Warner's Mill

Dave31

Dave31

Active Member
Solomon Warner, a pioneer merchant who came to Tucson in 1856, constructed a two-story flour mill here in 1875 (photos 1-4). To the south, he built a dam across the Santa Cruz River (photo 5), creating a small lake. From there, a flume ran along the base of the mountain feeding the raceway and waterwheel which turned two sets of heavy millstones capable of grinding about 100 bushels of locally grown wheat a day. A small stamp mill, powered by the same waterwheel, was used to crush ore from Warner's mines.
 

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Cool pic.. I grew up and still live right by the oldest operating mill in the US (1637) Its gotten a face lift a couple times but here are a couple pics. The first one is the mill itself and the second is the interior gearing that the wheel turns the shaft that goes up through the ceiling is an axel that turns 2 round flat stones together in which the corn is funneled. As a side note in my early teens late at night we would "blaze up" and go "run the wheel" like in one of those hamster cages.

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This is a cool thread. Thanks for posting this. And since you did post this thread I figured I can share this video I found a couple of years ago. I've saved it just because it is very interesting for me. Maybe some of you will enjoy it as much as I have, I hope so.

FolkStreams » Ben's Mill
 
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