[Clough]

I'm just wondering if there are other folks out there who have found artifacts or other things underground in their yards that they weren't sure as to what they were or if they did know what they were, didn't expect to find such a thing or things in their yard.

While rototilling a number of years ago for a garden area in my back yard, I came upon a square cement slab that I didn't know was there. When I lifted the slab up, I uncovered the end of an approximately 6 inch in diameter pipe. Upon dropping a rock in the pipe, I could here the rock take a long time, like three or four seconds to hit the bottom. To this day, I don't know what that pipe is for.

Has anyone got any ideas? I don't think that it is an old cistern because I don't think it would be that deep. Although, I could be incorrect about that. Maybe it is the shaft to an old well? Don't know.

What interesting thing or things have you found underground in your yard?

[KBC]

Well, not in MY yard, but a tree buried for more than? Years was discovered in an adjacent subdivision.

Apparently it was buried when the street system was first developed and the road makers decided to bury it instead of cut it up(it was extremely large.Costs for extraction and processing was more than the home/property it was on was worth at the time!)

And yes, the pipe in your yard does sound like an old sand point well,I would cap it with concrete so nothing falls down it!(Remember the kid in Texas):(

KBC

[Clough]

Thanks for the answer! What's a sand point well?

[rpg219]

Yet another interest thread Clough! I have never found anything... but have always thought of getting a metal detector and looking. Maybe when I dig for a garden next spring.. I will find treasures!

My mom found an old train car (small like hot wheels cars).. she took it to an antique shop and they guessed it was about 60 years old. We thought it was pretty cool. We made it into a xmas decoration.. I'll have to go look and see if she has it out this year :)

[Clough]

I'm glad that the train car was preserved!

[shygrneyzs]

When my family sold our farm and moved into town, my Dad was tilling a portion of the back yard for Mom's garden. He came across a leather pouch. In that pouch were Confederate monies. About $500.00 worth of bills and a map. Not much of a map, just a river and some x's along the river. Dad took it to one of the college's history professors and he thought that, even though the town had a river, it would not have been the river the person was supposed to follow. As the Sheyenne River did not flow North to Canada. But the Red River, 85 miles to the East, did. Dad wrote the Historical Society and a man came and looked at the pouch and contents. There was another theory proposed - that there had been an Army veteran who been in that War and just buried it. There was Army in that area at that time but not close to any fort, but passing through, fighting Indian Wars. Could have been a deserter too. We never found out.

[KBC]

A sand point(or driver point well) is a hand drilled well, primarily used in sandy soiled areas(like where we are) shallow and the ground water is only filtered by the sand( not up to code anymore,to my knowledge)

[Clough]

While digging a few inches under the ground right next to an old farm house that I lived in for a number of years, I came across probably a couple hundred large nails. I can't imagine why someone had not picked them up. How on earth did someone not notice them? Did someone just decide to bury them instead of picking them up? It is a mystery!

[oneguyinohio]

In a house I owned the back section of the property was grown up in locust sapplings etc... and the previous owner had told me there was a hole back there. So when I got around to cleaning out the portion of the yard, I found a brick lined tunnel that appeared to be a well of some sort. It was not straight down, but went at odd curves. I assume that might have been due to shifting earth over the years? The brick liner was all in tact the entire way down the hole, and it was at least 50-60 feet deep. It was about 3 feet in diameter. As far as I could see I did not see an end to it, but at the bottom, it appeared to be rounded off or possibly turn to go into more of a vertical tunnel. There was only about 3 inches of water in the bottom where it turned.

I was worried about liability, and especially did not want anyone to get hurt, so I filled it in with a lot of old stuff, then had 2 large loads of stone and sand brought in to fill it. I wish I had had some sort of a camera to investigate the portion that I could not see.

[Clough]

50 to 60 feet deep? Wow! I wonder if cisterns can get that deep?

[oneguyinohio]

One older neighbor thought it might have been some sort of well for cattle since it had been a pasture many years before. A previous owner had also been in WW1 and was a tunnel expert/engineer so I may never know. I was told that guy would sit out in the over growth with his old military weapon and uniform as if having a flashback. They found him dead in the back yard dressed that way when he was quite old.

[Clough]

One older neighbor thought it might have been some sort of well for cattle since it had been a pasture many years before. A previous owner had also been in WW1 and was a tunnel expert/engineer so I may never know. I was told that guy would sit out in the over growth with his old military weapon and uniform as if having a flashback. They found him dead in the back yard dressed that way when he was quite old.

Do you know what he died of?

[oneguyinohio]

Old age is what I heard or heart failure

[skunkman44]

One my cousins once rented a old house. One day he was watching his kids out the window and they were jumping up and down in one spot. He went out to check it out and found a depression. It turned out to be an old well that was covered with old boards that were rotting. He found three more wells in that yard. After some research it turn out the house was a stage coach stop and Inn a couple of hundred years ago.

[Clough]

One my cousins once rented a old house. One day he was watching his kids out the window and they were jumping up and down in one spot. He went out to check it out and found a depression. It turned out to be an old well that was covered with old boards that were rotting. He found three more wells in that yard. After some research it turn out the house was a stage coach stop and Inn a couple of hundred years ago.

Now, that's pretty interesting. Thanks!

[skunkman44]

My cousin rented an old house once. She looked out and saw her kids jumping up and down in the yard. She went out to see what they were up to. They told her that they were just jumping on the soft spot. It turned out to be an old well that the boards covering it rotted out. The house she rented used to be an old stage coach stop and a tavern in the early 1800's. There were 3 more wells in the yard and had to have them filled.

[Kellyconnell]

I lived in Toms River NJ for awhile in the late 1990's and While using a metal detector in my yard I picked up a signal and started digging. I hit something a few inches down but it wasn't metal so I kept digging. In the end I wound up digging hole about 2 feet deep and 2 feet wide in which I found an entire toilet. The bowl had been filled with empty beer cans which is what my metal detector was picking up! Weird! I guess it was cheaper than getting rid of it.

[mafiaangel180]

I know this is an old post... but ah well... my grandfather found a cannon ball and a civil war belt buckle in his backyard. In his attic was a women's boot... like a prairie boot or something.

[spleenless9]

I was helping my father dig a trench from the well to the house - the pipe had sprung a leak - and found half a tomb stone about 5 feet down. It was from the 1890's.

[Clough]

I was helping my father dig a trench from the well to the house - the pipe had sprung a leak - and found half a tomb stone about 5 feet down. It was from the 1890's.

Hi, spleenless9!

That's pretty deep down to be finding part of a tombstone!

Thanks!