cool

I wish it was closer to me, Id love to restore that, tho knowing the state it cant be touched.

Ah, Blade has heard about California? lol!

still 100 miles from me 1 way :P a bit far for somthing that cant be removed due to state park system

Perhaps something fell on the cylinder web and bent it out of place. That brace sort of looks like it might have been turned into place via a screw, forcing the web back into position and then they decided to just leave it there since it didn't block anything from moving. Or, maybe the brace on the other one was removed and is supposed to be there.
You need a machinery whisperer to ask what the deal is.
Also, one of those herringbone gears would make a nice conversation piece in my living room.

It does almost look like there is a weld repair in the curved web over top of the brace (though it could be a casting irregularity). Maybe the brace was used to force it back into place and it was then welded. I can only begin to imagine the difficulty of preheating those castings enough to successully weld it. But I have seen people do crazy things when conditions warrant it!

I can't really imagine a condition that would have caused that web to crack, either, unless something did fall on it as said above...

I can't recall ever seeing a herringbone gear before with such coarse teeth! :) CHOMP!