What the heck is making these holes?

[murph1]

A Safe!

 

[rScotty]

Oh, I just saw the post about it being associated with gold refining. Now it's easy. That's the base for a ball mill rather than a grist mill. Used for grinding up ore before extracting the metals.
rScotty

 

[Ford850]

A Safe!

I'm with murph1. It's a safe bet.

 

[MossRoad]

OK, more pics. And another clue. Reginald Williams registered the property way back when in the name of 展illiams Gold Refining Company?

Now what what would he bolt on to a big concrete base that no one could either carry away OR unbolt?

View attachment 580510View attachment 580511

His lunchbox. Those gold guys are always stealing each other's lunch.

 

[check]

A Safe!

He scores!!!

Back then, people did not use banks like they do now, and this place was way out in the middle of nowhere (although the town of Baysville, only 24 miles away, was founded in 1871), so they used safes, bolted down, with the nuts being INSIDE the safe.

BTW, I did not figure this out myself. A local (old) guy had to tell me.

Now about those holes in the floor of the barn....

No tracks, and nothing came along to eat the mouse.

 

[Loaderman22]

You said you were doing repairs on the barn. Is it possible that your work like hammering or nailing was enough to vibrate old wood "pins" out. In the one set of photos it looks like the 3 holes lined up, I am leaning towards this was originally a post & beam with hardwood pegs that were cut down into flooring. Then the boards were layed out in order for the flooring. Previous owner didn't use barn much judging by the layer of dirt, so your new work was enough to shake out what was left of the old pins. All rotting at the same rate since they were originally of the same pin.

 

[greggyy]

OK, more pics. And another clue. Reginald Williams registered the property way back when in the name of 展illiams Gold Refining Company?

Now what what would he bolt on to a big concrete base that no one could either carry away OR unbolt?

View attachment 580510View attachment 580511

safe.

 

[check]

You said you were doing repairs on the barn. Is it possible that your work like hammering or nailing was enough to vibrate old wood "pins" out. In the one set of photos it looks like the 3 holes lined up, I am leaning towards this was originally a post & beam with hardwood pegs that were cut down into flooring. Then the boards were layed out in order for the flooring. Previous owner didn't use barn much judging by the layer of dirt, so your new work was enough to shake out what was left of the old pins. All rotting at the same rate since they were originally of the same pin.

Great theory, Loaderman - best one yet. I did look down one of the holes to see if there was a wooden plug underneath (there was not), but haven’t looked at the others yet. Will try and do that next time I am up, but we have the Sea Doos stored there for the winter now, and access is a bit tricky. Sorry guys, we may have to wait until Spring to solve this mystery! At least the holes have stopped multiplying.

 

[check]

safe.

Good guess Greg, but Murph1 beat you to it (see above). You get second prize.

PS Too bad the safe wasn’t still there when I demolished the log cabin. I would’ve loved to of seen that! (They had a lot of really cool stuff on that property, but sold a lot of it at a big auction before I bought.)

 

[Loaderman22]

If there is loose dirt down under the floor, I could see the pin, or what's left of them, I could see them disappearing in the dust. Ever drop a screw into a pile of sawdust, it tends to disappear & kinda get covered over...