On the recent outing to Crown King with the Sson, we came across several curious man-made fixtures just sitting there, out in the forest. The cement tank (above, below) continues to puzzle us. It's located in a small drainage; the corrugations are too big to serve as a washboard. Perhaps it is a device to separate out placer gold -- this is/was gold-mining country. Any other suggestions?
We couldn't miss these two large tanks by the side of the Senator Highway a couple of miles north of Crown King. Presumably they are meant to hold a liquid -- note the industrial strength spigots. Again, provenance and purpose remain an unknown.
At first glance, another mystery in concrete. Look a little closer, you'll see two pipes entering it. Lift the lid. Aha, a catchment for a couple of springs. Ever the ecologist, Sson investigates, finding a few water striders and not much else, other than water.
On the recent outing to Crown King with the Sson, we came across several curious man-made fixtures just sitting there, out in the forest. The cement tank (above, below) continues to puzzle us. It's located in a small drainage; the corrugations are too big to serve as a washboard. Perhaps it is a device to separate out placer gold -- this is/was gold-mining country. Any other suggestions?
We couldn't miss these two large tanks by the side of the Senator Highway a couple of miles north of Crown King. Presumably they are meant to hold a liquid -- note the industrial strength spigots. Again, provenance and purpose remain an unknown.
At first glance, another mystery in concrete. Look a little closer, you'll see two pipes entering it. Lift the lid. Aha, a catchment for a couple of springs. Ever the ecologist, Sson investigates, finding a few water striders and not much else, other than water.
Perhaps the cement box was a homemade tub for bathing.
ReplyDeleteLooking at that picture again, with Steve's suggestion, I begin to see one of those German Lorelei situations -- a beatutiful sprite, draped only in her golden hair, waiting in the tub for an unwary miner, . A picture from Das KrownKinggeld, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteI do so enjoy reading your posts about your part of the world!
ReplyDeleteI would be curious about those items too. How interesting to speculate!
Ah, Meggie, but what is your speculation?
ReplyDeleteInteresting artifacts, GJ. I wanted to consult with E before saying anything, but he basically agreed with your ideas. A placer box put in place in a creek and then cleaned out for any accumulated gold seems probable.
ReplyDeleteI lean toward fuel oil or kerosene for the tanks. They had the spring for water.
Actually, my own theory about the roadside tanks is that they are water for firefighting & are filled by springs. If they contained flammables, I would expect all sorts of mandatory safety warnings, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think the corrugations on the concrete tank are to allow squirrels and other small animals that fall in the tank to escape before they drown and foul the water.
ReplyDeleteAbout ten years ago, when I was a little less foresighted, a friend and I got our truck stuck up in that area. We didn't have any water and had to drink out of one of those concrete stock tanks. We got to Palace Station around dusk, but the caretakers told us we'd have to hike back to the truck to spend the night and they'd give us a ride into town in the morning. I asked if they could contact (via radio to the Prescott ranger station) my parents and let them know I was okay - it turned out they had gone to high school with my dad's siblings and so they let us stay at the Palace Station, fed us, and helped us back into town the next day.
jessel -- sounds like you really lucked out. Your dad's sibs had just the right friends at the right time for you.
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