After an overnight stay in that memorably quiet, serene place of Falling Spring, we began our trek westward to West Plains, MO and farther west to five more Ozark Mills. Our first mill was actually a bust! We nearly got stuck on a terribly steep, rocky and narrow back road down in a canyon. Sensibility finally prevailed and we stopped. Cokie hiked on down the road looking for Topaz Mill. Who cares at this point, I wondered? (The turtle was the highlight, in my estimation!) We then spent the next scary hour doing a thirty point turn on that road to get turned around and out of there!!
The rest of our mill tour was truly worth it starting with the Rockbridge Mill. Built in 1868 on picturesque Bryant Creek, it is now the center of a privately owned fishing resort and trout hatchery. Many of the town’s buildings have been preserved and the old general store converted into a popular restaurant.
The Zanoni Mill is nestled in the beautiful setting of a luxurious bed and breakfast operated by the descendants of A.P. “Doc” Morrison. Although a mill has operated on this site since the Civil War, the current structure was built in 1905. This is another overshot wooden wheel operated by a wooden flume carrying water from the spring up in the bluff behind the mill. The mill has been beautifully maintained and now serves as a meeting hall for the B&B’s guests and events. They have a really nice greeting committee, too!
Designated by the Missouri Dept. of Tourism as the most photographed mill in the state, Hodgson Mill operated from 1894 until 1977 and is registered in the National Register of Historic Places. It is unique because it was built directly over the 29 million gallon a day outflow of the spring. The wheel in the photograph is merely a decorative feature added for tourism’s sake by one of the past owners. 
We found a great bridge and a little color on our journey to the last mill on our tour, the 1892 Dawt Mill. We had read that this mill was still operating, grinding corn and wheat for the mill’s bakery goods. I certainly had my mouth set for something fresh and sweet! We were disappointed when we got there because everything was pretty much closed down – restaurant, mill and bakery. Oh well, it was interesting and can claim that it is the only water-powered mill on the North Fork of the White River.
Well, after all of this ‘milling around’ we decided it was time to go see the rest of the Ozarks in Arkansas. We planned to travel west to Scenic Highway 7, south to Hot Springs to soak for a while and then go to Little Rock for the Clinton Presidential Library and whatever else we can ‘sniff’ out. We’ll make amblin’ in Arkansas our next blog and hope we can find some more fall colors.
Our first spring was Big Spring near the town of Van Buren. It became Missouri’s first state park in 1924. During the 1930’s the CCC enhanced the facilities by building trails, bridges, dams, stone cabins and a lovely dining hall that still serves as a restaurant. Remember we got excited way back in Wisconsin when we saw a spring that had been captured with a four inch pipe and had run continuously for about 100 years. Now here we were looking at this beauty roaring forth with 154 to 840 million gallons per day and has been doing it for thousands of years! Folks, that is like Deer Creek at the bridge on Broad Street in Nevada City in the spring run-off! Huge amounts of water; rivers of water, unbelievable! The dang part was I wasn’t allowed to swim in it right there at the source but I got my chances later and believe me I really enjoyed those spring water rinses!!
Number two on our tour was Rocky Falls. First let me say that we learned many of the springs and waterfalls, creeks and rivers were at really low flows due to a drought in this area and an extra long hot summer. Rocky Falls is probably much bigger and more spectacular in regular years but it was still a pretty place. Cokie had to climb up the ancient lava outflow to get her best photos of the falls and the pool below, but she never actually saw where the water bubbled up out of the ground at the spring. It was evident that the hard lava igneous rock had been carved and worn into interesting shapes by thousands of years of flowing water. I liked how one of the local brochures said it, “The result is beauty and splendor, and a reminder of how patient effort makes opportunity of obstacles”.
Next spring was Blue Spring, known for its color. Folklore has it that the Native Americans called this spring “Do-Ge-Ke-Thabo-Bthi” or “Spring of the Summer Sky” because of its clear blue color. It is Missouri’s sixth largest spring with an average flow of 90 million gallons per day. Blue Spring has been measured to a depth 310 feet, the deepest mapped spring in the state.
Our favorite place in our ‘milling about’ was Alley Spring and Mill. This was our first mill site and what a treat it was. Built in 1894 by George McCaskill this was a ‘modern’ roller mill featuring steel roller machines instead of giant mill stones. This allowed wheat to be ground into fine flour as well as the traditional grinding of corn into corn meal. The hamlet of Alley grew up around the mill and it included a sawmill, general store, blacksmithy and one room schoolhouse. The mill is now a museum and is part of a lovely park and campground.
Springing forth to our next discovery we found Round Spring, touted as “one of the most beautiful in the Ozarks.” Its pool of water appears to be colored deep aquamarine blue tinted by the moss growing in and around it. There is also a nearby cave with unusual geologic formations. My Ladies were not able to take the cave tour as it was closed for the season. We were able to walk in about 100 feet and what we saw just wetted our appetites to try to see more caves in this Ozark National Scenic Riverway area.
Traveling down State Scenic Highway 19 we next finally found Falling Spring and Mill. It took a couple of tries down gravel and dirt forest service roads and the help of one really nice forest ranger. We ended up arriving at the same time at the mill site and the nice little park the Forest Service maintains. The mill was built in the 1920’s of rough hewn oak and was powered by a spring that emerges from the cliff behind and above the mill. This mill has one of the few remaining overshot waterwheels powered by water flowing down a wooden flume from the spring onto the wheel. Much of the primitive machinery can still be seen inside. Unfortunately the beautiful dovetailed log cabin has not faired very well at the hands of vandals and graffiti freaks. But our great ranger gal says there are some plans to restore the cabin if and when the budget improves. We had a really nice visit and lunch with Ranger Carolyn and a great bonus - she had a spare dozen and a half fresh, brown, ‘home-grown’ eggs she generously gave us. Just for that I let her scratch me and share her lunch with me because I am one generous guy too!
We'll be visiting more mills and springs in the next blog.
