WATERLOO - Decades of trash may turn out to be one man's treasure.

Amateur archaeologist Russ Holven recently asked the Waterloo City Council for permission to dig on some city property near the Cedar River in hopes of uncovering drugstore bottles from the early days of the city.

"There's so much history in this area," he said. "You go to the Grout Museum or the library and they don't have half of the history in this area."

Holven's fascination with history goes back 40 years. In that time, he has amassed a collection of memorabilia buried in farm fields or beneath existing communities. The best sites are always where outhouses once stood.

"That's where they threw all their garbage," Holven said.

Mike Burggraaf, Holven's partner in the excavations, said they've found a lot more than just bottles in the pits. Often, there is other assorted refuse from the early days of Iowa's saloons and public houses, like a ball and chain, brass knuckles and even a horse carcass.

"There's always surprises," Burggraaf said.

Digging the bottles up is the easy part, the men said. Identifying the bottles is time-intensive.

Burggraaf, who lives in Fairfield, has built a database the pair use to identify who made the bottles, where they were made and what the contents might have been. Information is culled from multiple sources, like old fire insurance maps, city directories and newspaper ads.

Old pharmacy and drug store bottles have been highly collectible over the years, said Rich Penn, owner of Rich Penn Auctions, a Waterloo company that sells old pharmacy equipment.

How desirable an item is depends on what kind of the bottle is found. Pharmacy bottles were often simple and reusable - similar to modern plastic prescription containers, Penn said. The bottles contained herbs or chemicals druggists would blend on site according to prescriptions.

Penn said most bottles he has seen were found in basements of old pharmacies or homes of families connected to the pharmacies. Rarely were any found buried in the ground. The bottles found in outhouse pits usually held bitters - concoctions that claimed to have miracle curative qualities. Usually they would turn out to be mostly alcohol.

"They make you feel good, but they didn't cure anything," he said.

Bitters bottles came in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes. They may also have individual markers like the name of the manufacturer.

Burggraaf said many of those early bottles have a distinct character. While they were later mass produced, anything made prior to 1870 was handmade, which means they all have individual imperfections.

Holven and Burggraaf said they don't usually go out looking for bottles with the intent of making a profit. Most of their finds end up being given away to friends and family. Their real aim is to discover more about Iowa.

"There are certain people that get that connection with the past," Burggraaf said.