Yea, I keep getting his name confused with a different surveyor. Winfield Eldridge. Sorry
Atsion: Old and Renewed
- Thread starter Jerseyman
- Start date
Yea, I keep getting his name confused with a different surveyor. Winfield Eldridge. Sorry
Wow, This goes to show that no matter how well you know a place, if you are not looking for it, you can miss it. I know what I'll be looking for next time out there.
Is any particular reason WHY Atlantic and Camden counties gave up land to Burlington? I can't imagine it would be to consolidate the 100-odd people of Atsion in one county.
BKNJ
Considering it basically went right around Atsion would cause one to think that was the case, but why would it have been acceptable for the town to be divided for the 135 years prior?
I was down Atsion Sunday morning. There was a young couple trying to look into the hole in the side of the chimney of the old cotton mill. I showed them how dangerous it was to stand so close to the chimney, they agreed. Here are some pictures of the danger.
Here is the hole. This is where the Boiler/Gas House tied into the chimney.
Here is the danger. The bricks are falling from above. It looks like the whole brick front is pulling away from the chimney.
This is the other side.
The state should mortar the bricks back in place and re-point the whole chimney and put a roof on it. But we all know that this is not going to happen. So they should at least put a fence around it so we can all watch it fall down in safety, like the Bailey House.
The reason this project would be important: In the early 1850s William Fleming built this mill as a two story paper mill. When Maurice Raleigh bought Atsion in 1871 he converted the old two story paper mill into a three and one half story cotton mill. When he did he extended the bog iron chimney upward using red bricks. This chimney is the only thing left to show, in a small part, the conversion.
Here is the hole. This is where the Boiler/Gas House tied into the chimney.
Here is the danger. The bricks are falling from above. It looks like the whole brick front is pulling away from the chimney.
This is the other side.
The state should mortar the bricks back in place and re-point the whole chimney and put a roof on it. But we all know that this is not going to happen. So they should at least put a fence around it so we can all watch it fall down in safety, like the Bailey House.
The reason this project would be important: In the early 1850s William Fleming built this mill as a two story paper mill. When Maurice Raleigh bought Atsion in 1871 he converted the old two story paper mill into a three and one half story cotton mill. When he did he extended the bog iron chimney upward using red bricks. This chimney is the only thing left to show, in a small part, the conversion.
I hate it when the state fences things in but you can see in the photo's that there is a clear danger and something has to be done. If someone gets hurt they will take it down tomorrow and I am sure most people don't want to see that happen.
I hate to sound cold-hearted, but I'm less concerned about the danger at sites such as this as I am history being stolen, one brick as a time. Sometimes you either need a fence, or the ugly cement cap protecting the remains of the mill walls that was used here. I'm not sure which is worse.
GermanG,
I didn't mention it, but as fast as a brick falls someone takes it. As you said stealing history one brick at a time. In Guy's post he said "If someone gets hurt they will take it down tomorrow" now I'm afraid they will not wait for someone to get hurt, their answer will just be, no repair, no fence, just knock it down and the problem is gone.
As for the concrete cap on the walls, I always thought it was to protect the walls from erosion, maybe both. Erosion protection is working, but as you can see in the pictures below, it is not stopping the stealing of the blocks of bog iron.
Maybe the answer is to bury it in 20 tons of sand like the Bailey house (see below). Don
Stones stolen from the cotton mill wall.
Large areas removed form walls
Don't know what the idea is here?
The Bailey House, Last state project at Atsion
The Bailey House today. The sand must work, there has been no stone removed from the site.
In any cotton mill such as Atsion there is a certain amount of waste. Sometimes as much as 1/3. Rather than wasting the material some mills reuse this waste cotton to make a lesser product. Atsion did not reuse waste cotton, it was removed daily to a waste house.
While drawing a map of Atsion I noticed that the waste house for the cotton mills was located right on the Mullica River. With the waste house built right on the water they must have shipped it down stream. Otherwise it would go out by railroad and the waste house would be built on the other side of the mill toward the railroad station. Now the mystery is where did they ship the waste and what was it used for, there were no other cotton mills down river that I know of . Sometimes they used waste cotton in making paper but the paper mill at Pleasant Mills did not use any cotton in their products.
So, I guess the question is does anyone have any idea where downstream the waste cotton could be used or sold?
