awesome adventure. Thank you for taking me along. From Ohio.

[@dixonrupp8347]

GOOD DIG, GREAT WATCHING

[@bethcorey6022]

What do you do with all the croc fragments and dish pieces?

[@whathappenedtomyYThandle]

12:08 Looks like a coin at the edge of where the bottle just came out of and other pieces of interest along the way. I find more small pieces of interest packed in the dirt & ash like old jewelry, sm buttons, metal furniture corners, just too much to list. Maybe someone can hand sift what you dig out while you're looking for larger pieces.

[@ellenlewis9860]

I was thinking the same thing. Would love to sift through the dirt pulled out? I bet there are small items of interest. Great stuff.

[@andrewowens9382]

hi Tom and jake just subscribed to your channel I find it very enjoyable watching just been looking at the old videos I like the history of the places you go and finding out about date's of the bottles all the best Andrew south wales uk 👍 👌 😀 🇬🇧

[@susancousins8766]

Nice bottles and things 👍😊 great video thanks for sharing 👏👏

[@ShammyKat]

Hey! I'm from ND, and I work in the conservation field. (Aka, I plant trees for a living). Ever think about maybe looking for dig sites in Walhalla, Mountain, or Pembina? I've found some interesting things myself just in my field of work digging holes for trees around this area.

[@alanatolstad4824]

Care to share..."interesting things"?!

[@ShammyKat]

@@alanatolstad4824 Mainly lots of old bottles, oldest I've found ranging in the '20s and '30s. Old horse shoes, broken pottery and plates, depression glass, chunks of coal ect. My favorite was someone's dropped change I dug up. Dates on them in the early '20s. But I don't dig down as deep as these guys do when I'm digging for trees. Nor am I actively searching for any of it when I'm working. It's just by chance. I'm curious what actually lies around in this area!

[@alanatolstad4824]

@@ShammyKat Kool, nonetheless!

[@jerrysadventures8952]

good work my friend

[@curtbilyeu8701]

what do you do with all the stuff you dig up?

[@allenbuck5589]

I was raised on a very old farm. Log house. 1860s. Had a two holer. But never remember throwing any thing down there. We used it some.

[@j2muw667]

I assume sometimes when people accidentally broke dishes and such, and didn’t want anyone to know, they’d toss it in the gross outhouse. Perfect way to hide the evidence! 🤣😬

[@BestSellers2122]

Nice!

[@kimberlywagner1638]

It is amazing, handling the soil from that era. Do you ever get asked for samples to test?

[@wayneweidman1543]

Loved the video! When you find outhouse residue does it still smell like you know what?

[@Stacietookmyname]

Excellent 👍🏻

[@clidemorrow8786]

Very cool guys!

[@iswhatitis2744]

If I was the property owner/I would use the opportunity to plant fruit trees in the holes you dig

[@davidball3081]

Great idea

[@malcolmsmith2891]

Today's Top Tip

[@iswhatitis2744]

@Tom A Great minds think alike it’s probably because my family is from Harvey North Dakota😎😊

[@janeswire8351]

Thanks love these.

[@aprilthomas1734]

How do you know when you’ve hit bottom? Is there just no more glass pieces after awhile? Awesome video as always! That place was so pretty the green grass and trees.. gorgeous🤌🏻😻

[@thomaskeil1437]

In one of the digs, near the propane tanks, there had been some trenching work done which stirs up the soil. Glass will be broken in the process. Another reason for finding broken glass is that the people tossing items in the pit had no reason to be careful unless, of course , not to be splashed by liquid human waste in the outhouse. The folks threw away items they had no need of because it was broken already.

[@SkiSearcher]

awesome bottles brother ! where is the full video of the exploding bottle ? that was crazy and how i discovered your channel from your video of it on Facebook. new sub and keep um coming 💥👍🤠🏴‍☠️

[@shepherd4406]

Three pieces stand out for me. The ink, I have not seen one like that, the aqua bottle and the Piso. Thanks for taking us along.

