Holy Moly…so the kids are playing, I'm cooking outside, and I see a little hole buy the swingset.  I think, CRAP! I got critters.  But as the kids play, it gets a little bigger. Peanut tries to kick some dirt into the hole, and it's getting bigger…

So you know what I do, right?  I dig it out.

CRAP!  I have no idea what this is.  At first, I thought, maybe Septic.  But then I look at the plans from the orig septic in the 60's, this isn't on there.  I look at the plans from the one about 20 years ago, it's not on there…I look at the new plans.  Nothing.  Then I think it's a well.  But our water table is about 26 feet, and we have great drainage because we're on a quary.

SO I don't know what the damn thing is…

It's about 5 feet in diameter…and about 5-7 feet deep.

It's in really good shape, and where this was, there was a pool sitting on top of it for over 20 years.

So, I'm really not sure of the purpose.  I'm going to ask my other neighbor when I see him, he's lived in that house since they were all built.

It almost looks like some kind of old wishing well. Or maybe it was used to hold water from a mineral spring or something.

What about hooch? Was it a hiding place during prohibition?  There might have been a shack over it at the time.

Thats just freaky.

It's a gateway to the underworld, and soon the minions of Hell will issue forth from the hole (which they've subconsciously influenced you to dig) to claim the immortal souls of this world as their own.

Or something like that.

Dude, that's an old cistern.  Pretty common in older homes, especially in the country.

They were commonly used for holding rainwater to be used for various things.  In olden days, they used that water for indoor plumbing and such.  More recently, you see people using the captured rain water for landscaping purposes.

Nope, not going with it fleck.

It's the gateway into the underworld.

Jeffe had it right.

My pager went off as soon as Cpher discovered it.

There are plans already in the makes.

All worship Hello Kitty.

<worshipthekitten>

<worshipthekitten>

That was one of the things that I thought too fleck.  But, the only problem is our draniage is too fast for any type of water to be held in there. 

I don't know how well it would have been for farmland as the soil is just so damn rocky.  I digged out a bush and the rocks that we found in that small 3 foot wide and 20 foot deep hole made a little rock wall and borders around some plants.

In a lot of case, you would see downspouts/gutters that drained directly into the cistern to keep supply up.

The soil being so rocky is definitely a bonus for your septic system.  Generally an area with that much gravel will drain wastewater forever, unless you disturb the soil structures.  You said you were over a quarry, so I suspect you'll never have a problem with your leaching breaking out to the surface.

If it is in fact a cistern, and you don't want to keep it, you can pump it out, crush at least two sides of it (so it doesn't hold water) and fill it in.  That's what we tell people to do when abandoning a septic tank or cistern.  You may want to check with the local health department to be sure they don't have any requirements.

Oh, and be sure that none of your plumbing is connected to the cistern.  My wife's sister just had some remodeling done in September, including a new septic system.  At the same time, they pumped/crushed/filled the cistern.  Turns out that the kitchen sink and dishwasher were draining to the cistern.  Since it was gone, the water has been draining into their crawl space, causing a foul odor in the house.  They've taken care of it, but it was a mess to clean up.

If you want to know for sure, you can use a tracer dye to see if anything from the house is draining there.  Put some of the dye down all of your drains, including the toilet and bathtub, flush water through all of them, and see if the dye shows up.  If it doesn't, you should be in the clear.

Ok, why does it turn me on a little that Fleck knows so damn much about cisterns?  LOL.  And what does that say about me?

Well, I'm nowhere near as creative as Jeff. But, that's the back way in to China.

Although, before I got to the end of the pics, I was thinking it was the grave of a baby, murdered decades ago.

maybe it would be a good place to put Cpher when he is naughty?

At least the white ass glow of his would be muted.

Jen -- I was just thinking the same thing. Fleck knows his shit!

It's true…I am a shithead.  I worked in the residential sewage and water program for 7 1/2 years at the local health department before making the move into the food program last year.  Now I can tell you everything you don't want to know that happens in the restaurant kitchens.

Man think of all the copies of MYSD you could use to fill up that thing.

Finally a good use for it!

(snickers at Dean)

Fleck, I spoke to a few people around the neighborhood.

What it was…

It was a cesspool for the orig septic.  Turns out that after they bricked in the cesspool, they built the house.  Then, they figured out that that location wouldn't work.  So they just capped it with come cement, and built the septic in the location where my current one is for the most part.

So, it was never used, and I have no pluming going to the thing.  So, I'm just filling it up with the rock that I'm digging up from the front bushes.  Then when I run out of rock, I'm going to get fill from the town compost and fill it up the rest of the way.

But thank you for your comments…it's pretty cool.

Man, what a sh*thole !

I think I've used my daily quota of the word sh*t for the day.

Wow…interesting history.