Six ‘No Trespassing’ signs line the small rectangular lot at the
corner of Seventh and Monterey streets because the city does not
want artifact-hungry residents digging holes in city property.
Six ‘No Trespassing’ signs line the small rectangular lot at the corner of Seventh and Monterey streets because the city does not want artifact-hungry residents digging holes in city property.
Eventually the arts center will fill the site, but until then, weeds and small mounds of upturned dirt make it easy for anyone to dig wherever they please, at least until Tom Howard heard about it.
Howard is an assistant at the Gilroy Museum who heard about the unauthorized looting.
“Somebody called me, so I went over there (Jan. 14) and saw a man standing in a hole as deep as he was tall. You don’t usually see holes much deeper than 4 feet, but I couldn’t even tell how deep this hole was because of how far down he was.”
Soon, City Hall heard about the unnamed man and the Chinese clay container he dug for, so for insurance reasons, among other concerns, it erected the ‘No Trespassing’ signs and has since kept an eye on the property, according to Facilities and Parks Development Manager Bill Headley.
“That deep, deep hole was the straw the broke the camel’s back,” Howard said.
To placate residents’ subterranean fascinations and to avoid more “unauthorized, archeological looters,” Headley said the city held an official dig Jan. 19. About 10 people showed up, Howard said, and an experienced bottle digger supervised the unearthing of broken perfume bottles, hard apple cider bottles, clay shards, an old incandescent light bulb, a cap gun, Castro oil bottles and ladies compacts. The previous official dig at the site took place last summer, after the site’s old building was demolished to make way for the planned arts center. That dig yielded some oyster shells, Howard said.
All those various items found themselves in the same location because there used to be outhouses there, and “outhouses were not just used for going to the toilet. They were also junk places,” Howard said.
The allure of aged lots recently convinced the Historical Heritage Committee to recommend a builder hiring an archeologist before he demolishes an old downtown building. The HHC argued that an archeologist on site would dissuade looters, but the builder convinced the Planning Commission that he should not have to hire an archeologist for about $20,000 to be on site during demolition.
Regardless, Headley said residents are not welcomed where they do not belong.
“We want word to go out that the city will be firm about any unauthorized digging or removal of property form city lands.”
