I had a great adventure in the woods today! I may do this report to two parts because there is so much information to share. I was looking over the MSN bird's eye maps for something when I happened to come across what appeared to be an enormous ore pond . I have seen large iron ore extraction sites along both the Batsto and Mullica but this appeared to be significantly larger. It is located just south of the confluence of the Springers Brook and Deep Run in Wharton...just west of the Batsto.
So this morning I took off on my motorcycle, armed with hip waders, a hydro pack and a camera, and a ton of DEET. To access the Ore pond I would have to park along the Springers Brook and cross it. The ore pond is completely isolated from vehicular traffic as it lies within a narrow strip of land between the Batsto and Springers Brook. After crossing I saw my fist old cord road (picture does not do it justice)
It was located in a narrow maple swamp on the other side of the brook.
Shortly after I arrived at my destination. The ore pond. It was very different than previous mining sites I had seen. Most notably, vegetation had creeped into the bed itself (a very long process), creating hummocks and diminishing the visual shock one experiences when confronted with an old minning site. Also, presence of solid iron ore and sandstone was surprisingly absent. These two factors lead me to believe that this was a very old site, and that it's resources had nearly been exhusted. It was, however, extremely large. More long than wide and went on forever. Notice the cedar stands.
Of course, water levels are extremely low right now and frogs were everywhere trying to find was little water was left in the "pond", puddles like in the photo below were teaming with black banded sunfish (hiding from the camera in this instance)
I suspect that most of the year this entire savanna is submerged.
I was quick to learn that the dryness was misleading. One step into a seemly dry area like below could put you knee deep in orange mud.
I scared up a big buck that gave me an irritated snort at precisely the same time i discovered this cord road crossing the "pond"
A continuation from the first cord road I encountered. This was a very, very old cord road. It is interesting because, while not at all visable from the Batsto, this area is fairly accessable from the Bastso. This would have been the most obvious way to transport the iron,; providing it was headed toward Batsto village.
This concludes Part 1. Stay tunned for part II...where things get even more interesting.
Jeff
So this morning I took off on my motorcycle, armed with hip waders, a hydro pack and a camera, and a ton of DEET. To access the Ore pond I would have to park along the Springers Brook and cross it. The ore pond is completely isolated from vehicular traffic as it lies within a narrow strip of land between the Batsto and Springers Brook. After crossing I saw my fist old cord road (picture does not do it justice)
It was located in a narrow maple swamp on the other side of the brook.
Shortly after I arrived at my destination. The ore pond. It was very different than previous mining sites I had seen. Most notably, vegetation had creeped into the bed itself (a very long process), creating hummocks and diminishing the visual shock one experiences when confronted with an old minning site. Also, presence of solid iron ore and sandstone was surprisingly absent. These two factors lead me to believe that this was a very old site, and that it's resources had nearly been exhusted. It was, however, extremely large. More long than wide and went on forever. Notice the cedar stands.
Of course, water levels are extremely low right now and frogs were everywhere trying to find was little water was left in the "pond", puddles like in the photo below were teaming with black banded sunfish (hiding from the camera in this instance)
I suspect that most of the year this entire savanna is submerged.
I was quick to learn that the dryness was misleading. One step into a seemly dry area like below could put you knee deep in orange mud.
I scared up a big buck that gave me an irritated snort at precisely the same time i discovered this cord road crossing the "pond"
This concludes Part 1. Stay tunned for part II...where things get even more interesting.
Jeff
