Photo contest #35!!!

[Ric-san]

Here is a local historical landmark of Pensacola Fl,...Story attached.

Hyper-Knowles Planning Mill

The Chimney is the only trace of what was the first major industrial belt on the Gulf Coast, a string of antebellum wood mills and brick factories. The chimney represents the lumber industry of the Florida Panhandle. As the lumber industry prospered in the 1850’s, local mills employed 600 people and produced almost 55 million feet of lumber. The bricks in the base of the chimney bear the mark ‘J Gonzalez’, showing that they were produced in the local brick plant of James Gonzalez (a local community north of Pensacola is now called 'Gonzalez') The chimney was part of the steam power plant for the Hyper –Knowles Mill. In March of 1862, General Braxton Brag was evacuating the Confederate forces holding Pensacola when Confederate Secretary of War Judah P Benjamin gave the order to “Destroy all machinery private and public, which could be useful to the enemy: especially disable the sawmills in and around the Bay” The machinery from the mills was loaded onto barges which were moved into Escambia bay. On March 10, 1862 a thunderstorm and large wave sank the barges. That same night the Hyper-Knowles Mill was burned and all that was left is the chimney.

[Scubasweeper]

Rob, Is there a winner yet?