The Falls Mill

By: Elma Exline, November 1925

At the foot of a hill stood an old mill

A miller there ready each millboy’s grist to grind,

For he says, "If I don’t keep busy, I get so far behind."

In times of floods its basement and wall would

Be covered with sand and water from Little Kanawha Falls.

But would soon abate without damage at all.

This old mill lived nearly three score years,

Keeping away starvation fears,

By hardships from the miller and the steady working of her gears.

After feeding Braxtonians and folks in adjoining counties for years,

There came to her a rest but not because of fears,

For she had stood there two many years.

Her foundation was laid by some wise Mace,

Ande her framework was put right in place.

She was strongly mortised and braced by this carpenter and Mace.

Along came the state road surveyors in haste,

And said Sister Mill to our notion, you are out of place;

So it’s certain a disaster you soon must face.

This old mill at the foot of the hill has been burned to ashes,

While the water over the Little Kanawha Falls still roars, leaps and splashes.

So over her ruins a state road is placed,

And now over it our trade can go in haste;

"It is true said the court there is surely some waste."

"The owner of this mill we should go to see,

For perhaps some damage there will be,

While in her structure not much can we see."

She cost at her birth up in the thousands they tell me,

And her picture in the minds of some folks will forever be;

When not a splinter of her remains to see.

The court met the owners, they could not agree,

So they sent out a committee to the number of three,

They were men of wisdom, yet the difference they could not see.

This being a natural water power mill site,

Some argued it a difficult task to estimate the damage exactly right,

So up to this time a consideration of damage is not in sight.

While the ashes of the old mill under trunk road decay,

Strangers passing this way will be heard to say:

"Why do they call this Falls Mill, I pray?"

A three forked sycamore tree

And a damaged mill race

Are left to mark this noted place-

"The Old Falls Mill site."