Water mill

“ We are so absorbed in the tumult of mass output that we scarcely realize the part played by the old mills in rearing the cornerstone of our vast industrial activity. The phrase, “horse power,” now geared to myriad millions of units, in all likelihood, began with the horse-operated grist mill. A horse provided the power. The creaking water wheels with their rhythmic splash, were the outposts of the hydroelectric age which has harnessed rivers and falls and wrought marvels of production the world over. ”

“ The mill pond was fed by several streamlets which came down from the north, but its work having been completed, the dam has been allowed to wash away; and, there being some question as to ownership, we learn that this once beautiful and interesting spot is now grown up with rushes. It seems as if the water power here might, in this day of improved machinery, be made again to serve a useful purpose. ”

“ By the statutes of Massachusetts, any person may erect and maintain a water-mill, and dam to raise water for working it, upon and across any stream that is not navigable, provided he does not interfere with existing mills. ”

“ The mills are supplied with water from the mill-lade, and one of them obtains water from the Tweed when necessary. The people of the town are entirely engaged in the woollen industry; wool scouring, weaving, and dyeing are all carried on here. The town is sewered. All the sewage is collected in an outfall sewer, which discharges into the mill-lade below the lowermost mill, and about three hundred yards from the Tweed; there is no attempt at purification of 330the sewage. The liquid refuse from the mills is discharged into the lade. ”

“ The old grist mill and the covered bridge are links with America’s past which, even today, have not passed entirely from the scene. Each was a part of the fabric of our young and growing nation and each made its own contribution to our progress.
By today’s standards, the old grist mill, driven by water-power and with everything except its grinding stones made of wood, is somewhat primitive. Yet even today, one must admire the fine craftsmanship with which the water wheels and the various wheels and shafts which transmitted the power were fashioned. ”

“ It is for this purpose employed on railroads, the farm, country seats, and to some extent in cities where the water-pressure is insufficient to carry the water to the upper stories of buildings, as many as five hundred being employed in New York City alone for this purpose. On the farm it would seem that a mill might be employed for a variety of purposes besides the pumping of water. Such operations as sawing wood, chopping feed, and perhaps churning, might readily be done by wind-power, by timing them to the periods when experience showed it could best be depended upon. ”

“ New England is especially favored with many rivers, streams, ponds and lakes, and it is with never-ending admiration that one reflects on the ingenuity of the early settlers putting to practical use all of the water power. Throughout the whole region will be found hundreds of remains of water mill sites, small and large, and the settlers soon found ways of putting a harness on them for water power. ”

“ To a large extent, the reservoir of the Cross was artificial. It had been constructed by throwing a deep stone and concrete dam across a narrow cañon through which there percolated, in summer, a small stream. Its cubic capacity was such, however, that when this reservoir was filled by spring freshets it contained water enough to run the full season round if sparingly used; and it was on this alone that the mill depended for its power, and the mine for its lights and train service, from hoist to breakers. ”

“ The mills have the air of being pit-head workings dealing with a cleaner material than coal. About them are lengthy conveyors, built up on high trestle timbers, that carry the logs from the water to the mill and from the mill to the dumps, that one instantly compares to the conveyors and winding gear of a coal mine. ”

“ The pond was needed as a reservoir of power, for the mill was far up that valley, and the stream at this height was small. Lower down, where the rivulet became a river, there were mills in plenty that had no pond, and needed nothing more than a narrow channel cut to feed their small wheels. But Elmsdell Mill, to make the most of what water it had, possessed a wheel of great diameter, that the leverage of its spokes might make the most of the liquid force at its command. ”

“ A portion of the main floor, first story, is occupied as a saw mill, the slabs furnishing fuel for the boiler furnace connected with the evaporating department. Just above the mill, along the bank of the pond, and with one end projecting over the water, are arranged eight large bins, holding from five hundred to one thousand bushels each, into which the apples are delivered from the teams. The floor in each of these has a sharp pitch or inclination toward the water and at the lower end is a grate through which the fruit is discharged, when wanted, into a trough half submerged in the pond. ”

“ The wind mill was located 1,100 feet from the tank, and forced the water this distance, elevating it 50 feet. We estimate that this mill is pumping from 18,000 to 20,000 gallons of water every twenty-four hours. We learned that these works have saved two buildings from burning, and that the water is being used for sprinkling the streets, and being furnished to consumers at the following rates per annum: Private houses, $5; stores, $5; hotels, $10; livery stables, $15. At these very low rates, the city has an income of $300 per annum. ”

“ Stow, and to aid in the construction of which these bonds were issued, had been that of water accumulated by dams and discharged upon wheels, the purpose would have been within the specific language of the act. To aid in the construction of 'water-power' is one of the purposes named. But the mill was a steam-mill. It was a custom grist-mill operated by steam. Does such an establishment fall within the description of 'other works of internal improvement'? This expression is usually applied to railroads and canals. ”

“ Hills, even mountains, are ascended and formed into terraces; and water, in that country the great productive agent, is led to every part by drains, or carried up to it by the ingenious and simple hydraulic machines which have been in use from time immemorial among this singular people. They effect this the more easily, from the soil, even in these situations, being very deep and covered with much vegetable mould. ”

“ Our mill-race is half dug by nature, and can be finished, according to the estimate of the State engineer, for eighteen hundred dollars, giving five and a-half feet fall without a dam, which may be raised by a grant from the Legislature, adding three feet more, and affording water-power sufficient to drive fifty pair of mill-stones. ”

