Watson's Mill
Encyclopedia
Watson's Mill is a historic gristmill
in Manotick
, Ontario
, Canada
. It was built as the Long Island Flouring Mills by Moss Kent Dickinson
and Joseph Merrill Currier
. It was one of a series of mills constructed in the area using power from the Rideau Canal
. It earned its current name when it was purchased by Harry Watson in 1946. The mill remained in operation until 1972 when it was sold to the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
. They restored the mill to its 1860 condition and turned it into a museum and gift shop. It is Manotick's most notable landmark, and the mill's image is used as a symbol for the village. The mill is also well known for stories of it being haunted by the ghost
of Annie Currier, wife of Joseph, who died in an accident there in 1861.
Today Watson’s Mill remains as one of the few operating industrial grist mills in North America and the only such heritage site in the City of Ottawa. In 2010, Watson’s Mill celebrated its 150th Anniversary with numerous successful special events. Each year the Mill hosts various events for members of the community and surrounding areas along with increasing programming and maintaining the site for daily operation. Watson’s Mill is open daily from 10:00am–5:00pm from May to October. Fresh stone-ground whole wheat flour
is milled throughout the months of May to October.
and Joseph Merrill Currier
. Dickinson was a successful forwarder
and steamboat
owner. He was nicknamed “King of the Rideau” because of his many freight and passenger steamers that traveled up and down the Canal. Dickinson was also mayor of Ottawa
from 1864 and 1866, just prior to Confederation
, and lived in what is now the South African Embassy. His partner, Joseph Currier, was a lumber baron, and a partner in the Victoria Foundry located in Ottawa, where all of the Mill machinery was cast. Watson’s Mill was originally one of four milling operations built during this time. A saw mill was completed in 1859, the gristmill
in 1860, and a carding
mill in 1861. The Canada Bung
, Plug and Spile
Factory was constructed in 1875, completing the Long Island Milling Enterprise, later to be known as the "Manotick Mills".
Dickinson intended to develop a village around the Long Island Mills complex. He bought 30 acres of land and sold it as building plots. The village was named "Manotick", an Ojibwe word meaning “Island in the River.”
Watson’s Mill remained in the Dickinson family until 1928 when Elizabeth, Moss Kent Dickinson’s youngest daughter, sold it to Alec Spratt. Spratt ran it for a short period until his death. His wife continued with the business until it was sold in 1946 to Harry Watson. With the introduction of the Canadian Pacific Railway
, it became cheaper to import wheat
and flour
from the West than to grow and mill wheat in Ontario. Spratt and Watson gradually transformed the Mill into a feed and seed operation to keep up with the changing times and to accommodate the local dairy
and livestock farmers.
Watson’s Mill remained in the Watson family until 1972. On July 1, 1963, the National Capital Commission
(NCC) entered into a lease agreement with Harry Watson to open the Mill as a heritage attraction. The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
(RVCA) purchased Watson’s Mill, Dickinson House and the Carriage Shed in 1971 in order to preserve this heritage landmark and the name 'Watson’s Mill' was kept. The RVCA significantly restored the Mill – reopening it as a functioning grist mill and museum
. In 2008, Watson’s Mill Manotick Incorporated (WMMI) became the owner of the Watson’s Mill property. Today, it continues to run as a functioning industrial museum and community social centre.
, a world heritage site, in the village of Manotick
, Ontario
. It is built next to the control dam on the backchannel as the Rideau River splits around Long Island. Built across the other channel are the Long Island Locks.
Watson’s Mill is 20 km south from downtown Ottawa
, Ontario, and is accessible from Ontario Highway 416, exit 57.
quarried from the banks of the Rideau River
, as well as wood cut locally and milled at the Long Island Sawmill. The Mill's interior is highly ornamented; the partners, Dickinson and Currier, wished to make the Mill a model for industrial achievement and business entrepreneurship. Watson’s Mill was powered by six turbines constructed in Joseph Currier’s foundry
. The Ottawa Citizen
newspaper described Watson’s Mill as “a castle in the air” on its opening day.
Today, Watson’s Mill still has much of the original machinery in working order. The following machinery is active in milling demonstrations:
Watson’s Mill continues to run milling demonstrations on Sundays during the summer season. Whole wheat flour
milled onsite is available for sale in the gift shop as well as fresh whole wheat bread
made from Watson’s Mill flour
.
