Yes, but he also cites the "glop" at the bottom of bogs that can be "dug out with shovels". That must mean what is commonly called "muck", which is usually black under ground. The orange color is the iron being oxidized by exposure to oxygen.
New Acquisition
- Thread starter Teegate
- Start date
Yes, but he also cites the "glop" at the bottom of bogs that can be "dug out with shovels". That must mean what is commonly called "muck", which is usually black under ground. The orange color is the iron being oxidized by exposure to oxygen.
Hey Bob,
I question this claim. The purpose of stamping mills was to break up the hard ore. Hardened ore can still be found beneath the ground throughout the Pines.
Not my claim Gabe, it's just something I read. However, remember too, that when our ore beds started diminishing, they imported ore from up north. Maybe that ore was in hard chunks.
The property was originally surveyed in the 1780s. By that time, many of the cedar swamps in the area had already been claimed. In the early 1800s, a farmer from Vincentown purchased the property but he sold it to his son within a few years. By the 1850s, the property was known as Sheeps Neck (or Sheeps Neck Pasture). When the land was divided and sold in the 1860s, the property description referred to a corner being a “cedar post opposite the old Turning Mill”. Several subsequent deeds identify that same landmark.
I seem to have the entire title chain and nowhere in those documents does it mention a Tunking Mill or a Stamping Mill. I have to believe that someone misread an early deed and let their imagination get the best of them. If there is any documentation of a so-called tunking mill, I have yet to see it. Tell a story long enough and it becomes the truth.
Several years ago I visited the site which was challenging as the way in through Wharton is tough going. When I went to the location described in the deed, I discovered a series of vertical cedar posts that had been driven into the streambed. I guessed these were used to underpin a dam that had long been washed away. I will grant that they are not conspicuous but they are exactly where the deed described the location. I was a little surprised that there wasn’t more to see since the dams for many old mill sites are easily identified even today.
Incidentally, the property eventually found its way into the hands of a cranberry company. That venture did not appear to be long-lived though evidence of their activity there is easily found. I did consider the possibility that the cedar posts I discovered may have been connected to the later cranberry concern but since they had not been milled, I thought it unlikely that they would have been a sluice gate for an old bog.
I seem to have the entire title chain and nowhere in those documents does it mention a Tunking Mill or a Stamping Mill. I have to believe that someone misread an early deed and let their imagination get the best of them. If there is any documentation of a so-called tunking mill, I have yet to see it. Tell a story long enough and it becomes the truth.
Several years ago I visited the site which was challenging as the way in through Wharton is tough going. When I went to the location described in the deed, I discovered a series of vertical cedar posts that had been driven into the streambed. I guessed these were used to underpin a dam that had long been washed away. I will grant that they are not conspicuous but they are exactly where the deed described the location. I was a little surprised that there wasn’t more to see since the dams for many old mill sites are easily identified even today.
Incidentally, the property eventually found its way into the hands of a cranberry company. That venture did not appear to be long-lived though evidence of their activity there is easily found. I did consider the possibility that the cedar posts I discovered may have been connected to the later cranberry concern but since they had not been milled, I thought it unlikely that they would have been a sluice gate for an old bog.
Last edited:
I believe you will find the building was where the pickers would hand in the fruits of their work. It had that classic design. As for the bog, someone we both know actually either built portions of it or updated parts of it.
Their are long canals all over the property in the more remote area's.
I am working on a project, was there again today, and the state has posted signs. It truly is official 
Ironstone was a poor-quality ore that was used in last resort. It had to be broken up first in the stamping mill, and was higher in silica than other bog or meadow ore forms. As I understand, the use-preference hierarchy—best to worst—was iron scum to loam ore (mud) to seed ore (scale–pebble sized) to massive or (ironstone blocks).
S-M
S-M
Good. Take your time.
I'll be in AC the next two days at the New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors Conference for my continuing education credits. I'll be seeing only a few of the remaining old school surveyors like myself who are gray in the muzzle and long in the tooth but who can still smell a field stone at 100 yards.
The rest of the people will be in suits and chatting about the latest advances in electronic hardware that is contributing to the dumbification (Lisa Simpson) of the American Surveyor.
Yet another instance of hardware supplanting hands-on expertise.
Update: Nearly 4 years later, the ladder stand sections are still waiting on their owner to return in the exact position and condition in which Guy found them..
I was there yesterday looking for coyote and it really looks like the owner would be coming back tomorrow.