Jacksonville's Ghost Town: Yukon

[acme54321]

Ock,  I think that canal and pilings are a sewer or water pipeline that crosses the river at that spot.  There is a corresponding canal with pilings on the other side with what looks to be a pumping station at the end of it.  I would bet there is a crossing of some sort, they peopbably built the canals through the marsh, then converted it to underground where blaine street ends.  The pilings are probably there to stop larger boats from entering the canals and running into the pipe, although the east side looks to be silted in considerably.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=yukon,+fl&hl=en&ll=30.233518,-81.709356&spn=0.002022,0.002446&t=h&z=19&vpsrc=6

[RMHoward]

Here is a 1943 Picture:





Here is 1953:



Ock, i see the cut you are talking about.  It looks more like an extension of the road in these photos and runs more East-West.  The present day cut has a distinctive NE-SW direction to it. 

Rick

[acme54321]

Or it's nothing but a sewer lines constructed sometime between 1971 and 1980.

1971:  http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=2.01252563069349E-05&lat=30.2333478504777&lon=-81.7102351641027&year=1971

1980:  http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=1.31722003942703E-05&lat=30.2333478504777&lon=-81.7102351641027&year=1980

Sorry guys, no rum runner port, logging operation, or military wharf here.  Just a plain old poo poo pipe.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=32212&hl=en&ll=30.233862,-81.713551&spn=0.004378,0.005681&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=46.226656,93.076172&vpsrc=6&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=30.233825,-81.71365&panoid=OpIRG0KHycSVKDpIjEuYFw&cbp=12,159.18,,1,1.96

Ock,  I think that canal and pilings are a sewer or water pipeline that crosses the river at that spot.  There is a corresponding canal with pilings on the other side with what looks to be a pumping station at the end of it.  I would bet there is a crossing of some sort, they peopbably built the canals through the marsh, then converted it to underground where blaine street ends.  The pilings are probably there to stop larger boats from entering the canals and running into the pipe, although the east side looks to be silted in considerably.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=yukon,+fl&hl=en&ll=30.233518,-81.709356&spn=0.002022,0.002446&t=h&z=19&vpsrc=6

[KevoG]

Glad I stumbled upon this read... My grandmother (M. Stevens) lived in the mobile home community in Yukon for years up until around 1998..., In fact that side of my family still goes to Yukon Baptist every Sunday... Ive always enjoyed hearing stories from years back but now I look forward to speaking with my grandmother about it to validate some already posted stories and hopefully spread some new ones.

[acme54321]

Does anyone know what the large round structure at the north end of the waterworks area?

It has a large opening with a covering on the side and it has random blocks sticking out all over it.  Looks like it could have been a tank but the giant intentional hole with a covering wall makes me thing not.  Old aerials show something was in the center of it.

[Ocklawaha]

Glad I stumbled upon this read... My grandmother (M. Stevens) lived in the mobile home community in Yukon for years up until around 1998..., In fact that side of my family still goes to Yukon Baptist every Sunday... Ive always enjoyed hearing stories from years back but now I look forward to speaking with my grandmother about it to validate some already posted stories and hopefully spread some new ones.

Fan freaking tastic, I remember Mrs Stevens from that same church. Back in the day that little church grew to about 200 on Sunday morning, my father, a former jazz musician was minister of music. Ask her if she remembers Mr. or Mrs. Webb, or the Butts family. Evangelist Phil Mac....(?) they instituted a annual picnic called "Old Fashioned Days," where everyone came in period clothing from the 1800's. Phil was a great with a crowd and really built that little church up, it was a really fun place. She might also remember the crazy beat the Devil campaign, whenever the crowd hit their attendance goal, the preacher would fire up a mannequin fist powered by a CO2 cartridge. The wire guided fist flew out of a little model church and across the ceiling of the auditorium to smack down a Lucifer doll. Yeah it was silly but it sure was fun.

Last I heard Phil had 'lost it' and in expectation of 'The End Of Day's' was living as a survivalist somewhere in the Cascades.

OCKLAWAHA

[NavyGuyAN]

This is as far as I could go, looking at the canal/stream at the end of Blaine Street, looking west towards the Ortega


This was also at the and of the canal/stream weird looking contraption


Here is a picture of that green 3 inch pipe I was talking about that "Acme" had brought up (looking east!) There is a JEA pumping station directly across the river from this location.


And (looking west) towards the river

[acme54321]

Someone has just finished a pretty decent job in fixing up the outside of the old Yukon post office building.

[Nockatee]

Thanks for noticing!
The old girl looks a lot better with some fresh lipstick and powder, don't you think? My brother and I are working hard to spruce the old place up.
NavyGuy, That green pipe may well be the line we had to run down to the river from a now decommissioned treatment plant we had operated up to about 12 years ago. After spending a large amount of $ to replace an ancient trerra cotta line, the city got it in gear and ran a force main close enough to connect to..Got about 12 months use from that investment.
Ock,  let us know when you are planning a swamp trek. We might be available to go with you. Been a long time since I have been back there.
Cheers!