. In 1861, Ann was married to Joseph Merrill Currier, at that time part owner of the Mill
On Monday, March 11, 1861, 6 weeks into the marriage, coinciding with the return from Joseph and Ann’s honeymoon, Currier and Dickinson held a small party to celebrate their first successful year of operation. While making their way through the congestion of moving equipment and machinery, tragedy struck. Ann's crinoline
and dress became caught in one of the turbine
shafts on the second floor of the Mill and she was flung against a pillar and killed instantly. Following this tragedy, Joseph immediately lost all interest in the Mill and eventually sold his shares to his partner Dickinson.
Since that time, there have been numerous unconfirmed sightings of Ann’s ghost
in Watson’s Mill, causing the site to be often considered among Ottawa’s haunted buildings. Watson’s Mill currently runs a number of events promoting the haunted
nature of the building including the Terrifying Tales at Twilight and visits by the Haunted Ottawa and Paranormal Society.http://www.hauntedottawa.net/
using their newly acquired waterpower rights to the dam
. The sawmill was built sometime before 1859 and wood sawn from this mill was used in the construction of the Long Island Grist Mill (Watson’s Mill). The sawmill was small in size, measuring only 72 feet by 22 feet.
Due to the expansion of the bulkhead
in 1870, this first sawmill had to be removed. Construction for a new sawmill began before the old one was torn down.
The second sawmill was larger than the first, measuring 30 feet by 100 feet. By 1876, a 20-foot addition was added to accommodate the new Canadian Bung, Plug and Spile Factory. The second sawmill was destroyed by fire over the summer of 1887.
Although all physical evidence of the sawmill is now gone, it played a vital role in the creation of Manotick by providing lumber for the manufacture of woodwork for wagons, carriages, sleighs, wheel
s, furniture
and building construction.
was opened December 1, 1861. Located beside the gristmill
, the carding mill completed the three buildings that made up the Long Island Milling Enterprise.
Originally the carding mill measured 32 feet by 30 feet, but by 1870 more space was needed and the mill was expanded to 60 feet by 30 feet. This mill was not only a place where farmers could have their wool
carded and dressed, but also where custom cloth could be ordered. From 1874 to 1876, the carding mill was leased to R.W. Conway who ran the business.
The carding mill met its fate when a fire destroyed the entire building. The exact date of the fire is not known, but it is believed to have occurred sometime between 1879 and 1885. Although useful to farming families, the carding mill was never replaced scratched out of Dickinson’s records by Moss Kent himself.
Today, very little remains of the carding mill, except for remnants of its foundation buried in the riverbank.
After the Sawmill, which originally housed the bung factory, burned in 1887, Dickinson decided that only the bung mill was worth salvaging. A new building was constructed a little ways downstream and on the opposite riverbank from the gristmill.
To power the bung mill, a sixth turbine was installed in the basement of his gristmill, and a 3 inch steel cable ran out of the basement window and across the river channel to the new mill. When power was needed, a string was pulled, which rang a bell in the gristmill, notifying the miller to start the sixth turbine. The bung factory was dismantled in 1926 and moved to become part of a residence on Long Island in Manotick.
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
in Manotick
Manotick, Ontario
Manotick, Ontario is an exurb in Eastern Ontario on the Rideau River, located on the south edge of Ottawa's urban area. Manotick is located immediately south of the booming suburbs Barrhaven and Riverside South and is about from downtown Ottawa. It has been part of the City of Ottawa since...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It was built as the Long Island Flouring Mills by Moss Kent Dickinson
Moss Kent Dickinson
Moss Kent Dickinson was a Canadian businessman, mayor of Ottawa from 1864 to 1866 and member of the Canadian Parliament from 1882 to 1887....
and Joseph Merrill Currier
Joseph Merrill Currier
Joseph Merrill Currier was a Canadian member of parliament and businessman.He was born in North Troy, Vermont in 1820 and moved to Canada in 1837, where he began work in the timber trade. Around 1850, he set up a sawmill and gristmill operation at Manotick, Ontario with Moss Kent Dickinson...
. It was one of a series of mills constructed in the area using power from the Rideau Canal
Rideau Canal
The Rideau Canal , also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States and is still in use today, with most of its...
. It earned its current name when it was purchased by Harry Watson in 1946. The mill remained in operation until 1972 when it was sold to the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
Rideau River
thumb|Rapids on the Rideau River opposite [[Carleton University]].The Rideau River is a Southern Ontario river which flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is 146 km...
