Abandoned, Destination, Photography

Forbes Abandoned School | ND Drift Prairie

I’ve been following Ghosts of North Dakota for a while now and have been eyeing up various locations to photograph.  This site has no shortages, but only seeming endless supply of possible places to shoot.  Cyndie and I had an opportunity recently to go to North Dakota and search for abandoned structures to shoot.  We used this site to pick out a few areas of interest to begin.  We figured that we would wander around from town to town.  We found numerous abandoned homes and farmsteads outside of the various town listed on this site.

Our first stop was Forbes, ND.  This teeny tiny town is situated right on the border of North and South Dakota in Dickey County.  The abandoned school there looked very interesting.  A bright sunny afternoon provided for some great light to photograph this wonderful mess of an abandoned school.  At some point, someone must have played some paint ball in the school or just walked around shooting paint balls everywhere.  It added a titch of interesting color to an otherwise fairly drab interior.

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Destination, Photography

Eau Claire County Amish | WI Driftless Area

It was a beautiful day for a “Sunday Drive.” Our sights were set on Amish country; this time in Wisconsin.

Augusta is two hours nearly straight East of St. Paul/Minneapolis, MN. Amish farmsteads dot the landscape from Augusta in the North to Osseo to the Southwest and Fairchild to the Southeast. This Amish settlement was founded in 1978 and consists of six church districts. Seventy-five percent of Wisconsin’s forty Amish communities are one or two church district.

Augusta is home to the Yoder family. Wisconsin vs. Yoder was particularly significant in regards to Amish educations. The local conflict reached the U.S. Supreme Court which resulted in a landmark 1972 decision which granted Amish and other religious groups the right to remove their children from school upon finishing the eighth grade.

It wasn’t much of a mystery as to where the Amish might be. All you have to do is look for buggy tracks or horse poo on the road. I love driving through Amish country. Their farms are very well-kept along with everything else, including beautiful vegetable and flower gardens. They are a simple and hard-working people. For the most part, they just want to be left alone to live their way.

This settlement had several sawmills and timber processing and furniture making appeared to be their Forté. Their sawmills were not the only thing visible on this rural landscape. There was something else here; something I was not aware of – something that many communities, including the Amish would rather not see at all. Something that is significantly impacting their way of life already. More on that later…

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Destination, Photography

Schech’s Mill, Established 1876 | MN Southeast

Schech’s Mill

The Beaver Creek Valley mill was constructed 1876 by John Blinn. The substantial brick mill is powered by an arrangement of four different water turbines. Master miller Michael Schech, an immigrant from Bavaria, worked at a large mill facility in Minneapolis. Hearing that the Blinn Mill was for sale, Schech and his family jumped at the chance to work for themselves. Schech’s brother operated the mill until the family could relocate to the Beaver Creek Valley.

Geography

Schech’s Mill is located in southeastern Minnesota; situated right next to Beaver Creek Valley State Park.  This section of the country is known as the Driftless Area, a 16,000 square mile area covers portions of Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. Noted for its deep river valleys, this area suffers periods of flooding, proving disastrous to stream-side mills.

Flour

I’ve seen all the different kinds of flour in the store, but I guess I never really had given much thought to what the different types where all about.  Ed explained it all, and more, in great detail with demonstrations right before our eyes.  A sample bag of corn meal and flour are provided as part of the tour too.  Cyndie made very tasty cornbread to go with the BBQ ribs we had the following evening – yum yum.  This mill was by far my favorite of the two.  It was a fantastic tour and I highly recommend it to anyone that visits the area.

To say that Schech’s Mill is a hidden treasure is an understatement.  You can feel the history oozing from its walls and milling equipment.  The mill owner/operator, Ed Krugmire, gives an amazing tour.  Having been in his family for 120+ years, he knows every detail about the mill and its history.  It is Minnesota’s only water-powered flour mill still in operation today.

Please visit the Scheck’s Mill website for more details.

Views: 388

Destination, Photography

Pickwick Mill, Established 1854 | MN Southeast

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Pickwick Mill in Southeast Minnesota is located in the town of Pickwick on the banks of Big Trout Creek.  Travel a few miles South of Winona on Hwy 61 and hang a right onto County Road 7; you will run right into it.

