Hello, Histarch. . .

I recently completed a survey in which we encountered a very large
scatter of debris strewn at least 1/2 mile along the tracks.  The
overwhelming majority of the material consists of food cans from the
circa 1940-1960 era.  They are confined to a discreet strip right along
the edge of the railroad grade, just at the edge of the surrounding
forest (the distance from the actual tracks to the edge of the trees
being only perhaps 10-15 meters).  The overall impression I get from
this distribution is that the deposit represents dining car-related
trash tossed from a moving train.

Has anyone else out there encountered such a deposit?  Given the level
of environmental sensitivity during the mid twentieth century (and
earlier) I wouldn't exactly be surprised to learn that throwing trash
off the end of the caboose was common practice in railroading.  Any
literature suggestions?


Kris Farmen
Northern Land Use Research, Inc.
Fairbanks, Alaska