Loading…
7
PSA to anyone digging near old farmland: always get the landowner's story before you dig
I almost lost access to a site near Abilene last weekend because I trusted a map over the guy who actually owns the dirt. I had two options: dig where the 1968 county survey showed an old homestead, or dig the spot the landowner pointed to about 200 feet away where he said his grandpa used to find 'big flat rocks in the furrows.' I picked the survey spot because it looked official and I didn't want to waste a day on a hunch. Three hours in, nothing but plow-scarred dirt and a crushed Coors can. The farmer walked over, laughed, and said the survey lines got redrawn when they built the new road. So we moved to his spot and pulled a broken hand axe and two flakes out of the same hole in 20 minutes. Turns out his family has been plowing that field since 1951 and he knew the ground better than any map ever could. If you're working private land, talk to the owner first and take their memory seriously. Has this happened to anyone else, where the paperwork said one thing and the guy with the tractor said another?
0 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In0 Comments
No comments yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this discussion.