Sunset through a stained window in the headhouse made the floor feel like a heavy industrial Disney movie.
history under ground
funnels
In the nitrating house.
A shallow creek traces Illinois Gulch toward the Chain O’ Mines mill. Ball mills are laid out in the sun.
Looking at the side of 4B from the roof of its car shed.
Looking across a skyway at the dust-collecting funnels, one of the few pieces of equipment that haven’t been completely decimated by time and the elements.
Dust explosions were a real risk for grain mills. These funnels helped to filter the air in the mill.
Calumet stands at the side of the Union Pacific railyard.
A wide view (15mm) of the shadow 4B is casting on 4A. Light leaks because of cheap camera.
The layout and design of the buildings reminded me strongly of a brewery or distillery. To the right you can see some of the retrofits by the first lumber company to buy the buildings, in the 1970s.
The tower of Dominion certainly dominates the elevator row.
Giant ingredient hoppers stand on a concrete floor covered in peeled paint.
The side of King that faces the lake is stained yellow-green.
There were bins with hundreds of spools in them in the basement.
The coal crusher (above) and the conveyor (left) to bring the powdered coal to furnace hoppers (right).
Between two brick buildings is a metal one with many windows set into it. Having been in many mills of similar design, I conjecture that this was the milling building, where machines ground the corn before it was boiled.
The scale of the grain hoppers helps tell the story of how large Hamm’s was in its day.
The steam plant could be vertically traversed with this one-man belt driven elevator.
The annex casts a long shadow over its old headhouse and the former UGG (currently Vitera C) elevator. Arista 100.
Cauterized wounds on the factory floor, where the middle of the newer mill opens up to allow massive equipment. Now the pipes are cut and the equipment is gone.
Looking up from the train shed. The building was consistently crumbling and I wish I had worn a hard hat in this area.
A retrofitted dust collector stands out from the geometry of the roofline.
The skyway’s steel substructure collapsed slightly, crushing part of the dust collectors.
Powdered coal would sit in these hoppers before they get mixed with water to make a slurry. Then the mixture is injected into the firebox and ignited to make a coal-powered flamethrower capable of boiling water very quickly.
Let’s play a game called “FIND THE PIGEON”! There is one bird in this photo of dust collectors atop the King Elevator train shed.