Stream-Based Industry

Stream-Based Industry. . , The waters of the LeTort Spring Run have powered industry in Cumberland County since the earliest era of European settlement. Stream-based production has been a staple of the area from the eighteenth through the twentieth century, in the form of mills, tanneries, forges, distilleries and breweries, among other business., In Carlisle Borough, there was a prominent LeTort-based industry in the southeast corner of the town in a cluster along Pomfret and East streets. In the latter nineteenth century, the American Ale Brewery operated at the northeast corner of East Pomfret and South East streets. Groff and Waldron utilized a mill race that ran a mile-and-a-half course from Bonnybrook along East Pomfret Street, at what is now the LeTort Park parking lot, to supply power for the operation of their LeTort Centre Mills (a.k.a., the Old Town Mill). Four tanneries , which used the water to soak animal hides , stood along the banks of the LeTort in this corner of town as of 1850. The tannery of S.A. Hague was located on East Pomfret Street, across from the American Ale Brewery, while the "Old Tannery" of W. Blair was located downstream, and the tanyard of David Forney operated on the corner of East Louther and North East streets. The LeTort Forge of Bricker and Jacobs , which utilized water for cooling , operated along the LeTort on East High Street, where the stream passes under the road., Another such cluster of industry existed in South Middleton Township, in the area near the Bonnybrook railroad platform. Abraham Bosler and Son operated both a grist mill (in which grain is ground into flour) and a distillery near the head of the LeTort throughout the latter nineteenth century. Built by Hugh Laird prior to 1776, the Bonnybrook Mill was the location where Gen. Richard Ewell bivouacked some of his Confederate troops prior to joining the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. Remains of a number of these mills, including a water wheel, a mill channel and the buildings themselves, still exist today along the LeTort Spring Run., A distillery existed in North Middleton Township as of 1872, just northwest of the Barracks. A mill was also located in this area downstream of the Post Maintenance building. Henderson's (a.k.a LeTort) Mill, was noted in 1837 to be a "first rate stone merchant mill…propelled by the waters of the Letort Spring, which never fails and never freezes."