Stillwater History, Part Two: The Head Race

The Head Race

(Part 2)

 This is a view of the head race from inside the building basement.   The play of light on the falling water obscures the view of the brick wall beyond the waterfall.  This brick wall contains additional clues as to the developmental history of the technology of early industrial water power.  The most obvious characteristic of this wall is a brick archway which provides passage below the existing iron turbine.   This archway can be made out in the below photo although obscured by the falling water and plant roots.  This archway is only three feet tall and nine feet wide and extends back under the location of the above ground iron turbine. 

                                                                  

                                                                    The Brick Arch

The arch is two bricks wide and forms the entrance to what appears to be a circular chamber with fallen wooden beams and a rounded shaft in the center.

                                                                

                                                        The Interior Through the Brick Arch

 Additional investigation is clearly warranted, but if these first impressions are true, then there is a high probability that this later water wheel was an early horizontal turbine type that became popular later in the industrial revolution.  The turbine was favored over the waterwheel in situations where the head (difference in height between the pond water level and the tail race)  was greater than the practical diameter of the water wheel.  It wasn't until 1827 that the first prototype horizontal water wheel was first made by Foureyron, and these turbine type waterwheels were not common until the late 1830's - 1840's.  

Other circumstantial evidence indicating the possibility of a horizontal wheel at the mill can be observed in the following picture which was taken looking down at the iron turbine and head race area.

There is a circular depression below the iron turbine made visible by the ponding of water around the turbine. The dimensions of this "pond" are approximately those observed when trying to look through the brick wall archway.  Safety concerns prohibit the closer examination of the chamber at this time.

                                         

The iron turbine is believed to be the most recent technological hydro-power addition to the site.  This turbine represents the fourth head race configuration and is located above the older brick arch passage which is indicative of a earlier (third head race configuration - the horizontal turbine) technological advancement at the site.  It is also worth note that at some point following the use of brick for the construction of the  head race, the brick doorway [seen in the upper center of  the photograph] was filled in with concrete and concrete block – begging the question, “what is behind this wall?”.