Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What is this? (Second Try)

I think a couple of West Virginia boys, Fred and Barney abandoned
their worn out tires while passing through.

Naw, I betcha its the wheels from Ken's first car. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

No question that they are millstones, at this point probably more can be learned by looking at the base. Looks like poured concrete, I dunno how early that could have been. Probably wasn't a picnic mavouring those millstones in place while the concrete set.

Might be a tombstone I guess, but they built the whole thing so well that it seems unlikely the name would have eroded off this quick. I was wondering since it abuts a railroad right of way if it didn't mark an old stop or station of some sort. Or maybe the entrance of some guy's property.

Birdwatcher

the carving could be on the other side.
tom

I dunno Tom, seems like Whitetail would have known it was a grave marker if it was so inscribed.

I was just kidding about the grave marker. I think they are weights that the railroad used to measure stuff.

No markings at all...I looked.

This is in a very remote location.

Also, it is positioned about 100 yards from a tunnel.

It is about 100 yards down to a creek that is maybe 50 feet lower in elevation. The surrounding terrain is very rugged and steep. I did not look extensively but saw no sign of a former mill, farm or structure nearby.

Neither two career railroaders, one with 30 years, or a local Deputy had a clue what it was. Thing is trains run by it every day. This is on an active line.

Check the local historical society - it's their "job" to know.

BTW - I tried a pretty thorough search via the 'Net; no dice.

Dang it, now you've got us curious and we just HAVE to know. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> So, let us know when you find out. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Here's what we do know:
1) they are definitely two (2) old grind stones from a grist mill;
2) they are set together on a concrete base;
3) there are no marks on the base;
4) there is a railroad line that runs past within sight;
5) a railroad tunnel is very near by.

Given that, I'll bet the local historical society comes back with it being a monument to an OLD train wreck, or to workers who died building the tunnel.

The millstones set in what appears to be concrete reminds me of old WPA work or CCCP. We still have alot of that work evident here in my neck of the woods. Old timers in the neighborhood might shed some light on it or old maps? A search near the closest watersource might find an old mill foundation.Topo maps may lend a clue as they don't miss much...

I don't know what the heck it is but I don't think they are mill stones. I say that because the center holes don't appear to go all the way through and are round. How would they be driven? Also, I never saw a base mill stone with a hole in it. Base stones are flat and smooth. Top stones may have shallow groves but they don't go to the edge as those appear to and they look to be too deep even for corn.

BCR

Hey maybe you found the original set of prototype side bite mud truck tires <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

They're grindstones/mill stones. Probably very old, 1800's possibly.

The common location and method of propulsion was a mill located beside a stream, creek, river at a water fall. The water wheel was turned by the falling water.

The stones were driven by a series of shafts and belts. The rectangular slot in the stone was the "driver". Some setups had the bottom stone laying flat while the top stone was mounted vertically and rolled round and round. The weight crushed grain but the peculiar short axial angle also skewed the stone causing it to "skid" causing a grinding contact with the bottom stone. Like crushing wheat in your palms and rubbing them back and forth.

The manner in which the stones in the photo are mounted has nothing to do with a mill. They are simply old stones, salvaged and set up for some display purpose.

The stones themselves were often made from a particular geological formation called quartzite. It was a "conglomertate" macro-grain, metaorphic, sedimentary rock of varying gradation particles of sand and gravels usually angular in shape and cemented, compressed by time/heat/depth. The quartzite was a product of erosion whereby granites were broken down and the other minerals, orthoclase, feldspar, and others essentially dissolved and became clays. The remaining mineral was almost pure quartz "pebbles and grains". Quartzite has a compressive strength of 70,000 psi and it is often twice as hard as granite. It is the most difficult rock to drill. When drilling wells with tungsten carbide insert bits it will dull a bit 6" diameter in 50 feet. Granite 500 feet, limestone 5,000 feet.

The quartzites were mined/quarried from outcrops that appeared conveniently at escarpments in mountainous regions of the country.

My grandfather Jacob Tibbe, who emigrated from Holland to Falmouth, Michigan was a miller and a Dutch Reformed preacher. The millers took in grains from farmers and ground it for a fee.

There is a full, original, intact mill located in Pennsylvania that is a tourist attreaction. McConnells Mills. The same/ similar grindstones are seen there.

Today some current whole wheat or other nature cracker boxes advertise "stone ground flour" but alas, I haven't seen the modern methods.

Bill Tibbe

Somebody who lives around there knows.The county historical societies vary quite a bit in their commtment to accuracy.I've seen too much B.S. produced by some of them to ever trust them as a sole authoritive source of information.Might be an interesting thread to post some of those instances!
I'd guess the railroad "killed" some small town and the remnants from the old mill were moved close by the tracks.Probably had a wooden sign next to the millstone marker saying"Grist MIll Holler was a community ten miles west of here etc"
Moving them was no problem;A wagon was pulled alongside,the team was unhitched and used to pull the wagon over on it's side and right up next to the stones where chains and boomers[binders] bound it tightly to a stone or the base.The team then turned the wagon back up on it's wheels and took it to the railroad.
Don't argue with the method,boys,my grandpa was a teamster in the Burkburnett oil boom!

And bring your fishing pole, because there is some good small mouth and trout fishing there. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Teeder:

Hi fellow Pennsylanian. I visited McConnels Mill. I'll never forget it.

A wonderful place full of wonderful.s.

Bill Tibbe

het Whitetail

Do these stones face a certain direction? If you look through the holes like a sight does it show a picture?

Bearbeater

They might have been used to grind lime or cement for construction and then abandoned or made into the marker we see today. The driver 'dogs' are noticable in the stone on the left. just a SWAG...