Mills on the Land

Mills on the Land. . , It is thought that the Duck River had more mills on it than any other river in Tennessee. Drawings by local river historian Joe Brooks show examples of the number of mills on the Duck River and its tributaries around the Shelbyville and Chapel Hill, Tn areas. , 1st Grist Mill 1846 – 1902 , By the early 1880s, John Wilhoite replaced the vertical water wheel with two horizontal turbines to power the mill. , The millhouse floated downstream, mostly intact during a record-breaking flood on the Duck River in 1902, as reported by the Marshall Gazette. Using logs to move the structure, the millhouse was returned to the site, and a new bridge was constructed. , 2nd Grist Mill 1902 – 1950 , After the flood of 1902, the original mill building was renovated and moved to higher ground. Three buildings were used in conjunction with the grist mill: the flour and corn mill, the feed mill, and the grainery. There was also a sawmill that was eventually disassembled. , Before sunrise, young men would prepare the mill for operation using catwalks and ladders on the third floor to prep the machinery. Meanwhile, the older crew would work on the ground floor and near the dam to ensure all machinery was ready to go. , By 1947, this mill had the capacity to produce about 60 barrels of flour (roughly 196 pounds per barrel) and 150 barrels of corn meal per day. , When the mill was destroyed by a fire in 1950, local people who had grain on deposit were able to get their flour and meal from Kingston’s Mill upstream due to an arrangement between the two property owners. , 3rd Grist Mill 1950 – 1959 , The third and final mill was diesel-powered. , Throughout the 1950s, most of the mills on the Duck River had already shut down or were disassembled. In 1959, this mill, the last mill in Marshall County, was closed due to continued financial struggles caused by the fire of 1950. , The mill was disassembled, and the land was purchased by the state in 1961 – a total of 1,140 acres, creating Henry Horton State Park. Remnants of the mill and the old bridge can be found along the Wilhoite Mill Trail in the park., [Captions:] , Wilhoite Mill 1958 , Current view of Henry Horton State Park