Good Stuff in the Attic: the Coca Cola Bottling Plant, Vicksburg

Dear readers, in my last article, I took photographs in the basement of the former Coca-Cola bottling plant on Washington Street in Vicksburg. The basement had some interesting heavy-duty machinery, patterns, shapes, pipes, and dust. How about the attic? The Open Market occupies the main floor of the old bottling factory and sells antiques and furnishings. I asked Lisa if I could photograph upstairs, and she graciously said I was free to go ahead. 

1977 payroll checks (with names removed)

I first went up to the attic with Mr. Cripps, the carpenter who rents the basement (see the previous article). Oh oh, trouble. A rooftop access trapdoor was open. A big egg was on the floor with some twigs and debris. A grumpy black vulture was on the roof beyond the trapdoor. We left the trapdoor and grumpy vulture alone. Later, some guys moved the egg and some straw out to the flat rood and closed the trapdoor. I hope a chick hatched successfully.

Roof ventilator turbines (minor fill flash to the right)

The attic is reasonably intact, and the the roof appears to be sound. This was a well-built structure. The attic floor is concrete, so no danger of falling through rotted flooring. 

Burroughs check-printing machine (1 sec. ƒ/8)

Burroughs check-printing machine platen detail (1 sec. ƒ/5.6)

This machine with a complicated keyboard almost surely printed the checks that you see in the first photograph. It may have also tabulated the amounts on some other media, maybe paper tape? Burroughs was an old-line American industrial concern that started in the 1880s with adding machines and branched into more sophisticated payroll systems. They moved into digital computers and developed main-frame systems in the 1960s, with emphasis on the banking sector. 

Gearbox of unknown purpose

The attic did not have too much material so I descended one floor to what was once the office space of the bottling plant.

The lavatory had some nice old porcelain steel sinks with dual water valves and high backsplash. Notice the slightly raised lip to reduce splashing over the sides. Compare with the typical modern bathroom sink, which is guaranteed to allow splash all over the vanity/floor and a soap film mess on the sheetrock behind. The worst examples of style over function are the goofy glass bowls sitting up on a platform or vanity. Really dumb. 

Radiator for hot water heat

Classic GE drop-in range with east-to-use button controls

At some time, likely the 1970s, the company built a kitchen on the second floor. The cabinets were generic, but the sink and range were matching avocado. Nice! The GE range had easy to use push button controls. The first button on the right is off, and the buttons to the left are for progressively higher temperatures. You can use them by touch and do not need reading glasses to see a programmable screen or LED display. Sometimes technology does not make machines easier to use. My former home in Massachusetts had a GE range with such buttons. Simple and reliable.

Former corner office? (Fuji X-E1 digital file converted to B&W)

Twist a Pepper Dr. Pepper bottle caps

These bottle caps contained numbers, possibly for some sort or promotion or prize. Twist enough caps from enough drinks and you get a prize (besides stomach rot).  

Finally, on the ground floor, a display of classic Coca-Cola bottles. I remember when these bottles contained 6.5 oz. And once upon a time, Coca-Cola was a treat that you drank possibly on Saturday afternoon or evening. A 6-pack lasted in the refrigerator all week. No one civilized drank soft drinks for breakfast or swilled it all day long in slurpy cups. How times have changed.... 

Good Stuff in the Basement: the Coca Cola Bottling Plant, Vicksburg

1938 Coca-Cola bottling plant, 2133 Washington Street, Vicksburg

Dear Readers, you likely know that I like old industrial sites with machinery, pipes, tubes, tanks, and other remnants of industry. The basement of the former Coca Cola bottling plant at 2133 Washington Street in Vicksburg, Mississippi, fits this criteria. This was the last bottling plant that the Biedenharn family built in Vicksburg. This sturdy 1938 brick industrial building stands at the corner of Washington Street and Bowman Street. 

Note, this is not the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum in downtown Vicksburg, where Coca-Cola was first bottled in 1894 (back when it still had coca in the secret ingredients). The family also operated another plant on Grove Street, later the site of the Vicksburg Steam Laundry. I have negatives of this building to scan one day (you know that fairy tale - one day....).

Here are some photographs of the basement from February of 2022. Mr. Anthony Cripps, a carpenter and cabinet maker, was renting the basement and generously let me photograph the old fittings and machines. He had run new fluorescent lights to illuminate the gloomy space. Most of the frames below had side-lighting from the dusty windows. Enjoy the shapes, patterns, and forms - industrial art.

Air compressor (50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens, 1 sec. ƒ/11)

Compressor with a beer (80mm Planar-CB, 1 sec. ƒ/11.5)

Water-cooling jacket (80mm Planar with Proxar no. 1 close-up diopter)

Lubricator, manually cranked? (80mm Planar lens with Proxar no. 1 close-up diopter)

Back cap and bolt patters (80mm Planar-CB lens, 1 sec. ƒ/11)

GE electoral control box (80mm Planar-CB, ½ sec. ƒ/11)

Hot water boiler (1 sec. ƒ/11.5)

Fuse panel (4 sec. ƒ/11)

Among the hundreds of valves (1 sec. ƒ/5.6)

Stairway to upper shop (40 sec. ƒ/8 with minor fill flash on right)

The stairway was challenging. It was lit with a dim lightbulb above on the ceiling. My incident light meter measured 10 seconds at ƒ/8 on the center of the stairs. I used a 40 sec exposure to accommodate reciprocity of the film. I also added fill flash on the right, but it likely added very little light. 