[Nockatee]

Mysterious black water......
Seeing a couple of pics of old open manholes back in Dewey Park adds clues to a mystery we faced when replacing the effluent line mentioned in the previous post. Our treatment plant was producing a clear, finished outflow that rarely failed inspection. Some one discovered the old terra cotta drain line running along Blaine St. broken open and there was "black water" flowing west to the river. COJ was all over us and even called in State DEP claiming we were polluting the wetlands and the area that was the terminus of the pipe near the slough mentioned in previous posts. We searched and checked all of our lines on the property for a possible forgotten connection to that spiderweb of lines back there. Dye packs were dropped in various manholes and no signs ever came from our side of the fence. Still, we were required to replace the old pipe at considerable cost and to this day we never could determine the source of the "blackwater".
When I get back down to Yukon, I will post a photo of one of the old manhole covers with "Camp Johnston" on the face.
Cheers!
Nock

[RMHoward]

Very interesting Nocotee.  Interesting you mention the man hole cover.  If you venture to Camp Blanding's museum, you will notice a man hole cover between the building itself and the parking lot  is labeled "Camp Joseph Johnston".  It seems when the big land swap was done resulting in the Army forfeiting Camp JEJ/Foster to the Navy, they appropriated some of the public works material and took it with them to Clay County.  Also, the former Gunnery School at Yellow Water across from Cecil Field is riddled with open man hole covers (in the dangest places).  Seems when the school's buildings were demolished in the 50s, they man hole covers were taken for their scrap metal value, resulting in lots of widow maker holes there to this day.  Got to be careful out there.

[Nockatee]

Family in Pop's Store.....
I think this was around Christmas 1947.


The "Poet Laureate" Alan Justiss is in this photo. Anyone care to make a guess which little kid he was?
I am the wee one in the middle, and yes, ears were "big" in the day.
I believe another Yukon family was noted for their ears as well.
The old Store is next on the list for a face lift and preparation for a new business.

[Nockatee]

Hey Nockatee,
I  spent my younger years growing up in Justiss Trailer Park.  My granny was Anne Scarborough.  She always  had the vegetable garden near the water tower. If you were part of the family then you would be justiss's son and would have had a 68 GTO.  you would have been 20 and i was 5, but i remember your mother being angry that you cut the back wheel wells to get bigger tires on. 

I am a Justiss but did not pull that stunt. Man, how I would have loved to have had a GTO then. That may have been the folks managing the park for us. My alibi was I was still in school down in Gainesville driving a beat up Beetle. We left Jax for G-ville in '57 and my folks did not move back until about 69 0r 70. 

[Nockatee]

Ch-Ch-Changes


After a bit of buffing and burnishing.


Still plenty to do to bring the place back from the grave.
Look at the first pic of the thread.....

[Ocklawaha]

I never lived in Yukon, at least not as a home address, but I lived in Yukon through the 50's and 60's after school and on many a week end. Your photo is priceless. I always dropped in on the little town on my LONG hike to the Yukon Railroad Station. The station agent, Pete Rood, nearly raised me and was always very kind. I stood at the  park entry and snapped a photo of the site recently and damn near got arrested by CSX police. He had no jurisdiction on the public roadway and I stiffled the urge to laugh when he told me a train might be coming and hit me. I told him nothing was coming based on the signal indications, though one had recently passed. Then he told me he knew a hell of a lot more about railroads then I ever would so get away from 'his' tracks. When he pulled away I nearly busted a gut laughing. Sad though how times have changed from the days of Pete's welcoming smile.

My family and the Butts family were VERY close, they had their house in Orange Park and we a craftsman in Ortega. The church was our common ground. The funniest legend of my dad and Willis Butts was when Willis bought his big black 59 Cadillac Sedan De Ville and came tooling up to the church wearing a white trilby hat. They had a brief conversation that involved some laughing and the following Sunday, we showed up at church with a fancy white caddie Sedan De Ville and dad wearing a black trilby hat. Funny as hell was watching those two bribe the waitresses during Sunday dinner out, each one paying off the staff to slip them the check at the end of the meal. No wonder the wait staff at 'Pat and Mikes', 'Lum's' or 'Pritchitts Kitchen', loved us.

The Post Master Mr. Webb and his wife were EVERYBODY'S grandparents and his painting is still over the baptismal pool in front of the church. There is actually ANOTHER pool under the floor at the front of the church and way back when, they would lift the stage area and reveal this unique location. The Webb's saved me from my first experience with fire ants during an Easter egg hunt, I've hated those damn ants ever since.

I'm sure you recall the little 'supermarket' across the street from your Post Office building. The west end of the building had HUGE plumbing troubles and often backed up. The owner got wealthy off my childhood love of ginger snap cookies. I was saddened when the that little block of buildings was recently demolished.

Do you remember a old two story TRAILER in the trailer park? Seems like I was inside it as my sister rented a place there for a time. I just don't remember if it was the one she lived in or some friend of hers but it was cool for an old unit.

We ought to set up a Yukon reunion, it would certainly be fun.

OCKLAWAHA