Sat, Oct 11 2008
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Published July 22, 2008 06:23 pm - Hidden treasures found Outhouses hide secret bounty By Wendy Burton Times Correspondent “The Great Dr. Kilmer's Swamproot Kidney, Liver, and Bladder Cure” is Richard Carr's favorite medicine bottle. More than 100 years ago, someone drank the last of it and pitched the bottle in an outhouse. In recent years, Carr dug it up, washed it and put the embossed bottle up for sale in his antique store, Buried Treasure Antiques, 111 S. Lee St. He has been in the bottle digging business for 35 years, and still finds enjoyment in mucking around in old “two-holers.” Many people may wonder just how disgusting this hobby is; Carr says it's really not. “There's only two ways you know you've found an outhouse,” he said. “One, you find layers of lime, and two, you find thousands of tomato and strawberry seeds.” He's never known of anyone getting sick or finding anything still polluted in a dig. Carr digs everywhere from Muskogee to Kansas and Missouri. He finds the northern states particularly interesting because of the civil war era outhouses that are available. Sometimes he and his friends dig 14-foot-deep holes and pull out 1,000 bottles in one dig. Usually, though, they only need to dig six or eight feet to get to the good stuff. His most valuable bottle is a whiskey flask embossed with “Monarch Bar” and “El Reno OT.” Carr didn't dig up this particular bottle himself, but says he got the $1,000-dollar bottle anyway. Antique bottles aren't the only items of interest he's found. He's seen old wooden bowling balls, false teeth, doll parts, clay marbles and more. He found a cast-iron pull toy, a steamboat, dated from the 1870s to 1880s at one location. Maybe a child accidentally dropped it down the hole, or an older sibling did it for him, Carr said. 
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