OAHT 1504: Carnation and the Buried Locomotive
Carnation Company and the Buried Locomotive
Across the street is the Lake Country Foods Company, originally known as the Carnation Milk Products Company.
Big business rolled into Oconomowoc in a big way in October 1914 when the nationally prominent Carnation Company installed its Western Division office at what is now the intersection of Concord and Second Street, land that was attractive primarily due to its location immediately next to the railroad tracks. It was the leading Oconomowoc employer for decades. The Oconomowoc plant was the largest in a chain of six factories around the country, with an evaporating plant, can factory, machine shop, central laboratory and general office.
Buried Locomotive 1914
If you look across the street and then to the left from the Geocache, there is a buried Locomotive. In an effort to bring products close to the Carnation Plant, a railway was constructed. The engine and tender of the gravel train used in hauling fill for one of the side tracks at Carnation toppled over on one side when the new roadbed, in course of construction, gave way underneath the tons of steel. The engineer and fireman saved themselves by jumping. Several days’ and nights’ work on the part of the Milwaukee Road wrecking crew was necessary before the locomotive was righted. The soil is very soft and marshy at the point where the accident occurred, making it impossible to operate the weighty wrecking machinery at close quarters. Huge cables were placed about the prone locomotive and stretched to the main line, where powerful machinery was set in operation in hoisting it to an upright position. The locomotive sunk and was covered with flyash.
Permission was granted to hide this cache by: Bryan Spencer Parks & Forestry Superintendent
