Saving A Part Of Cane Hill History

ASSOCIATION PLANS TO RESTORE WATER WHEEL

CANE HILL — A 16,000- pound water wheel, last used about 90 years ago at the Cane Hill Mill, was removed last week so that a volunteer association can begin restoring it.

Cane Hill Restoration Association Inc., has been accepting donations to protect the historic wheel and pay to restore it since 1942. Along with Cane Hill Mill, the association also owns about seven acres in the area.

Ed Marshall, president, said the association felt a sense of urgency to remove the wheel after the latest big flood in 2009. The flood caused large rocks along Jordan Creek to hit the wheel and damage it.

“Water was 18 feet above normal and did a tremendous amount of damage,” Marshall said. “If we get another flood like that, the pedestal will come down and the wheel will fall in the creek.”

Leonard Reed, who serves as vice president for the association, said the whole point of removing the wheel was to save it “before it washes away.”

A large crane with Gibson Crane showed up the morning of March 27 to attach cables to the wheel’s axle. Members of Cane Hill Restoration Association had hot dogs and drinks for those from the community who had gathered to watch the wheel being removed.

The process started at 2 p.m. but the wheel would not budge. Marshall estimated about three to four feet of the bottom of the wheel was buried in mud and rocks that had accumulated over the years.

The crew with the crane and members of the association went to work. They pried away rocks from the buckets of the wheel. They cut through several spokes with a welding torch and sawed through other spokes.

The crane then very slowly lifted the wheel, moved it across the foundation of the mill’s rock building and gently placed it on a gravel and dirt parking lot.

Marshall and others immediately began disassembling the wheel, with the goal to save as much as possible. The parts will be stored and then volunteers will begin restoring the original parts and building new parts.

Students in Lincoln High School’s agriculture program will help with the restoration, according to Marshall, by rebuilding the water buckets.

Marshall said the plan is to pour a huge concrete slab on the parking lot of the mill site and to reassemble the wheel on that slab. Once finished, it will be on display for the public to see. Some type of fence will be used to protect the wheel so that people cannot climb on it or vandalize it.

Historic Cane Hill Inc. has expressed an interest in returning the wheel to its original position and that could happen sometime in the future, Marshall said.

The wheel is 36 feet, 6 inches in diameter and has 112 water buckets. Each bucket would hold six gallons of water or about 48 pounds of water. The wheel had 32 spokes and Marshall hopes the association will be able to save 21 spokes.

“We want to keep as much of the original metal as we can,” Marshall said.

A history of Cane Hill compiled by Arkansas Historic Preservation Program says the original mill was built by John Rankin Pyeatte on Bush Creek in the early 19th century. It was one mile northwest of Cane Hill.

After Pyeatte’s death in 1895, Pyeatte’s son- inlaw William S. Moore and Moore’s son-in-law Walter Buchanan moved the mill to its current location in 1902 on Jordan Creek between Cane Hill and Clyde. The Moore- Buchanan Mill or Cane Hill Mill operated until the early 1930s.

Marshall said his research shows the wheel was built by the Fisk Company on the west coast. Company records indicate a steel wheel was placed on site for the Cane Hill Mill in 1907, a few years later than what other history documents say, Marshall said.

The Cane Hill Mill was used for grain and was one of the only ones in the area that could produce flour. Most of the other mills in the area were used to produce cornmeal.

It was used as a grain mill until 1927 and then with the era of automobiles and trains, people began taking their grain to Fayetteville, Marshall said. From 19271931, the mill was used as a sawmill with a steam engine, not with the water wheel.

Marshall still remembers when he saw the wheel and the foundation for Cane Hill Mill when he was about 10 years old in 1954. His grandfather took him on a trip to the wheel and told Marshall of going to the mill to get flour as a child.

His grandfather would ride by horseback all day to Cane Hill, drop off the grain to be milled into flour and spend the night with a family in Cane Hill. His grandfather returned to the mill the next day to get the flour and then headed home to the Rheas Mill area.

Later when he was older, Marshall said he understood the significance of mill area. When he and his wife returned to the area, he found out about Cane Hill Restoration Association and became involved in helping to preserve the mill and wheel.

Cane Hill Restoration Association is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization and any donations to help with the restoration would be greatly appreciated, Marshall said. For more information or to donate, contact Marshall at oldcanehillmill@yahoo.com. He estimated it would cost about $10,000 to restore the wheel, including parts, engineering and free labor.

“We’re excited,” Marshall said. “This is a worthwhile project and is a part of history.”

LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER A large crane was used to move the water wheel for Cane Hill Mill last week as part of a project to restore the wheel and hopefully put it back in its original place sometime in the future. The wheel and old mill are located on Jordan Creek off Highway...

PHOTOS BY LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE LEADER Ed Marshall, president of Cane Hill Restoration Association Inc., explains how the wheel is put together. It is 36 feet, 6 inches in diameter, weighs 16,000 pounds and has 112 water buckets.

The wheel was slowly placed on this gravel and dirt parking lot next to Cane Hill Mill where it was to be disassembled and the parts taken to storage.