Alphabe-Thursday A Rough Ruins

TODAY IS ALPHABE-THURSDAY



            OUR LETTER FOR TODAY IS "R" and it comes with many questions (Q) was last weeks letter that I missed.




     This post is for Jenny's "Alphabe-Thursday" and her "Off on my tangent" blog that arrives every Thursday as we follow the alphabet.   My story begins today with a little mystery.



In the wee hours of early morning,



          I set out for an albatross of a day.  A time when all is right with the world, and most of the city still sleeps. 

It was a normally pleasant day, nothing out of the unusual, at first.

Then on my return trip I stumbled upon a magnificent discovery, resting in an unexpected ruins, not far from home.




A RATHER ROUGH RUINS RESTS ALONG A RIVER
in Minnesota, perhaps you know where this is?

Ruins especially like these are not common in Minnesota or any where else in the United States.


So when you happen upon one, you take notice very quickly.

My first thought was, where are the ropes, or the fencing or wooden barricades to keep people and mostly children from falling inside?  Very unusual to see this type of ruins so wide open.  Of course the photographer is delighted for easy access.




Other writers and bloggers through the years have fed us stories about this ruins resting along the river not far from my house.

Looking out on the river.  This remaining ruins, of a nineteenth century flouring mill is on the National Register of Historic Places.  I fear the person supplying the information for this lost mill may require two cents from me.  Wikipedia, reports: "this as a derelict flour mill" derelict? Really?



Do they have no taste for style or desires of preservation for historic places?

The river at this location is mostly calm and heavily wooded on both sides, with a foot bridge south of the mill.  I shot this photo from a two lane bridge. 

You don't really need to be an architect to see this mill was built as a basic two-story building.  The roof hasn't been seen in ages.  I'm guessing it was covered with a low pitched gable roof, and not of long lasting materials.

This structure that once was a thriving flouring mill was built in 1857 and even with all the crumbling stone and how sadly it has fallen in useless shape, I wander about the ruins simply amazed at the thought of its glory days.


You see they just don't build them that way any more.  Today most mills if they run are basic in design.  As the next photo clearly shows.

A few miles away from the old mill ruins is "Ames Mill in Northfield" which is currently running, and has a bit of stone work as well.





Okay yes, I want to stretch this lovely tale out just a bit, so I won't really disclose the whereabouts in this post.  Although for the adventurous souls, I have dropped quite a few hints that a simple google search could get you there.


This will be continued, next week in the letter "S" where I will reveal the name of the mill and share more about the quaint little town it's in.  I hope to see you next week.  If you want to view more or perhaps want to post your own go here,


http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2012/03/alphabe-thursday-letter-r.html