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How many threads do we have about the same mill now? Not enough, apparently. I'll try to focus on what hasn't already been covered. These photos are compiled from 2 trips.
This foundry began operating here in 1848, making heavy machinery for all kinds of industries. The mill was abandoned starting in the 80s (and kept operating under a new owner for a few years after being sold), but the company still operates today at a much newer facility nearby.
These buildings have been slated for demolition. Fortunately for us, that hasn't been moving very quickly.
01: Meth Trailer
There was no meth. We checked.
Like most of these buildings, this one is an amalgamation of construction from different eras. The far end of the building was built in 1889. The rest was probably added on in 1938.
02: WALK-WAY
Up on top of one of the big ovens.
03: Green Stairs
These rooms had an eerie thin green light coming in from translucent plastic windows.
This part of the building is from 1961.
04: Mold Forms
I think these are forms for sand molds. Sand would be packed into these forms around a wooden pattern of the part to be cast, making a mold for iron to be poured into.
05: The Sand Jungle
In this part of the building, a system of elevators brought sand up to lofts on the roof. From there, the sand went downwards through an incredibly dense and complicated series of chutes, conveyors, sifters, and hoppers.
06: Sand Hopper
I lifted up one of those square panels to find that the floor here was actually the roof of a giant hopper.
07: Map of Mars
Sand and dust covered everything, including the windows.
08: P&H 6 TON
At the start of the big skybridge craneway going from the upper mill to a loading bay across the tracks. In the cab of this crane, there was a calendar from December 1982.
It says "6 TON" and "3 TON" on this crane. The 3 Ton signs look newer, maybe they downgraded the crane as it got older.
Before the walls were built, this crane could ride on rails all the way to the other end.
This bridge existed in 1897, but was probably rebuilt or at least extended since then.
09: Elevator Loft
This machinery drives the freight elevators at the far end of the craneway.
10: DOWN
We didn't go down these sketchy stairs on the outside of the elevator shaft.
11: The Last Canal
In back of the foundry, this little water treatment plant is built around a small section of the old canal that one channeled water from the river to the mill's turbines. Except for this part, the canal was mostly filled in and built over in 1938.
12: Down Below
Saladking looks down a pipe.
13: Mercury Thermostat
This is the biggest mercury switch I've ever seen in a thermostat.
When I warmed it up with a lighter, it moved and sloshed the mercury around.
14: Window
15: Buildingpile
In the cavernous Lower Mill. This giant space predates 1897, and some of it was added on or rebuilt in 1972.
In between two visits, a bunch of debris was swept up from this building. Demolition planned for this winter might get going at some point soon.
16: Quality and Service with Safety
17: Crane View
These old cranes are incredibly skookum.
18: Catwalk
High above the Lower Mill
19: Across the Roof
In the distance is the big craneway, at the right end are the freight elevators.
20: Wire Ropes
21: It Pays To Be Safe
Through those big double doors are the catacombs that had the high voltage switchgear for the electric arc furnaces in the foundry above.
In the 1890s, there were engines and dynamos here. I'm sure this bit got rebuilt many times as electrical technology developed.
1897 Site Plan
A section of an 1897 plan showing the buildings we saw on this trip. The upper mill is on the right, the lower mill is on the left.
Hope you enjoyed. This exploration and all the others still only cover a tiny bit of what there is to see here. I feel like there's years worth of exploring to do here, and these buildings don't have years left. The wrecking ball is coming.
I come and go like a comet; we are wanderers.
Reports of our eradication have been somewhat exaggerated. | |
This is super cool. Old foundry stuff is so archaic. Great post.
I love the mercury switch gif. Well done.
I have a special love for P&H, as well.
[02:33:56] <Valkyre> Astro your whole life is ruled by the sentence ' life is better without clothes on'
[22:16:00] <DSomms> it was normal until astro got here
Astro: Patron Saint of Drains | |
Amazing stuff as usual. A big P&H sign instantly makes a photo 10x better.
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Best set of this mill yet. Outstanding!
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Nice!
Everyone has a dark side, mines just a little more illuminated. | |
I absolutely love the look of this place, I hope it's still standing as and when I can make it over this year all being well.
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Thanks all!
Posted by Astro
I have a special love for P&H, as well.
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Posted by ryanpics
A big P&H sign instantly makes a photo 10x better.
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I didn't know P&H had such a fandom. I think this is the only P&H in this mill, the others I saw were Shaw cranes.
I come and go like a comet; we are wanderers.
Reports of our eradication have been somewhat exaggerated. | |
Did I ever tell you how much I love those .gifs? I'm glad that mercury stayed inside the thermometer. There was an old apothecary's box kicking around in the house I grew up in and there was a little bottle of mercury in it. It had a ground glass stopper I remember and any time I opened the box I could smell the mercury vapor that built up under the lid. ...I'm thinking about that now. It might have something to do with all the madness, what do you think?
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Posted by Philodiss
Did I ever tell you how much I love those .gifs? I'm glad that mercury stayed inside the thermometer. There was an old apothecary's box kicking around in the house I grew up in and there was a little bottle of mercury in it. It had a ground glass stopper I remember and any time I opened the box I could smell the mercury vapor that built up under the lid. ...I'm thinking about that now. It might have something to do with all the madness, what do you think?
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Ever try holding it in your hand?
On a later visit, I found an identical thermostat smashed to pieces. Somehow the mercury switch survived, so I pulled it out and took it. One of the few situations where I'd take something from an abandonment.
Mercury is amazing stuff, I've been collecting it since I was a kid (which also might explain a lot). The only real way to "dispose" of the stuff is to keep it safely contained as a pure metal.
In a different place years ago, I found a smashed thermostat where the glass switch actually was broken but the mercury hadn't all spilled out. I keep a little tube in my bag specifically for that 
Mercury glam shot
Bonus .gif
I come and go like a comet; we are wanderers.
Reports of our eradication have been somewhat exaggerated. |
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