Saline Salt Tram November 9-10, 2007

[teotwaki]

Four hardy souls signed up for this trip and have come back with a shared experience that I will attempt to chronicle here. We ventured high into the mountains, braving high winds, 30 degree temps and steep scree covered slopes in search of the history of the Saline Salt Tram.

Rich demonstrating that readers of Overland Journal are not armchair explorers


Mike at the wheel and Alan wrenching while reliving the hard workdays of the Salt Tram operators


One of the many Salt Tram structures, sprawled across the hilltop like the bones of an ancient mechanical beast

[teotwaki]

Rich and I met up Friday morning at the start of the trail, planning to hike to various portions of the Salt Tram that are not accessible by vehicle. Mike and Alan planned to meet us in the evening.

Here is an example of the rugged terrain we hiked that is just part of the 13 mile long tramway


Look at the size of this tower! Almost all materials were hauled by mules, there was no electricity and no power tools.

Note the makeshift ladder on the vertical post consisting of 2 foot wide slats nailed upwards to the top.

Here is Rich near the middle towers of the first photo.

You can see the road we drove down below. Many branches of the road have been blocked by the BLM.

[teotwaki]

This was a Holy Grail of sorts as we had only seen the shattered remains of these carriers up until now. Realize that this has been hanging here for about 80 years, untouched by vandals. It is fully functional!


The lid can be lifted and latched, the whole drum will rotate to dump its load and the wheeled assembly still rolls on the cable.

Detail of the latching mechanism that pulled the cart along drive cable.

This is how it clamped onto the cable.

Here is the lever side of the mechanism. The large ball on the end of the handle allowed a kick out bar to engage or disengage the clamp. The whole mechanism can rotate within the clamp to allow for steep cables where the weight of the barrel would orient the frame vertically.


End points for mounting that allowed the barrel to rotate.


The end points fit into the mounting points on the hanging frame


Salt barrel side view


It appears that all of the tramway's iron work was built in New Jersey

This label was on one of the barrels that fell off of the cable and we saw similar markers on other hardware. Apparently barrels and frames fell off fairly often, plummeting hundreds of feet.

Cables of the type used on the tramway were called wire rope and Trenton was a very large manufacturing area.

From http://www.wireropedistrict.com/

Iron and steel manufacturing began in the Trenton area around the mid 1700s, providing armament for the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

It was not until 1847 that the Trenton Iron Company (founded by Peter Cooper and his son, Edward, and Abram Hewitt) was functioning, and included a wire mill on Hamilton and South Broad Streets.

In 1831 John A. Roebling migrated from Germany, moving to Trenton in about 1848, when he purchased some acres of land on South Broad Street where his new wire plant would be located.

His main focus was in producing wire for the telegraph, telephones, electric power lines, the newly invented elevator by the Otis brothers and the massive twisted cable for suspension bridges, the most famous being the Brooklyn Bridge, which he did not live to see completed in 1883.

The WIRE ROPE DISTRICT occupies the area immediately surrounding the now defunct John A. Roebling's Sons Company complex. It borders the Chambersberg Italian District, famous for its fine Continental and American cuisine, on the east the East State Street Redevelopment District, on the south, the Mill Hill District and the Capital South District on the north, and the Riverfront District along the Delaware River on the west comprising the area between South Broad Street, Hamilton Avenue, South Clinton Avenue and Dye Street, roughly an eight block parcel of land which was the site of some 44 Roebling industry buildings.

It is now the hub of a major area redevelopment effort, retaining as much of its vintage mileau and charm, yet in a somewhat more modern setting

[teotwaki]

By the time Rich and I finished checking out the western tram towers it was getting dark and we headed up to the top to stay in the old tramkeeper's cabin. See pictures and details from a previous trip
http://www.expeditionportal.com/foru...ghlight=saline

Rich's wife had prepared some super carnitas, salsa and salad for us. As the wind howled outside we enjoyed a hot meal and Sam Adam's bottled beer along with chocolate cake. By 8 PM we had turned in. Around 10:30 Alan and Mike made it up safely having traversed the ridge route in the dark. By then the temps in the cabin were 34 degrees. My Engel Fridge readout said that inside the truck it dipped to 31 degrees.

Saturday morning was the start of the long hike to the more remote towers.
Here is Rich pointing out the finer details of the first one that we hiked to.


This hike would include descending 2500 feet, bushwhacking and trailfinding, dry rocky waterfall climbing and a few surprises.

Here is Mike inspecting the timbers


While Alan climbs up for a closer view of a grease bucket hanging on a nail just as it was left when the tram shut down.

Note the large box of rocks used to counterweight the cables

Got it!


Cable wheel with grease fitting on the right axle bearing.

[teotwaki]

Using rock quarried nearby these large boxes provided the necessary tension for the cables. Made of timber, they had large iron rods that fitted to large hooks at the end of a massive chain that was in turn fastened to the cable that ran across a wheel.







There were a number of these counterweight stations in the tramway with one box for tensioning cables in each direction of travel


We saw places where the box needed more room to pull downward so the workers had to excavate large holes beneath the boxes.

[adventureduo]

Incredible shots!!! What a great adventure! You were just in that general area last month right? Life is good for you Jim!

[rmarz]

Posing with the bucket

The view east into Saline Valley

The view west towards Owens Valley

[teotwaki]

The trail was pretty well defined in the early sections but gradually disappeared in the loose rock and soil that creeps down the slopes.
When you have to descend 2500 feet in 1.5 miles you don't want to have to turn back to reclimb the steep slopes.

Alan was pretty sure that we should head into the bottom of an adjacent canyon and work our way down from there. On our way down we spotted numerous salt carts that had broken free of the cable.

We discovered piles of old rusted food cans and an old water system


Strands of barbed wire


A massive anchor chain was left wrapped around this post but was fastened to two large bars that were anchored deep in the rock.


High above us in the rocky canyon walls the tramline continued its steady downward march

[teotwaki]

Our final goal is getting closer but still required a downclimb of a dry waterfall then we needed to ascend the hill the control station sits upon



Here is Mike above the waterfall


Mike and Alan on the climb

[Willman]

Sweet old place!

Love the pictures and the write up!