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An Old Mill
written by Wilbur Ashabramer

8th grade Hickory Grove School, Pekin, Indiana

January 18, 1916

The old mill I am going to describe was owned by Old Billy Walker and his son Thomas.

It was about one half of a mile south of the Charleston road, and about three quarter or a mile west of Hickory Grove school house.

It was on the place which is now owned by Winnie McCoskey which he purchased from T. J. Walker, the son of Thomas Walker.

Our school Christmas tree last year came off the spot where the mill did stand.  It has grown up since the mill has burned down.

The building which was about thirty feet wide and about fifty feet long was about one hundred yards south of the public road [which] passes here such as driving east [             ] west.  The mill was located just east of a large and very steep hill it was on a small strip of land at the foot of the hill between the hill and a large branch which furnished water to fill up a large pond under the mill which furnished a water supply for the engine.

The engine was old fashioned with a large boiler in one place and the engine in another connected with a large pipe.

The burs was old fashioned and very tall and some four or five feet across.  The burs were of course they were of stone which Old Mr. Walker put in about one half a day in every week picking so they would grind faster and finer.

There were also a saw mill run by the same engine and under the same shed or building.

The saw was an old fashioned sash saw almost like our cross cut saw.  It was run by an iron rod or pitman like a pitman on a mowing machine.

The saw was run much like the sicle of a mowing machine and the teeth was turned up so the logs had to be taken upstairs or up in the loft and let down end ways and drawn back up by the machinery.

The saw wouldn't cut to the end of the log so when it got about two or three inches of the end someone would pull on it and split it on off.   There are some plank at my home yet that has been sawed off by the old mill.

I was up to Nancy Walkers the daughter of Old Mr. Walker when she was having her house covered and I noticed the sheeting and rafters had been sawed on it.

I noticed around a little and soon saw that most all the out building was built of the same.  The lumber was all poplar and from one to three feet across.  This mill was built somewhere between 1800 and 1860 and it burned down between 1896 and 1900.  After the [------] the log carriage was invented people didn't think it would work for they thought the logs had to be took up in the loft and let down.

The engine was sold for old iron and the boiler was took to Borden and is there yet in a mill.

The burs and old saw mill was destroyed someway I know not how.

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This was sent to me when I wrote for some information on William S. Walker, the above mentioned Old Billy Walker.  "Old Billy Walker"  is my 3rd great grandfather.  Thomas Walker and his son T. J. Walker were my 2nd great uncle and 1st cousin three times removed, respectively.  I thought this was a "cute" story written by an 8th grade student of the times, and gave me insight to my ancestor through the eyes of someone who may not have known him personally, but knew members of his family, and the story of "The Old Mill".  It gave "life" to the times.

I have typed it verbatim and there were areas that I could not make out a word, or in one instance a piece of paper was torn completely away.

Antoinette Waughtel Sorensen