[@allen2905]

How about a "pool noodle" put around propane line to prevent nicking/hitting it? Love your YT channel. Being an old druggist from years ago . 🧡🌵

[@deborahbaker4770]

My Great Aunt had so many awesome Antiques one item she had ( my sister has now ) is a necklace with something like a cameo hanging from it it’s made of human hair ( someone in my family ) and it’s in a beautiful frame and it’s very old but I don’t know how old. Year’s after my Great Aunt passed away my mother didn’t want to box up her Antique’s anymore ( they moved a lot ) and had people in my family come and pick out what they wanted and then she had a auction with the rest of them I couldn’t come over and pick out what I wanted the Antique item’s she had were awesome the family member’s who picked out what they wanted really didn’t care about them being antique they just liked the way they looked and that’s it. When I think about those Antique’s especially the auctioned off one’s it’s sad because they were passed down through the family so far back it’s sad that other people who weren’t family have thing’s that they don’t know the history of I started thinking about them watching your video’s because a lot of the item’s you find in the ground are something that isn’t in our family anymore. I love anything old I love the way they look I love the history of them I love really old house’s just everything old I love‼️❤️ now I’m old and I don’t have anything to leave my daughter that was passed down from generation’s ago when I think about not having anything it makes me sad because no one who has any of them doesn’t know the history or the value nothing so I’ll just watch you dig up beautiful Antique’s from hole’s in the ground and wish I had one of each ‼️‼️ 👍🏻😊

[@dianenichols4924]

The home I live in my daddy built it back in 1947 I bought my family home back 7 years ago a couple of summers ago I discovered a bottle dump in the back of the property I was digging up all kinds of bottles, then a raddler snake was coming at me so my husband come to my rescue picked it up with a rake took a picture of it then let it go I haven't gone back there since!

[@jimcole389]

Enjoy your channel macho

[@janaburritt6939]

My Mom used to have a cannonball found in the driveway of the family farm in Eastern Kansas. Really enjoy your channel ❤️

[@jaytrace1006]

Where at in Kansas?

[@653j521]

Aren't those Civil War re-enactors a caution! :)

[@ISCDesignArchitect]

beautiful dig thankyou. Sadly not soda drinkers! Its interesting you date the screw-top ketchups from 1915? I would have thought circa 1927-1930?

[@dinahjackson8146]

I think, that boarding hse. did a LOT of baking... 😋 😁😘

[@williamfreyholtz4267]

Second segment of your video, the "glass candy dish lid", is actually a lid/dome for a butter dish/plate. The manufacturer was: TARENTUM GLASS CO. [pattern] No. 500 AKA Alladin by Tarentum Glass Company (Tarentum-PA, Operated: 1894-1918), likely c.1895 see NOTE - NOTE: Sid Lethbridge 2019: appears in an 1896 catalog so must be from 1896. ( Information from the: Early American Pattern Glass Society)

[@wfpbwfpb]

I found the cure to insomnia!!! Put this channel in some of those bottles man. You’ll be rich in a week

[@alanatolstad4824]

I was gonna ask about the general mood when you encounter modern barriers like pipes, lines, etc. But after listening to you bemoan having to tackle tree roots, I'm guessing those modern additions were easier to work around!

[@danieljameschamberlin1726]

Have you ever had an analysis done on the contents of those bottles still stoppered and containing contents?

[@oogravyoo]

Do you ever open up and a least smell the contents of the corked bottles you find?

[@youtruckrek5121]

Interesting video so I subed.

[@therelicextractors4761]

The smaller crocks were used for butter as well

[@juneyshu6197]

Do you have any conern about germs in these pits? thanks.

[@RealityCheck1956]

I have wondered if he could stir up the Black Plague or something since these people most likely shed the viruses in their excrement. Being a nurse makes you wonder these things too. Sometimes he doesn’t even wear gloves.

[@RealityCheck1956]

@Tom A E.Coli is a serious concern. Please be safe out there. Sorry to hear about your bout with West Nile Virus. Those mosquitos in the Midwest are a real nuisance. The last couple of years where we live in north Iowa, they don’t seem to be that much of a problem as in past years. Probably just a fluke! LOL. What do you do with all those bottles and artifacts? Would be a good video to show how they clean up and how you display them or sell them. Thanks for responding! Will keep watching!

[@foggylegg6362]

Seems that the danger comes from above not in the pits.

[@slr2196]

@Tom A at about 26 minute mark you looked so exhausted. I have just recently found your channel and have thoroughly enjoyed it so far. Keep it up and stay safe.

