Millrace

Millrace. Prairie Pathways - An Interpretive Journey. , Cheap Energy , The 6-foot drop in the Cedar River attracted William Sturgis and Erasmus Adams to the area in 1845. The falls on the Cedar provided a dependable source of energy to operate a saw mill for lumber and a grist mill to grind grain. Sturgis built a timber brush dam and cut a millrace (channel to direct water to the mills, parallel to the river with a gate to control the water level. Water from the river was diverted into the millrace and then water was allocated to each mill as needed to drive the generator. A larger millrace was built in 1867 which attracted new businesses including three large flour mills, an oatmeal and cornstarch plant, a saw mill, and woolen and paper mills., The millrace also produced electricity. A small private electric generator was built on the millrace in the 1890s. When the City of Cedar Falls bought the millrace in the 1930s, it constructed a power plant that went into operation in 1941. The "hydro" plant, located at the east end of the millrace, provided cost effective energy for many years. The millrace was filled in during the construction of the Highway 20 bridge in 1971.