Railroad Insulaters and a creepy woods shelter...

[aquachigger]

Yesterdays Treasures... I spent most of the day yesterday hiking along the railroad tracks looking for Civil War camps. Though I didn't find a camp, I did run across a bunch of these old telegraph/electric insulators. I kept some of them that weren't broken or chipped and have several different varieties. Two of them are marked "Patent Dec. 19 1871". My favorite is the green one in the center. I'm surprised no one had picked them up as they were just scattered along a hillside in the leaf litter, completely visible to the passerby. They are kinda heavy , so I only hauled out these for now.



I also found this weird structure. It is in line where the poles for the insulators would have been, up away from the track on a steep hillside. I wonder if the core of the pole rotted out? Any ideas?



The inside of the "pole"...



Here is a neat beech tree with some graffiti carved in it. I think the date is "194?"...



And finally I ran across this stick shelter. It kind of startled me as it is well camouflaged. Thanks for checking out my post!

 

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[nsdq]

nice finds, you found my bug out shelter

 

[Old_Okie]

"There's a Squatch in these woods!!"

 

[crazyjarhead]

Nice job and interesting pics!! Those insulators are nice, too. A few look to be crudely made. I used to hunt them years ago, but no luck. Only the common ones that are mass produced. I'd check into seeing how old and if they are rare

 

[Roland58]

Some of the insulators go for a pretty good amount. Even some of the newer ones (in comparison to the Pat. 1871 you found) are more valuable. If you can find a blue one with AT&T on it, I understand it is a good one!

In reference to your hollow pole, that is strange. All I have ever seen rot from the outside in....."shell rot." Maybe that one had an extra good creosote job on the outside layers??

 

[smartmoney]

The green one is definitely worth something. If there are more there go back and pick them up. That is a hollowed out pole. The outside didnt rot away because it was coated in creosote. I have seen these rotted out poles in the ground along the street. Hope that helps.

 

[chkn]

Way cool though watch out for the bums. You can be standing right next to their hidey hole and not even know it. I wonder about the hollow poles. It's probably the treated part that remains, maybe termites got the rest, I don't know.

 

[Papa Bear]

Great finds!! I collect non-clear insulators too! Hope that CW Camp comes to you soon too!!

 

[DC]

The shelter looks like "The Occupy the Woods Movement". Better look out you might get protested. Just kidding! Those insulators are nice and some of them can fetch a nice price.

HH
DC

 

[Mr Tuff]

sweet insulators!!! i would go back and load up!!!!! MR TUFF

 

[oxbowbarefoot]

Someone practicing their primitive skills. Check out some of Dave Canterbury's videos on youtube or at the Pathfinder School to see a whole bunch more like it. Nice Insulators,

 

[wwwtimmcp]

I took my niece fishing at the river one day andit started to sprinkle, so I made a quick lean to for her so I could keep fishing. she loved it.

 

[aquachigger]

The green one is definitely worth something. If there are more there go back and pick them up. That is a hollowed out pole. The outside didnt rot away because it was coated in creosote. I have seen these rotted out poles in the ground along the street. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the info on the pole. I suspected as such, but have never run across one like it. I appreciate the comments everyone. I always enjoy investigating the shelters I find in the woods and I've found a number of them over the years. Not knowing but imagining that there is a mutilated corpse propped up inside, is certainly an adrenaline producing situation. It hasn't happened yet, but one day...

 

[romeo-1]

Those insulators are very cool! I've only found one unbroken in my travels but remember as a kid we used to shoot them off of the defunct power poles with our .22s.

Yeah, that's a creepy shelter for sure!

 

[PikesPeakCharlie]

Fantastic Insulators !!!! Congrats on a rarer find now a days !!! I dont know a whole lot about insulators prices,,but the emerald green one should be worth something,and the one marked B & D looks like it might be a rarer version ?

 

[aquachigger]

Fantastic Insulators !!!! Congrats on a rarer find now a days !!! I dont know a whole lot about insulators prices,,but the emerald green one should be worth something,and the one marked B & D looks like it might be a rarer version ?

Thanks PPC... the "B&D" is actually a "B&O". I found them along the old Baltimore and Ohio line. I have several hundred insulators I collected as a kid (mostly blue Hemingways), but that is my first B&O. I'm stoked with that one, especially since I just visited the B&O RR museum in Baltimore and they didn't have any like it. I'll probably donate it to them on my next visit there. The volunteers there very helpful and kind on my visit and even took me behind the ropes to see things that I was interested in.

 

[jrwill56]

shelter is a bigfoot shelter, call mr. moneymaker

 

[pigeonman]

i also like insulators. i like to collect Gayner insulators,some of them are hard to find,nice finds you found.

 

[birdman]

Very nice ! I have a couple but none colored.

 

[fistfulladirt]

That does look like a squatch hut, just like I saw on the TV! Spooky! Nice glass!