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Satellite)
The mills produced stone-ground & white flour and lumber.
"Morningstar Mill is one of the few mills in Ontario that houses all its original equipment and still operates its millstones using waterpower." [
MorningStarMill]
I'm going to have to up the priority of a field trip to the Welland Canal.
The lumber mill is on the left, and the grist mill is on the right.
John DeCou had the first mill by
Decew Falls.
There was a waterfall just downstream of the mills over the Niagara Escarpment.
To take advantage of the high head of the escarpment waterfall, a penstock and turbine was used. Here we see the beginning of the penstock and the valve that controls the inlet water.
This diagram shows the arrangement of the penstock and turbine.
Looking down into the turbine pit, we see the penstock behind the ladder, the turbine housing below the center of the photo and the drive shaft coming back up into the mill in the lower half.
And the tailraces empty out at the bottom of the gorge. In addition to the turbine for the gist mill, a turbine was added to retire the waterwheel at the sawmill.
Speaking of the sawmill.
On the right we see the shed beside the grist mill. Obviously, they have restored the power shaft that uses the concrete piers.
In this closeup of the bevel gears, we also see the inlet pipe going to the penstock and the cap rock on the escarpment.
They have displayed one of the 4' (1.2m) saw blades in a workshop. The lathe was powered by the turbine in the gristmill.
In this overview of the workshop, I think we see the vertical main drive shaft from the turbine near the left side. The bevel gears tap power off the shaft to drive this floor while the shaft continues up to other floors. Near the center, to the left of the lathe, we see a model of the turbine.
The vertical shaft that drives the French burr millstones.
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Although Wilson kept his mill stone operation, over the decades he also added new equipment. I think these three photos are some of the roller mills. Although much of the power was transmitted between
line shafts using gears, leather belts were also used to transfer power.
I could not find a photo of the sign itself.
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This is another view of the stone arch that was part of John DeCou's grist mill.
I couldn't decide which view was better, and then I decided that they complement each other, and I don't have to make a choice.
More belts
The grounds included some support buildings.
And his home.
There were several interior shots on Google Maps, this is just a sampling. (I'm more interested in old machinery than old furniture.)
And another view of the cap rock.
What is a shoddy mill?
This is the post that motivated this research. I spent a few hours on these notes, but it was worth it to discover such a well-preserved mill.
Morningstar Mill
posted five photos with the comment: "It was a perfect week weather-wise for the crews working outside. The installation of the penstock is nearly complete. The horizontal penstock has been welded to the vertical penstock in the turbine shed. The cable connecting to the metal plate (sluice gate) that is raised when we are milling, has been reattached to the crank and drum inside the mill. We are getting there!"
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