Dumped in the woods? An old oil drum and a steamroller wheel

Deep within a thicket of European buckthorn at Camp Pine Woods in Des Plaines I thought I made a great discovery: an old drum that was part of a boiler heater that could have warmed barracks when the now-Cook County Forest Preserve was a World War II prisoner of war camp for captured German soldiers.

But after some thought and some feedback on my post on the Forgotten Chicago Facebook page, my best guess is that these items were illegally dumped there. The objects are near a wide gravel path at the end of the parking area for the preserve. While this place where I found these items is somewhat elevated, at 50 yards from the Des Plaines River, this would not be a sensible location for POW barracks.

An oil drum? A water tank? A compressed gas cylinder?

Just steps away I found this...

Could this be the front wheel of a road roller?

Some litterbugs drop beer cans in the woods. Others leave even bigger messes.

Related posts:

• Meadow in Camp Pine Woods
• Volkstrauertag: Photos of German POW gravestones at Fort Sheridan
• Sece, Latvia's World War I German cemetery
• Sece, Latvia's World War I German cemetery--part two
• I found a brick in the woods