# Outhouse revisited



## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

When I installed the outhouse on the Cliffside Mine, it didn't fit the way I wanted it, so I had to put it in facing towards the hoist house. This made it hard for visitors to see the interior. I also found that it blocked the view when photographing the mine from a key angle. 


So I finally did what I should have done in the first place. I got out the hammer and chisel and chipped away at the cliff to make a better place for the outhouse:


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Oh shoot. Now I have to revisit the outhouse


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Outhouse re visited? Try Kyropectate?









It looks great


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Very nice outhouse, and BTW, that water tank is good, too. Usually all that gets shown are near-perfect trackside tanks on stilts. A nice touch of realism. 

That roll of TP triggered an old memory. We didn't have indoor plumbing. In certain seasons the spiders and other biting creatures would be more numerous than usual. So we kept a pile of newspapers in one corner, and a box of kitchen matches. The idea was, you wadded up a sheet of newspaper into a fan-like 'torch', lit it and ran it around under the seating area before you sat down. Just thought I'd pass that along, I'm gettin' old and small bits like that might come in handy some day. That was not uncommon in our area.

Les


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Yeah, good idea. All my least favorite places to be bitten by a spider are at that end of my anatomy! (And good luck finding anyone to suck out the venom!)


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## Joe Bartolini (Jan 2, 2008)

An outhouse on rocks! Just wondering where the poop goes. 
Anyway, great looking outhouse. Toilet paper roll too. 

Joe in the suburban wastelands of the SC midlands


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

If I remember correctly, it was also higher than the living quarters, too.


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## Guest (Mar 29, 2009)

Toilet paper roll too.
when i was a kid in the fifties, we had paper rolls at home. but my grandparents had cut newspapers on a wirehook. 
since when do toilet-rolls exist?


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By Joe Bartolini on 03/29/2009 5:19 PM
An outhouse on rocks! Just wondering where the poop goes. 








It goes into a crevice between the rocks.


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## Guest (Mar 30, 2009)

when placing an outhouse, one should not forget, that they were "mobile". 
when they were so full, that the "splash" was not only heard, but felt, a new hole was dug, the outhouse moved and the old hole covered. 
(we had one, till we got electricity, and pumping water got easy) 

so an outhouse "on the rocks" might need some streaks on the rocksurface, to look realistic...


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Korm,

Since Semp (?) noted that it was located higher than the workforce, it's likely an 'Executive Restroom'. The labor force's john had the newspaper.









Les


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## Joe Bartolini (Jan 2, 2008)

Ouray Colorado, and and one may assume other mining towns, had ordinances that required periodic removal of the contents from privy vaults. Locals would be hired along with a wagon to extract the contents and haul it away. This activity would be accomplish at night, thus the description, "night dirt." 

Joe in the former long leaf pine barrens in the sand hills of the SC midlands


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## pageeddie (Nov 2, 2008)

In reference to the question on the origins of toilet paper 
Thought I would add my 2c worth 
"Scott Paper Company marketed the first rolls of toilet paper. The Company was founded in 1879 by brothers E. Irvin and Clarence Scott in Philadelphia and specialized in producing toilet paper" 

These and other fascinating facts on toilet paper can be found at 

http://encyclopedia.toiletpaperworld.com/fun-facts/history-of-toilet-paper/


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## Big John (Jan 4, 2008)

Just an interesting outhouse note: My nephew is an avid bottle collector. The best place he has found to collect old botles is in abandoned outhouses that were filled in. He has a secret system of locating where these old outhouses once stood in the back yards of old houses. First he gets permission from the owners to look for and dig up the old outhouse locations. He cuts out the sod over the area he decides on. This is placed on a tarp. He has a wooden box around 4 ft square that he sets up next to the area he plans to dig. Then he just digs down and buckets the dirt into the box, he has a helper that lowers the bucket on a rope as the hole gets deeper. When he reaches the area that was the bottom of the old hole he finds all kinds of things that were thrown or dropped into the hole. He finds a lot of old medicine and whiskey bottles. i guess it was popular to drink while doing your business. When he is satisfied that hole has no more bottles in it he just opens the side of the plywood box and lets the dirt fall back into the hole. He replaces the sod and you would never know he had been there. By the way he tells me there is nothing smelly or slimy in the hole. It is just full of rich composted soil. Sounds crazy but he once found a bottle that he sold for $4000 in an auction. 

So if you know where an old outhouse once stood take a chance and dig it up. You may hit pay dirt. 

John


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

People have done that for years at all the old mining and ghost town sites. Any place suspected of being the original site of an outhouse gets dug up for bottles and other collectables. They rarely leave the place the way they found it, though, and some folks tear down old structures in the process.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Posted By Big John on 03/31/2009 6:03 PM
He finds a lot of old medicine and whiskey bottles. 

/// Prior to acess to better medical procedures, many people--women particularly--were avid users of 'tonics' which were about as stout as a well-watered shot of whiskey. Drinking was against many folk's belief, but the tonics were okay. All you have to do is read the alcohol content to see why there's so many of 'em around. Also, there was little or no treatment for 'melancholia' and the like that we lump under the heading of 'mental illness'. Alcohol does relieve the symptoms, though at a cost. 

i guess it was popular to drink while doing your business.

/// Churches and Temperance societys worked hard to eliminate Demon Rum. I suspect those tonics were a socially acceptable workaround.

By the way he tells me there is nothing smelly or slimy in the hole.

/// This is likely correct. But I understand that smallpox lives in the ground for ages--it's a hazard for archeologists to work the medieval burial sites for that reason. I suspect other diseases can be equally dormant in certain conditions.

John


I'm happy the guy hit 'pay dirt', though.









Les


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Ray Dunakin on 03/29/2009 10:04 PM
Posted By Joe Bartolini on 03/29/2009 5:19 PM
An outhouse on rocks! Just wondering where the poop goes. 








It goes into a crevice between the rocks. 



And drips on the miner's heads....


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By Mik on 04/01/2009 4:27 PM

And drips on the miner's heads....
















It helps the miners remember to wear their hardhats.


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

My parents never drank at all, but my stepmother in her late 80's started drinking Geritol. It got expensive so my dad bought her cheap wine instead. She liked that just as well.


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