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, February 8, 2021
The old Missouri lead mine is a site of local significance, especially as it pertains to the history of the area. It was built in the early 1900's and was retired in the early 1970's at which point the land was donated and converted to a park.
Click here for the video.
DISCLAIMER: For legal reasons I must insist that you DO NOT ATTEMPT to explore this site. It is more difficult than it appears at first glance. For starters, I think someone might actually live here. Much to my surprise, there are strategically placed alarms, hidden vehicles/etc, and personnell are onsite at odd days/hours when not expected to be..
This location has been the object of my interest for a long, long time, so I did some homework. One aspect of this research was scheduling an onsite visit as a typical tourist where I saw and learned all that I could onsite, within the unreasonably strict legal boundaries they've implemented here. I spoke to the people onsite who seemed to almost brag about the fact that "nobody gets permission" to explore it. Even Ford Motor Company was denied the right to access the site for a commercial once upon a time. I was told "You can try to ask for permission but there's so much red tape you can just count on it not happening". If you decide to visit this location, you are granted access inside of ONE building-as long as you pay for the privilege: The former powerplant was converted into a museum and bears absolutely no resemblance to its original interior. Inside, it could be any other boring mid-century square brick building. The displays themselves are pretty decent, if you're a rock nerd and to a lesser extent a history dweeb (things which I am admittedly guilty of being from time to time). Many of the displays however, while interesting, don't even pertain to this site and what was mined here(!). Outside, you can peek in approximately one window and one doorway of the main plant building opposite the museum. You are allowed to walk from there, in a straight line, down to the end of the row of buildings. THAT'S IT. If you try to see more of this PUBLIC park which is maintained by our tax dollars, you are obviously a no-good filthy godddamned criminal!* (*they didn't actually say this last part, I'm just paraphrasing their stated rules here with some artistic license added).
Cool.
Ironically, as you leave the site, you are greeted with a big sign saying: "You are always welcome in [REDACTED]". So in the making of this adventure I took these parting words to heart, despite what the people onsite had to say about it. Those people were probably misinformed anyway. They had to be! It's right there on the sign, after all: We are "always welcome". Good to know. It was all just a misunderstanding. I'll be back.
I'm going to sound like a condescending know-it-all-from-the-internet, but bear with me because it's for a good cause.
As a condescending know-it-all-douchebag-from-the-internet, and someone who has spent a considerable portion of my life researching/exploring/touring unique/interesting/historic/abandoned locations, I find the management of the remaining structures on this site to be entirely counter productive and illogical. I was told that they have been going to a lot of effort lately to keep people out. That's correct. They actively do not want to accept money/bribes to give tours of the site. Money that could go to the stabilization/preservation of the structures that are basically the only reason to visit this place. Apparently some idiot had recently posted a video of himself to the internet hopping the fence and climbing the headframe using the mine's real name. As a result, the town council got involved and pressured management into taking greater precautions to prevent such situations. Keep in mind this place is a PARK. It is implied that you are SUPPOSED to come out and look at it. Except.. once you get there, you quickly realize you are only allowed to look from a distance. What kind of shit is that?
If you were to step inside any of the buildings, you might think the buildings had been abandoned for several decades. Aside from some roof repairs, I personally don't see evidence of any sort of restorative/stabilizing efforts inside of any of the buildings. With the exception of one wall of window panes in one small section. There's trash and debris scattered all around the floors of all levels of all buildings. Most of the windows on all buildings are missing. Which makes me wonder what the money is going to here. Yes, the museum took lots of planning and sourcing of exhibits (and destruction of the original power plant for a new/modern/painfully bland interior space which says almost nothing about its original purpose). There's also a couple interesting pieces of history sitting inside that main mill building. But haven't these things been in place for some ~40 years now? Except for going inside the museum, you'd get roughly the same experience driving by it on the highway as you do actually getting out of your car here.
There are lots of examples spread all across the United States of successful versions of what is being failed at here. For the purposes of this rambling and incoherent rant, as well as my own narcissistic desire for self-promotion, I will only cite the most prominent examples that I have personally visited and which thus have their own entries on this blog. Alcatraz Prison, Sloss Furnaces, Missouri State Penitentiary, Wyoming State Penitentiary, The Goldenrod Showboat and last but certainly not least: Joliet Prison which was made famous as the "Blues Brothers" prison. Keep in mind those are just the ones I've personally visited. At this point we've established that there are countless examples of what could be done here, but curiously isn't being done here.
The reality is, that as an outside observer/condescending-know-it-all-douchebag-from-the-internet, it seems clear to me that the insistent refusal of this site's management to open it up to all those adventurous tax paying members of society like myself who want to see it but aren't allowed to means people are going to continue to trespass (or attempt to do so) here BECAUSE they want to see it but are refused even the most basic of safely roped off guided tours. If they never allow people to see it, then the obvious conclusion is that they are going to be stuck fighting an unending battle wasting time and money to keep people out. What's the point of all that? What I propose is to legalize the exploration of this site, regulate and tax it. What could be more American?
The excuses we've been told simply don't add up. So in the interest of having a productive conversation I've taken this argument to its logcal conclusion and written a detailed plan on specifically how to accomplish what I (and basically everyone who has ever been out here) thinks should be done instead.
"How to make money, waste less time and begin stabilizing these buildings". Start offering guided walking tours every 1-2 hours as demands dictate. Charge something reasonable like $7.00 - 100.00 per adult, $2.50 for kids (with an age cut-off, let's say no-one under 10 years old. Because kids are dumb.). Limit manageable tour groups of ~10 persons max per tour. Relevant tour areas roped off. Tours start at the front door of the main building across from the museum. Guide the herds of tourists down to the end and back along the other side of the displays in that room. Head to the stairs on the far end of the building and go up to the room where the foam baths removed ore from water. Then lead them back down the stairs, out the back door and walk along the path next to the water tower down towards the headframe. Then up and out and return back to the main office. That's it. One simple solution to a variety of problems here. Specifically: "Lack of funds" and "trespassers". Done and done. You're welcome.
These events may or may not have ever occurred and I may or may not actually exist. These are just words and pictures on a computer therefore they could be digitally manipulated to seem real. In fact, some might say that I have a body double that I pay (with cryptocurrency [specifically Dogecoin]) whom I've never met that does stupid things like this for me. It's entirely likely that I've never even been here. I mean, you never really know. You know?
