Taken on 04/03/07
Castorland (in the village), Ridge Road.  Old factory, was at one time Climax Manufacturing
Partial panoramic image



Jack S. writes: "The missing section of the building was at least partially reused to add to the Urban Hershey home. The building was originally used to make the Cimax Brooder which was used to hatch chicken eggs. Now owned by Slack Chemical Co. and in use."

Taken on 04/03/07

Castorland (in the village), old train depot.  The webmaster had a brief but rather weird experience while photographing this building. 



'Campany' writes "Recently drove through Castorland and apparently this summer/fall (2009) they tore the old depot down and nothing remains- so glad you got the photos!"

Taken on 04/03/07
Castorland (in the village), old train depot

Taken on 04/03/07
Interior shots (taken through a window)



From andre.govia (via Flickr.com): "Great shot dude love the use of tone 10/10 www.missionabandoned.com"
From comac1103 (via Flickr.com): "What a wonderful interior shot and I'm so glad Kilroy was there."
From Lida Rose (via Flickr.com): "I hadn't realized this was in such bad shape. Glad you are adding your photos to Flickr now."
From heinrick05 (via Flickr.com): "Chimney above a doorway... no wonder it's sagging."

Taken on 04/03/07
Another
The floor or ceiling looks as though it is collapsing, as there is a marked dip in the ceiling, as you can see from this photo and the previous one.

Taken on 04/03/07
More

Taken on 04/03/07
Still more

Taken on 04/03/07
Old schoolhouse, East Road, outside of Deer River area

Taken on 04/03/07
Vorce Road, near corner of County Route 55.  Old bridge beside new one

Taken on 04/03/07
 Route 12, near corner of Military Road.  Cheese Cellar, this is a fairly good sized one but is of course deteriating.  There is a little stream inside and water catching area. 
Update 2016 - The area now has a fence and lots of 'no tresspassing''.
Update late 2016 - The top has been cleared, the entance has been covered with stone with a door and covered windows, there is a working metal chimney pipe coming out of the top.  So this can no longer be considered 'abandoned' but it's current purpose is unknown.



Ron writes "They used to cure limberg [Lindberg] cheese in the cellar."

Taken on 04/03/07
Closer shot of entrance.

Taken on 05/13/04
Old Black River Canal Lock Park, three miles north of Boonville on Route 12
This is at the site of a small park which holds the remains of four locks of the Black River Canal system. This is looking up from the lowest one.
These locks were used to raise and lower boats from one level to the next, using gates on either end of each lock. There were 109 locks along the 35 miles from Carthage to Rome and it was completed in 1855, closed in 1926 after being instrumental in doing it's part in helping to open the North Country.
Whitford's history of the canal system

Taken on 05/13/04
Hinge bolts for doors
Here you can see some of the shaft that was used for opening the human-operated doors. Remember that all these holds were hand-drilled into the stone. Each bolt seemed to have been stabilized with molten lead in the hole after it was inserted. On the other side you can see the depression that the doors opened into to allow as much room as possible for the boats to pass.

Taken on 05/13/04
Door system
Another view of where the doors opened into.

Taken on 05/13/04
The locks
A view at the change in levels.
This canal was created to connect the Erie Canal to the Black River and runs about 25 miles from Rome to Boonville.  It consisted of 70 locks to overcome a the height between beginning and ending points of 693 feet.  On Route 46, south of Boonville , the canal's Five Combines can still be found.

Taken on 05/13/04
Door hinge bolts
A closer look at where the metal-working had been to hold the door hinge against the water pressure.

Taken on 05/13/04
A look from the top down
A look down from the highest lock. Further down the road are remains of more locks and the depressions from where the canal had been. This lock system served as a feeder to the larger Erie Barge System.

Taken on 04/11/07
 Stone chimney or fireplace
This is a limestone chimney or fireplace that is in the middle of a stand of trees and brush, along the top of a hill, far from much of anything else.  The farmer who owns the property is nearly 90 years old and it was there when he bought the property when he was young, he says that it probably was used for boiling maple syrup.  But there doesn't seem to be many Maple trees around, it must be so old that all the Map trees died off.  It is now on the Amish farm in Jefferson County off from Route 12.

Taken on 04/11/07
 Stone chimney or fireplace
Uncut limestones were used to build this, carefully mounted on top of each other and filled in with smaller stones and some sort of sandy concrete.



On 4/9/13 roblgabe2013 writes "There are probably no maple trees left, I read once there is a lack of certain hardwoods in northern NY due the over harvesting in the 1800's. The wood was used to make charcoal for the Iron Smelting and Casting that was very prevalent at the time."

Taken on 04/11/07
 Stone chimney or fireplace
 Here you can see a close-up of the very primitive concrete that had been used to try and seal it.  The concrete looked as though it had been just stuffed in, or possibly most of it had deteriorated.

Taken on 04/11/07
  Stone chimney or fireplace
 Here's another side.  At the bottom is a slot for possibly tending the fire, or maybe sliding something into the coals?  I routed around the dirt at the bottom with a stick, but if there were any ashes or remains of anything that had been in the ashes it was long-gone.
You can also see in this picture that the whole thing was built on top of a slight hill of stones, the hill looks like it was made up of many more limestones thrown together randomly, creating a rise.  The whole thing is on an area of raw exposed limestones shelves, interspaced with trees in and around the stony area.  Outside of this area is grassy meadowland, sloping away to hills and flat meadow on one side, nearby is a rather large none-limestone.

Taken on 05/11/07
 House on Rector Road
Near the very rough seasonal end.



From sherylrob (via Flickr.com): "Love it!"

Taken on 05/11/07
 House on Rector Road
Slightly different angle.

Taken on 05/11/07
 House on Rector Road, surrounded by swamp
About halfway down the Rector Road, outside of Lowville near the wind turbine farm)  on the seasonal part of the road.
This is an interesting old one.  But one of the most interesting things is that there doesn't seem to be any driveway or even the remains of a driveway leading to it.  It is surrounded by marshy, swampy land that at one time must have been much drier.  Fascinating house, but I couldn't get any closer without a boat or waders.

Taken on 05/11/07
 House on Rector Road
Another angle

Taken on 05/11/07
 Old farm buildings on Swerniski Road
Near Maple Ridge Wind Farm, outside of Lowville.