It took three years to build this mill with construction beginning in 1856 and concluding in 1858.  All six floors materialized from locally quarried limestone and timber.  This mill is considered one of the largest of its kind in Minnesota.  The 20-foot water wheel is still operational today.  It is quite a site to see it spin.

The interior is filled with 6 floors of machinery that were used throughout the life of the mill.  Antique roller mills, separators and flour dressers can all be view by visitors today.

After supporting the Civil War effort, it went on to serve Southern Minnesota and portions of Iowa and Wisconsin.  The mill produced flour and/or livestock feed until 1978.  Nearly 120 years of operation, a flood damaged the dam and spillway and the mill itself sustain heavy water damage.

The lighting was difficult most of the time, but interesting non-the-less the entire tour.  The sunlight pouring in through the deep-set windows was quite captivating.  Here are some shot from our tour.

Months the mill will be open:
Open Weekends during May, September, and October Open Tuesday through Sunday during June, July, and August *Other time by appointment
Admissions: $3 adult, $2 12-18 & $1 Children

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Destination, Photography

One Day; Two Mills | MN Southeast

This last Saturday (6/23) Cyndie and I headed to Southeast Minnesota to tour two historic mills.  The one I have known about for a while and the other we recently learned about from the Innkeeper at the Jailhouse B&B in Preston, MN when we stayed there this past March.

It was another one of those gorgeous early summer days with 300+ miles of back roads out in front of us and a 12+ hour day.  Our first stop was at the Pickwick Mill in Pickwick, MN (just South of Winona, MN); the second stop was Schech’s Mill located between Caledonia, MN and Houston, MN.  Both offered great tours chocked full old belt-driven machinery.  Pickwick was more of a self-guided tour whereas Schech’s was more of an intimate tour with fascinating history and demonstrations from the proprietor.

I am working on the photos from each location and will post soon.  For now, though, the following shots are from all points between home, the two mills and back home again.

 

Views: 279

Destination, Photography

Vernon County, WI – Day 2 | Driftless Area Weekend

Vernon County, similar to Monroe County, is full of rolling hills and deep valleys.  It reminded me of a continuous roller coaster ride.  It was an extremely lovely Spring day, although the scenery reminded us both of Fall with the color of the trees budding out.  The entire Autumn pallet was present and accounted for – the yellows, oranges and reds were extremely vibrant.

Our primary goal for the trip was to seek out the round barns in the area;  I think we were able to shoot most of the 13 round barns 1 of the 2 covered bridges.  It was a great 2 day trip and I look forward to a return trip soon.

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Destination, Photography

Monroe County, WI – Day 1 | Driftless Area Weekend

Cyndie and I traveled East to a driftless area in Wisconsin over April 21st & 22nd 2012.  Our first afternoon we traveled through and took in a good portion of Monroe County.

Read more about Driftless Wisconsin.

We headed Northeast out of La Crosse to the West Salem area to begin our backroadin’.  Our goal for this trip was to capture all of the round barns (mostly in Vernon County – Day 2) and covered bridges in the area.  Upon arrival in Monroe County, we were met with so much more than round barns; the regular ones were just as picturesque if not more so.  These rounds barns were either in really good (restored) shape or, as it were with one of them, covered with a tarp or the scene was just too busy for a good photograph.  My preference is the old, the decay, the moss-covered  and weather wood, missing boards…you know, falling apart.  I realize these structures do not exists purely for my photography pleasure and the owners concerns are more with form/function and perhaps the grips of a local or national historical society guideline or two.

I was instantly locked onto the very different styles of copulas that adorned the tops of these Wisconsin barns.  There was quite a variety than what I have noticed thus far and they were very different from the ones around home.   The barn windows and doors were a wonderful highlight of the trip as well.  We ran into a great property just East of Mindoro, WI.  Ten of these thirty-six images were from that one farmstead (Images 4-13).  We slowly made our way to Sparta, WI – running parallel to and just North of I90.  It was a great start to the trip – gorgeous country sides and a nice Spring day.

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DAN TRAUN – Photographer