After having taken some time exploring the remains of the Baltic’s compressor and boiler houses, we headed off into the woods to see what else we could uncover. It wasn’t long until we came across a looming concrete wall stretching along the hillside. Sitting about six feet in height, the concrete wall was backfilled to its top on its backside – creating a flat terrace along Six Mile Hill’s base. We thought it was perhaps another building foundation, but its length was far too long. To make matters even more confusing was something we discovered half-way along its length.

The concrete walls are cut in two by a large slit – some five feet wide and about 8 feet tall. Getting closer we realize that the slit is in fact a large trench lined by concrete walls of its own.

Looking down the trench’s length it appears to go on forever, fading away under a canopy of green. A few feet down its length sat a trunk panel from an old car, which had somehow made its way here without the before mentioned vehicle still attached. As taking a stroll down its length would be difficult given the amount of debris and brush within it, we decided to try to follow it from above.

Rounding the concrete terrace’s corner we found a rather shabbily built poor-rock wall on its southern end. One section had collapsed allowing us to climb atop of it and the dirt-filled terrace beyond. Here we found ourselves atop a sprawling flat surface which was speckled with what appeared to be small pieces of coal. The coal could only mean one thing – we had found one of the Baltic coal trestles.

While the terrace was most likely once used to store coal, the long concrete trench was still a mystery to us. From atop the terrace that trench looked even more impressive. Along its upper edges are a series of concrete piers which look as if they might have supported an overhead trestle. But there was no bolts or other fasteners evident along their tops which is puzzling. We decided to follow the trench to see where it lead, and after a few hundred feet it simply ended at a wall. What was this trench for and why was it smack dab in the middle of a coal yard?

From the end of the trench we continued on through the woods until we came across yet another concrete wall, this one about 8-10 feet in height with tapered edges. Along its top edge was the remains of a series of wood beams – four in total – which looked to have once thrusted out over the terrace. This was no doubt the start of the coal trestle, which would have spread out over the terrace on which coal cars would have dumped their loads. But what of the trench? The answer to that would lie back at home, after I took a look at the Copper Handbook.

The Copper Handbook from 1909 has the following information: “adjoining the boiler house is a 360′ coal trestle of 5,000 tons capacity, underneath being a 5×8 ft concrete tunnel, through which coal is hauled in tram cars run down grade by endless cable”. While this describes the coal facilities for the No. 3/4 shafts, I bears a striking resemblance to what we had found here at the No. 2 as well. If the No. 2 had a similar system, I believe it must have looked something like what I have drawn below:

If the trench is in deed the route of an endless cable tram car, then there are two possibilities for the layout of the coal trestle. The first is a single trestle running above the trench supported by the concrete abutments on either side. The problem with this layout, however, is that the coal cars would have to be side dumpers as to not burry the tram-way with coal – which Copper Range didn’t use. That being the case, the trestle must have split in two at some point near the concrete abutment – as illustrated above. This would allow cars to dump coal down onto the terrace on either side of the tramway without burying it. The existence of four separate wood beams emanating out from the abutment would seem to back this theory as well. But of course, its still just a theory.

Maybe someone else out there has some better ideas on how this thing worked…