Steam Power Water Power Grist Mills
(Page 6 of 7)
March/April 1998
Jack C. Norbeck,
After the bloody schism was over, the divided family turned its
attention to business. The tannery won awards at the Centennial in
1876, and was in use until 1890 when a storm blew down its brick
smokestack. The water-powered grist mill, restored as a mill
museum, operated into the 1940s, and a canning business flourished
until 1976.
RELATED CONTENT
Walker's Aultman Taylor steam traction engine is by the
Union Mills water wheel. This grist mill was built in 1797 with the
most modern of milling innovations of the times included. David and
Andrew Shriver used the design of noted millwright Oliver Evans.
Evans' genius was acknowledged by Thomas Jefferson and George
Washington, who both employed his designs in mills that they owned.
The mill was powered by a large mid-breast wheel that turned
millstones made of imported french burr stone. As an important
commercial mill, the mill ground flour that was packed in barrels
and shipped out to Europe through the port of Baltimore. With
various changes, the mill operated until 1942. Recently, in 1983,
the mill reopened as a working mill winning awards for restoration.
When the original mill was built for the Shrivers in 1797 by John
Long, the cost was $430. The restoration of the mill in 1981-1983
cost more than $260,000.
Today, the grist mill represents an excellent example of a
working Oliver Evans designed mill, with the wooden waterwheel,
gears, parts and frame painstakingly recreated. Rye, whole wheat,
buckwheat and two kinds of cornmeal are now ground in the mill and
offered for sale.
Both the house and mill are open to the public for guided tours
with a small admission fee. You can see where Washington Irving sat
before a fire and talked late into the night, and James Audubon
watched the Baltimore oriole build a nest in one of the willow
trees. Relics dating back to Jefferson's time are to be seen.
Everything is much the same as when the Homestead was in daily use
by an active family growing with America, and the visitor is
assured a rewarding experience.
The Union Mills Homestead is operated by a non-profit foundation
with all proceeds dedicated to the preservation and restoration of
the Union Mills Homestead Complex.
For more information about Union Mills Homestead please
telephone 1-410-848-2288 or write: Union Mills Homestead, 3311
Littlestown Pike, Westminster, Maryland 21158.
Information for this article came from the Encyclopedia of
American Steam Traction Engines, Steve Coldsmith, Harry Anderson,
Calvin E. Bricker, LeRoy Walker, Ester Shriver, and Kenneth R.
Haines. All photos were taken by Jack C. Norbeck, NORBECK RESEARCH,
Coplay, Pennsylvania 18037-1712.
The Haines Grist Mill
The picture shows, from left to right, Dennis Rutz, standing in
wagon is Carl Snyder, Henry Frey holding the reins and seated next
to him is Donald Wehr.
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