Stapley

Frank and I hadn’t been out on the road for a while due to doctors’ visits and other appointments and obligations, so this past Monday was picked as “the day”, come rain or shine. Well, the shine never appeared but the two of us managed to be on the road well before it was scheduled to show up.

Up before the sun

    We were past Butler before we started to see the trees against the morning sky. I always enjoy this time of day, whether I am sitting in my backyard, looking out the window or speeding across the countryside in a car. We didn’t see a sunrise, but it did get brighter.

  A fine snow was coming down, just enough to haze the windshield and keep the roads wet. The approaching headlights glared off the road surface. I was glad when daylight arrived and that I had filled the windshield wash reservoir.

    Naturally, there were a few geocaches we picked up along the way. The first one required a flashlight to see where it was hidden. We tend to feel a little bit more skilled (?) when we can find them in the dark!

Frank beside Richey Run 

    We stopped a few times to take pictures; this was one of the purposes of these trips, along with spending some time with a good friend. Another purpose of this trip was to locate another old iron furnace. We were looking for the Stapley Furnace, sometimes called the Shippen Furnace. It was built in Venango County a little bit north of Emlenton. I had driven past it many times but never knew it was there. Once I learned about it, I had to see if I could find it. We had no idea what we would find.

    The snow did add a bit to the scenery, covering just the tops of the homes and barns, giving everything a “frosted” look. The light snow also added a bit of fog to the view, adding a bit of mystery or the unknown to the area.

    We visited a graveyard before we reached the furnace. It sat on a hill across the road from a small white chapel. Its’ steeple poked up over the trees reminding us of where the cemetery entrance was, the way back out. A cache was hidden here, inside a stump halfway down the hill, the chill of the weather soaked right through us and we were glad to return to the heat of the car.

    The ruins of the Stapley Furnace are located near the top of a hill, unlike so many other furnaces which are often located beside or near a stream, in a valley. This furnace had bellows which were steam powered as compared to those that used the streams to turn a waterwheel to power the bellows.

Barn foundations 

    Entering the woods, we passed the foundations of an old barn. Looking at the stones I got the idea that they may have come from the furnace. They were large and cut into rectangular shapes, they weren’t regular field stone.

    A slight trail led down the hill past the barn, we passed a couple more stone walls and foundations on the way. I wondered if they had been built at the same time as the furnace or later. The path was a bit muddy, the snow made it slippery and we had to be careful about our footing.

First View

    When I first saw the furnace, I thought it looked like just a pile of stones but looking further, I could see some brickwork near the top, curved like a chimney. All of the outer coverings were gone. (perhaps the foundations that we passed above?) This furnace was built in 1835 by Charles and Richard Shippen. When it was operating it produced 1000 tons of iron a year. I couldn’t find out when it went out of blast.

Possible portion of the charging bridge

    Like so many furnaces hidden in the woods, it wasn’t easy to get close to. There was an abundance of vines, broken limbs and jagger bushes around it, almost as if they were protecting it. My tripod was continuously getting caught. I had to fight the vines and thorns and I had to be careful where I was putting my feet, the base of the furnace seemed to be all loose stones, covered with snow. A nice stone wall sat behind the furnace, against the hillside. This might have been the base of the charging bridge. I did see a few animal trails going in-between the stones, so in some ways, the furnace was still being used.

Still sharp edges on the wall after 189 years

Brickwork of the inner chimney

Some of the assorted walls

    Standing in amongst the stones and walls, I tried to imagine what this place had been like back when the furnace was in operation. It would’ve been smoky and noisy; the men would have to yell to be heard. The sounds of industry would be covering over any birds that might be chirping. Instead of the trees and bushes there would have been buildings and roads. I tried to imagine it but all I heard was silence, that and the occasional sound of a car rushing by. The drivers nice and warm in their cars, never realizing what once was sitting here or what still lingers behind, hidden in the woods.

    The Stapley Furnace, gone but not forgotten, at least by a few of us! 

