A wooden water line from 1800s found in Burlington (power lines, area)

[Cambium]

This is pretty amazing and cool to see.

Surprise Unearthed in Vermont Street Project | NECN

[68vette]

Originally Posted by Cambium

This is pretty amazing and cool to see.

Surprise Unearthed in Vermont Street Project | NECN

It's cool to think something like this could last so long, but it's not as uncommon as people think. They have been unearthing 200+ year old water pipes in NYC for years. As long as oxygen doesn't get to the pipes they will last for a long, long time. In the early 1990's I was doing electrical (I was an electrician in my former life) work at Captain's Cove in Bridgeport, CT. The area around the marina used to be a landfill. We were excavating to lay some underground power lines and we hit the garbage layer. There were papers and newspapers that were 50-60 years old. They were wet, but there was little to no decomposition.

[Oriz]

So THAT's what they were doing there. I thought it would never end.

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by 68vette

It's cool to think something like this could last so long, but it's not as uncommon as people think. They have been unearthing 200+ year old water pipes in NYC for years. As long as oxygen doesn't get to the pipes they will last for a long, long time. In the early 1990's I was doing electrical (I was an electrician in my former life) work at Captain's Cove in Bridgeport, CT. The area around the marina used to be a landfill. We were excavating to lay some underground power lines and we hit the garbage layer. There were papers and newspapers that were 50-60 years old. They were wet, but there was little to no decomposition.

That is interesting! Kinda makes you appreciate recycling more with that story. Imagine all the plastics that don't decompose? And with population out of control just stop and think of all the garbage we produce now compared to 1800s or before. And that's my trade since the 1990s.