While drawing a map of Atsion I noticed that the waste house for the cotton mills was located right on the Mullica River. With the waste house built right on the water they must have shipped it down stream. Otherwise it would go out by railroad and the waste house would be built on the other side of the mill toward the railroad station. Now the mystery is where did they ship the waste and what was it used for, there were no other cotton mills down river that I know of . Sometimes they used waste cotton in making paper but the paper mill at Pleasant Mills did not use any cotton in their products.
So, I guess the question is does anyone have any idea where downstream the waste cotton could be used or sold?
Could it be possible, that despite the waste house proximity to the river, that it wasn't shipped downstream but perhaps carted away by wagon? Although cotton waste was used in the manufacture of paper, it seems likely that greater percentage of it was consumed in bedding, padding and upholstery filling.
Perhaps this publication: "Marketing and Utilization of Cotton Mill Waste" by the U.S. Department of Agriculture may prove informative.
https://archive.org/stream/marketingutiliza334hold#page/n1/mode/2up
Perhaps this publication: "Marketing and Utilization of Cotton Mill Waste" by the U.S. Department of Agriculture may prove informative.
https://archive.org/stream/marketingutiliza334hold#page/n1/mode/2up
Yes Tracker Jim,
you have some good points, it is not only possible, but I guess it is probable. However, because of the location I will never be able to get the downstream idea out of my head.
I have an accurate dimension to the waste house from the mill and it actually falls partially in the water. Now this could be from meandering of the river back and forth over time. I have attached a larger photo of the area to show the location compared to the other means of transportation. But as you said, it could have been stored there out of the way and carted off site by wagon later.
One other point, how much waste cotton could there be, the operation of the mills was not as big as the history books say. In 1877 at the height of operations there were 60 employees and from the inventory of machinery that's all it could handle.
The bedding, padding and upholstery is a idea, now to look for a local business down river, otherwise I am back to the railroad and big cities where most of the cotton bedding and upholstery would be made. I don't think too many locals (pineys) back then had cotton pillows and mattresses. Although, I don't know, it's possible.
The publication was interesting and thanks for your input, Don
This had me totally confused till I saved it to the computer and then flipped it upside down with my media program and Walla! North is down and south is up but once flipped it all makes sense. I know Guy keeps his maps on his GPS set to rotate with his direction of travel so He is always oriented with where He is going. My mind for some reason has to have north up. I found a program that I downloaded that will let me rotate images by degrees so I can get them exactly north up no matter how their made.Then I can calibrate them into a map for the gps and also understand what I"m looking at
This had me totally confused till I saved it to the computer and then flipped it upside down with my media program and Walla! North is down and south is up but once flipped it all makes sense. I know Guy keeps his maps on his GPS set to rotate with his direction of travel so He is always oriented with where He is going. My mind for some reason has to have north up. I found a program that I downloaded that will let me rotate images by degrees so I can get them exactly north up no matter how their made.Then I can calibrate them into a map for the gps and also understand what I"m looking at
I see what you mean, without the whole map there is no orientation. I guess everyone else is confused also. To me access to everything is off Route 206 and the notes fit better this way, but you are right, I could have rotated it 90 degrees and made the north arrow upright.
I know Guy keeps his maps on his GPS set to rotate with his direction of travel so He is always oriented with where He is going. My mind for some reason has to have north up.
It just seems proper to have whatever you are walking towards be at the top of the GPS and you moving towards it. It would be nice if I could always walk north and get to where I am going but I have not yet figured out how to do that. When I do ..... I will be dead.
Don, would you please post the whole map at a higher resolution? It is not of sufficient resolution for me to read. The map looks like a great piece of work.
Once I saw 206 and Atsion Lake, all fell into place, just can't read it.
Guy, Al, I always have my GPS set to north up, otherwise I have no reference to the world nor locations to each other .
Once I saw 206 and Atsion Lake, all fell into place, just can't read it.
Guy, Al, I always have my GPS set to north up, otherwise I have no reference to the world nor locations to each other .
Sometimes I do get confused a bit while heading south but then I just turn the gps upside down and it's all good
I do a lot of driving and whenever I'm using the GPS its much easier for me to keep where I m going at the top and follow the turns. But when I zoom out I have make north up to understand where I'm at in relation to everything else. If I don't zoom out and set north and look at the map I could never get back to the same area without using GPS again if that makes any sense.
Ed,
Sorry this is the best I can do with this camera. Is there a rule about disclosing exact locations on this forum? You can't get anymore exact than these locations. If there is Guy or myself will delete this post.
I also have my car gps set to north up. I get even more confused in the car while driving if north is not up then I do in the woods with a hand held.