A graduated septic flow.  I have found those made from poured concrete
at several late 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps camps on the forest.
 Can send you a pic or two if you want one.  Each CCC camp was
commanded by an army officer and had at least one Non-Commissioned
Officer (Sargent) who would be failliar with those systems.  If it is
military, there is a flippin manual somewhere!

Smoke

On 11/2/07, Janet Jordan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I'm forwarding this request for information from Chris Murphy, Augusta
> State University. Any thoughts would  e most appreciated.
>
> Can anyone suggest a probable function for the feature described below
> or references related to water purification in the late 19th or early
> 20th century?  We have a feature which consists of three pairs of
> (roughly) 4.5 foot square brick "wells" (each about 3-3.5' deep)
> arranged side by side in such a manner that the first pair is on a
> slope slightly elevated above the second pair which is above the third
> pair.  The total length from end to end is approximately 16.5 feet and
> a width of roughly 11.5 feet.  (We take metric measurements, but it is
> most unlikely that this feature was constructed using metric
> dimensions.)  The upper two pairs of these "wells" have iron drain
> pipes that would carry a fluid (water?) to the next pair of down slope
> "wells".  We have yet to see any drain in the bottommost pair.  The
> "wells" have cement floors and preliminary excavations in the "wells"
> show that they have pea gravel and larger rocks resting on these
> floors.
>        This feature may have been part of a WW I training encampment (Camp
> Hancock) located here in the Augusta, GA area, but we are not certain
> that it was part of that installation because although the property
> line must have been close, we have not been able to determine if this
> structure was within or outside of the military cantonment area.  While
> the evidence so far points to this structure being related to water
> purification, it would seem to be far too small to serve any sizable
> military contingent.  Camp Hancock apparently had up to 36,000 soldiers
> during parts of the 1917-18 time frames.
>
>        Any thoughts or suggestions based on this information will be welcome.
>
> Janet Jordan
> Lab Supervisor
> Archaeology Laboratory
> Augusta State University
> Augusta, Georgia
>


-- 
Smoke Pfeiffer

Remember: When seconds count, the police are only minutes away!