. They restored the mill to its 1860 condition and turned it into a museum and gift shop. It is Manotick's most notable landmark, and the mill's image is used as a symbol for the village. The mill is also well known for stories of it being haunted by the ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
of Annie Currier, wife of Joseph, who died in an accident there in 1861.
Today Watson’s Mill remains as one of the few operating industrial grist mills in North America and the only such heritage site in the City of Ottawa. In 2010, Watson’s Mill celebrated its 150th Anniversary with numerous successful special events. Each year the Mill hosts various events for members of the community and surrounding areas along with increasing programming and maintaining the site for daily operation. Watson’s Mill is open daily from 10:00am–5:00pm from May to October. Fresh stone-ground whole wheat flour
Whole wheat flour
Whole wheat flour is a powdery substance derived by grinding or mashing the wheat's whole grain. It is used in baking but typically added to other "white" flours to provide nutrients , texture, and body to the finished product....
is milled throughout the months of May to October.
History
Watson’s Mill was originally known as the "Long Island Flouring Mill", and was constructed by Thomas Langrell, an Ottawa contractor, for two prominent Ottawa businessmen: Moss Kent DickinsonMoss Kent Dickinson
Moss Kent Dickinson was a Canadian businessman, mayor of Ottawa from 1864 to 1866 and member of the Canadian Parliament from 1882 to 1887....
and Joseph Merrill Currier
Joseph Merrill Currier
Joseph Merrill Currier was a Canadian member of parliament and businessman.He was born in North Troy, Vermont in 1820 and moved to Canada in 1837, where he began work in the timber trade. Around 1850, he set up a sawmill and gristmill operation at Manotick, Ontario with Moss Kent Dickinson...
. Dickinson was a successful forwarder
Forwarder
A forwarder is a forestry vehicle that carries felled logs from the stump to a roadside landing. Unlike a skidder, a forwarder carries logs clear of the ground, which can reduce soil impacts but tends to limit the size of the logs it can move...
and steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
owner. He was nicknamed “King of the Rideau” because of his many freight and passenger steamers that traveled up and down the Canal. Dickinson was also mayor of Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
from 1864 and 1866, just prior to Confederation
Confederation
A confederation in modern political terms is a permanent union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign...
, and lived in what is now the South African Embassy. His partner, Joseph Currier, was a lumber baron, and a partner in the Victoria Foundry located in Ottawa, where all of the Mill machinery was cast. Watson’s Mill was originally one of four milling operations built during this time. A saw mill was completed in 1859, the gristmill
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
in 1860, and a carding
Carding
Carding is a mechanical process that breaks up locks and unorganised clumps of fibre and then aligns the individual fibres so that they are more or less parallel with each other. The word is derived from the Latin carduus meaning teasel, as dried vegetable teasels were first used to comb the raw wool...
mill in 1861. The Canada Bung
Bung
A bung is truncated cylindrical or conical closure to seal a container, such as a bottle, tube or barrel. Unlike a lid which encloses a container from the outside without displacing the inner volume, a bung is partially inserted inside the container to act as a seal...
, Plug and Spile
Spile
A spile is a small wooden peg used to control the flow of air into, and carbon dioxide out of, a cask of ale.Cask ale is served without externally-supplied carbon dioxide or nitrogen...
Factory was constructed in 1875, completing the Long Island Milling Enterprise, later to be known as the "Manotick Mills".
Dickinson intended to develop a village around the Long Island Mills complex. He bought 30 acres of land and sold it as building plots. The village was named "Manotick", an Ojibwe word meaning “Island in the River.”
Watson’s Mill remained in the Dickinson family until 1928 when Elizabeth, Moss Kent Dickinson’s youngest daughter, sold it to Alec Spratt. Spratt ran it for a short period until his death. His wife continued with the business until it was sold in 1946 to Harry Watson. With the introduction of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
, it became cheaper to import wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
and flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
from the West than to grow and mill wheat in Ontario. Spratt and Watson gradually transformed the Mill into a feed and seed operation to keep up with the changing times and to accommodate the local dairy
Dairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...
and livestock farmers.
Watson’s Mill remained in the Watson family until 1972. On July 1, 1963, the National Capital Commission
National Capital Commission
The National Capital Commission , is a Canadian Crown corporation that administers the federally owned lands and buildings in Canada's National Capital Region, including Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec.The NCC was created in 1959, replacing the Federal District Commission , which had been...
