Rocker59
03-14-2006, 09:16 PM
Another. Decided to go for a ride before I hit happy hour down on Dickson Street:
Another great Spring day here in the Ozarks. It was Friday afternoon and I decided to take the Quota out for a little ride. One of my favourite places near where I live is War Eagle Mill. It is one of only two operational grist mills left in the state. At one time, a century ago, there were more than one thousand of them. Every community had a mill. War Eagle Mill makes many of thier own products, they have an eatery, even a website: http://www.wareaglemill.com/
Springtime in the Ozarks is Yellow. You always know Spring is around the corner when the dafodils and the forsythia begin to bloom.
Some forsythia along AR-45:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424659-M.jpg
Its about a 25-mile ride from my home to the mill along some nice two-lane roads. AR-45 East to Mayfield Store, then AR-303 North:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424594-M.jpg
Vacation home, anyone? :
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424595-M.jpg
AR-303 is a nice little road with some fun twisties, and little traffic:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424596-M.jpg
Not far from the mill, you can catch a glimpse of the War Eagle River Valley. Mill is in the distance:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424649-M.jpg
The objective of my little trip, the mill and the bridge:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424597-M.jpg
War Eagle Mill has an “under-shot” wheel (the only functioning "undershot" mill in the USA). The river was dammed and a “raceway” built to house the wheel:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424617-M.jpg
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424629-M.jpg
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424609-M.jpg
One of the really neat things about this area is it’s state of preservation. Take away the modern cars (and motorcycles) and you could easily transport 100-years into the past. Here is a little history on the mill and community that used to thrive here. Some of the text was taken from the historic markers in the area. I’ve filled in a few gaps:
“In 1832, Sylvanus Blackburn left Tennessee with a wagon and four oxen, and came to the War Eagle River Valley in Northwest Arkansas. He spent the Winter building a log home and clearing the land of his homestead. He brought his wife from Tennessee the next year. One of Sylvanus’ first projects was a water-powered grist mill. In 1838, a flood on War Eagle destroyed the mill. A second mill, four stories tall was soon erected.”
http://www.wareaglemill.com/images/history1.gif
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424637-M.jpg
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424598-M.jpg
“Peter Van Winkle came here about 1850. By 1860 this was a thriving crossroads."
http://www.nwacitiscapes.com/photos/art0920050784.jpg
Van Winkle's lumber mill was just North of Blackburn's grist mill:
http://www.nwacitiscapes.com/photos/art0920050784_2.jpg
http://www.nwacitiscapes.com/article/?id=784
http://www.projectpast.org/jcbrandon/papers/vwlandscape.asp
An old store at War Eagle:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424643-M.jpg
"With Arkansas’ secession from the Union at the beginning of the Civil War, five of Blackburn’s sons joined the Confederate Army and the rest of the family went to Texas. March 8, 1862, Confederate Generals Earl Van Dorn and Sterling Price bivouacked 10 miles South of Elk Horn Tavern after their defeat at Pea Ridge. The next day they reached the Blackburn-Van Winkle area where the abandoned homes were used to house the sick and exhausted. The retreating Confederate Army burned the mill on War Eagle to prevent it‘s use by Federal troops."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pea_Ridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Van_Dorn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Price (Marshall Rooster Cogburn's cat was named Sterling Price in the movie True Grit)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Curtis
"While camped nearby at Cross Hollows, Grenville M. Dodge (later the founder of General Mills) ground corn at this mill. At the time, he was a Colonel in command of 1st Brigade 4th Division of the Union forces who were involved in the battle of Pea Ridge.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenville_M._Dodge
Elk Horn Tavern and Cross Hollows were on the "Old Telegraph Road" that connected St. Louis with Ft. Smith. The road was also used by the Butterfield Overland Stage company starting in the 1850s to make it's 30-day run from St. Louis to San Francisco.