[@treasurehuntingscotlandmud9340]

Good finds enjoyed watching

[@refiii9499]

What’s up with always finding seeds? I heard you say and show undigested seeds with what looked like corn husk but the seeds in the broken pottery? What does it represent? Sorry if it’s a stupid question but I can never figure it out when you say and show it lol.

[@j2muw667]

... it was an outhouse. People used the toilet. The only processing was canning food. Fruits and veggies had seeds.. the gut doesn’t digest seeds.

[@Fuphyter]

I grew up in East Hampton, Long Island, NY. It used to be a small town, but is Beverly Hills East now. My family goes back centuries there. The Montauk Lighthouse was commissioned by George Washington. My grandmother would take me bottle hunting in the woods. If you saw a lot of scallop and clam shells, it was a sign there was a house there at some point. I found some very cool bottles! Some turned colors from being in the ground so long.

[@apvsculpture]

That’s the ultimate permission, we’d never get that dig near the propane tank here in California 😂

[@williamfreyholtz4267]

In the first segment, do you think the teeth are close enough together, on the light coloured one of the 3 combs found, to have been a lice comb ?

[@Tealtra]

One great bottle in all that. I wish you better luck. That's how it goes though.

[@jamyesmith8205]

I was wondering how you get the bottles clean.

[@stilllookingup9999]

Soap, warm water various small brushes sponges. For the hard to reach insides put some small pebbles or sand along with soapy warm water and shake it around. Repeat until it's clean. There's always the things you invent from things laying around as well. Hope that helps 🙂

[@robertburkhardt3506]

@Tom.Askjem tom i had good success cleaning mineral crystals in california and colorado using oxalic acid.

[@sharimccormick1352]

You find so many extract bottles. What kind/flavor would have been in them? I thought extract was more of a modern baking ingredient.

[@ST-fp1gw]

I think they were considered remedies to assorted ailments

[@hermithag]

Do you ever get nosey characters that try to tell you what you can and can't do? I'm glad you don't show any of those. I love the calm process and final review of your dig at the end.

[@tamran127]

I always stop what I’m doing to see what BTP is pursuing! Never under estimate cuz you know it will be great!

[@foggylegg6362]

Do you think that since it was dug out so deep for the bottom line that that was why much was broken? It's true that it is their trash, broken things are found there but other digs have had more pieces intact.

[@karenzahoruk511]

Limoges plate... wow Heartbreaking to see that broken

[@georginamckay9615]

Limojes is very expensive and beautiful.i have miniature ones.

[@tommyhorne1039]

Really soft dirt!

[@valeriejohnson5283]

Hi Tom and Jake, Have you ever found human bones in any of your digs or ancient artifacts?🍺😎🍺🌴🌴

[@TheLightFish]

I thought the same thing!

[@deborahbaker4770]

Aren’t you ever worried that the hole may collapse because of the dirt you have dug out or since some hole’s you dug are from an outhouse that the outhouse hole was reinforced when being dug ? It look’s kinda scary to be in a hole so far down into the ground but then again what you find in the hole is worth digging a hole for so I guess in a way it doesn’t matter because you are digging up history ‼️👍🏻😊

[@70wdeluca]

I agree. I love history and what you are doing , but im also a Firefighter that has worked on a few trench collapses. Two men lost their lives in a 5ft hole. Please be careful, and mabey consider some shoring. Love your videos.

[@gordbaker896]

iT will happen.

[@johnstack4316]

God loves these guys they have guardian Angel's watching over them. Plus these guys are super human tampered in raw shit. Nothing can kill them. And if their angel isn't paying attention then what a hood death. Doing what you love.

[@johnstack4316]

Obviously having a heck of a time spelling sorry.

[@robertburkhardt3506]

@@johnstack4316 haha we all do it.

[@wgrillojr]

Always a lot of sauces and Bromoseltzers. I'm sure they go hand in hand due to the meats not being on the freshest side so they covered it in sauce to cover the taste and after dinner they needed the Bromo to settle the stomach. Tough time to live but such a cool era in time. I'm glad I didn't live back then when I think of having to deal with any sickness or medical procedures. Then the thought of having to wear layers of clothes with suits and hats nevermind what women wore.

[@sherryrector2275]

Do you throw the broken back into the hole?