“ The first is in some respects on the principle of the Huntingdon Mill. The latter, if the inventor may be believed and the results seem to show he can be, will be a wonderful factor in developing not only mining properties where a preponderance of water is the trouble, but also in providing an automatic, and therefore extremely cheap, mode of water-raising and supply, which in simplicity is thus far unexampled. Atmospheric pressure alone is relied on. ”

“ They maintain that the stones produce a higher grade of flour than can be 6 made by modern machine methods. So great was the demand for the millstone-ground flour that a manufacturing firm in Indiana made a miniature grist mill equipped with stones which was used in many private homes and on some farms. Power was furnished by a motor, a far cry from the old water wheel.
This picturesque mill is located just north of Dayton and is more than 100 years old. ”

“ The dam has for its foundation the underlying granite of this section. It is intended as a permanent structure and must conduce largely to the growth and prosperity of the city. The dam has 10 feet head of water and furnishes 1,500 horse power. A flour mill with a capacity of 300 barrels per day is run by the water power. The Phœnix Iron Works, established at a cost of $175,000, give employment to 100 men. Bridgman's steam saw mill has a capacity of about 40,000 feet of lumber per day. ”

“ Most of us today, when we think of power, think of electricity, gas, or steam, but it is very simple to consider the water in an ordinary little stream and the amount of power it can deliver.
Although the machinery built by the early millwrights was a bit crude, nevertheless it was functional and worked with efficient success.
On a recent scouting trip George and I took through Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut, we visited a few restored mills. One of them was in Rowley, Massachusetts, just off the Main Road, called the “Jewel Mill”. ”

“ Where water itself is plentiful, yet water-power, i.e. a fall of water applicable by its mechanical force to the service of industry, may be exceedingly limited, compared with the use which would be made of it if it were more abundant. Coal, metallic ores, and other useful substances found in the earth, are still more limited than land. ”

“ The first application of wind or water power to grind corn, tended to cheapen bread as much as a very important discovery in agriculture would have done; and any great improvement in the construction of corn-mills, would have, in proportion, a similar influence. The effects of cheapening locomotion have been already considered. There are also engineering inventions which facilitate all great operations on the earth's surface. An improvement in the art of taking levels is of importance to draining, not to mention canal and railway making. ”

“ The wheel pit was a danger hole. If a man fell into it while the wheel was turning he had little chance of escape. Millers were known to have been drowned in their own mills when someone opened the water gate at the wrong time.
There were two kinds of mills—the water wheel construction and the tub mill. A tub mill was the simplest and cheapest of all types of grist mill. In it the wheel was located down in a pit or “tub” and lay horizontally with a vertical axle, whereas the water wheel type was a wheel rotating on a vertical plane and mounted on a horizontal axis. ”

“ First, we have to pull out the temporary retaining walls next to the tailrace, dig down below the pool, and put in a brand new wall, so that the rush of water will not tear away the earth next to the State Highway which would stop all the dear people from dashing about on the State Highway, especially the tourists.
I have often wondered what I would do if this mill doesn’t work when we get through. All sorts of suggestions have come from skeptics, the practical ones being to install a gas engine or electric motor to turn the stones. ”

“ But it appeared to me that by an ample and judicious extension of the latter the rich crops of the Nile valley might be doubled, and especially of sugar-cane, flax, and cotton.
The irrigation works are extremely important and admit of indefinite extension. When the Nile falls below the “high level” the country assumes the appearance of being cut up by a series of narrow irregular canals of different levels. The irrigation is carried on by numerous water mills or pumps which are worked by oxen, donkeys, and camels. Their construction is remarkably primitive and defective. ”

“ There are thirteen storage and distributing reservoirs, with a water surface of 9751⁄2 acres, and capacity of 6,458 million gallons. The greatest depth of reservoirs is 84 feet. The conduit is 18 miles in length. The drainage area is 19,300 acres. Available daily supply is 33 million gallons, of which 13 millions are required for mill-owners. The average rain-fall is 50 inches, and mean available resource of 33 inches. The cost of the works was 4 million dollars. The population in 1874 was 750,000; daily average consumption 16 million gallons, and 550 miles of pipe. ”

“ The compensation to millers by the Manchester and Liverpool Water-Works was fixed by Parliament at one third of the available rain-fall. Nearly one-half of the present capacity of the Glasgow supply is used by mill-owners.
On this subject John W. Erwin, resident engineer of the Ohio State Board of Public Works, says:
“The riparian right of water-users are great, and could not be purchased for $2,000,000. ”

“ Some facts are so perpetually and familiarly accompanied by certain others, that mankind learned, as children learn, to expect the one where they found the other, long before they knew how to put their expectation into words by asserting, in a proposition, the existence of a connection between those phenomena. No science was needed to teach that food nourishes, that water drowns, or quenches thirst, that the sun gives light and heat, that bodies fall to the ground. ”

“ The food is a substance of a certain colour, and consistence; so is the drug. There is nothing in these qualities which is offensive to us; only the taste. In like manner, it is not the water we desire, but the pleasure of drinking; not the fire we desire, but the pleasure of warmth.
The illusion is merely that of a very close association. There is no case, indeed, of association, in which the union is more intimate, than that between the idea of a pungent sensation, and its customary cause ”

“ There are very few of these large mills in use in this country, but there are a great many from 14 to 30 feet in diameter in use, and their numbers are rapidly increasing as their merits become known. The field for the use of wind mills is almost unlimited, and embraces pumping water, drainage, irrigation, elevating, grinding, shelling, and cleaning grain, ginning cotton, sawing wood, churning, running stamp mills, and charging electrical accumulators. ”