Another hill to climb.......................I clumb it.............:blink:

[tabdog]

Decided to go back to my friend's house where I found the mini ball.

There is a hill behind his house that over looks a historic river crossing
that was used before there were any bridges across the river.

The place is crawling with ticks. I used I sprayed deat all over. Even in
my right eye....... OooOHu...........That hurts......

His house is in the lower right and next to the highway. What you can't
see is how steep it is going up the hill. I didn't even try to detect on the
way up the hill. I would just go a little way and rest until I got to the top.

At the top, I found a very old boiler. I believe it was for a steam engine.
There was never a track up there that I know of. Probably not for a
locomotive.

Notice the old rock work to the left of the boiler.

There is a flat place just above the boiler. That place has a commanding
view of the old river crossing. It's less than 400 yards to the river. A
body of men could be decimated by artillery at this place.

I always wondered why the Yankees went down river to cross, and
then marched back up the river under fire.

That was a good move by the Yankees. I always thought it was dumb.
But not any more.

The boiler and remnants of old roads are not visible to me in the aerial
photo. But they are there.

Here's my hunting buddy. He's kinda camera shy.

I came across some things that I don't know what they are. Brass
sprayers...... I found about five of them.
A number " 5 " lead weight..Looks kind of like a plumb-bob.
A 10 gauge shot gun shell casing. A 45 cal bullet.. Broken iron things.
Old square nails. One split. Melted lead. A really cool old gas valve.

Anything I forgot?? Here's what I made it home with.

I hunted 3 1/2 hours with my Compadre. It was trashy with lots of iron.

I cleaned up some of the stuff.

Here's the other side of the brass sprayer thing with little holes in it.

I've pulled 4 tics off so far.

HH,

 

[dobbie]

be careful around them ticks....good huntin for the conditions. your huntin buddy is adorable....i like the vavle to way cool. thanks for the story.

 

[Cherokeefan68]

Looks like a good day for you.. That valve is a great find, was it found near the boiler? Great story as always. Congrats

 

[JB(MS)]

The boiler could very well have been for a moonshine whiskey still. Old boilers busted up by "Revenoors" are common in the woods around here, especially between here and the Alabama line. Some of them are small, most are pretty big but a few I've seen are really huge. Your brass spigot could have been where the moonshine came out of the coil, it looks similar to a couple I've seen that were still attached. I like running into old places like that, lots of history. Moonshine was a way of life for many in this area until the mid 1950's. I was offered a job hauling moonshine right after I got married. Link is to story about it on Royal's Story forum on this site.

<font color="#000099">Link: <b>Moonshine Runner</b></font>

 

[tabdog]

That's interesting.

Didn't think of that.

That boiler is huge.

The size of locomotive boilers.

But I don't think it's a locomotive engine for several reasons.

Thanks for the input,

 

[tabdog]

Hay Bryan,

The valve was found in my friend's yard.

The yard is at the toe of the hill.

I found those brass sprayer things about half way down the hill.

The square nails and tons of iron were on and around the flat place.

There is flat dug places where cannons could be pointed toward the river.

There is drainage installed.

There are even old concerte and iron pipe. Most is still in the ground

The hill is mostly rocks, Hard to dig.

Targets don't sink much in the rocks.

HH,

 

[scubadetector]

Very interesting finds. I really like the CE on the piece of metal. That looks like some very old creative writing.

 

[tabdog]

I've never seen a gas valve that hooked up to a pipe that big.

Also, I cleaned the inside and the hole is very small.

I thought it was just dirt at first, but I cleaned it until I was
scraping brass.

The hole is too small for it to be a natural gas valve.

It would have to be gas under pressure, like on a steam
pressure boiler.

Those boilers are for driving engines. Steam engines.

Those brass nozzles may have come from the same boiler.

Just thinkin,,,,

HH,

 

[jmaryt]

hi tab!
tick are nuthin' ta fool around with!..when i was a kid ,we used ta trap squirrels for meat,and a lot of them was sufferin' from "full" ticks biting them,and suckin' the blood!..their sacks were full,so we uses ta take a lighted ceegar and burn em till they let go,and fell off into a can of gasoline,then touch 'em off!..we never ate the squirrels as they was sick with the tick bites!..we just let 'em go!

(h.h!)
j.t.

 

[jmaryt]

should a gave the stuff to da union troops!..they would da drunk it,and died,and ya would da won the war!

(h.h!)
j.t.

 

[tabdog]

Man, those poor squarles.

Guess they were lucky to be trapped...lol

HH,

 

[jmaryt]

they was slowed down by the sickness from all the bites!..poor buggers!..i believe the ticks emitted some kind of virus or toxin into their bloodstreams,what made 'em sick!

(h.h!)
j.t.

 

[sixships]

Hey Tab,

The boiler you found was probably a steam power plant for running machines and or cable drags for logging. The valve you found was used mostly on the bottom of the glass sight tubes used to maintain the proper water level in the boiler. This valve was used to drain and flush the sight tube to remove rust and sediment that accumulated in the glass.

Great finds, and thanks for sharing.

Paul

 

[tabdog]

Thank you Paul.

I've just been guessing.

You are the first person I heard who knows anything.

I have not been able to find a boiler and engine like

that on the internet.

If you have any link to a related site, it would be appreciated.

I would really like to find some CW relics. I am sure that there
was an artillary installation there.

HH,