So today I hooked up the new garmin in Polly’s car and went crusing up and down the back roads north of Kingston till I was sure I was lost and hit the home key to play with the GPS. Worked like a charm and got back to a main road in a few kilometers.
The first thing I spotted when I turned the corner was this bus and next to the property was an abandoned farm house. So I stopped and started shooting pics, within five minutes a guy pulled up in a van and jumped out asking what I was doing . I told him taking pics and he started to calm down. Then he came over to talk to me about all the problems he was having with his grandparents home.
It seems that he has a prospector outbreak like the rest of the residences in the county. Up to sometime during the first world war or just after it, people purchasing land got everything, water, mineral and land rights. Then during the roaring 20′s from what I gather that changed and mineral & water rights were no longer part of the deal. Those with them were grandfathered and life went on. Then during the great depression as people fell into tax debts with our government they were offered a break in lieu of taxes as the government reclaimed mineral rights. During the second world war a company moved into the farm land and started mining lead, feldspar and something else right on the grandparents land.
The guy remembers as a kid in the 50′s playing with lead and stuff. When his grandparents passed on his uncle moved in and stayed for years. He felt the need to burn all his garbage and bottles where discarded behind the shed. Bottle collectors in the 80′s and 90′s constantly came to the farm looking for treasures.
In the late 80′s his uncle died and the home remained empty for winters and summers they used it as a guest house and hunting cabin in the fall. Sometime in the 90′s Hydro came along and informed them that the main wire running to the house was not up to snuff and turned off the hydro till it was repaired. Hydro actually were the ones that installed the original wire but due to a standards change were not on the hook for upgrades.
Since then he has had his uncles trucks stolen, and many prospectors staking out the property, he lets them do all the staking then removes them afterwards under the trespassing act. Recently after over 100 years of drinking the well water on the property, the township has condemned the water with just a little over the allowable lead content.
Full set of pictures here. Enjoy
