The Washburn A Mill

The Washburn A Mill. You Are Here. , You are standing on what was the ground floor of the Washburn A Mill. This floor housed the equipment that linked the power of St. Anthony Falls to the machines that milled the flour. That huge hole in front of you is a turbine pit., When this mill was built in 1879, the water of St. Anthony Falls powered all its equipment. (Later, steam engines shared the work.) Water from the falls flowed to the mill through a headrace canal before dropping down nearly 50 feet to turn underground turbines, huge horizontal wheels with blades that were rotated by rushing water., When you look at the turbine pit, imagine a vertical shaft coming out of it. The shaft would have connected the turbine to the horizontal shafts and gears that once filled this ground floor. Those shafts and gears transferred the waterpower that spun the turbine to the seven floors of milling equipment above them., "It was quite the sight when they'd start that water wheel," recalled miller Sheridan Granger. "You'd see that big shaft start to go and then the rope drive started going. That rope drive would drive eight floors of machinery, all from the water from the river. To me, it's still amazing.", Detail of cross section, C.C. Washburn's Flouring Mills Company, 1898, courtesy General Mills, Inc., Simple turbine, from John Storck and Walter Dorwin Teague, Flour for Man's Bread, 1952