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Post by Steiner on Apr 24, 2006 6:25:45 GMT 7
Part 2 is the fifth post on page 2 of this thread. It's the one with all the pictures.It's not China, but maybe this will interest some of you. The area I live used to be a pretty big steel-producing area. Along the railroad tracks just behind our apartments, about half a mile in toward town along the river, lie the remains of an old steel mill. Nature is reclaiming the tracks and creeping over the ruins. It's quite an interesting place and what follows are some pictures I've taken of it since we've been here. Some are from today. Around the bend, across a trestle, and we'll be able to head down to the ruins.  I don't know for sure, but this seems to be where the managers would've hung out. There's a kind of locker room inside, and an office, and a big hollowed out room.  Nature works to take back her own.  The building's largest room. I do not know what this was for. It is dark and it is damp.  The office. A good part of someone's days were spent here.  Light breaks through the slate  The smokestack stands still.  A pedestrian bridge still spans the unused tracks while climbing vines slowly pull themselves up to the top.  An enormous flywheel still sits halfway out of the earth.  I am 5' 8" tall (that's three meters to those of you who only know metric and are too lazy to look it up yourselves). So there I am for some perspective.  The flywheel and surrounding rubble. My best friend and wife are exploring in the background.  My photos lack adequate documentation of these dozen or so pits, which are full of debris and foul-looking water. I imagine they are leeching horrible toxins into the nearby river.  An enormous gear lays hastily discarded. This gear is as tall as I am.  The ruins sit alone in a rather vast area. My shadow was intentional. If my chest appears deformed, that is because I was wearing Madeleine in a baby carrier.  The ruinscape. My town is in the background and the picture is taken from the trestle.  This is unrelated, but I didn't want to make a new thread. These are two pictures from the cemetery nearby. My favorite tombstone ever. I like this guy and I don't know a thing about him except for what his family gave him as his tombstone. I need to go in the morning when the sun is on his face, but that would mean getting up in the morning.  Life springs from death and covers it in glory.  Last one is from today. It was nice out today.
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Post by George61 on Apr 24, 2006 6:37:04 GMT 7
Good stuff, Steins, but.........
....Really? That‘s bloody tall!!
I often wonder how old things break. OK, there has been some vandalism, but what about the ladder up the chimney? Who smashed that?
Someone, presumably owns all that stuff. Funny how we just let it all decay away.
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Post by Lotus Eater on Apr 24, 2006 7:05:25 GMT 7
Nice pics - I like the old and the ruined - gives perspective on life!
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Post by acjade on Apr 24, 2006 7:35:58 GMT 7
Interesting visual essay on decay. Haunting.
I wonder if the old boy on the plinth worked in the office? What's he holding in his hand?
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Post by Steiner on Apr 24, 2006 7:43:43 GMT 7
I wonder the same, George. That was a nice building once - made of stone, slate roof, interesting details on the eaves. It could've been turned into a nice little house if anyone had wanted to put in some work. They carted away almost every last bit of the factory, but left the really big chunks of metal. This is a picture of the foundry that was once part of the ruin, on the other side of the river:  That was in 1998, eight years ago. Today it's being restored and looks like this:  They're still redoing the inside, but it's very nice. It's going to have a visitor's center in it and I don't know what else. Much better to restore it than to let it fall apart. |
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Post by Steiner on Apr 24, 2006 7:53:10 GMT 7
Acjade, the statue of the guy is actually at a cemetery that's unconnected to the old ironworks. If he's connected, it's coincidental.
He's holding a potted plant in his hand. I love his beard and the expression on his face, which is contemplative and contented. I imagine he would've been a wonderful grandfather and gardener.
I should probably put the pictures of the ruins in black and white. It'd enhance the mood.
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Ruth
SuperDuperMegaBarfly 
God's provisions are strategically placed along the path of your obedience.
Posts: 3,915
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Post by Ruth on Apr 24, 2006 8:49:04 GMT 7
Lovely pictures Steiner. Post a pic of the guy's face if you ever get up early enough in the morning.
I may be metrically (metricly?) challenged, but rough translation is slightly more than 3 feet to the meter. Not sure you are really 9 feet tall, but that would explain Madeleine's long legs.
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Post by icebear on Apr 24, 2006 12:03:21 GMT 7
I think he's having fun with those silly metric users. Get with it, get imperial!
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Post by con's fly is open on Apr 24, 2006 19:27:45 GMT 7
I think he's having fun with those silly metric users. Get with it, get imperial! Okay. How many drams in a gallon? Inches in a furlong? |
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Post by Raoul Duke on Apr 24, 2006 19:39:35 GMT 7
I've met him. EASILY 3 meters tall.
Interesting visuals, Steins. Funny...a lot of it looks like China...
