Water Mill History

Written by 
LeRoy Walls 
CEO 

The mill for grinding wheat and corn was an important part of Ozark life in the lives of my parents and the generations before them.

Here is what my Mother (Margaret Walls) wrote about Lundy Mill which was located near where she grew up. It is followed by her description of threshing wheat in the early 1900’s.

"In 1874 the first gristmill was built on West Piney River. Later it was named Lundy. In 1891 a post office was opened at Lundy. It was a thriving Ozark village for several years. Dad often told about he and other young fellows skating on the millpond in winter. As a very young girl I remember going with Dad to Lundy in the wagon. He had our wheat and corn ground at the mill. We would take chickens, eggs and cream to sell or to trade. One time I was very happy when Dad bought me a new straw hat with a pretty grosgrain ribbon and flowers to wear to church on Sunday. The post office was discontinued in 1919. Business at the mill and the store gradually faded due in part to the difficulty of crossing the river in cars. Then in 1930 the doors closed at Lundy.

Wheat and oats were cut using a hand cradle. It was then tied in bundles and placed in shocks. When it was done right the rain was kept out and the grain stayed dry. Later Dad and Uncle Willis together bought a binder. They would cut their own grain as well as cut for a few others in the community. Three horses pulled the binder. One person would ride the binder, another would throw out large rocks that might be in the way of the sickle and another person or more would shock the bundles. The threshing time of wheat, oats, barley or rye was a busy yet fun time in our community. The neighbors would swap work. Sometimes as many as 25 or 30 men were in the crew doing the various jobs needed to finally get the grain stored in bins. The women were very busy too. It took lots of work to prepare the meal for the big and hungry crew. How well I remember those happy times, the visiting and the delicious abundant meals and the big threshing machine. Folks looked forward to this big event each summer."

Here are some excerpts from "The Old Mill Run" chapter in Phyllis Rossater’s book, A Living History of the Ozarks.

"In ways unmatched by other remnants of the past, the remaining mills speak to us of the old Ozarks. Their numbers tell us of their importance, of the vital role they played in the lives of the settlers struggling for enforced self-sufficiency in an isolated and rugged land. Though roads were poor, often impassable, and travel tedious, rivers and streams were everywhere. Where one was just big enough without being so big as to create an insurmountable engineering problem, there was a potential mill site.

Beside the mill was usually a general store, often run by the miller or his family, supplying coffee, tea, yard goods, and simple clothes. Sometimes the miller branched out into livestock feeds, as well. A blacksmith shop and a post office were nearly always part of the mill scene. Gasoline pumps were usually added after the advent of automobiles. With the mill to grind their corn and wheat, and the miller’s sidelines to fill their other needs, the hill folk were supplied with all the necessities of their time that the household did not create for itself.

The first settlers into a region quickly pinpointed potential mill sites. Any stream with a swift current or a fall of water was prime property - particularly since some mills boasted indoor privies that took advantage of the fast-running water below.

Powerful springs were also often pressed into service because they usually flowed steadily, even in dry spells, and predictably even in periods of high water elsewhere.

While a river offered a wider choice of location for the new mill, it also posed greater difficulties to be overcome. Unless the river had a steep enough gradient, it did not flow fast enough to provide the necessary power. And in times of flooding, the river could - and did - damage the millhouse or wash it away. Dry spell, on the other hand, might reduce the flow of water and, therefore, power to operate the mill.

Rock was used when it was necessary to construct a dam across the chosen stream in order to harness its potential power by damming the flow and creating a millpond. In addition to rock dams, some were constructed of weighted logs, earth, or a combination of the three.

Once dammed, the pent-up water could be directed to the mill by means of a raceway, or millrace. When the mill was not grinding, the flow of water through the millrace or flume could be controlled by gates. The miller could thereby reduce or increase the speed of the wheel and control the mill’s rate of operation. Sometimes, particularly when a hillside spring was the source of water, a flume was constructed to carry water down to the mill wheel. In that case, gravity and the power of falling water supplied sufficient power.

In the early twentieth century many of the mills’ customers began to turn to store-bought meal. In an effort to keep pace with the changing times, some millers converted to steam and gasoline engines, but the cheaper and "more desirable" hard wheat imported from the western plains was in demand. By the 1930’s and, in a few of the more remote places, the early ‘40s and ‘50s, the automobile and its easy access to city markets meant that even the self-sufficient farmers of the Ozarks no longer looked to their own harvest for sustenance.

A few of the old mills continued to grind grain for the miller’s family and a few friends and neighbors. Some found a market milling stock feeds. And, for those who hung on long enough and were not dismantled or were easily re-activated, there was a new wave of interest from the tourists who discovered them after World War II."

We are fortunate to have a number of well-preserved water mills near Cabool. I hope you get a chance to visit some of them when you visit our Ozarks.

12/31/1999