traces of the farmer

the neighbors grandfather farmed the land ,stopped in the old farmhouse and asked my dad if he could farm the land,that was around 1966 or so. He has passed away years ago,his grandson now farms the land. The farmer liked to drink on weekends. He liked Schmitdts beer. I still find cans in the hedgerow,and even some in the shed . I collect some of them and display them in the shed,it reminds me of him,He was a nice man,and a good old fashioned hard working farmer. He also liked Olivers,,,,not just Schmitdts,,,lol

Maybe I should call this response/comment "Traces of the Army". Larry, this reminds me of when I was a kid (early 50s)and my uncle and I would walk across his land and he would point out the places where thousands of beer cans were buried. He would find a circular depression (they weren't hard to find, there were dozens of them) and dig down about six inches where he would run into a cache of beer cans.

He said that these were remnants of the Louisiana Maneuvers that occurred all over north and central Louisiana during 1940-41. The Red army and the Blue army, comprising a total of about 400,000 soldiers and featuring such military lightweights as Bradley, Eisenhower, Clark and Patton, staged mock warfare that was instrumental in answering questions about the readiness of U.S. forces to participate in a war that everyone knew was coming.

A large contingent of soldiers (I know no details about how many, etc., because as a stupid kid it never occurred to me to ask) encamped on my uncle's land for a time. When they moved out, they left little but some entrenchments and the buried beer cans. For years I had a dummy gas mask that had been left behind, but it disappeared at some point.

I know nothing about the evolution of beer cans, but these were steel with a funnel top like a brake fluid can.. They may have been made especially for the military. It's interesting that beer was considered part of their rations.

Reminds me of the old home place, I still come across a rusty old Falstaff can every now and then. My dad was going thorugh some rough times, drinking, depression. He'd walk around drinking his beer, get done and just drop the empty on the ground or throw it in the bushes. Some of those old steel cans been laying there since the early 60's.

Lost my photo upon editing... will redo it.

Found a few “traces of the farmer” around our place too... Old Style Lager, Grain Belt and a Royal Bohemian (they are actually all straight - camera angle is odd). I know they are not valuable - but had to keep 'em... they're rusty.

Also saved a few bottles from a harder beverages - the kind that need a cork to close them. We found them every time we tackled a project around our farm - tucked in the sills in the basement, on the ledges in all the outbuildings, up in the haymow, even up in our attic.

Those are called cone tops. Could be as old as WW1 era. Some have a great deal of value to them. In my younger days I collected old cans and cone tops where the desired can everyone wanted. Could be worth a few hundred each.

Really, even though they are so rusty?!!

I'll never sell them (I can't - they're rusty! LOL)... but interesting info to know. Thanks!