The Old Mill Dam

Here is my latest family-related eBay grab: a postcard featuring a photo of a mill dam, located (either presently or in the past) somewhere in Mehoopany, Pennsylvania -- the epicenter of my family's history. After I saw I won, I called Ken, my source for all things Mehoopany. He lives in a house built on the site of The Hotel, and if anyone knew the location of the mill dam, he would:

"Around that time, there was really only two mills that could have belonged to: one was the sawmill, but that couldn't have been it...it probably was for the Jennings (later Kintner) Mill."

I have been to the place where a small part of the structure of the mill still exists, but I hadn't thought of trying to find the source of the mill's power. So back in Ohio, I powered up Google Earth to try to find it. My best guess is shown in the photo below. Another view shows a faint image of a fairly straight earth or stone structure across the width of the stream bed:

The fact that the dam is seemingly distant is not really problematic, since the stream and the mill would be liked by a "sluice". According to an account written by the WPA (discussed in an earlier blog post), 


"A covered sluice way, repaired several times, but still the original design, runs direct from mill to dam, about an eighth of a mile north-east. It is constructed of wood with supports approximately every few feet."

As it turns out, the distance between the locations marked by pushpins (above) is 728 feet, just a little more than 1/8 of a mile -- confirming the approximate location of the mill. Not bad, eh? In any event, the next time I'm there I'll see if there is anything left of the dam. At least, thanks to Ken, I'll know where I can start looking.