Pemi Archaeology

[albee]

I found a huge trash pit next to an old logging camp near a lesser-used trail in the Pemi yesterday. There was literally tons of refuse - oil drums, metal pails, paint/creosote cans, mason jars and glass bottles, a washing press, pitchers, a bed frame...

This stuff has ostensibly been left there for 60+ years. Does anyone know why more effort wasn't taken to clean it up at some point in the decades since the logging activity ended? I am aware that this stuff is all protected by the "historical artifacts" law, but why wasn't it removed before the time period had elapsed. I'm sure the FS or Pemi rangers and trail crews have known about it for ages - why wouldn't anyone have packed any of this stuff out back before it was prohibited?

Has anyone inspected many of the other logging camps in the Pemi? I found a metal pail about 1/4 mile uphill before I found the trash pit. It seems like there is either a LOT of stuff out there, or I happened to get lucky that my bushwhack took me through this area. The Pemi Wilderness is certainly an interesting place.

 

[dr_wu002]

There are probably a lot of "Camp Baggers" (for lack of a better term) here that could probably help you out. There are books or maps that show the rough locations of the various logging camps in and around the Pemi. Some are obvious or are in current use and some are supposedly nearly impossible to find.

Maybe it just wasn't a priority back in the day and by the time it was the "historical artifact" clause had taken into effect. It's funny -- we're not talking fossils or Native American artifacts, just junk left by loggers a few decades ago.

-Dr. Wu

 

[RoySwkr]

There is a lot of old stuff anywhere there was logging. I found a circular saw blade near Rocky Branch and Spencer & I found a package of crosscut saw blades among other stuff on Pogy Mtn in Baxter Park. On more modern logging jobs it is often empty cans from hydraulic oil.

When I was hiking the Long Trail in the '60s, every shelter had a can dump where the crushed cans your food came in were left to rot away. This sounds outrageous today but in those days if you had packed them out and taken them to the town dump they would just have been thrown in a similar pit.

Cleaning the woods of all debris would be an impossible task, I'm glad they didn't try.

 

[HAMTERO]

um, junk! Where is it? I love junk!

 

[albee]

Cleaning the woods of all debris would be an impossible task, I'm glad they didn't try.

I know plenty of Boy Scouts that would gladly take on the project of remediating these garbage pits. Last time I checked, there were plenty of Boy Scouts back in the '70s and '80s, too.

Does this mean that I shouldn't bother to pick up old survey flagging or mylar balloons that I find sometimes when I'm off trail? I usually do (except when the flagging marks logging boundaries) but sometimes I don't because what's the point? It is trash that will likely never affect anyone - at that point it is an academic exercise. But for some reason I still think it is important to pack it out. Only difference in the Pemi case is that it is an eyesore and it is right next to a trail - it affects the wilderness experience far more negatively than seeing a blaze on a tree.

 

[RoySwkr]

Does this mean that I shouldn't bother to pick up old survey flagging or mylar balloons that I find sometimes when I'm off trail?

My personal opinion is that I would pack out the mylar balloon which may be damaging to wildlife (and I just did one last week) but leave the survey flagging as whomever placed it might still want it there.

As for the junk pit, as you mentioned in the original note it is now historic material and they may be waiting for funding to study it rather than wanting Boy Scouts to remove it. If it truly offends you, please contact the Forest Archaeologist before removing it.

 

[albee]

I think I was just posting this more as a way of venting my frustration at decades of people walking by a trash heap and not doing anything about it. I understand and respect the artifact laws and I don't intend on removing or even altering the site.

As the FS so diplomatically states: "The past belongs to all Americans - leave what you find so others can experience and learn from it."

By the way, I can't seem to find the statute on how long something has to have been sitting there before it is considered an "artifact". Does anyone have a link they could point me to?