We have run across references in our local records to privies being
cleaned out.  An adjacent township asked a neighboring village if they
might dump "night soil" at the site of the village pest house.
 
The answer was no.  The residents thought one nuisance was enough.
 
 
 
Anna Mae Maday
Eddy Historical & Genealogy Collection
Hoyt Public Library
505 Janes Ave
Saginaw MI 48607
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517-755-9827
 
On Wed, 12 Nov 1997, William Lees wrote:
 
> You all do realize, I suppose, that not all privies leave an archaeological
> footprint?  That is, a very common type of privy had no pit but a pan or
> drawer or other device that rested on the ground or such, and that was
> cleaned out fairly freqently and the contents disposed of...somewhere else.
>  Pit toilets may actually be more of a phenomenon in urban or other dense
> settlement situations (forts, for another example) where there is no easy way
> to discard of the contents on a frequent basis without really upsetting your
> neighbors.
>
> These are just observations off the top of my head, as I am really not privy
> to the literature on this subject.
>
> William B. Lees
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>