Bridgeton Mill

I called Todd Crane and he brought over a small excavator with a jack hammer on the front of it.  He was very careful to not damage the sandstone.  I was under the mill with a walkie talkie watching the foundation for trouble.  The sandstone did fine and it took Todd 2 days with this…

In this photo you can see the cuts I made.  Now I am using a 90 lb jack hammer to chip out the concrete.  This was way too hard so I ….Got a 20 lb jack hammer.  This was easier but it was way too slow.  Shortly after this photo I gave up.  I managed…

The plan was to make cuts into the concrete and then chip it out with a jack hammer.  You can see where I marked the top of the arch. Here I am cutting the concrete. Mike Roe

After we finished the foundation the head race had to be dug out again.  The creek had gotten high and a lot of mud, sand … etc. had washed in.  I bought a back hoe attachment for the tractor so I do it myself. Mike Roe

Karen started a snack shop in the old office of the mill.  She kept saying she wanted a porch for folks to sit on.  So I decked her.  HA HA The new deck overlooks the mill pond, covered bridge and dam.  She says she has the best ice cream by a dam site.    We…

Well there was no gate … just lots of concrete.  After it was dug out I had it covered with rip rap and then a slurry concrete mix poured over it. Mike Roe

Once the foundation was complete we started on the head race.  That is where the water is directed into the mill.  It was filled with dirt, rocks, sticks …. etc.  I told the operator to be very careful because if there was any part of the old wooden gate I didn’t want it tore up.…

I need to back up a little.  Before we could fix the center of the dam with concrete.  We had to restore the wash out gate.  the gate was built by a friend of mine and that is Jay Scrivnor doing the elect. work.  Jay and his family helped with the dam repairs and also…

In this photo you can see the large openings where the water came into the mill.  The sandstone arch to the right and to the left is the tops of the old openings.  They were closed off with tiles and concrete sometime in the 1980s – I think.  the pillar between them was pretty bad…

After we finished work on the center of the dam we started on the foundation.  The plan is ….. if I haven’t told you …. Step #1.  Restore washout gate.  Step #2.  Use wash out gate to move water away from center of mill pond  Step #3.  Fix center of dam.  Step #4.  Restore foundation…