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Post by Lotus Eater on Apr 24, 2006 19:58:05 GMT 7
The huge gear is my favourite shot. The whole thing reminds me of the salt farm near Chaka in Qinghai. Although this is still working.  |
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Post by Steiner on Apr 24, 2006 21:47:53 GMT 7
That's a GREAT picture, Lotus. Did you manipulate it or did it come out like that straightaway?
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Post by Lotus Eater on Apr 24, 2006 22:06:14 GMT 7
It was like that - not far off dusk and we had walked right out to the edge of the salt lake and were coming back. Ended up coming back in the dark, much to the consternation of the people at the hotel - 2 lost laowai were their thoughts. Figured if we followed the lines back we couldn't get too lost, so that's what we did. They were waiting for us at the edge of the hotel - ready to call the PSB if we didn't return soon.
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Post by acjade on Apr 24, 2006 22:57:59 GMT 7
If that's a plant in his hand why is it there?
What is the epitaph on his gravestone? This man must have meant something to someone or made it a condition of his will that 'none of you buggers are getting a damn gone red hot cent from me unless you build me an Egyptian I live forever type thingie carved out of stone'.
This man has stories.
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Post by Steiner on Apr 24, 2006 23:08:04 GMT 7
Geez, this is going to cost me a lot of time in research. Maybe I should take the guy's picture down. I will find out who he is for you. I think his epitaph is simply his name. He's at the center of a family plot. The plant...I imagine he was a botanist or a gardener or he loved greenhouses or he created a new hybrid or something.
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Post by acjade on Apr 25, 2006 7:02:51 GMT 7
He's at the center of a family plot. I knew there was a story in this.  Don't take the picture down Steiner. The old man is part of the history.  |
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Post by Steiner on Apr 25, 2006 7:37:33 GMT 7
Well, I went by the cemetery on my way home this evening and have a report but no picture of his face. That will have to wait, but I do intend to post it soon. The family plot is round and his statue is in the center, facing the step up to the ground level there. The area around the statue contains one stone bench, four planters shaped like urns, and four casket-top-shaped gravestones radiating outward from the statue like spokes of a wheel. On the pedestal the statue stands on is written the following: ANTHONY P. SHIMER
BORN NOVEMBER 7, 1819
DIED JANUARY 28, 1896 That's all. The four graves read as follows: ANTHONY P. SHIMER
BORN NOVEMBER 7, 1819
DIED JANUARY 28, 1896 Exactly the same as the pedestal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ REBECCA L.
WIFE OF
ANTHONY P. SHIMER
BORN MARCH 3, 1825
DIED MAY 21, 1875 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MARY P.
WIFE OF JOHN SHIMER
AND MOTHER OF
ANTHONY P. SHIMER
BORN FEBRUARY 20, 1779
DIED DECEMBER 8, 1859 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ JENNIE SHIMER CROLL
DAUGHTER OF
ANTHONY P. SHIMER
AND
WIFE OF JOHN CROLL
BORN SEPTEMBER 28, 1856
DIED AUGUST 29, 1916 From the internet, I have found one Anthony Shimer who was born in 1819 and died in 1896, and I have found pictures of his headstone. It is in Fort Hill cemetery in Auburn, New York. This grave is in Pennsylvania. Very odd, since it's the same birth year and the same death year. The wife of the one in New York was named Emily. The website says this about the New York Shimer: I suppose it's just a coincidence. I can't find anything on my Anthony Shimer. |
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Post by acjade on Apr 25, 2006 7:50:44 GMT 7
I can't find anything on my Anthony Shimer. You found heaps. Your Mr Shimer still must have had some cash. Head stones like his don't come cheap and one like Shimer's aren't erected for the common man even by grieving family members unless they're cashed up. Thanks Steiner. You've done a great job. |
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Post by icebear on Apr 25, 2006 8:32:19 GMT 7
Lotus, awesome picture. One of my favorites so far. Steiner, good ones too. They remind me of a website I saw recently documenting derelict Cold War missile silos... triggur.org/silo/I don't think this is the site I originally saw, but along those lines. |
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Post by Steiner on Apr 30, 2006 2:42:05 GMT 7
Part 2I went back today, found some more stuff at the ruins, took some more pictures. Another beautiful day, I still should've put them in b/w, but once again I didn't. A dozen pictures follow. Whatever this was, it's a pit full of nasty water now.    This one reminds me of the gas chambers at Auschwitz.   Some special barrels, full of delicious treats.  Signs of life: raccoon tracks (or possibly opossum).  Today's best new find, hidden among saplings and mounds of rubble.  Another view  And with me for perspective. I am still three meters tall.  Cute little plants springing up  APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. 
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Post by Lotus Eater on May 2, 2006 9:59:53 GMT 7
I love some of these - they are great. Black and white you can redo in photoshop if you want. And please stop being 9 feet tall - you will never find clothes to fit in China. Yao Ming is only 7 feet tall.
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