[@cazzawazza9553]

What do you do with what u find

[@davidbieloh1382]

How do you know the spots to dig? I don’t understand how you identify a 3 x 5 spot just looking at the place in the yard.

[@davidbieloh1382]

@Tom A how do you get permission to excavate like this? Are property owners not worried about what might happen?

[@glennsmith3303]

@Tom A Not sure I understand what you are describing. Can you provide more detail on where you know to dig?

[@emiilyjaane7]

@@glennsmith3303 he gets a picture of the property and where things are added to the property in the ground then he does his own homework on figuring out where to dig....... At least that's what I gathered from what he said up top..

[@billkramer1853]

What's tool top. And machine top mean

[@BelowthePlains]

tooled top or machine made refers to the manufacturing style that they were used to make. pontil is like civil war and before era, then came applied top, came in the few decades after that, then tooled top came out in the late 1800s, and then machine made took over around 1910.. different items have different mnfg techniques, but those timelines are generally correct. tooled top just refers to how it was made, the body of the bottle would be made in a machine mold, and then the top would be hand applied.. machine-made just refers to the bottle being made with full automation. hope that was helpful. its just kinda complicated. thanks for watching!

[@LorJas_Handmade]

First I have enjoyed and still enjoy watching your videos. Second how do you know that you will find anything where the outhouses were? Also why don't you sell some of those antique bottles to fund your activities? Many people would purchase them today just to help pay the bills.

[@michaelparks807]

My grandfather, Morris N. Webster, was born in Leeds in 1900 to John and Carrie Webster. Wish I knew what his address was so I could see if it's on that map at the beginning of the video.

[@kb-zk1yg]

My guess is all the weight from the machines rolling over broke em

[@shewho333]

You guys could make a ton of money selling these. I’m looking for bottles on eBay all the time, and I’ve seen enough of your videos to know I’d buy from you. Please reconsider reburying these (what I read in an online article) and put some up for sale! Especially the gorgeous color ones and the embossed ones. 🙏🙏🙏

[@HAMRADIOJOE4178]

Did you ever find any money or good coins ?

[@BelowthePlains]

no coins, but some rings and some watch parts.. some silver little odds and ends, like spoons. thanks for watching

[@Dirtflicker]

👍

[@kacythomas7436]

Have you ever dug a pit and come up almost nothing?

[@jstewart3517]

U know old homesteads had a dump area usualy 5 to 6 ft down or ur digging up old out house

[@icebrakernh]

And where is the caches?

[@kurtschlick3891]

question back in the day would people through there trash in the outhouse pit?

[@kurtschlick3891]

@Tom A that is where I am confused, I have a place in the high desert Yucca Valley and I have an outhouse it is not easy to move the shack over a new hole or pit. 1 you have to move the outhouse 5 to 10 feet so when you dig the new pit the dirt goes into the old pit, 2 then you have to drag your shack over the new pit this would happen about once a year but if your trash was in the the pit this process would be monthly and I had a burn pit for trash and we all know you can't burn trash if there is an outhouse above. I am sure you are right but it doesn't make sense to me and that is just my opinion.

[@jenniferpiper4293]

There must have been a lot of illness in that boarding house to have so many extract bottles. My guess is that the one corner full of extract bottles so close together was probably from the same person treating an illness over a long period of time.

[@653j521]

Or the illness of drug or alcohol addiction.

[@653j521]

Extract bottles, it was said in the text, could be for food preparation, (like vanilla extract today).

[@deanschryvers6965]

I live in Bridgewater sd have a 1860 property on 2 acres let us know if you'd wanna come dig or metal detect we had found back an forth letters from the Sioux uprisings in Sioux Falls 1863 inviting women to live in the home to service the men in the area

[@jackpinesavage7029]

butter crock. zinc glazed.

[@pauljefferies2091]

I dig a lot of those cannabis Piso's here in Portland...big surprise huh?

[@LorJas_Handmade]

I did not know they had cannibis that far back and learned something new today.

[@JoeandAngie]

He'd have hit red clay mud by now around here Ever find corporolites?

[@styx62ga95]

Sure was a lot of people that used the shitter to get rid of bottles

[@debbiehall7016]

So I assume there's no bacteria down there, after 100+ years?

[@wolfedavid3700]

call before you dig...............