"Sylvanus Blackburn’s sixth son, James Austin Cameron Blackburn built the third mill in 1873. The village of War Eagle grew around the grist mill. There was a sawmill, a carpentry shop and a blacksmith shop, but the grist mill was the center of activities - socializing, square dancing, and weddings.”
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424614-M.jpg
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424641-M.jpg
“In 1924, once again, the mill burned. For nearly 50-years only the dam and the raceway remained. In 1973, then centennial year of the third mill, Jewel A., Leta Medlin and Zoe Medlin Caywood built the current mill on the same foundation as an authentic reproduction of the first mill to preserve the history of grist milling.”
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424638-M.jpg
Today, War Eagle Mills is the site of a large semi-annual arts & crafts fair: http://www.wareaglemill.com/craftsfair.htm
Dafodils near the mill:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424646-M.jpg
War Eagle is two landmarks in one. The bridge:
Wherever there is water, there is the need to get across it. The historic War Eagle Bridge is a Parker Through Truss bridge built in 1907 by the Illinois Steel Bridge Company that spans the War Eagle River. This is another bridge that really helped the people of the Ozarks by allowing them all-weather travel across a river. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places 10.19.1985:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424621-M.jpg
A nice cut-stone pier on the East side. Cast concrete on the West side:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424602-M.jpg
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424606-M.jpg
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424633-M.jpg
The bridge has been threatened with replacement several times recently by the Highway Department. I guess they have to spend thier Federal money on something. Justify thier jobs and all. Luckily, a plan has been made to bypass the old bridge with a new one down stream. The old bridge will be preserved for pedestrian use.
From the mill, I headed South, back down AR-303 through Spring Valley and on to Mayfield. I decided to take the 'back way' through Mayfield, travelling on the old Hwy-45 alignment that is still gravel.
The 'old' Mayfield store:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424653-M.jpg
I'm riding the Quota, so I 'have' to do at least a little gravel. The original alignment of what is now AR-45:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424655-M.jpg
Then it's back onto AR-45 West and towards home in Fayetteville.
All in all, a great way to spend a couple hours on a motorcycle on a nice Spring day!
Another great Spring day here in the Ozarks. It was Friday afternoon and I decided to take the Quota out for a little ride. One of my favourite places near where I live is War Eagle Mill. It is one of only two operational grist mills left in the state. At one time, a century ago, there were more than one thousand of them. Every community had a mill. War Eagle Mill makes many of thier own products, they have an eatery, even a website: http://www.wareaglemill.com/
Springtime in the Ozarks is Yellow. You always know Spring is around the corner when the dafodils and the forsythia begin to bloom.
Some forsythia along AR-45:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424659-M.jpg
Its about a 25-mile ride from my home to the mill along some nice two-lane roads. AR-45 East to Mayfield Store, then AR-303 North:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424594-M.jpg
Vacation home, anyone? :
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424595-M.jpg
AR-303 is a nice little road with some fun twisties, and little traffic:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424596-M.jpg
Not far from the mill, you can catch a glimpse of the War Eagle River Valley. Mill is in the distance:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424649-M.jpg
The objective of my little trip, the mill and the bridge:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424597-M.jpg
War Eagle Mill has an “under-shot” wheel (the only functioning "undershot" mill in the USA). The river was dammed and a “raceway” built to house the wheel:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424617-M.jpg
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424629-M.jpg
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424609-M.jpg
One of the really neat things about this area is it’s state of preservation. Take away the modern cars (and motorcycles) and you could easily transport 100-years into the past. Here is a little history on the mill and community that used to thrive here. Some of the text was taken from the historic markers in the area. I’ve filled in a few gaps:
“In 1832, Sylvanus Blackburn left Tennessee with a wagon and four oxen, and came to the War Eagle River Valley in Northwest Arkansas. He spent the Winter building a log home and clearing the land of his homestead. He brought his wife from Tennessee the next year. One of Sylvanus’ first projects was a water-powered grist mill. In 1838, a flood on War Eagle destroyed the mill. A second mill, four stories tall was soon erected.”
