Trifter

Often I take pictures and it is months till I get to develop and publish them.  Develop is the old term used by film photographers to describe the chemical processes of turning exposed photography film and print paper into negatives and pictures.  Adobe Lightroom (fantastic product for $600 less than Photoshop) uses that term to describe taking a digital image file and adjusting the light, color, cropping, etc to give the desired effect. 

By the time I’m looking at the pictures I can forget where I took them and sometimes even why.  I use my camera to help document what I am doing. 

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This picture is one example of how I do that.  I would never have remembered the name of this mill on October 16, 2009.  I took these on February 26, 2009.   But this picture documents it for me.  Clear Springs Mills, established 1809.  It is not a good picture but it establishes the setting.

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In addition I take pictures I call locators.  Other than in this set few people will ever see one of them.   If you look carefully you will see the road sign above the mailboxes.   We are at the corner of Capitol Hill Road and Meadowview Drive.  This intersection is about three miles south of Dillsburg just off US Route 15.  It’s a quiet sleepy little bedroom community – as evidenced by the number of mailboxes.  For reference the white structure behind the mailboxes is the back section of the Brick home you will see later. 

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This mill is a four story structure, the stone basement to the attic.  I plan to get inside at some time to take some more photos but have not had an opportunity to do so.  The stone used to build the wall is local stone.   There is a stream nearby but I have not been able to figure out how the water to turn the millstone was routed.  In some cases mill races have been filled in – I have to go back and look for this one.  An example is the Barnitz Mill where the race has been filled in.  The only vestige of it is the cement water gate that was too difficult to remove. 

The Curve at Barnitz Mill Jul 14, 2008

Barnitz Mill Race Jul 14, 2008

Barnitz Mill Rear View Jul 14, 2008

Barnitz Mill Front View Jul 14, 2008

Barnitz mill is about 18 miles from Clear Springs mill.

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This overhang of the mill roof has a chain which could be used with a pulley to raise items to put into the second story.  The window there would have been at the time a door that could be opened.  The second story was used for storage – it would have been “high and dry” so items that needed to be kept dry would be moved there.  

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I almost missed the reason for this picture.  Note the cable or chain to the right of the door with a weight on the end of it.  This is a counterweight for something – the 1800 alternative to a spring door closer.  Unless it has some interesting and unusual pulley system inside this is not used to close the mill door.  Note the door is split like a barn door.  This allowed the top of the door to be opened to ventilate but prevent animals from wandering in.  On Pennsylvania farms at this time chickens ran loose.  They can be a dreadful mess. I actually saw chickens running loose a couple days ago and missed getting a picture of it so it happens still.. 

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At least a portion of this wall structure was NOT built in the 1800’s.  Note the half sections of a wheel cemented in the wall.  This would not have been done.  Iron was scarce and expensive.  Even if the wheel was damaged and unserviceable it would have found some other use.  A blacksmith could have used it to make smaller pieces of iron.  If a miller from 1840 saw that he would roll over in his grave.  I also doubt this dates to further back than the late 1800’s.  It was more likely used on or with a steam engine like the ones shown at the Williams Grove Steam Engine Association than with a mill.   The mill is to the left, the barn to the right.

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This is a mill stone – maybe from this mill.  This has pieces of stone carefully cut and fitted together and banded with an iron band to hold it as one piece.  Note the area in the center to allow a shaft with keyways to turn it.  That shaft would almost certainly be made of wood and would have been vertical.  The water wheel shaft would have been horizontal hence a bevel gear would have been needed, again most likely of wood.  Note that this would have turned on a flat stationary stone of similar construction other than it would not have had the center hole.. 

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This is another view of the mill from the one side.  It shows the impressive building.

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There is a stone and wood barn behind the mill.   This building has undergone a lot of work, a metal roof which doesn’t harm the appearance, the siding that looks authentic and some of the other decorations.  I am realistic enough to know that every building cannot be saved but many can be put to use, kept in some reasonable condition and preserved in that state.  Often they provide a good basis for a home, group of apartments or shop.

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With few exceptions mills like this usually had several homes near them.  They were generally well built and most are standing today.  The ones that are not are mostly the victim or fire or developers.  Usually one of these homes belonged to the mill owner.  He owned the mill, he worked here, he lived here and often in the early days he farmed a piece of land here.   This log home is an example of one that is being preserved.

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This is a side view of the log home shown from the front above.  From the front it looks small but the rear section is quite large.  The rear section was almost certainly an addition but it is also log construction so it is probably from the same era.  One of the things I think is great is the use of the metal roofing which helps retain the character.  As an aside, this home most likely had sawn cedar wooden shingles when built or maybe even some natural roofing. 

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This home is located along the CapitolHill Road.   When I first looked at it I thought it was a new building dating maybe to the 1950’s.  But look at the back of it, the stone wall.  This was probably at one time a home that was much smaller, the larger front was built much later.

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This home is along CapitolHill diagonally across the intersection from the mill.  It is unlikely that this was the mill owner’s home.  It may have been a road house, maybe a General Store or large farm house.  The stone basement wall indicates age but it is unlikely this dates to 1809, more likely is 60 years later.  It is now five apartments, note the electric meters on the side of the home.  The sign says, “Yohe’s Apartments.”

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This home is directly across the road from the mill.  The CapitolHill Road probably existed at the time the mill was in operation but this home was not built till sometime about 1900 or later.  The square box shape, the hip roof were not used in the earlier days.   In addition the center chimney indicates a gravity hot air furnace in the basement near the center of the home, with a heavy iron grate in the floor above it to allow the heat to come into the upper part of the house.   There would be another smaller grate in the second story floor to allow heat to migrate there.  Sometimes they had crude dampers to control the heat flow.   I can remember some of these homes with this kind of furnace from the early 1950’s.  The early models were fired with coal and/or wood.  This picture was taken about 3:00 PM.  If you look at the shadows the road runs very nearly east-west (left to right).  The sun room is on the east side of the home.  In addition to the beautiful columned porch on the front you can see a portion of the two story porch on the back.