Victor and Cripple Creek Gold Mining Company, 6/7/09 (Part I)

Back in 2009, an alumni member of the New Mexico Tech Industrial Archeology Club was able to give us a tour of the Victor and Cripple Creek Gold Mining Company’s mine. I took quite a few photos in the solution extraction facility, as I had never been in one of these.

As a chemical engineering instructor, this facility was of great interest to me, but I was new in my career and it was all a blur.

Process control system:

Notice material flowing under the walkway.

There were several large gate vales. I’m not sure how they prevent the sections from overflowing, but I know they have a way to do so.

One of the operators gave us the full tour. There were things that were trade secrets and details not released. Other things were over my head at the time.

One of the tanks:

For more information about the Victor and Cripple Creek Gold Mining Company, visit their webpage.

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Kansas City Southern Locomotives

I was driving through rural Texas on 12/16/14 and saw several Kansas City Southern locomotives. I didn’t realize that this line was still in existence, but then I found their presence online, and they seem to be doing quite well. (1)

These photos were taken in Hughes Springs, TX.

KCS 4141. A few extra photos from RR Picture Archives. (2)

KCS 2817 and KCS 2018. A few extra photos from RR Picture Archives. More here. (2)

KCS 3999. A few extra photos from RR Pictures Archives. (2)

KCS 2808. A few extra photos from RR Pictures Archives. (2)

And, as usual, I always take a photo of graffiti. Once again, I’m not condoning vandalism, but some of these make neat photographs.

Thank you for reading my post!

Sources:

1. Kansas City Southern, accessed 12/24/14.

2. RR Picture Archives, accessed 12/25/14.

Futuro Houses in Texas and Delaware

My son was telling me about Futuro Houses and we decided to find a few of them on a cross-country trip from our home in New Mexico to the east coast. We found two in Texas and two in Delaware.

Futuro Houses were designed by Matti Suuronen in 1968. (1) There are 96 of these houses throughout the world, and there are several websites to track their locations. (2)

The original intention of their design is in dispute. One website says that they were designed as ski lodges, while others claim their original intention was as a restaurant. (3, 4)

On 12/16/14, our first stop was Rockwall, TX. Here, the Futuro House was on private land and appeared to be in use as a shed. I snapped a quick photo.

We continued down some back roads and ended up at the second Futuro house near Royce City, TX. This one was in a little worse shape. it was heavily vandalized and had no windows left, unfortunately.

The second photo shows the stairwell into the Futuro house.

A few days later (12/19/14), we were in Delaware, searching for a few more of these Futuro houses. Our first find was one in Houston, DE. It was on private land, and, judging by the sign, the owner was not up for much conversation.

A little while later, we found one in Milton, DE. This one appeared to be in use as a control tower for a very small airport, and there was at least one person moving about in it when I took this photo.

I will post more as I find more Futuro houses. We’ve found four of ninety six, so we have more to find!

Also, there is a kickstarter campaign to start rebuilding these. I think it’d be a fun thing to have!

Thank you for reading my post!

References:

1. The Futuro House .com, accessed 12/21/14.

2. Futuro-House.net, accessed 12/21/14.

3. 70’s Futuro House, accessed 12/21/14.

4. Futuro House .net, accessed 12/21/14.