Mingus Mill

Mingus Mill. Great Smoky Mountains National Park. You didn't make it without corn....everyone ate cornmeal, sometimes two and three times a day. -George Moore, local resident, For 50 years, nearby farmers brought their corn and wheat to Mingus Mill, built in 1886. The miller usually charged a toll of one-eighth of the grain the customer brought for milling. The gristmill's stone was turned by a water-powered, cast-iron turbine. From water pressure built up in the penstock at the flume's end, the turbine generated 11 horsepower, enough to run all the mill's machinery. On the second floor, the smut machine blew wheat grain free of debris, while the bolting chest separated ground wheat into grades by sifting it through fine to coarse bolts of cloth., (captions) , Mingus was the largest gristmill in the Smokies. Its 200-foot-long wooden flume brings water to the mill's turbine. As early as the 1820s, more progressive millers began using turbines to power their mills rather than waterwheels., The Mingus family sold the mill to the National Park Service in the 1930s.