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Showing posts with label factory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label factory. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Imagine being a physical newspaper company in the early 2000's. Print journalism had already been on a steady, predictable, decline over the decade prior and now this newfangled thing called "the internet" was capable of spreading the written word instantaneously across the globe. For free, even. Average print circulation was dropping 1% every year and household subscriptions had declined nearly 15%. The writing was on the wall.

Faced with numbers like the above, one brave newspaper made a bold move. At a time when declining subscriptions and ad revenue forced many of their peers into collapse, this newspaper decided to spend roughly one gazillion dollars (nearly $300 Million USD adjusted for inflation) to build this giant 6-story printing press and its supporting infrastructure.

To the surprise of at least a small handful of people, it wasn't long before their financial outlook was, and I quote, "bleak". The time soon came when they could no longer justify keeping this monstrosity running. So now it sits empty... along with their historic 100+ year old former headquarters, which they abandoned when they decided to build this mega-facility. The company does still exist, surprisingly, but now they operate out of smaller offices and must resort to paying to have their papers printed hundreds of miles away and then shipped into town.

If you're equally bad at spotting trends, reading the room, etc, then you'll be delighted to know that this massive newspaper printing facility is currently on the market for about 1/10th the cost to originally build it. But wait. Hold the presses. Contact me right now and I'll give you a much better deal. I accept cash offers. As you can see, it's in mint condition and probably runs great.

"I'll tell you what, though.. Blogs. They aren't going anywhere. People love this shit!" the author insisted as he firmly but affectionately slapped his antique photography blog which caused the thick layer of dust to waft through the air. "This social media craze is just a shiny new thing. It's a trend that will fade out. I couldn't even tell you how many visitors I had to my blog this month". The statcounter plugin stopped working about 10 years ago. "But it was probably several. Several unique visitors." And then he hobbled off back to his peaceful retirement community while bitching to himself about some "dumb kids" on instagram.

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

I was pretty excited to see this complete Linotype machine here. One of my favorite locations from a decade or two ago (the Wright Arcade) had a newspaper office in it that was full of these, but in much worse condition.

Newspaper Factory 2024 sublunar
The Newspaper Factory by sublunar

NOTE 1: It's been a year since this visit occurred and in the meantime they've auctioned off a lot of the more significant items in here. So a lot has changed here and this location has been deemed safe to post here.

NOTE 2: This blog post does not correlate to the "4 part series of loosely related posts" mentioned in the previous two updates. Consider this one a bonus. We will return to the 4-part series on the next post.

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Calco Inc. operated this plant in Salida Colorado from the mid/late 70's to the mid 90s. They processed on average 200 tons of quicklime and crushed limestone daily which was hauled from the nearby Monarch Quarry. By the early 1990's they had numerous MSHA citations wherein their weak financial situation was acknowledged as reason for their rather small fines (~$50 per citation). It's not clear when they shut down but it appears to have been sometime in the mid 1990's.

Click here for the video.

sublunar / jackass
Calco Salida by sublunar

Disclaimer: I had the opportunity to visit this site recently so I didn't pass it up despite the fact that I recently broke my collarbone and was only about a week and a half post-surgery with my right arm in a sling and completely useless. So this is the best I could do as a one-armed crippled idiot.

Calco Inc copyright 2024 sublunar
Calco Salida by sublunar

Calco Inc copyright 2024 sublunar
Calco Salida by sublunar

Calco Inc copyright 2024 sublunar
Calco Salida by sublunar

Calco Inc copyright 2024 sublunar
Calco Salida by sublunar

Calco Inc copyright 2024 sublunar
Calco Salida by sublunar

Calco Inc copyright 2024 sublunar
Calco Salida by sublunar

Calco Inc copyright 2024 sublunar
Calco Salida by sublunar

Calco Inc copyright 2024 sublunar
Calco Salida by sublunar

Calco Inc copyright 2024 sublunar
Calco Salida by sublunar

Calco Inc copyright 2024 sublunar
Calco Salida by sublunar

Calco Inc copyright 2024 sublunar
Calco Salida by sublunar

Calco Inc copyright 2024 sublunar
Calco Salida by sublunar

Calco Inc copyright 2024 sublunar
Calco Salida by sublunar

Calco Inc copyright 2024 sublunar
Calco Salida by sublunar

Sunday, June 19, 2022

Foundry #4 is, as far as I can tell, the oldest factory from this company still standing. The company itself was formed in the 1820's and, after achieving great success with some of its early products, quickly rose to prominence as a premier manufacturer with locations across the globe. The company is well known for its many varieties of products which found their way into "most" heavy machinery in use in the United States at the turn of the century. The company was also directly responsible for the increased adoption and use of electricity, particularly in regard to smaller electric plants in rural areas, along with many other notable contributions to the Industrial Revolution.

They continue to be active in the defense industry today and while this equipment is no longer in use, their current products fill the warehouse shelves under the same roof that was erected when this foundry began, which I estimate to be some time in the early-mid 1900's. For exanple: the Lectromelt Furnace that this foundry was built around appears identical to models shown in 1930's advertisements. I have otherwise found very little information that would help to determine the exact age of this site.

Click here for the video.

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar

Foundry #4 copyright 2024 sublunar
Foundry #4 by sublunar