Restored gristmill to lend authentic touch to Pioneer Days
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) - For the first time in seven years, the Fowler Park Gristmill soon will be functioning and is expected to be showcased once again in the Vigo County Parks Department's Pioneer Days in the fall.
Park workers on Wednesday worked to complete installation of replacement wooden teeth for the mill's water-powered wheel. The wheel will also get about 20 new water boards, and two metal rings will be put back on the large wheel.
"In 2008, water came over the gate where we allow water to come into the mill. When the flood came and all the water shot down the shoot into the mill, it spun the wheel so fast it just tore a lot of stuff up," Parks Assistant Superintendent Adam Grossman told the Tribune-Star (http://bit.ly/16Fwp6U ).
"The (water wheel) shaft busted, and the wheel rested against the cabin, and all the cogs and teeth were messed up. It has been a long process and lot of rehab to get this up and running," Grossman said.
Keith Ruble, former parks superintendent, had the shaft for the water wheel and wooden gears refurbished to be put back in, Grossman said. Ruble helped to build the gristmill, hand-hewing poplar logs for the mill cabin.
The gristmill is not an original building, but is authentic to the time period. Clois Kicklighter, who at the time was dean of the Indiana State University's School of Technology, spearheaded the mill, designing it based on information obtained from books of 1818. Stone used in the outfall channel and sluice base came from the Preston House, built in Terre Haute in 1824.
Corn and wheat were first ground in the mill in early October 1991.
"We still have to cut more paddles for the water wheel. We have to replace about 20 boards on the wheel, it could be more. They are supposed to be made out of cypress" wood, Grossman said. "On the inside, we have 76 (wooden gear) teeth that we had to repair."
Grossman said he hopes work to be finished on the mill this month. However, the mill cannot be immediately tested because the level of Ruble Lake is too low. The parks department, under a mandate from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, is having the lake's dam rebuilt. That work, under ideal weather conditions, will not be completed until mid- to late May.
"Right now the lake is about four feet low. We will have to wait until the lake's water level is high enough to get water to run through it. We hope the hard part is done," Grossman said.
"It will be super exciting to have this working for Pioneer Days," Grossman said. "Hundreds of people every year ask when this will be working and when they can see it again. It is a big focal point for Pioneer Days that we have not had since 2008.
"Hopefully people will be more interested in Pioneer Days when this is running," he said. "It is neat to see. And it is a great educational experience to show how they did things in the 1800s and actually see it in working order," Grossman said.
Grossman said having a working gristmill will provide a visual tool for Vigo County school students who attend the parks department's mini Pioneer Days, which is specifically targeted for students.
"Everything is visual anymore, so anything you can do to show how things were done is educational," Grossman said. "I think this will definitely be great for people to see this working again. There are kids that are five years old who have never been out here. It has been almost a decade without this, so it will be a nice revamp of a former tradition."
In addition to work on the mill, Grossman said a grass hill next to the mill will have a different slope, part of the lake's new dam project.
"We will slope the other side of the gristmill and slope the grade. We will raise the height of the stone wall (next to the water wheel) to retain earth and then redo the stone walkway. We will take the stone out and save the stone and rebuilt it, so there will be a new walkway," he said.
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Information from: Tribune-Star, http://www.tribstar.com