Dumps are historical libraries.
In the disposal of unwanted items, a society or era reveals what it bought, ate, wore, and what it could afford to throw away. Unlike some textual accounts of history, arguably the most political of social sciences, these items are not edited, selectively displayed, distorted, or swept under the rug. The sweepings, and the rug, and the broom for good measure, are there for anyone to find.
For this reason DD is interested in old garbage dumps and was reading today in the Archives of the old city dump south of downtown by the Huron Street-I-94 interchange. In one article, I found this 1961 gem at left. It is a mini-history of how Ypsilantians disposed of their trash before the existence of the I-94-Huron dump.
The selection shown begins by discussing the days of burning what little garbage existed in the woodstove and throwing bones into the ash-pile. It mentions the annual spring clean-up and accompanying bonfires while recyclers came by to collect rags and old metal. But then:
"Then the trek began to Peck's gully, a deep ravine south of Highland cemetery. Friends met there to throw away trash and to chat. Little boys went through the leavings and occasionally unwanted property was exchanged."
A look on a topographical version of Google maps shows two topo lines (highlighed in orange and green) southwest of the cemetery, indicating a steep slope.
When compared with a satellite version of the same image, there is a scarified treeless area.
Was this Peck's gully?
A look at the 1915 plat map (below) shows that the swampy land south of Highland Cemetery was owned by "Peck Bros." It seems likely that this area is Ypsilanti's forgotten dump!
Unable to farm the muck, did the Peck Bros. sell the land to the city for a community dump? Or did they die without heirs and did the city obtain the land and turn it into a dump?
In either case, it looks as though this was probably the spot where, generations ago, Ypsilantians assembled a library of artifacts, otherwise known as a trash dump. What broken tools, empty bottles, china chips, and other weathered fragments of past lives lie forgotten there?
