Atsion Turntable

[Ben Ruset]

I love this site... and something that old sparked my interest Great find!

Thanks!!!

 

[Kevinhooa]

Turntables

Kevin,

Your photo's also show the one location where the actual ties still show in their original location. And the ditch you photographed is no longer there. It has been repaired and the pipes have been pushed into the woods nearby. That is Salter's Ditch and is man-made. If you look on topo or aerial maps you can see how they used it to add water to what is now Atsion Lake.

Salters Ditch – "'In 1786, a canal was dug from the Mechescautuxen Creek to Atsion River a little above the ore lands belonging to the Batsto Furnace, in order to get a greater head of water over the dam from which Atsion forge obtained its power. Whenever the floodgates were opened the lands below the dam were inundated and the ore diggers were forced to stop
work.' A seven year-long lawsuit ensued. (Early Forges + Furnaces, p. 169)." Joseph Salter
M 83.90.568.

Follow it north and south.

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.7373728237224&lng=-74.75945234298706&z=16&type=k&gpx=


Now you need to find the Whiting turntable which is half still there.



Guy

Hey Guy,
thanks for that info. I didn't know that's what that was used for. Pretty crazy how sometimes things don't look like much and then they end up with a whole history and a crazy story behind them. Yeah, Whiting is a neat place and I'm sure one day, I'll poke around in the woods near there.

Kevin