E.. The Old Mill Site

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] I wouldn't be at all surprised, Chuck. Just look back in the trees a little bit to the hill there.

Bob Zybach: Well, were all these homes built in 1927 or '28? So this is like an instant mill town here and then after about two or three years it just started falling apart.

Norman Hindes: They started building it in '27 I think.

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Probably. We were here in about '28 and after looking at that photo, I can see that there were several houses missing so probably by '36 they'd started tearing down the houses.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] Oh. I bet they did. People come in here and got the material and used the lumber for something.

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Now these houses were of rudimentary construction. I mean, all the lumber came right out of the mill in rough form.

Bob Zybach: What they call mill run?

Charles Hindes: It was all rough cut and for the most part the houses were verticle board and bat siding. Single wall construction, boxcar roof, no insulation overhead or in the walls or flooring.

Bob Zybach: Now, you say a boxcar roof. Does that mean a literal. . .

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] It was like a boxcar. Just exactly.

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Yes. Just like a boxcar. Convex roof.

Bob Zybach: Okay, but I mean that's the style rather than it wasn't actually taken from a boxcar.

Charles Hindes: No, no. It was the style.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] Oh, no. It wasn't a boxcar.

Bob Zybach: Oh, okay.

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] And you could throw a cat through the cracks almost anyplace. In the winter time it took scads of wood just to even keep the frost off the windows.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] They got the tar paper to cover the roof and some of the side walls.

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Well, inside, if you remember, we had a kind of a heavy building paper about the consistency of 15 pound felt, if you're familiar with that, and it was kind of grayish in color and once in a while why there'd be some wallpaper show up, but very seldom. For the most part it was just that old gray paper.

Bob Zybach: Still, that had to be a real step up from the tent.

Charles Hindes: Oh, yes. Oh, yes indeed. We thought that we were in the next echelon of society. Yes, indeed. But by today standards, you'd question keeping any prize livestock in that same facility.

E. The Old Mill Site

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] The location of track for the Nash Quad is here and that's right above the old mill site. The Nash Quad was a vehicle that ran on wood rails - never made operational.

Bob Zybach: Now, theres a brick and it looks like another drainage and a jar over here. Heres some broken glass through here. Heres a new whiskey bottle.

Charles Hindes: Yeah.

Bob Zybach: That's after your time.

Charles Hindes: Whats that, Norm?

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] [UNINTELLIGIBLE].

Norman Hindes: Where the what was? The burner? Could be. Yeah, that's a Johnny-come-lately addition.

Bob Zybach: Yeah. Says Old Stag, but its not that old. That's pretty new here, too.

Norman Hindes: That's a brick, too.

Bob Zybach: Even the brick is new.

Norman Hindes: Yeah. Another brick...

Bob Zybach: Now, heres somebody's got some plants. Some iris or something and here we got some old metal. Ooo. Really old. It just broke in my hand.

Norman Hindes: I think that's part of the step for a buggy, Bob. It looks like it. Doesn't it to you?

Bob Zybach: Yeah.

Norman Hindes: It right out of here. I don't know what else we've got here.

Bob Zybach: _ And we got some linoleum. New stuff. It looks to me like we're definitely in an archeological site here. Can you see this through here? This looks like an old buggy wheel.

Norman Hindes: Yeah, or Model A Ford. Model T Ford, maybe.

Bob Zybach: Were they that narrow?

Norman Hindes: Mmm. Hmm.

Bob Zybach: That must've been a sold rubber tire.

Norman Hindes: Was it? Was that narrow? Yeah, you're right. Yep.

Bob Zybach: Might be a bicycle?

Norman Hindes: Bicycle. Yeah, I think so.

Bob Zybach: Well, it would be early 1900's probably, huh?

Norman Hindes: Let's see. Theres where the spokes went.

Bob Zybach: So, we've got a real mix of it looks like about 1920 to 1992 material here.

Norman Hindes: I'll tell you for sure, that we couldn't afford a bicycle. Now that's a regular kiln brick, so. Are you subject to poison oak?

Bob Zybach: Yeah. I really am and I get real bad but its one of the hazards of the trade.

Norman Hindes: Well, it doesn't bother me so I will lead the way.

Bob Zybach: An old stove part. Oh, we've got a dump over here where Norman's at. Is that a new dump or an old dump, Norman?

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] Pretty old. It could be awful close to where that slab pile used to burn. I know the old camp used to throw all their old garbage and stuff in the slab pile.

Bob Zybach: It looks like somebodys been going through this garbage a little bit. Kind of segregating it but it looks like the same thing. A mix of old and new.

Norman Hindes: Yeah. It very well could be, Bob.

Bob Zybach: Of course the newer times people could've just thrown away the older stuff but some of that we're finding back there is buried in the ground so its been there for a while.

Norman Hindes: Well, Chuck, where was it we figured the mill? Right in here.

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Yeah. Right up through there . . right in front of you.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] Well, it could be. . . See, that slab pile was about 150 feet from the mill.

Bob Zybach: We've got a bunch of old boards through here, which would be. . . depending on how long they 've been out in the weather.

Norman Hindes: I don't figure out why the hell it wasn't just an old log, though.

Bob Zybach: Oh, yeah.

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] I started to dig it out but it started to crumble so I thought I'd just leave it. This man may be a collector may be an antique piece. . . Theres some more of them over there. . . That's a candlestick. . .