Long-forgotten icebox (1 sec. ƒ/5.6½)

I took these photographs with my Hasselblad 501CM camera, most with the 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens, on Kodak Tri-X 400 film. I stabilized the camera on a tripod because of the long exposures. Northeast Photographic in Bath, Maine, developed the film. I scanned it with a Minolta Scan Multi medium format film scanner.   

Standby for the attic in the next article.

 

The Wide View in Vicksburg in Color (XPan 06)

Kodak Portra 160 film

I had three rolls of Kodak Portra 160 film in the freezer. It was expired but had been cold stored since 2013. I thought it would be useful to try a color film in the Hasselblad XPan because of the ability to place a colorful central object as the focal point of a panoramic frame. Below are examples from semi-random trips in and around Vicksburg. Please click any frame to see details at 2400 pixels wide. All comments welcome.

Good stuff, Mt. Alban Road (30mm ƒ/5.6 lens)

Oh, no, it's the car junk yard on Mount Alban Road that I periodically impose on you. I liked the red truck this time. And the extra wide coverage shows the unending supply of tires and junk. 

Former Mercy Hospital, McCauley Drive (30mm lens)

Mercy Hospital (30mm vertical)

The Vicksburg Sisters of Mercy opened Our Lady of Mercy Hospital in 1957. At that time, it was a state-of-the art medical facility for the post-war era. In the 1950s, this was the "white" hospital. African-Americans used Kuhn Memorial (Charity) Hospital a short distance away. 

Later known as Parkview Hospital, Mercy closed permanently in February of 2002. A 2012 article in Preservation in Mississippi includs dozens of comments from former patients and employees. The building suffers from black mold, asbestos, leaks, vandalism, and myriad other issues. It will never be used again.

Mississippi still suffers from great disparities in health care and ranks last in almost every health outcome among US states.* White politicians in Jackson refusing to extend Medicaid and underfunding public health have perpetuated this disparity.

New Year clean-up, Candee Street. Where is Italy? (45mm lens)

More New Year clean-up (45mm lens).

Just after New Years is a good time to clean out furniture, toys, and posters showing maps of Italy. Good stuff.

View west from Drummond Street near Bowmar Avenue (45mm lens)

Bridge over Stouts Bayou at Letitia Street (45mm)

Asam Hotel, Washington Street (45mm lens at ƒ/11, tripod-mounted)

This and other motels once provided a view over the Mississippi River. Most became low-end temporary housing over the years. A new operator has bought or leased this unit and recently painted it. It was formerly the Dixiana Inn.

 

Sycamore Avenue, view south (45mm lens at ƒ/11)

Free furniture, Sycamore Avenue (30mm lens at ƒ/11)

Sycamore Avenue is one of Vicksburg's semi-hidden streets, seldom used and with only one house left on the hillside. When house lots were originally platted, innovative builders stuck houses on stilts just about anywhere where they could fit them. Over the decades many have burned, collapsed, or been torn down. I wonder when the City will abandon Sycamore Avenue? I cannot tell if it serves any purpose now.

Thank you for reading. We will see south Vicksburg next time.

* From the Mississippi State Department of Health: 

  Mississippi ranks last, or close to last, in almost every leading health outcome. In Mississippi and nationwide, these health disparities are significantly worse for those who have systematically faced obstacles to health due to their socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, geographic location, and other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion.

The result is a disproportionate burden of disease and illness that is borne by racial and ethnic minority populations and the rural and urban poor. Health disparities not only affect the groups facing health inequities, but limit overall improvements in quality of care, the health status for the broader population, and results in unnecessary costs.

Expired Film Treasure: 135-size Kodak Panatomic-X (Abandoned Films 05)

Introduction

Oh, oh, trouble. A fellow on eBay advertised a brick of Kodak Panatomic-X film in 135 size (for regular 35mm cameras) that he said had been frozen. Long-term readers know that I have been using my dwindling stash of 120-size Panatomic-X for the last few years with great success (please click the link). Many photographers on the web claim to miss it. And now I could try some of this classic film in my 35mm cameras? This was too good to resist; I bought six rolls and loaded a camera. 

Eastman Kodak introduced Panatomic in 1933. It was designed to be an extremely fine grain film, which meant it could be enlarged for large prints and still retain details. The early version was on nitrate base, but around 1937, Kodak reformulated it on safety base, renaming it Panatomic-X. Sadly, Kodak discontinued this well-loved product around 1988 or 1989, claiming that TMax 100 could serve as a substitute. Maybe this is true, but many photographers regretted the loss of the older film. Used with top-grade lenses and careful technique (that means a tripod), the detail in a Panatomic-X negative is remarkable, even in this age of high-megapixel digital cameras.

