The roar of the mills is no more and only a few empty, sagging buildings are visible, where once stood one of the oldest industrial firms in the Midwest.. This is the ghost of old Powdertown.

    Man-made structures may rot and decay or be devastated when unused, but nature has a way of perpetuating itself, living on in all it's beauty.

So it is with the rustic grounds that surround the site of the black powder mills. Even today the tree-lined, meandering and seemingly "perplexed"  roads and woodland paths, canopied with over-hanging branches, are things of beauty.

    Just past the boiler room, and to the far right in this photo (above) is the water pump that still remains, and then a small building that was an office, and in the background far left was the lab and maintenance shed. Below is a photo of the water pump in winter of 1972 after water had poured out and froze. To the left of the pump are the remains of the building that once housed it.

    The site's untamed vegetation is perhaps the nearest thing to the Forest Primeval that many tri-state residents may ever be privileged to see.

    Photo right shows the mill grounds well trimmed by cattle. The area in the left hand side of the photo is where coal was piled and stored.

    At left, a 1970's photograph  showing rails that ran throughout the mill grounds. The metal rails were later salvaged and a few trestles and wooden support beams are all that remain today.