2-17-2012- magnolia mill

  

        sometimes its the simple close stuff we have never been to. dover dam, football hall of fame,(if it had not been for free passes i would never have been there. -2x/ life), bolivar dam , magnolia mills, and mt trashmore. well the magnolia mill has been a part of my life as i used to get our grain ground there when sandyville mill closed down. mr. elson was still grinding grain at that time and he had another guy helping.

        the magnolia mill was originally powered by water wheel , but has been converted to a diesel engine. it was less maintenance and has a lot more power to grind grain. you would drive over a wheel bridge that had 2 cables connected to a winch. this would be used to lift your truck's front end into the air and dumping the ear corn into the pit. the auger would take it from the pit to the hammer mill which was connected to the diesel engine and would grindcorn , cob and all into feed. we would add oats and supplements such as salt, and molasses which was tasty sweet to the cows. and bag it up and throw it back on the truck. 

                  mills such as this are outdated as the portable mill has the advantage of being right there on your farm when you need it. you no longer had to bag all this feed as you usually just back up to a bin designed  to hold the grain and just auger it into the bin. you only needed to stop by the mill and pickup the supplements you use. small farmers such as myself find it easier to just buy bagged feed of which i go through one 50 pound bag per week of chop, and also one bag of bird feed. 

      currently and probably in perpetuity,  the mill will be in the hands of the stark  parks. StarkParks: MAGNOLIA FLOURING MILLS- hours at the mill have changed as it evolves into the park system . the mill was donated to the stark parks by the elson family who had run the mill and adjacent lumber yard and lived beside the mill for years. check before visiting the mills as they do allow for tours through the mill , but at certain times . also i believe there is a fee. it is cheaper to just go buy a 50 lb. bag of bird food or chop for your cow if you have one and walk through the mill if they let you. 

       i have been able to see the old water wheel in the basement. and the bagging floor of the mill. it is like stepping back into the past to enter he old mill as it was a center point of commerce during the early days of magnolia . it was located on the sandy beaver canal and grain no doubt was shipped from magnolia to steubenville via the sandy beaver canal. once on the ohio river could be transported to a variety of locations in the east. 

      wheat and buckwheat were also ground for flour for table use by families and i still believe they have flour for sale there that is ground for that purpose. well it is hard to believe i had so many shots of the mill . if you had been watching the weather of the shots i take i am amazed at how many are perfect weather shots with skies of blue, and plenty of sunshine. i sit here in mid February looking at these shots and think is it ever going to happen again. knowing today was also nice and tomorrow is supposed to be nice. gee i might even get to like the weather in Ohio. 

       and although the last shot is not of the sandy beaver canal it was similar to the days when the canal boats would cross ohio in their waterways.ferrying people and grain to distant destinations.