24 Years or More

With the cold temperatures of winter frosting my windows, the time spent indoors has increased. Some of this time has been spent imagining, wondering and dreaming. One of the things on my mind has been a couple cameras stashed upstairs in the attic. It took awhile, but one day, I finally crawled up under the rafters.

    Along with a lot of things which never should have been saved, I found my two Speed Graphics. One, the smaller camera, takes pictures on a 3.25 x 4.25 negative while the other uses film that measures 4x5 inch. Both of these cameras were made before 1950!

A 4x5 negative is about 15 times larger than a 35mm negative!

    I had to do some digging to find everything, the cameras were put up in the attic over 24 years ago and all the connected pieces weren’t put in the same spot. The various boxes had been put there after a move and we all know how hectic and disorganized that can be!

    I had just finished reading “Learning to See”, by Elise Hooper, the semi-fictional story of Dorthea Lange. Everyone is familiar with her iconic shot, “Migrant Mother” taken in 1936. One of her favorite cameras was her Speed Graphic. Reading about her life and how she documented the migrants from the dust bowl, along with her other photographic work sparked my interest in the dusty cameras hidden in the attic.

    These cameras had been purchased sometime in the 1980’s. Photographers and astronomers share a certain trait; we all have “aperture envy”. Size can be so seductive! “If I can see this with a 3” telescope, just imagine what I can see with a 10” scope!”, the same goes with cameras.

    In the 1980’s, there were these wonderful things called Photo Flea Markets. Camera dealers and collectors would fill a hall at a local hotel with their used and new cameras, lenses and accessories and offer them to us suckers, or I mean aficionados, at bargain prices. It was an amateur photographer’s dream land! Frank and I would arrive early to get a good spot in line, wanting to get in and get the best bargains. We both filled much of our kits at these pre-internet gatherings.

    After bringing the cameras down into the light of day, I gave them a good once over, and tried the controls. The bellows seemed light tight and the shutters appeared to be working correctly.

    The next step was talking myself into purchasing some B&W film and then, reviewing a few videos about loading the film holders. I had two holders, and I had some old 4x5 negatives, so I spent a day practicing putting the film in them. When I did it with the new, unexposed film, it would have to be in complete darkness. Practice makes perfect, so I’ve heard. After successfully completing the loading process (in the dark) I had another decision to make, what should I take pictures of?

    Sunday was cold and cloudy. Ann Marie and I loaded the camera gear in the car and drove up to West Winfield to visit the old iron furnace. White snow covered everything except the roads. In Winfield the snow was broken only by the footprints of wildlife. Occasionally the sun broke through the clouds creating bright patches, only to disappear just as quickly as it had appeared.

    I set the tripod in front of the furnace and then mounted the camera on top of it. I opened the lens and attempted to focus. This is done by looking at a sheet of ground glass in the back of the camera. The white snow caused reflections on the glass making it hard to see, but I had come prepared!

    I had brought a dark bathroom towel along with us and I used that to cover the camera.

    The center of the viewing screen was easy to see but the edges gave me a bit of a problem. For these first 4 pictures, I would just hope for the best. There are other ways of focusing and composing these cameras but for now, a dim image and some reflections would have to suffice.

    Once focused, my next chore was to get a light reading to determine the proper exposure. I used a grey card and my trusty Luna-Pro for that. I opted for a rather smaller aperture to allow for a deeper depth of field and a longer exposure to compensate for the smaller opening.

    Making sure all the tripod locks were tight, that my shutter was closed and cocked and the proper settings were picked, I was ready to put the film holder into the camera. Carefully I slid it in and then, rechecked everything once again. I wrote down the settings in my notebook along with a couple other notes and then…slid the dark slide out, waited a moment or two for any shake to stop and then clicked the shutter. DONE! The first shot in over 24 years, probably over 30! I was careful to replace the dark slide before removing the film holder!!

    Taking pictures with a large format camera is nothing like shooting with a digital camera! The time alone is so much different. The quantities of the pictures you take are lowered and so is the instant gratification. It is a fun endeavor requiring a bit of thought; depth of field, composition and shutter speeds to name just some of the things to consider. There is much more than what I normally would do when taking a snapshot.

