After the unexpected success at Lyons Falls, yet again we found ourselves at Deferiet and running out of daylight. If anything, Deferiet is an even bigger paper mill, although a huge part of the center is missing thanks to a rare opportunity for Fort Drum to do some live fire testing of a bunker buster in 2009 or so, leaving behind a crater of burned brick and twisted steel.
The mill buildings aren’t as interesting either, having been cleared out of most anything that could be moved when International Paper left.
I have a feeling this waterfall used to be part of a hydroelectric system for the mill. Now it just spouts water right back into the river it came from…
This, though, freaked me out. In a place that should have been abandoned for years, there’s still one entrance with lights on and machinery humming, deep in the center of the abandoned mill. The purpose of it is less than obvious, but it seems like this might have been the power station for the village.
