Stuff
After leaving the remains of the old boiler/pump house, we took a stroll around the wooded area area surrounding it. Also once sitting around here was the large coal shed, superintendents office, and a series of trestles and rail lines. Sitting outside of the water tunnel at the opposite side sit the piers from the old No. 2 dock, used for delivery supplies. Most everything else we came across was half buried in trees and bushes, only pieces really of the larger puzzle.
Sitting along the old boiler/pump house was this oddity. At first we thought this was old ballast from a railroad grade, and it still could be. A line did run between the pump house and coal shed. But the wooden posts along its bottom seemed odd, and we found no other evidence of rails or ties.
At the end of the possible railroad grade were these footings, possibly for a trestle. Or perhaps an elevated launder?
Since this once held a large coal shed, it was no surprise that we found a lot of this scattered about. Coal.
The only foundation we came across, this concrete wall buried under the ground might of once been part of the superintendents office or some other support structure.
We also found plenty of these - drums. I don’t know what once was inside them, but whatever it was it wasn’t inside anymore. Just dirt and debris now.
I almost think this might be an overturned rock car, but rock cars rarely carried stamp sand. The wooden structure might of just been some sort of storage bin or perhaps a part of the launder used to deliver that stamp sand to the lake. We didn’t come across anything similar.
This large pile of debris probably belongs to the boiler/pump house since we found it nearby.
I have no idea. At first I thought this might be an upside down rail car, but its too wide. Then I thought a boat, but the thing would never float.
Of course, the most noticeable ruin was this rusting hunk of metal beached up on the sands. This is a dredge, used by Quincy to suck up stamp sands and send them to the reclamation plant next door for treatment. The sands here were once much larger, but this dredge succeeded in moving the majority down shore to the reclamation plant where they still sit today. (you can make out those sands in the far background behind the dredge)
And of course, sitting up on the hill straight out of a post-apocalyptic nightmare is the stamp mill itself. This is the No. 1 mill, which is for the most part relatively intact. The No. 2 mill sits up-shore further north. Tomorrow we take a closer look inside this one.
Moving on…