Woody Locationless, Locationless, Locationless
By The Irrigator on 12-Jul-02. Waypoint GC7037

While driving back to New Hampshire from New York, we were seeking out geocaches near to our route, and just happened to choose the [url=http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GCQ1W9&Submit6=Find]Andaconda of Vermont[/url] cache. It was only after we arrived at the cache that we realized that the "Andaconda" was a huge wood stave pipe! Due to the amount of snow and ice in the mountains here, we chose not to seek out the cache, but we did take photos of the penstock in order to be able to log this locationless cache. We were excited to finally locate a suitable spot for this locationless cache.

This wood stave penstock runs from the Searsburg Dam to the Searsburg hydroelectric generating station. This penstock is an 8 foot in diameter above ground wooden pipeline that carries water down hill from the dam to the generating station where it moves a turbine.

Visiting this huge wooden pipe in the winter was a great way to see all of the places that the pipe leaks -- each leak turns into a giant icicle!

Thanks for the cache!

located near my hometown wangen.

greethings, marry christmas and a happy new year.
darkghost

Located in Masía Pelarda, near Formiche bajo, Teruel. Gives service to a Masía, that is a traditional kind of rural in Aragón and Catalunya regions.

The small section is made of wood.

Horster Mühle in Lower Saxxon in Germany. A Watermill.

I found this in Leichlingen Germany, it was by an old Forellen pond

Using the broad assumption that wooden water pipes can be considered for this cache; I wanted to introduce you to three wooden penstock pipes currently in use at the Muskoka Falls Hydro-Electricity generating station in central Ontario. There only two such 'wooden' installations remaining in the province on Ontario, Canada, with all others having been converted to either concrete, steel or plastic piping. These three wooden penstock pipes are each 970 feet in length and carry the water through an elevation drop of 110 feet to the turbines below. The two outside penstocks were first installed in 1948 and are 7 feet in diameter. The centre one was built in 1985 and is 5 feet in diameter. They are all structured from Douglas Fir staves that are each 2 5/8th inches thick. The pipes are drained and various staves replaced every two years. Outside bands are loosened, and a hydraulic 'speader' in placed inside the pipe, in the repair operation. Once staves are replaced, the speader is removed and the bands tightened, the penstock may leak for only a few days before wood swelling again seals the pipe. These wooden penstock pipes carry have pressure of about 50 lb. per square inch near the turbine ends.

I saw this at Patty's 1880's Settlement at Grand Rivers Ky.

This woody is located in Pyrenees 2000, France.

We found this one SW from Prague in Czech Republic. It´s situated near a summer house of Karel Capek. He was a famous Czech writer before World Wor II.

Saw Mill Road, near the junction of Routes and 202 in New Hampshire is where we came upon this one while on a little back road, wandering around in search of a way to get to a cache we were looking for but just couldn't find a way to get to. First time we've ever seen one of these...amazing!

The attached photo shows part of the irrigation system called the Gray Canal. This is located near Vernon, B.C., Canada. The Gray Canal was started in the 1890's. It stretched from the Aberdeen Lakes, up the east side of the valley, round the end of Swan Lake and down to the Bella Vista area overlooking Okanagan Lake. It supplied water to support cattle, orchards and vineyards. This was one of the most extensive systems ever built in B.C.

Here is one in southern Colorado.

Fathergoose

ahoi!
found this one in Sierksdorf / Germany
greetz
e!

Found this one all over Rt. 9 in Bennington county Vermont. It goes on forever...miles.

Found this one in Limedsforsen, Dalarna, Sweden.
It´s near my home village. Above in the river there is a place where you can swim both in a pool and in the river.
grodan & fiabus

Came across these old wooden pipes in Don Edwards Nature Preserve in Fremont, CA alongside the SF bay. Looks like they were connected up to a metal junction at one time in the past. I tried to find some info on them but was unsuccessful. There was what appeared to be an old pump house nearby and there is an old quarry on the other side of the freeway but not sure if they are related. Still a very cool find while I was out looking for a Nike Missile site. I admired the woodworking skill it would take to build a wooden pipe of this size(2' dia.). Thanks!

Found this woody in a place called El Rancho de Las Golondrinas near the hamlet of La Cienega in New Mexico (south of Santa Fe). This was the last overnight stop on the old Camino Real from Mexico City to Santa Fe and dates back to the early 1700's. This Woody brings water from the local La Cienega Creek to irrigate the fields and also ocasionally powers a very small stone mill wheel.

Found this Woody near a Water-Mill in BW, South Germany.
Greatings Hekop

This is a wooden pipe for a Nova Scotia being feed from the Fall Lake Dam. New concrete dams are replacing these old pieces of history. MaMa Bear, strike a pose.

This pipe is still in use, supplying water to a 1100kW water power plant.
length 300 meters
diameter 2.8 meters
Country: Finland

On a business trip to the area, went back to South Lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Drinking and irrigation water for Bishop, California drops more than 5000 feet in elevation into Owens Valley. It is carried by the wooden penstock shown in the photo below. This pipe is about 5 feet in diameter, and runs for at least 10 miles. The water delivered to the town below tastes great!

I found this on a hike in the southern Tirol in Italy.

I found this wood pipes in the forrests in Hadeland, Norway.

We found the pipe location quite accidentally while visiting Lake Louise, Canada. The pipe seems to be in good shape with only the odd leak. Oh well, thanks for this cache that helps to make us more aware of our surroundings.

This wooden irrigation channel is in the Ballenberg museum grounds in Switzerland. This museum contains great examples of swiss houses from past times, dismantled piece by piece and reconstructed with great care to their original state. The irrigation channel is constructed of thick pine planks.

Alte Teile einer Leitung, in Winterthur(ZH),
Schweiz / Europa

Gruss Die Motte

We were down at the bottom of Royal Gorge in Colorado without our GPS and took this picture with the universal sign. We knew this was a locationless cache at the time. This pipe irrigated Canon City, CO and is in the picture's background. We hope you will accept this late log found while reminiscing our trip with Boy Scouts returning home from Philmont.

This square shaped wooden pipeline runs underground for about 90M, then feeds an aquaduct that in turn feeds the Kaniere Forks power station and used to feed the Kaniere Goldfeilds (circa 1870). Much of the goldfield is now farmland, so it's possible that it's used for irrigation now (the water still flows down it), though the West Coast of NZ's South Island is reknown for heavy rainfall, so irrigation is fairly redundant.

Didn't think I would ever come across a pipe like this and then I did. It turns out my father, Toad of Toad Hall, is preparing an exhibit for a local museum.

The pipe is from the original Depot Creek to Port Augusta water supply (South Australia). The pipe probably dates back to pre 1914 but we are really not sure.

Toad thinks the wood is oregon, he is the carpenter so he may be right. At this stage the outer wire wrapping has been taken off the pipe and nobody is sure how to get it back on. I am the metallurgist and I couldn't offer much help.

If anyone has any ideas on wood type, preservation, age, history or rebuilding we would welcome the assistance.

[last edit: 12/11/2002 7:01:10 PM PST]