Standing in the middle of the massive sandstone fortifications surrounding us, we looked for more evidence of the boiler house the once sat atop this spot. Only there was nothing to find. Instead we turned our attention to the new opening in that wall we could see above us.

The opening was too far away from those coal conveyor openings we found earlier, so this one must have served another purpose. Looking up through the opening we could make out what looked to be some type of concrete pedestal or foundation perched up above the wall. Intrigued we climbed up through the hole to investigate further…

Peering over the concrete wall’s top we could tell right away what we were looking at. The round opening inside told the tale of a stack base, which made perfect sense considering the boiler house next door.

Now outside those boiler house walls, we decided to take a walk around their perimeter to see what else we could discover. But instead of anything interesting, all we found were more walls…

While not as impressive as the ones we dissevered on the previous side, the sandstone walls here were at least free standing. We assumed that the walls on the opposite side served double duty as a retaining wall, holding back the massive weight of the coal piles behind them. Here the wall’s purpose was purely that of a foundation wall.

This side of the building was in far less shape then the opposite, and portions of the foundation wall were missing or in pieces – like this large piece we found further along the way.

By this time it was clear that we had come to the end of the boiler house’s remains, as the sandstone walls disappeared and were replaced instead with open forest. Turning back we could see the massive fortifications of the boiler house behind us, outlining what was now in retrospect a rather impressive sized structure.

Here’s a quick drawing of the boiler house as it stands today, dominated mostly by its impressive sized outside foundation walls that form a “U”, with its lake side facing edge missing its foundation walls. I’m not sure why this was, but perhaps it had something to do with the scrapping process used to pillage the building of its boilers and other equipment.

Up on the east end were those three conveyor openings, with the flue opening sitting along the southern end. The coal bunkers most likely sat off to the east under the conveyor openings, while the boilers themselves were on the west end.

With the boiler house behind us, we fanned outward into the woods beyond in search of whatever else we could find. After a short distance we began to find scattered pieces of wood – some alone and others still attached in rectangular shapes – half buried in the underbrush.

While we weren’t sure, we began to formulate the hypothesis that we were looking at the remains of wifley tables, or some other type of mill equipment. As we walked we began to find more and more, until we came across a clue that we had indeed stumbled across the final destination of our exploration..

Standing before us was the mill’s outside foundation wall, in all of its terraced step-stair glory. Now things were going to get interesting…

To Be Continued…