(NCC) entered into a lease agreement with Harry Watson to open the Mill as a heritage attraction. The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority is an inter-municipal environmental protection and advisory agency that works with local municipalities, government agencies, special interest groups and the general public to protect the natural resources of the Rideau River watershed...
(RVCA) purchased Watson’s Mill, Dickinson House and the Carriage Shed in 1971 in order to preserve this heritage landmark and the name 'Watson’s Mill' was kept. The RVCA significantly restored the Mill – reopening it as a functioning grist mill and museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
. In 2008, Watson’s Mill Manotick Incorporated (WMMI) became the owner of the Watson’s Mill property. Today, it continues to run as a functioning industrial museum and community social centre.
Mandate
Watson’s Mill thrives with a mandate to continue operating as a flour and feed mill, as well as a social, cultural and educational focal point for its many visitors.Location
Watson’s Mill is situated on the banks of the Rideau RiverRideau River
thumb|Rapids on the Rideau River opposite [[Carleton University]].The Rideau River is a Southern Ontario river which flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is 146 km...
, a world heritage site, in the village of Manotick
Manotick, Ontario
Manotick, Ontario is an exurb in Eastern Ontario on the Rideau River, located on the south edge of Ottawa's urban area. Manotick is located immediately south of the booming suburbs Barrhaven and Riverside South and is about from downtown Ottawa. It has been part of the City of Ottawa since...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. It is built next to the control dam on the backchannel as the Rideau River splits around Long Island. Built across the other channel are the Long Island Locks.
Watson’s Mill is 20 km south from downtown Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Ontario, and is accessible from Ontario Highway 416, exit 57.
Construction and Facilities
Watson’s Mill was built using limestoneLimestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
quarried from the banks of the Rideau River
Rideau River
thumb|Rapids on the Rideau River opposite [[Carleton University]].The Rideau River is a Southern Ontario river which flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is 146 km...
, as well as wood cut locally and milled at the Long Island Sawmill. The Mill's interior is highly ornamented; the partners, Dickinson and Currier, wished to make the Mill a model for industrial achievement and business entrepreneurship. Watson’s Mill was powered by six turbines constructed in Joseph Currier’s foundry
Foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...
. The Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...
newspaper described Watson’s Mill as “a castle in the air” on its opening day.
Today, Watson’s Mill still has much of the original machinery in working order. The following machinery is active in milling demonstrations:
- 3 of the 6 original turbines (others onsite but unused)
- 1 of the 4 original pairs millstones (another on display)
- Hopper and Grain ElevatorsGrain elevatorA grain elevator is a tower containing a bucket elevator, which scoops up, elevates, and then uses gravity to deposit grain in a silo or other storage facility...
- Garner Bin
- Bolter
- Seed Cleaner
- Feed Grinder
Watson’s Mill continues to run milling demonstrations on Sundays during the summer season. Whole wheat flour
Whole wheat flour
Whole wheat flour is a powdery substance derived by grinding or mashing the wheat's whole grain. It is used in baking but typically added to other "white" flours to provide nutrients , texture, and body to the finished product....
milled onsite is available for sale in the gift shop as well as fresh whole wheat bread
Whole wheat bread
Whole wheat bread is a type of bread that is made using flour which is partly or entirely made from whole or almost whole wheat grains, see whole wheat flour and whole grain. It is one kind of brown bread. Synonyms or near-synonyms for whole wheat bread elsewhere in the world are whole grain bread...
made from Watson’s Mill flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
.
Ann Crosby Currier
Watson’s Mill is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Ann Crosby Currier, the second wife of Joseph Currier. Born in 1841, Ann was the daughter of a successful hotel owner and grew up along with seven siblings, in the village of Caldwell, New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. In 1861, Ann was married to Joseph Merrill Currier, at that time part owner of the Mill
On Monday, March 11, 1861, 6 weeks into the marriage, coinciding with the return from Joseph and Ann’s honeymoon, Currier and Dickinson held a small party to celebrate their first successful year of operation. While making their way through the congestion of moving equipment and machinery, tragedy struck. Ann's crinoline
Crinoline
Crinoline was originally a stiff fabric with a weft of horse-hair and a warp of cotton or linen thread. The fabric first appeared around 1830, but by 1850 the word had come to mean a stiffened petticoat or rigid skirt-shaped structure of steel designed to support the skirts of a woman’s dress into...
and dress became caught in one of the turbine
Turbine
A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work.The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades, or the blades react to the flow, so that they move and...
shafts on the second floor of the Mill and she was flung against a pillar and killed instantly. Following this tragedy, Joseph immediately lost all interest in the Mill and eventually sold his shares to his partner Dickinson.
