Molson was another mining town that went through a rapid boom and bust. It is at 3700 ft elevation about 2 miles south of the Canadian border. The town was founded in 1900 and soon had 300 residents. At its peak, it featured a saloon, general store, dance hall, hotel, and blacksmith shop - the normal bits and pieces of a remote mining town. Mines extracted copper, antimony, lead, silver, and gold. Mining in the area ended around 1938, and today, Molson is an agricultural area.
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| Empty farmhouse, Molson Road south of Molson (50mm ƒ/1.4 SMC Takumar lens) |
Molson's historic buildings are now clustered together in the Old Molson Ghost Town Museum. A local man, Harry Sherling, formed the museum in 1960 in remembrance of the rich pioneering history of the town.
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| Walker & Odell office, 1906 |
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| 1896 Poland China & Molson Gold Mines assay office |
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| Molson Post Office or bank? (35mm Super-Takumar lens, 1 sec exposure) |
I usually prefer to visit historic structures in their original locations, but in this case, they were preserved at the museum. The air is so dry here, the wood seems to last for decades. This is a dramatic contrast to where I lived before in Mississippi, where rain and humidity quickly destroyed any building whose roof had failed.
After walking around for a couple of hours (and changing a flat tire), I headed south on Molson Road and caught up to Chesaw Road again. I love this dry high altitude terrain with the pure brilliant light.
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| Lonely barn, Molson Road |
I used KR1.5 skylight or polarizing filters for these frames. But I over-polarized, a mistake I often make. Look through the viewfinder at maximum polarization and then back off about 50%. This is especially valid in dry high altitude air like this.