    It was fun taking these pictures but as we packed my gear and returned to the car, I knew that I was only partially done. The film still needed developed and then if any were worthwhile, a picture will need printed.

    At home, with the developing tank and the film holders in the darkroom, after some more practice runs, I turned off the lights and started. Carefully I removed a sheet of film from the holder, trying my best not to scratch it or put any fingerprints on the surface. Then, just as carefully, I slipped it into the holder for the tank. I tried not to hurry. Things went nicely.

    Once the four sheets of film were loaded and the lid was on the tank, I could turn the lights on again. I turned on the water and put my chemicals in a water-bath to allow them to come to the proper temperature. (68°) While the chemicals were acclimating, I checked on the developing times and made myself a “cheat-sheet” to hang up near my timer. I made a note on it marking the date, the developer and the film type for future reference.

    I picked up the tank and started pouring in the water pre-rinse. Once I started, there was no stopping. I could only hope that I was doing everything correctly. I wouldn’t know if anything was done wrong until I was able to open the tank. After the final wash cycle, I was able to take the negatives out of the tank and look at them. I then took them and hung them on a line to dry. Later after the water had all evaporated, I put them in an archival sleeve and took a photo of them on a light box.

(Negatives have been reversed to show them as a positive)

    Success! They came out properly exposed and there weren’t any scratches or fingerprints on them. Not bad for a slight 24 (or more) year gap. Both the camera and the photographer (both old also) worked well! Now, time to re-fill the film holders and try again, and hopefully improve my process!

Always Trust the Weathermen?

 According to the weather forecasters, we were going to be getting rain in the afternoon and the morning would be cloudy. Pulling up to the top of Lime Hollow Road, I got my first view of the rising sun, silhouetting a large tree. I was heading over to pick up Ann Marie, we were going to take another ride in the country. We were heading south, towards Ohiopyle.

    Our trips seem to always follow a certain “outline”, with-in the first half hour we stop for fueling; coffee and something to munch on. This day was no different. Fueled, we hit the highway, and then onto two lane roads, aiming first for Latrobe.

    As per our outline, we usually have a couple geocaches to find. The first search of the day brought us to Fred Rogers Drive.

    If you look at the picture closely you can just see the cache hanging on the sign. Thinking of Mr. Rogers, it was truly turning into a beautiful day in the neighborhood! The skies were blue and there was no lack of sunshine. AMB quickly found the cache and three of the other four caches we looked for. I found the other one mainly because it was on my side of the car.

    We drove through the outskirts of Ligonier, passing beautiful snowy horse pastures and then through Donegal and over to Normalville where we then dropped down into the valley. Taking a few smaller roads, we eventually came to the remains of the Fayette Furnace.

    Sitting not far from the road, it is easily seen during the winter season when all the leaves are off the trees. It is a large looking furnace with two very large openings in it. It could be due to the size of the arches that make it appears so large. The side facing Bucks Run has collapsed, possibly due to the centuries of high water washing against it.

    The three remaining sides all have large cracks forming in them and there are a few trees growing on it. Trees can be very destructive as their roots force the stones apart.

    There are conflicting dates as to when it was built. The book I consulted, A Guide to the Old Stone Blast Furnaces of Western Pennsylvania, by Sharp and Thomas says it was either 1815 or 1827. There were 30 to 50 people who worked here. It produced about 500 tons of iron a year and went out of blast in 1840. It was a productive community. It is difficult to imagine when you look at the ruins, all that is here, is the stone stack! 

    We managed to find some paths through the ever present “jagger” bushes and were able to get close to it. Neither of us got any scratches or cuts!

