The Creepy Carbide Ruins
It was a cold afternoon a few friends and I had decided to go for a nice late season hike. We started hitting the road after we had all met up at the local coffee shop. We yet had a destination set in mind so we just started taking the 417 towards the laurentians. The laurentians are a abundance amount of forestry and mountains in the quebec side. Minutes drive away from our backdoor. So then as we were on the road for about 30 minutes, we decided to ring eachother up on the phone as we were going side by side down the highway. One of us had this crazy idea to go seek out for the hidden Carbide Mill ruins in the mountains.
We parked our cars at the closest park n' stop off the trails. We then took out our phones and started looking up recent forum posts of adventurists that had seeked out these ruins to find an idea of which way to head. We had found a trustworthy post of which direction to take. So we set off on our adventure. Sure enough, an hour and a half off from the park n' stop we had come across signs of ruins and kept going towards them to find the Carbide Mill.
For anyone who wants to know a little bit of history of the Wilson Carbide Mill, it was built in operation between the years of 1860-1915. The ruins were built by Thomas "Carbide" Willson, who discovered a process for creating calcium carbide, which is an industrial chemical. He built the structure as a summer home and as a laboratory for his work. Willson was allegedly paranoid that competitors would steal his ideas, and tried to isolate himself in the woods to continue his experiments away from watching eyes.
He also built a power station nearby, which the area's residents absolutely hated due to its tendency to change the water level of the nearby lake. After falling bankrupt and eventually dying in 1915, Willson's estate was left to ruin, where it stands today.
After hours of exploration, and trying to get angles for shots. We had spent an amazing day wandering through the woods. Discovering ruins that our eyes have not yet seen and enjoying time out with good close friends.
I hope that you enjoy the pictures and a little piece of history as much as we did living it for the few hours being there.