Since that time, there have been numerous unconfirmed sightings of Ann’s ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
in Watson’s Mill, causing the site to be often considered among Ottawa’s haunted buildings. Watson’s Mill currently runs a number of events promoting the haunted
Haunted house
A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property...
nature of the building including the Terrifying Tales at Twilight and visits by the Haunted Ottawa and Paranormal Society.http://www.hauntedottawa.net/
The Sawmill
Located on the opposite bank of the river, Moss Kent Dickinson and Joseph Currier built their first sawmillSawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
using their newly acquired waterpower rights to the dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
. The sawmill was built sometime before 1859 and wood sawn from this mill was used in the construction of the Long Island Grist Mill (Watson’s Mill). The sawmill was small in size, measuring only 72 feet by 22 feet.
Due to the expansion of the bulkhead
Bulkhead (barrier)
A bulkhead is a retaining wall, such as a bulkhead within a ship or a watershed retaining wall. It may also be used in mines, to contain flooding.Certain bulkheads, e.g., at the Hudson River are of historical and architectural value....
in 1870, this first sawmill had to be removed. Construction for a new sawmill began before the old one was torn down.
The second sawmill was larger than the first, measuring 30 feet by 100 feet. By 1876, a 20-foot addition was added to accommodate the new Canadian Bung, Plug and Spile Factory. The second sawmill was destroyed by fire over the summer of 1887.
Although all physical evidence of the sawmill is now gone, it played a vital role in the creation of Manotick by providing lumber for the manufacture of woodwork for wagons, carriages, sleighs, wheel
Wheel
A wheel is a device that allows heavy objects to be moved easily through rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. Common examples found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle,...
s, furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
and building construction.
The Carding Mill
Built in just eight months, the woolen carding millCarding
Carding is a mechanical process that breaks up locks and unorganised clumps of fibre and then aligns the individual fibres so that they are more or less parallel with each other. The word is derived from the Latin carduus meaning teasel, as dried vegetable teasels were first used to comb the raw wool...
was opened December 1, 1861. Located beside the gristmill
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
, the carding mill completed the three buildings that made up the Long Island Milling Enterprise.
Originally the carding mill measured 32 feet by 30 feet, but by 1870 more space was needed and the mill was expanded to 60 feet by 30 feet. This mill was not only a place where farmers could have their wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
carded and dressed, but also where custom cloth could be ordered. From 1874 to 1876, the carding mill was leased to R.W. Conway who ran the business.
The carding mill met its fate when a fire destroyed the entire building. The exact date of the fire is not known, but it is believed to have occurred sometime between 1879 and 1885. Although useful to farming families, the carding mill was never replaced scratched out of Dickinson’s records by Moss Kent himself.
Today, very little remains of the carding mill, except for remnants of its foundation buried in the riverbank.
The Bung Factory
Moss Kent Dickinson established the Canada Bung, Plug and Spile Factory in 1875. At the time, there was only one other operation in Canada. Dickinson shipped his bungs (wooden stoppers for barrels) all over the worldAfter the Sawmill, which originally housed the bung factory, burned in 1887, Dickinson decided that only the bung mill was worth salvaging. A new building was constructed a little ways downstream and on the opposite riverbank from the gristmill.
To power the bung mill, a sixth turbine was installed in the basement of his gristmill, and a 3 inch steel cable ran out of the basement window and across the river channel to the new mill. When power was needed, a string was pulled, which rang a bell in the gristmill, notifying the miller to start the sixth turbine. The bung factory was dismantled in 1926 and moved to become part of a residence on Long Island in Manotick.
Affiliations
This museum is affiliated with: Ottawa Museum Network, and the Society for the Preservation of Old Mills (SPOOM).Further reading
- Catherine L. Carroll (1974). King of the Rideau: A Novel Based on the Life of Moss Kent Dickinson. Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, Ottawa. ISBN 0-920-96037-5
- Dora E. Stamp (2009). Manotick, Then and Now: Reflections and Memories. Rideau Township Historical Society, Ottawa. ISBN 9-713-84 S78-3
- Felicity L. Leung (1981). Grist and Flour Mills in Ontario. National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, Parks Canada, Environment Canada. ISBN 0-660-90787-9
- Celeste A. Peters (2005). The Grist Mill. Weigl Educational Publishers. ISBN 1-553-88058-7