259/365 - Hole in the Hill

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A photo from today's exploration -- this part was at the old Atlantic Mill (on the cleverly named Old Mill Hill). The Atlantic Mine (the ultimate goal of our exploration) once had a hill here, on the shores of the Portage. Like all other mills on the Portage, its waste sands filled up too much of the river, and had to be moved. There is very little of the mill left -- just this brick-lined flue, leading to the old smokestack, and perhaps one other foundation. If you look closely, you can see a shaft of light where the stack vents the flue.

224/365 - Mill wood

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A brief outing today -- to the old Central Mine's stamp mill. "Central Creek" (the east branch of the Eagle River) supplied water to the mill, which processed copper-bearing rock from the ridiculously rich Central Mine. It also took away the tailings, which filled up the surrounding countryside, destroying trees and plants of all kinds. To this day, preserved wood sticks out of the sands (where only a few scrubby plants grow) as a reminder of the devastation of the mill's sands.

Doors

Looking through a series of identical doors at the old Ahmeek Stamp Mill in Tamarack CityLike it? Prints of this photo are available!
The Ahmeek Mill was a copper processing mill. Copper-bearing rock from the Ahmeek mine would be sent down to the mill (on the shores of Torch Lake) in trains. At the mill, the rock was pounded into tiny particles by giant steam-driven hammers. One of those hammers is actually still standing today -- I may show it in a later post.

However, this part of the mill isn't the part with the hammers. This is a long line of identical poured-cement rooms, all with these doors leading through them. The rooms are empty nowadays, and a handful have heavy metal doors attached to them. I have no clue what part of the milling process went on in them. At least they gave a cool photo!