TassieJack
Jack
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2012
- Messages
- 61
- Reaction score
- 7
There is about 20 minutes from home up around 500 metres altitude in the mountains a old coal field/ saw mill site. The story is long, but 1901 the saw mill moved in, within a few months coal was found a mine moved in, then another saw mill was built and by 1906 two saw mills and two coal shafts where going strong, all went well in this mountain range until 1926 and the banks foreclosed. Men, woman and children literally on the day the bank foreclosed all boarded the last train down the mountain, taking only what they could carry leaving behind almost everything you can imagine.
Now almost 90 years later, the rain forest has taken over the site and movement through the 1440 acres that the old workings covered is now only possible by foot and is very slow going trudging up the mountain, but some where in there lies some great relic finds.
This was my first trip up the mountain, armed with a local history book i went in search of well, anything i could find that showed i was in the right spot, got over 5000 acres of forest and only got a handful of clues to where the site is.
This time i found a steam engine relic, these engines according to the book worked on top of the mountain, running along the ridge taking logs to the mill up on the mountain, then the sawn timber sent by tram down to the railway at the bottom of the mountain. Only one coin, a 2 cent piece from 1970 was found up on the mountain, but the handful of lead and iron i dug up, plus the steam engine where well worth the hike. Going to be working this site a lot of the next few years, so stay tuned for more adventures and here is the first video (note the remains of the steam engine on the video thumbnail)
[youtube]Z2YKp-AuTZ8[/youtube]
Now almost 90 years later, the rain forest has taken over the site and movement through the 1440 acres that the old workings covered is now only possible by foot and is very slow going trudging up the mountain, but some where in there lies some great relic finds.
This was my first trip up the mountain, armed with a local history book i went in search of well, anything i could find that showed i was in the right spot, got over 5000 acres of forest and only got a handful of clues to where the site is.
This time i found a steam engine relic, these engines according to the book worked on top of the mountain, running along the ridge taking logs to the mill up on the mountain, then the sawn timber sent by tram down to the railway at the bottom of the mountain. Only one coin, a 2 cent piece from 1970 was found up on the mountain, but the handful of lead and iron i dug up, plus the steam engine where well worth the hike. Going to be working this site a lot of the next few years, so stay tuned for more adventures and here is the first video (note the remains of the steam engine on the video thumbnail)
[youtube]Z2YKp-AuTZ8[/youtube]
