Weird, cool stuff you found in the woods.

What a fun thread to read, I have added this to my watch list! I have stumbled upon several weird and interesting things in my limited adventures. I’ll try to add them when I can. A quick one I found was a simple wooden bridge that was abandoned on a closed National Forest road. I was out exploring part of the Mt. Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest and found what looked like an interesting hiking trail. As I was walking the old Road I came up on a pretty weathered bridge. It had holes poking through a good portion of it but was spanning a beautiful creek. Not sure if the bridge was the cause of the road closure or if the closure was why the bridge fell into disrepair. All I do know is it made for some good photos.

 

These abandoned destinations are usually beautiful and fun to explore!

 

Who said large capacity magazines aren't for hunting?

 

Okay... you can't just post a picture like that with no explanation.

 

Last year while hiking up to Goat Lake, my wife and I stumbled upon an interesting piece of equipment left behind after a suspected logging operation.



This metal structure was about 3 foot tall and was staked into a large felled tree. There was also a lot of braided wire laying around the area too. The only identifiable information on this large hunk of metal was “Willamette No 191”. I am not an expert on logging operations but I can only assume it may have been part of a winch system to pull cut trees up the mountain side.

 

like an old school delimber?

 

@RustyGreen Cmon Rusty, whatya know about this rusty old tech?

 

He left it there on his first job

 

Cool thread.

Found a Model T C-cab flat bed truck in amazingly good shape in the tall brush on Hensons Creek at the ghost town of Capitol City Colorado near Lake City back in the mid 70's. It was complete with sheet metal in good shape. Got back the next year and somebody had taken it.

Found this while brush busting on motorcycles thru a post oak grove years ago. Attached to a rotted completely through broomstick sized pole about 15 ft long.

4 1/2" x 1 3/8" dia. Dont have a clue what it is. Bronze what ever it is.

 

Thats some history, I guess part of a donkey engine?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willamette_Iron_and_Steel_Works

 

^^^ I always had indoor jobs, not tough enough to be a logger.

Willamette Iron & Steel Works made some interesting stuff from ships to fire hydrants, finally closed up in 1990.

 

It begs the question: If steam powered, where was there a source for convenient water?

 

A donkey engine would make a lot of sense. Looking them up it also looked like they were usually placed on timber skids which would explain the big log it was nailed into. It would also explain the large amount of braided cable laying around too. Very interesting!

The PNW is pretty wet, especially the west side of the Cascade Mountains. Additionally, if this was a donkey steam engine, from what I was reading a common use for these engines were to load rail cars with timber. I would imagine the train would have brought any needed supplies up the mountain, including water. However this is all speculation on my part as I am no expert in forestry.

 

I believe that's a transom/upper window opener-upper... commonly used in factories and other high-ceilinged buildings. The window lever would have a horizontal slot, and the idea was that this would slide over that and provide a mechanism whereby the pole could be removed, but wasn't likely to slip accidentally and break the window.

 

Generally speaking, the logging followed the timber AND the water. Transporting water to the operation wouldn't have been feasible as most of the work was done a distance from the railhead. "Donkey" engines, or more properly yarders frequently worked well away from the track operating spar trees. Water would be sourced from a convenient creek, either pumped up, or piped down.

 

That could be, but the slot cut in it wont slide a dime thru. Only thing on it is Trojan Sure-Grip. (great joke material)

I was thinking maybe something to trigger a piece of farm or earth moving machinery. The place was pretty solid in post oaks but flat as a table top so 90 years ago it could have been farm land. My old man had a Fresno scraper (rolling fresno was his terminology) usually pulled by mules for road work or terracing fields that had a lever that I could envision being tripped by a pole. But thats just conjecture.

https://kingsriverlife.com/08/14/the-fresno-scraper/

 

Water for steam engines was also kept in dirt tanks along the tracks