http://www.wareaglemill.com/images/history1.gif
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424637-M.jpg
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424598-M.jpg
“Peter Van Winkle came here about 1850. By 1860 this was a thriving crossroads."
http://www.nwacitiscapes.com/photos/art0920050784.jpg
Van Winkle's lumber mill was just North of Blackburn's grist mill:
http://www.nwacitiscapes.com/photos/art0920050784_2.jpg
http://www.nwacitiscapes.com/article/?id=784
http://www.projectpast.org/jcbrandon/papers/vwlandscape.asp
An old store at War Eagle:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424643-M.jpg
"With Arkansas’ secession from the Union at the beginning of the Civil War, five of Blackburn’s sons joined the Confederate Army and the rest of the family went to Texas. March 8, 1862, Confederate Generals Earl Van Dorn and Sterling Price bivouacked 10 miles South of Elk Horn Tavern after their defeat at Pea Ridge. The next day they reached the Blackburn-Van Winkle area where the abandoned homes were used to house the sick and exhausted. The retreating Confederate Army burned the mill on War Eagle to prevent it‘s use by Federal troops."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pea_Ridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Van_Dorn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Price (Marshall Rooster Cogburn's cat was named Sterling Price in the movie True Grit)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Curtis
"While camped nearby at Cross Hollows, Grenville M. Dodge (later the founder of General Mills) ground corn at this mill. At the time, he was a Colonel in command of 1st Brigade 4th Division of the Union forces who were involved in the battle of Pea Ridge.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenville_M._Dodge
Elk Horn Tavern and Cross Hollows were on the "Old Telegraph Road" that connected St. Louis with Ft. Smith. The road was also used by the Butterfield Overland Stage company starting in the 1850s to make it's 30-day run from St. Louis to San Francisco.
"Sylvanus Blackburn’s sixth son, James Austin Cameron Blackburn built the third mill in 1873. The village of War Eagle grew around the grist mill. There was a sawmill, a carpentry shop and a blacksmith shop, but the grist mill was the center of activities - socializing, square dancing, and weddings.”
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424614-M.jpg
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424641-M.jpg
“In 1924, once again, the mill burned. For nearly 50-years only the dam and the raceway remained. In 1973, then centennial year of the third mill, Jewel A., Leta Medlin and Zoe Medlin Caywood built the current mill on the same foundation as an authentic reproduction of the first mill to preserve the history of grist milling.”
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424638-M.jpg
Today, War Eagle Mills is the site of a large semi-annual arts & crafts fair: http://www.wareaglemill.com/craftsfair.htm
Dafodils near the mill:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424646-M.jpg
War Eagle is two landmarks in one. The bridge:
Wherever there is water, there is the need to get across it. The historic War Eagle Bridge is a Parker Through Truss bridge built in 1907 by the Illinois Steel Bridge Company that spans the War Eagle River. This is another bridge that really helped the people of the Ozarks by allowing them all-weather travel across a river. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places 10.19.1985:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424621-M.jpg
A nice cut-stone pier on the East side. Cast concrete on the West side:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424602-M.jpg
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424606-M.jpg
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424633-M.jpg
The bridge has been threatened with replacement several times recently by the Highway Department. I guess they have to spend thier Federal money on something. Justify thier jobs and all. Luckily, a plan has been made to bypass the old bridge with a new one down stream. The old bridge will be preserved for pedestrian use.
From the mill, I headed South, back down AR-303 through Spring Valley and on to Mayfield. I decided to take the 'back way' through Mayfield, travelling on the old Hwy-45 alignment that is still gravel.
The 'old' Mayfield store:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424653-M.jpg
I'm riding the Quota, so I 'have' to do at least a little gravel. The original alignment of what is now AR-45:
http://rocker59.smugmug.com/photos/59424655-M.jpg
Then it's back onto AR-45 West and towards home in Fayetteville.
All in all, a great way to spend a couple hours on a motorcycle on a nice Spring day!