Arcadia Dam and Water Works

Arcadia Dam and Water Works. Arcadia Mill Archaeological Site. , Flumes (ditches) and dams were constructed to divert and form holding ponds for raw materials like logs. Arcadia’s earth and stone dam was approximately 15 foot high, between 30 and 120 feet wide and about 1200 feet long. Able to withstand tremendous water pressure from the 60 acre mill pond it created, the dam helped form a “head” of water channeled through a ditch, called a millrace to the mill building located below the dam. Trash rails filtered out water-borne debris like logs and limbs as the water entered the sluiceway, the final passage to the mill. Millers could open or close a sluice gate in order to control the water flow. The flowing water struck the mill’s water wheel and then returned to Pond Creek through a tailrace channel. A tunnel dug around the mill helped prevent flooding and damage to the mill’s machinery. Lining the creek’s curve with slabs of ironstone also helped slow erosion and flood damage., By 1835, the Arcadia mill was producing over 250,000 board feet of lumber. By the end of the decade, the mill was shipping at least 900,000 board feet of lumber each year., The logs were dragged up an incline through one end of the sawmill and placed on a horizontal bed or carriage which moved them into the saw. Logs were cut in two or more pieces and could be repositioned on the carriage for additional cuts. Saws operated at approximately 100-130 strokes per minute, and logs moved through the frame at approximately two feet per minute., Mill Saw Apparatus , A typical sawmill operation consisted of a crank or shaft powered a wooden rectangular frame or sash containing a vertically placed saw. The frame moved up and down within a larger fixed frame. Adding two or more saws to the frame increased efficiency. These groupings of saws were called “gang saws.” . This historical marker was erected by University of West Florida Historic Trust. It is in Milton in Santa Rosa County Florida