A US Army Corps of Engineers tug, tied at the end of the pier before the American Victory was parked here.
history under ground
blur
Kate stands on top of the tailings pile that added some usable land to the side of the gulch. Somewhere nearby is the buried Santiago Tunnel.
A heavy steel rail door to help funnel explosions upward, rather than outward.
The conveyorway between the on-site grain elevator and mill.
Sidewalks to a boarded barracks, each making the other obsolete in the night.
The white mark allowed for a manual RPM check on this big steel flywheel on the ground floor. Note how dark the bottom level of the mills is—that’s because all of the equipment is blocking out the light.
Trees like masks.
In the women’s restroom.
Somewhere between the grain elevator and the distillery.
A long exposure in the wind, lit by airport lights.
A sizable crane on the corner of the engine house still swings out.
One of thousands in the complex. Part of a series of photographs where I capture the number “13” in industrial settings.
Unintentional art comes in the form of a beet juice slurry baffle.
I love the ghost sign across these two elevators, originally built as Superior Elevator. It’s looking pretty rough.
Panorama from where the skyway connected the cleaning house and elevator. ADM Meal Storage is to the right, ADM-4 is to the extreme right, and Kurth is on the left.
Bits of pulp hang from a rough grate on the first floor of the plant, which was dark because all of the equipment blocked the light. This is a grate picture.
Far above the areas that were heavily scrapped, I found some old bottles to collect samples of the sour mash whiskey as it made its was from the distillation room to barrel filling.
Worker graffiti in a stairway. If this is your birthday, you have to comment on this post!
Some of the plants growing out of the walls of the power plant.
One boat comes into port while three wait. The birds, fat from spilled grain, circle overhead. Arista 100.
Looking into the mouth of the hopper which mine carts dumped into at the top of the Concentrator.
Pillsbury from across the Mississippi River and Stone Arch Bridge from the roof of the Washburn Crosby Elevator (aka Gold Medal Flour).
The American Victory next to M, seen late at night.
A creek has cut through the middle of the mine property, washing away the loose rock and eroding the foundations of the Concentrator. It’s pretty, though! It’s be belief, though I cannot prove it, that some of the water here originates from inside the now-buried Santiago Tunnel, which is no doubt flooded to a great extent.
One of my favorite signs, informing workers about to descend into the open-top grain bins about basic procedures. This was in ADM-Annex 1 (connected to the cleaning house via skyway), so it will never be seen again, unless the sign lands luckily when the elevator is demolished.
Ava between ammo warehouses and railroads.
Four A.M. was the best time to be on the main assembly line. This was about shortly after most of the machinery was removed.
Two bin signs criss-cross in the North Annex.
Behind the evaporators are heavy access hatches to inspect the steam pipes within.