    From here we headed north following the road we took to get to the furnace. This took us into State Game Lands and across a couple mountains. This sounds easier than it was. The roads had been plowed but were covered with a layer of packed down snow. Some of the steeper hills had been cindered. We would slowly work our way up the hill only to reach a spot where you couldn’t see what was below us, slowly we would creep forward until we could see where we were going. Luckily, we only met one other car while we were on these tight dirt roads. Coming to the start of one hill, we decided to turn around rather than chance it. Luckily there was a spot wide enough to turn around, most of the roads were only wide enough for a car to pass through. The edges were either ruts or piles of plowed snow. We chose another road and hoped for the best, we were following the compass most of all, when we came to an intersection, we kept heading towards the north.

    We went down a couple hills holding our breath, hoping that the conditions wouldn’t deteriorate and that we wouldn’t slide. The ride was worth it though; we saw some nice views from the top of the hills not to mention some beautiful Pennsylvania woodlands. A half hour or so later, we finally came to a paved road. We were only a few miles away from where we were heading!

    The final find of the day was in Laurel Hill State Park. It was a Multi-cache, meaning that we had to find a cache and then by doing some basic math with what we found in it, we would figure out the final location. It ended up being about a ¼ mile away, across a snow covered field. “We can do that!”, so off we went.

    The snow had a crust on it and so we had to break through it every step. In places the snow was 6 inches or higher. Ground zero was in some woods and the GPS signal bounced around a lot. We went back and forth and finally got it down to a 60 foot circle. The snow made it even harder to find, we checked all the “usual” spots such as stumps and logs but almost all of them had snow packed around them.

    Ann Marie finally found it under a fallen tree. She said she just happened to glance in the right direction at the right time and saw a corner of it. I believe it was her superior "geo-sense" that led her to it!

    From there we stopped in Mt. Pleasant for a late lunch and then headed back home. As we neared Pittsburgh the sky started clouding over, which was fine with us. The day was great as far as we were concerned. One lesson that was learned, or maybe re-enforced was, don’t trust the weathermen, just open the door and look for yourself!

Some Book Suggestions for the New Year!

With a couple days of the New Year under my belt, I took a look back at the books I had read in 2023. Out of the bunch, there were 15 that I really enjoyed. The books I’ve read over the past year(s) have come from many different sources. I read Book Page (available at most libraries free of charge) which tells about new and upcoming books. I love to frequent book stores, especially used book stores and I often get suggestions on what to read from friends. I also make use of the public library, a resource that sadly, too many people never use! The books I have listed may not necessarily be best sellers or on any “must-read” lists, they are just some of the ones which I really enjoyed during the past year. I hope someone else might find them enjoyable also.

    They are not ranked; they are listed in the order that I read them. That being said, here is my list. I’ll try to keep it short…

    1) Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline. (Fiction) Taking place a few decades into the future, Wade spends his days in a virtual world called OASIS, along with the majority of the world’s population. In the game are puzzles based on the Pop Culture of decades gone by. When Wade solves one of them and gets the first key, he finds out that other players are willing to kill to win the game. (It is a pretty good movie also!)

    2) The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick. (Fiction) Hugo lives secretly behind the walls of a Paris train station, keeping the station clock running correctly. He has a notebook that is taken from him by one of the shopkeepers in the station. He meets the shop keepers’ daughter, Isabella who helps him retrieve it and together they discover more about both of their families. This book is thick but half of it is comprised of drawings. The drawings help to tell the story. In some ways, this might also be described as “Historical-Fiction, you will see why after you read it!  I had to buy a copy after I finished it.

    3) The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by V.E. Schwab. (Fiction) In the year 1714, a woman makes a pact which insures she will continue to live, but no one will remember her, she will be forgotten by everyone she meets. After 300 years she meets a man in a bookstore who remembers her…

    4) City Under One Roof, by Iris Yamashita. (Fiction) An Alaskan police detective goes to a tiny Alaskan town to investigate a possible murder. When she gets there, she finds out that the only way into the town is through a tunnel in the snow and that all the residents of the town live in the same building. The tunnel collapses and she and the residents are unable to leave. She soon finds out that everyone in town has things to hide.

    5) Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt. (Fiction) A widow starts working at a Seattle Aquarium and makes friends with an octopus. The octopus is much brighter than anyone realizes and helps her to discover what happened to her son who disappeared on a fishing boat 30 years ago.

