Mary and Julia-
 
Working in the Central Sands region of Wisconsin a few years back, had the
swell opportunity to do Phase IIs on 21 farmsteads dating cumulatively from
the 1880s to the 1930s.  The project area was along the shoreline of the
Castle Rock and Petenwell Lakes, currently reservoirs on the Wisconsin River
and used for hydropower and recreation, and completed in about 1950.
 
The poor farmers there (pre-reservoir) always produced WAY below the
statewide averages for the few crops and livestock that would grow there.
Very poor soils, croplands, etc.  Things were never good, and they got worse
with the drainage programs of the 'teens and '20s.  Transiency was such that
the poverty-stricken farm folks would move in and out of the area before
maps, censuses, and most other documentary sources could record them.   Aldo
Leopold's Sand County Almanac takes place there, and he has some wonderful
(albeit depressing) observations on the changing ecologies and human-land
relationships there from logging days (mid-late 1800s) through the
Depression.
 
In the 1920s, Consolidated Water Power and Paper Company (CWPPCo) began
buying lands along the Wisconsin River (and tributaries) in anticipation of
reservoir construction.  The lands were pretty lousy for farming, anyway, so
most farmers still holding land sold out.
 
So...
 
Very few archaeologically-identified subsurface deposits were linked with
time of occupation.  Rather, the many dug wells, privies, and odd
big-hole-in-the-ground primarily contained deposits dating to house-cleaning
accompanying the end of the final occupation, i.e., after the 1920s-1930s
purchase of lands by CWPPCo.  The distinctions between during- and
post-occupation deposits were very clear.  And while all the farmsteads
showed patterns of sheet refuse disposal around the farmhouses, the bulk of
that refuse was architectural, strongly suggesting house razing, again after
final sale to CWPPCo.
 
As an aside (related or otherwise), we also found numerous deposits of what
appeared to be Depression-era squatters camps around the farmhouses:
isolated, spatially-discrete clusters of graniteware, tin cans, canning
jars, alcohol bottles, etc.  I have seen other such deposits in Wisconsin
since then, all dating to the 1930s.  Perhaps an underemphasized resource
base...
 
Interesting volume you are putting together.  Have fun!
 
Mark Cassell