Grouse Valley Flouring Mill

Yes, you are right that the way rocks and such were moved is amazing.Course they had to get the job done and knew how.
Thanks for your knowledge on the building of heavy things.bluebird

Old Salt wrote:The spot where the mill was is on the Creek and all that is left is huge rock foundation and partial wall on top of the foundation. How they got the huge rocks in place is beyond me. Does anyone know how they would have gotten those rocks in place. The hill above it is nothing but rock. Any suggestions would be great.Thanks Sharon

How did the Egyptians build the pyramids? How did the Celts build Stone Henge?

Actually by the 19th century it was very common to use cranes and scaffolding to build large buildings with large blocks of stone. In the middle ages all of the large building were built in this way. Medieval cranes were usually either man powered or animal powered. By the late 19th century they could have used steam power. It was still back breaking work.

These cranes were not exactly what we think of as a crane now. Quite often they were built from huge wooden beams and built on-site. When the work was done they were dis-assembled and taken away to be used somewhere else or even used as construction material for something else on-site.

A lot depends on the size of the stones in question. Up to a couple hundred pounds they could have been lifted by one or two men and a block and tackle arrangement. If your talking about tonnage size stones they probably used some form of crane.

If they used local stone from the immediate area they could have used horses or oxen to drag the stones to the building site where they would be hung in a sling and lifted by crane, or block and tackle, to workers on scaffolds. If the stone had to be brought from further away they would have been hauled by wagon, one to a few at a time depending on size.

Quite often people underestimate our ancestors. The ancient Romans had concrete and built most of their buildings with it. They even had a form of concrete that set under water. The great cathedrals were built with huge stone blocks using cranes. The block and tackle has been around since Archimedes. Some form of crane has been used since Egyptian times, or before. Ancient people had batteries [ the "Baghdad Battery" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery ] and calculating machines [ the "Antikythera Device" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism ]. People have had the same basic intelligence level since they first started to make tools. Don't underestimate our ancestors.

The spot where the mill was is on the Creek and all that is left is hugh rock foundation and partial wall on top of the foundation. How they got the hugh rocks in place is beyond me. Does anyone know how they would have gotten those rocks in place. The hill above it is nothing but rock. Any suggestions would be great.Thanks Sharon

Grouse Valley Flouring Mill,Winfield Courier October 14,1880.

Grouse valley Flouring Mill,this immense establishment is operated by C.Waldschmidt & Bros.. Who manufacture a splendid grade of flour.This flour is made from wheat produced in Grouse Valley, which proved by Fairbanks tester 65 pounds to the bushel. These gentlemen supply the various towns and settlements in Cowley County and also ship to the Indian Territory. The mill is a two-story stone building, 30x60 feet with engine house 30x30 feet. The mill has all the modern machinery and turns out 7,000 pounds of flour and 10,000 pounds of corn meal daily. It is running night and day to fill the various orders and keeps three teams constantly on the road to supply the local trade.


(Submitted by Sharon Drake)