    6) The Selected Works of T.S. Spivit, by Reif Larson. (Fiction) I loved this book! It is about a 12-year-old kid who is a bit of a genius. He has filled notebooks with his notes and maps. He maps everything! Selections of his journal and maps are printed beside the text of the book. He is invited to The Smithsonian Museum, they don’t realize that he is just 12. He decides to go on his own without telling his parents, so he heads across the country and starts to discover the world outside of his hometown.

    7) The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. (Fiction) After a young shepherd has a dream of finding treasure, he looks at it as a prophecy and so, embarks on a journey to find it. The book incorporates, magic, mysticism, wisdom and wonder. Originally published in 1988, it has become a “modern classic”.

    8) The Reading List, by Sara Nisha Adams. (Fiction) The book tells the stories of two very different people who are drawn together after a chance encounter with a reading list found in a library.

    9) Walking With Sam, by Andrew McCarthy. (Non-Fiction) The actor, Andrew McCarthy is feeling old and wants to hike the Camino de Santiago trail across Spain. His son accompanies him on the 500-mile trek and in the process, both learn about themselves and each other.

    10) The Lost City of the Monkey God, by Douglas Preston. (Non-Fiction) There have been rumors and tales of a city of extreme wealth hidden in the jungles of Honduras. The White City or The City of the Monkey God has been searched for but never found. The author joins a group of scientists who are trying to locate where it might be. Their destination is between steep mountains filled with deadly snakes, disease carrying insects, jaguars and quicksand.

    11) Dead Mountain, by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston. (Fiction) In 2008, a group of experienced mountaineers never return from a long hike in the mountains of New Mexico. After search parties are sent out, they discover bizarre things at the hikers last campsite. Only 6 bodies of the 9 hikers were found. In the present day, 3 more bodies are found and a young FBI agent is sent to find out what happened 15 years ago.

    A couple interesting notes; While talking with my nephew Henry, he told me about a similar incident which took place in Russia, in the 50’s. As he was telling me about the incident, I wondered about the similarity between this and the book. After investigating a bit more, I found out that there was another book called Dead Mountain, by Donnie Eichar which tells a true story about a group of hikers who disappeared in Dyatlov Pass in the Ural Mountains. I also found out that Douglas Preston had written an article for the New Yorker about this event. He later morphed the article into a fictional book with his coauthor Lincoln Child. I have just started reading Eichar’s book!

    12) The Cartographers by, Peng Sheperd. (Fiction) When Nell’s father, the head of the NY Library’s Map Collection, is found dead in his office, she discovers a seemingly unimportant map in his desk. The simple gas station map leads her on a journey which helps her discover secrets about her family and also the “true” power of maps.

    13) Just My Type, by Simon Garfield. (Non-Fiction) This is a book about “fonts”. It has some history, many different stories about how and why certain fonts were made along with some trivia that anyone who is interested in books and reading might appreciate. (This blog was originally written in Bookman Old Style font in case you are wondering.) The book covers things that we see daily in so many places and never even think about. You will notice them more after reading this book!

    14) Starter Villain, by John Scalzi. (Fiction/Science Fiction) A substitute teacher, divorced and living in a house owned by his siblings, inherits his uncle’s super-villain business. A humorous book that shows that cats are a lot smarter than most people realize!

    15) Our Missing Hearts, by Celeste Ng. (Fiction) Bird Gardner lives with his father in a dorm at the college where his father works. He is 12 years old and his mother has been gone for 3 years. Having an Asian background, they must be careful in what they do and say. Many children are getting “relocated”, for their own good and the good of the country. Bird finds out that librarians were helping families to find out where their children were. Through the library he discovers why his mother left. In the second half of the book, he goes to find his mother. This book in many ways could describe parts of our own civilization. Though no dates are given, this book could very well take place in our near future!

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So, there are a few books to check out. Hopefully one or two piqued your interest. Remember, by visiting your local library, you can borrow them…for free! If you like the book, go to your local bookseller and get a copy to keep, and re-read!