Interesting discovery on the farm.
 

I've been here since 1988. A neighbor with a bunch of horses asked if he could fence off some overgrown areas and put his horses there. I told him to go ahead. The horses cleared off the vegetation in an overgrown area and he found a 2 1/2 inch pipe in the ground at ground level. At first we thought it was a well. We dropped a 30 foot hose down the casing and it never seemed to bottom out. I then tied a weight to the end of a string and it only went down about 10 feet. It seems that about 4 feet down there is a chamber. I got the bright idea to drop a flashlight on a string down there. I tied a string around the middle of my wife's expensive LED flashlight down the casing. Just as the flashlight dropped past the bottom of the casing it occurred to me that it is now crosswise to the casing..........................

Her flashlight is still down there, along with a couple of expensive magnets sent down there to retrieve it.............but I digress.

Our best guess is that it is an old root cellar. It is unlikely that it is a cistern due to location and the fact that they are not common here. The casing is too small to be a pump access for a septic system, and it is uphill from the house. I believe the casing (steel) is a vent pipe for the cellar. I have a backhoe for my tractor. Guess I'm going to have to hook it up to solve the mystery. Best case, a stingy farmer hid cream cans full of silver dimes down there................ :D

"IF" it's an old root cellar, than there has to be an access door to gain entry.

Get a 10' piece of rebar and start probing around the area; might save you a

whole lot of digging if you can get an idea what's down there before tearing

up the entire back 40!

If there are tons of coins there tell no one not even us :awh:

Well there has to be a door, stairs, etc., I would, before I started just tearing up what might be an old holding tank, borrow a metal detector and go over the area well first.

Drop a fishing camera down the casing. That should give you an idea of what you are dealing with before you start digging and possibly drop the tractor into something.

I second the cable camera idea. You don't want to drop a tractor into a rotted out hole accidentally.

But I'm now fascinated by the idea. What is it?? An old holding tank for fuel? A fallout shelter? Alien hide?? MUTANTS??? Tell us when you find out!

I thought about that but I would have the same problem getting it out that I had with the flashlight.

If it is a root cellar the natural lay of the land suggests where the entry would be (the same spot I've been turning my truck around lo these many years). It is an elevated area along the driveway with a depressed area that leads to the driveway. When I first bought the place there was room in the yard to turn around so this suggests to me that this spot may have been access to the cellar. The rest of the underground construction here is rock and concrete so I doubt a metal detector would be much help, and there are enough rocks here that any spot I picked to poke rebar down would prolly hit a rock within 3 feet.

But then you could retrieve them both when you excavate. :)

They have those skinny little cameras that they put up chimneys and down chimneys, see if you can find one to borrow for a day!

Just duct tape it on a 45 degree angle so that it fits the pipe. Or use 2 strings like a puppet so that you can pull it vertical when it's time to retrieve it.

Let us know if you find Jimmy Hoffa

I'm sorely afraid you're going to find an old underground fuel tank. May be better off never knowing. I'm sure that kind of surprise is as expensive there as it is here

How about a mirror on a stick? Angle it so you can use it like a downward periscope.

You know you could make it into a root feller if it happens to be an old tank if it is in good enough condition-fireliteca

I'm intrigued...:)

Forget about the pipe - all your doing is spending time on something that you can do without - like others have said - probably a buried tank - just let it be - this is a case where - what you don't know won't kill you -

I'm dying with curiosity, and it isn't even on MY property!! Have you no sense of adventure?

anyway, we know it has a flashlight and some magnets in it, at any rate. :hobbyhors

How so? Think the person said they own the backhoe :hobbyhors If you don't call Chanel 6 news no one will ever know the rest of the story .

Same with that old milk can full of dimes . One would have to have to be in need of real professional help to set them on their tail gate and drive to the bank :heh:

I am curious too and wondering if she's out there *now* trying to figure out what's in there and what purpose it served!!!!

I would keep quiet about it till I figured out what it is. If it is an old fuel tank just fill it in if not, then let us know. I would be willing to help count dimes, you can send me 30 or 40 pounds and I will tell you how many. LOL

Well, one things for certain. You owe your wife a new flashlight. Get one with a metal loop on the end, so you can tie a string to that, for next time you need to lower a flashlight into a pipe. :D

If the dimes are 1964 or older ill trade you some nice shiny new ones for them.

I'm in with the folks who would want to know. It may be something so simple as an old clothesline pipe.... but then again dimes...dimes.... or possibly ?????
After we bought our property we discovered an old cistern where the original house was before it burned down. The cistern is now our pump house for irrigation water for the garden and chicken yard. :happy:

..................Call your procotologist , he must have an old butt scope laying around you could borrow and take pics of the contents ! , lol , fordy:huh:

All the evidence here points to the fact that when this was a working farm it was a pretty hardscrabble outfit. It just doesn't seem likely that they would have had a buried fuel tank. It also makes sense that it would have had a root cellar as most places around here did, and I have never found any evidence of one anyplace else. Whatever it is it is buried below the frost line. They wouldn't have needed to go that deep for a fuel tank.

Get to digging. Maybe some pictures if possiable

Maybe it is an old tractor that got buried over time? The pipe is the exhaust? LOL well it is a thought.

Dig - dig - dig!!!

I'm curious too, Tink ... Do let us know what you decide to do.

Its a ROBBERS HIDEOUT from the cowboy days!

Sounds interesting! I would want to know more too!

If it were me i might PM you one but anything else could be hanging oneself in today's world . :fussin: :run:

My guess is that it could be the casing for a deep well jet pump.
Those pumps had a 2 inch inner diameter usually galvanized steel pipe for the casing. If it is a well casing it should be sealed to protect the aquifer.

Uphill from the buildings on an old farm points to a cistern. It would have been before electricity and filled with a windmill. How do I know? Our home farm had one of those and the only hole into it was about 2½". Look around within about a 25' radius uphill and you may find the footings for a windmill.

Martin

If it is an old fuel tank which I am guessing it is, you wont ever be able to sell the property unless you disclose it is there.

I agree 100% I was hoping it would be something that wont get him in trouble and he would be able to post pictures.

How could He buy the land if it was a fuel tank. The seller didn't know about the tank. Couldn't he say the same thing.

If it is a fuel tank use the SSS philosophy. If it disapears and no one is the wiser, what is there to disclose?

IMO, 2 1/2" vent would be way oversize for a fuel tank.