Re: moonshiners
Working in land surveying I have seen many, many old and not so old stills all around central N.C. Some were quite large, others pretty small. I recall we did a flood study/sewerline survey in the 80s on a big creek in Durham Co near the ENO River. There were dozens of springs all up and down the narrow valley and every one had evidence of moonshining, some fairly recent. One old still had large, ancient heavy boilers w giant rivets and the massive tanks were obviously destroyed by internal explosions when the revenuers found them!. Others had axe holes in the old barrels and pots. One still in Orange Co. was untouched and used just a few years before we found it in a large tract of woods. The whole area was covered w boxwire suspended overhead and covered w sticks and branches and fallen leaves. The boys had built a sheetmetal chimney that was attached to a large pine tree and hugged the trunk to about 30' up the side. I assume to dilute the smoke in the large trees branches. Facinating to find them and see the craftsmanship of the resourcefull builders.