There is always a risk with using expired film, but slow speed black and white emulsions usually age well with minimal fog problems. If the films have been refrigerated or frozen, they typically are completely usable. Long-term readers may recall that I had great results with 1960s GAF Verapan film packs that had been frozen for 50 years. Color film is much more susceptible to color shifts and other issues, but if you find some old black and white film, by all means try it.

Here are scenes from in and around Vicksburg, Mississippi, from my new/old Panatomic-X film. Judge for yourself if you like the look or tonality. I resized to 1600 pixels on the long dimension. Click a picture to enlarge it. Please comment if you have some observations.

Levee Street

Former cotton compress, Levee Street (35mm ƒ/3.5 Super-Takumar lens, yellow filter, ¼ ƒ/11.5, overcast with drizzle)

Former tank farm, Levee Street (28mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens, yellow-green filter, ⅛ ƒ/8)

Tugs on Yazoo Canal (28mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens, yellow-green filter, ⅛ ƒ/8)

Levee Street has remnants of Vicksburg's industrial infrastructure. There is a lot of barge traffic on the Yazoo Canal. The old tank farm in the photograph above has been unused for at least three decades, but in late 2020 I saw that one of the tanks had been removed and the piping had been cleaned and painted. These photographs are from an overcast day with occasional drizzle.

KCS rail yard, Levee St. (Leica IIIC, 50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lens, yellow filter, 1/20 ƒ/11)

Second Street

This stucco-clad house on the corner of Second and National Streets has been uninhabited for three decades, but it is not abandoned. Someone painted the exterior not long ago. A neighbor came over when I was photographing and said the sheriff pays him to mow the grass. The old Plymouth and pickup truck have been in the carport for decades. Status: unknown.

Yazoo Street

Yazoo Street (35mm ƒ/3.5 Super-Takumar lens, 1/30 ƒ/4.0, hand-held)

Yazoo Street runs south from Army-Navy Drive past the City workshops and dead ends almost under the North Frontage Road bridge. Decades ago, you could see more houses in this quiet corner of town, but now only this one house remains. The air was misty, accounting for the glow in the tree canopy.

Clay Street

Adolph Rose Antiques, 717 Clay Street (Leica M2, 35mm ƒ/2 Summicron lens, 1 sec. exposure)

Thank you, Malcolm and Karen, for letting me take some photographs in the interesting Adolph Rose Antiques. 

Lot behind 1220 Washington Street (Leica M2, 25mm ƒ/4 Color-Skopar lens, ¼ sec. ƒ/8.0½)

Lower Clay Street, near the Yazoo Canal, was once lined with commercial buildings and warehouses. A few still exist. Just west of Washington Street, an alley gives access to the back lots of some of the old commercial buildings. 

Washington Street

 

2016 Washington Street (35 mm ƒ/2 Summicron lens, yellow filter, 1/125 ƒ/2.8½)

This forlorn building is one of the few commercial buildings remaining just south of downtown. Notice the brickwork on the right unit, evidence of fine construction a century ago. 

Rifle Range Road

Abandoned (or forgotten) timber rail cars (55mm ƒ/1.8 Super-Takumar lens)

These rail cars are parked on the tracks next to Halcros Chemical, just south of Rifle Range Road. Status: unknown.

US 61 South

Church, 3922 US 61 South, Vicksburg (Leica 50mm Summicron-DR lens, yellow-green filter)

Natchez

C&M Crawfish, US 98, Natchez (25mm ƒ/4 Color-Skopar lens)

This is another former gas station on US 98 a few miles northeast of Natchez. I liked the light shining on the cracked driveway. 

Jackson

Pump house at Mississippi River Basin Model, Buddy Butts Park, Jackson (25mm ƒ/4 Color-Skopar lens)

This is a pump house at the US Army Corps of Engineers' Mississippi River Basin Model, the largest hydraulic model of a watershed ever built. The site has been neglected for decades and is finally being cleaned by the Friends of the Mississippi River Basin Model non-profit organization. I have written about the model many times; please use the search button to find older posts.

Conclusions

This is another pleasant surprise! This long-expired Panatomic-X film appears to be totally viable. 

I cannot recommend one way or the other if you should seek out rolls of Panatomic-X. But if you find a stash in a relative's house or closet, go for it. I suggest you expose it at EI=20, making this largely a tripod film. It certainly is not as convenient to use as Fuji Acros or Kodak TMax 100, but the Panatomic-X has a different look (Sorry, I cannot describe it any differently). 

This is another example of the sophistication and precision of photographic film manufacture that was achieved more than a half century ago. Don't let anyone tell you that film is primitive or obsolete. 

My friend, Mike, from Photography & Vintage Film Cameras in Albuquerque shot one of these rolls and also got excellent results. Click the link for his interesting blog.

This is no. 5 of my irregular series on Abandoned Films ("Films from the Dead").