Looking for the bathroom

[joesixpack]

My wife and I recently bought a house. It's a pretty old house by North American standards, built in 1890 as near as anyone can tell. In 1930 or there'bouts, some work was done on it that required a permit. The house plans, however, don't show a bathroom, which can only mean one thing. There was an out-house. Now, considering the fact that this house was a seven room hotel, the out-house would have had to been a pretty substantial one. By 1940, there was a bathroom, so from 1890 to 1930 or so, there was quite a bit of excrement deposited somewhere on my property.

Currently, I'm building a fence around part of my back yard, and am digging a lot of post-holes. How will I know if I'm sinking a post-hole in the old out-house (I don't mean to sound coarse, but that really sounds like an euphimism)? After 6 or more decades, will it smell? Would there be a health concern?

I know archeological digs often target old privvys and middens, are there precautions they take if the outhouse is less than 200 years old?

 

[Freethinker]

Outhouses didn't usually have foundations, hence the US practice of tipping outhouses on Halloween. When the hole got full, you dug a new one and drug the outhouse over the new hole. Then you topped off the old hole with dirt from the new hole. So you may have several holes.
They were usually a straight shot from the back door, especially if people unfamiliar with the property stayed there. I would stand at the back door and consider where I would put one, taking into account prevailing winds and the property lines.
You might be able to locate the hole with a tile probe, which is a pointed steel rod with a crossbar that can be pushed into the soil to locate buried objects or to detect compacted layers. It should be much easier to push in where the outhouse was.
After 65 years, I wouldn't worry too much about what is in there.

 

[rebecca]

Have you thought of hiring a dowser?

Those guys appear to be pretty good at taking your money and then finding $hit.

 

[athon]

I'm not 100% sure how it works in other countries, but a lot of cities in Australia were slow picking up on the beauty of having an urban sewage system. Septic tanks were common in Brisbane's outer suburbs when I was a kid, and going further out there were still a lof of the old 'thunder boxes', or outdoor 'dunnies'.

These were not latrine holes, but rather boxes which some poor bugger would come around and empty once or twice a week into his truck.

Urbanised outdoor toilets in other cities around the world might have had a similar service, so I wouldn't be surprised if there is nothing to fear digging into. Then again, I'm not certain, so, happy digging.

Athon

 

[joesixpack]

"Have you thought of hiring a dowser?

Those guys appear to be pretty good at taking your money and then finding $hit."

Maybe thay might help me find some crap circles. I understand those are REAL.

 

[casebro]

Look for squarish sunken places, or fertile spots.That's the way bottle hunters do it.

Seems the privies were used for other personal uses too, like have a sip of something medicinal. Or even Philipps Milk Of Magnesia? Some old patent medicine bottles are worth a small fortune, so some collectors dive right in. The sludge has long since turned to humus, dig it up for potting soil, save the glass bottles. Try Googling "privvies bottle collectors" ?

 

[HeyLeroy]

Have you thought of hiring a dowser?

Those guys appear to be pretty good at taking your money and then finding $hit.