Tuesday, March 21, 2023
American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) of Taylor Springs Illinois began under a slightly different name at this location in 1912. They were involved in zinc and lead smelting and refining as well as sulfuric acid production in addition to coal mining and storage, primary and secondary slab zinc production and both American and French Process zinc oxide production. Waste products from plant operations were conveniently dumped on-site and coal ash from the plant’s gas producing operations was casually spread on the ground. Slag piles were found to contain lead, arsenic, cadmium and other problematic metals. To what was surely the surprise of everyone involved, these methods of "storage" resulted in the contamination of both surface water and soil. This contamination not only extended onto adjacent residential properties but some waste materials were also used as fill dirt in the neighborhoods near the site. ASARCO LLC purchased the property from American Zinc and Lead in 1971 and they continued zinc smelting and refining activities. They then leased the facility to Midwest Zinc-Hillsboro, which remained in operation until 2004.
EPA superfun site
A 1912 industrial site sounded super fun to me. It was an hour long drive to the best parking spot and a decent hike on top of that before we could even get eyes on the site and learn what, if anything, was still standing. It wasn't until we walked up out of the trees and finally laid eyes on the objective that we knew some, possibly all, of the original buildings still stood. I started to get my hopes up at this point. It looked like we had an office building in the front with some garages/shops in the middle and then the main production site in the rear-complete with a big ass power plant building that had a crazy ventilation fan sticking out of the side of it. It looked like it was going to be awesome. Very excited by this point to head in and see what's left.
The front office building was actually not a disappointment, as far as those things go. There was one of those weird rooms where workers put their belongings in baskets and hoist them up to the ceiling. Some other random stuff like showers, lockers, a sound isolation booth, etc. Much of the usual ephemera was still left where it was discared so it seemed safe to assume we might find vintage industrial goodness the further on we went.
Except.. Everything else was gutted and empty. The power building being the most depressing example was completely devoid of all its former organs except a bunch of lonely catwalks and stuff that would have once allowed access to the upper ends of whatever awesome old equipment had been amputated prior to our arrival. The rafters are home to vultures whose defecations frequently plopped down around us in reddish colored chunks. We were only in there for a few minutes but I had several near misses with the stuff falling close to me. The floor was several inches thick with shit and feathers and over time these things had formed the heavy particulate swirling in the air all around us. There was some weird halfassed crumbling 1980s looking office space built randomly in one side of the room, completely out of place and utterly offensive considering the old industrial jungle gym that should have greeted us as reward for the pilgrimage.
The entirety of the rest of the structures were similarly remediated of 97% of their former contents and the only stairs to the only upper sections of the whole place were cut off and laying on the floor. There were some big empty warehouse docks, a loading bay, several large steel buildings, etc. All empty.
Sure it was still something to do but not really worth the effort since it was gutted. So I can't recommend it partially due to all the above, but also because of the following:
Oh wait. SuperfunD. With a "d".
According to the EPA's Public Health Assessment of this location, there are 4 main contaminants onsite that are cause for concern: Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium and Zinc. Basically, I got the impression that everything except the arsenic is pretty "meh" as far as dangers go. But it sounded like there was enough of a presence of inorganic arsenic that it wasn't something to just shrug off. Highly unpleasant/carinogenic/etc. So I decided to a wear an old and thus disposable set of clothes/boots/etc and change out of them before I got back into my vehicle, tossing them into a trash bag ultimately to be discarded. Also brought a respirator and wore it inside one of the buildings, but that was mostly just because of the vulture shit.
So yeah. Things were looking real good on the approach..
I started getting real excited as we got closer.. only to be inconsolable soon hereafter. If this doesn't look like a slice of heaven to you then I don't know what your damn problem is.
This is what disappointment looks like.
Monday, March 6, 2023
The Morrison Observatory was originaly constructed in 1875 by Pritchett College, a small local institution in Glasgow, Missouri. It was named after the benefactor Bernice Morrison who, in 1874, pledged $100,000 to build a world-class observatory at the college. Within a year, the college delivered on her stated goals.
The observatory was outfitted with the best instruments available at the time which consisted of a beautifully crafted 12.25" Clark Refracting Telescope housed beneath a hand-cranked rotating dome that was modeled after the one found at Harvard's Observatory. Clark Telescopes, made by the legendary Alvan Clark company were the centerpieces of all of the top observatories of the day such as Harvard, Lowell, and Yerkes. One year later, in 1876, a 6" Meridian Telescope, built by Troughton & Sims was installed in a separate part of the building. With this addition, the observatory was able to generate income by selling the accurate time to local railroads and other institutions throughout Missouri. The Meridian Telescope is a large single axis transit telescope whose primary function was "to accurately mark the position of a star as it crossed the zenith at the observatory's 39 Degrees North Latitude". There was a lounge chair built for the comfort of the observer who would send a telegraph to the railway signalling devices to accurately mark the time. The position of the telescope was accurately determined through the use of large dials on the side whose marks were illuminated by a complex series of glass prisms which directed the light from attached lamps. There is also a closet directly behind the telescope which was built to house the clock on which the time was locally recorded. This clock was built by notable horologist Charles Frodsham, clockmaker to the Queen of England, who started the Charles Frodsham & Co in London, which "remains in existence as the longest continuously trading firm of chronometer manufacturers in the world". Notable among the oservations made at the Morrison Observatory is that of Jupiter's Great Red Spot which was documented by Dr. Henry Pritchett in 1878. By 1907, however, the Morrison Observatory was no longer in use.
Pritchett College failed financially in 1922 but nearby Central Methodist College gained possession of the observatory in order to preserve and restore it. Central Methodist, however, was 12 miles away which was not exactly convenient so in 1935 the observatory itself was moved to an ideal spot where it was re-constructed within a 10 minute walk from campus where it still stands today.
NOTE: This trip occurred during the time period to which my future biographers will refer as "the broken collarbone era". As such it is not my greatest work behind the camera and I fully intend to revisit someday to do the place justice using both of my arms.
NOTE 2: This observatory is not abandoned and multiple people live here at any given time. It is often open to the public so I highly recommend that you go and you slip them some cash donations while you're at it. As was the case with my previous post, this location features gratuitous amounts of "cool old stuff" and therefore qualifies as "blog worthy" due to its absurd level of awesomeness. This is now one of my favorite places ever.
Begin Historic Photos
End Historic Photos
Here I am attempting to capture Saturn (which was clearly visible and crystal clear in the eyepiece) with my phone.. with only one usable arm while precariously balanced on the movable stair/platform that provides observers access to the eyepiece.
