Hi,
I'm new. Thanks for letting me play in your sandbox. I'm an old iron history buff. If it's old and unusual, I'll be taking a picture of it you can bet. I came across this over the weekend in a forest. I'm trying to follow up on a lead that it may have been used to cable logs out of the forest. What do you think? Do you have any information to share? I'll be posting pics of an old saw mill for sale a bit later. Thanks, keep up the good work here !
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/26676/3593/IMG_3533%7E1.JPG)
Hard rock trencher
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/26676/3593/IMG_3538.JPG)
Quote from: Texas Ranger on July 26, 2011, 01:14:29 PM
Hard rock trencher
Excuse my ignorance, but would this be used to trench a row for planting?
Is the area you found this old iron steep hilly country? Where are you from? Updating your profile helps us to determine many things. ;)
BTW Welcome to the Forestry Forum.
Yes, this area is hilly with a lot of swamp nearby.
Michigan, lower part.
what is the history of the area there? It looks to me like maybe a piece of the main winch for a mineshaft elevator? what are rough dimensions of the wheel? any casting marks or names or any identifying marks on any of the iron casting parts?
Quote from: mad murdock on July 26, 2011, 02:22:29 PM
what is the history of the area there? It looks to me like maybe a piece of the main winch for a mineshaft elevator? what are rough dimensions of the wheel? any casting marks or names or any identifying marks on any of the iron casting parts?
Marion Machine Foundry and Supply Company Marion MichiganAbout EIGHT feet in diameter
I think it was moved here from somewhere else. Look at the timbers and you can see that they were cut off at the bottom. An elevator was my first guess, but I was thinking from a factory but you might be onto something with the mine shaft elevator.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/26676/3593/Pitman.jpg)
with that size, I would put my money on a mainshaft, elevator tower/pulley. They used some pretty big rigging back in the day, to make up for the non-existence of electric motors, etc. There were a lot of mines in Michigan back in the day. Hard rock copper mines, and I think they had some gold mines back in the day as well.
Quote from: mad murdock on July 26, 2011, 03:13:06 PM
with that size, I would put my money on a mainshaft, elevator tower/pulley. They used some pretty big rigging back in the day, to make up for the non-existence of electric motors, etc. There were a lot of mines in Michigan back in the day. Hard rock copper mines, and I think they had some gold mines back in the day as well.
Well, nothing to do with forestry but interesting nonetheless, thanks !
8) Everything has someting to do with Forestry - look at the wood used in construction of that thing ;)
Possibly is for mining, as mentioned.
Back in the 70's, I became aware of renewed interest in opening old mines across the US. There was interest from the Bureau of Mines in determining the residual strength of mine timbers in place for years to decide if they needed to be replaced. At the time, Bureau of Mines mentioned a gold mine in MI that was 1000 feet deep and the water being pumped out. Don't know any more about it, nor if anyone actually went into the mine after being pumped. An estimate of wood strength can be determined using high frequency sound sent through the wood, but wasn't a reliable method at that time.
it would be cool in my front yard, i could see an 8 ft picnic table in that.
Are You sure that it says Marion, Michigan on it?
Marion Machine Foundry should be Marion Indiana. I think it may be from an oil derrick and not a mine if its in the lower peninsula. I suppose it could be from a salt mine, but it would probably still be down there if it was.
Quote from: Ron Scott on July 26, 2011, 08:11:20 PM
Are You sure that it says Marion, Michigan on it?
No, I made a mistake, it says Marion, IN, thank you !
That's what I thought that it might say, since I wasn't aware of any foundary in Marion, MI. and the one in Marion, Indiana is pretty well known. ;) Where in Lower MI did you find it and do you know anything about the land history where it was found?
I drove by what used to be the foundry, on Sunday, on my way to fish. One of the many businesses that have gone under in Marion.
You must have relocated it and cleaned up the iron - it looks refurbished. I don't see any trees growing up through the spokes. ;)
Quote from: tyb525 on July 27, 2011, 06:03:21 PM
I drove by what used to be the foundry, on Sunday, on my way to fish. One of the many businesses that have gone under in Marion.
I think it would be interesting to see the inside of the foundry anyway. How was the fishing?
Quote from: kelLOGg on July 28, 2011, 05:08:58 AM
You must have relocated it and cleaned up the iron - it looks refurbished. I don't see any trees growing up through the spokes. ;)
Yes I think someone relocated it years ago. I know it's been in this spot for the past 30 years anyway. It's sitting on a power line hence the lack of trees under it. For the iron, I think it has a high percentage of iron and low in carbon, much like wrought iron which doesn't rust as much as the metal you see today.
Quote from: tyb525 on July 27, 2011, 06:03:21 PM
I drove by what used to be the foundry, on Sunday, on my way to fish. One of the many businesses that have gone under in Marion.
Prolly the same Marion of steam shovel fame? I bet so.
Early Timberjack wheel??? ha
With the Marion foundry famous for is steam shovels and now out of business, I'd say that it is the winch wheel from one of their early stream shovels.
all that old metal has very high content of nickel and magnesium. some of the best alloys . now a days is basically "good" but not . i remember reading a deal about the ww1/ww2 tanks. the alloys were such that you had a very hard time torch cutting them ect, were so hard , and thick that it was cheaper to sink them off the coast. also, noted that 1960's and back, automobiels, most scrap yards cannot send them through their shredder, its along same deal.
The fishing was alright, we waded out to the middle of the river right below the old dam. caught a bunch of small crappies and carp, and a friend caught what we think was a big crappie, about 2ft long. It got away right as we were pulling it out of the water, it must've just barely got the hook.
There's a lot of history around here, wish there were more records and pictures of it. The town I live nearest to, Matthews, nearly became the state capital during the natural gas boom at the turn of the century, now it is home to no more than 600 people, and most of the old hotels and businesses are gone, all that's left is a small book covering some of the history, and stories from the few that can remember that time.
Anyways, sorry for hijacking the thread, back to the main topic!