The peace and quiet of the mill pond every Saturday morning was
shattered by the rumblings of two water pumps. These pumps had to suck
out the water from the pit in the flume to enable us to even see what
we were trying to do. Three or maybe four, very muddy characters,
attired in the necessary garments to withstand the cold, were always in
the depths of the mill, working in the mud, sand, gravel and debris,
and at times it seemed as though we were merely moving these from one
place to another, rather than disposing of them.
We finally managed to extricate the old turbine. The simple mechanism
and design of this ancient piece of machinery to me is always
marvelous. We had hoped to renovate the old turbine and put it back in
its place, but age and rust made this impossible, and the turbine now
rests on the shore of the pond for all to see.
In the process of moving all the mud and sand, we uncovered the remains
of the original flume or sluiceway leading from the mill pond to the
wheel pit. We found the flume to be about five and a half feet wide
and originally about ten feet high and, roughly, thirty feet long. The
sides were planked against 8 × 8 hard pine timbers which were in turn
cut or tenoned into 8 × 8 mortised supports, twelve on each side of the
flume, about two feet apart, and each dowelled or pinned with one and a
half inch hard pine trunnells (wooden pins to you).
We were now down about twelve feet in the dike of the flume, and we
had to hand shovel and excavate all around each stub of these timbers,
knocking back the dowels and prying out each stub. These uprights had
been broken off when the flume was filled in. Every one of the stubs
and the pins was bright and new as the day it was put in. Packed
around each section of each stub was about six inches of semi-hard blue
clay.
Apparently wood or any substance long immersed in water will last
forever and undoubtedly the clay we found packed around each helped to
preserve this wood. We threw the stubs upon the top of the dike, and
they were not in the air and light two or three days before they turned
gray, discolored and aged looking.
George Woodbury, in his book, “John Goffe’s Mill”, says:
“Wood can be almost indefinitely preserved if it is kept either
consistently dry or consistently wet all the time. Let it get wet
and dry out a few times and it quickly decomposes. In Egypt where
it never rains, wooden objects are found well preserved after
countless centuries of burial. In Switzerland, the piles driven
into the Lac Neuchatel by the aboriginal lake dwellers are still
sound after two thousand years.”
We could not obtain any proper hard pine 8 × 8, but we did find some
creosote 6 × 8 hard pine timber creosoted, about twenty feet long.
Friend George very carefully made the tenons, and we were able to
replace them in the old position from whence they came. This may sound
easy, but just try it!
After a few hours of this work, the writer became exhausted. Hot baths
and horse liniment helped somewhat, but I think I can still feel the
effects. The chances are, our tenacious forefathers had no trouble
whatsoever in this work.
We were able to re-use about fifty per cent of the old pine pins, or
trunnells, recovered from the joints. The new ones we made by hand. I
would suggest to anyone contemplating such a venture as this that he
would be wise to anticipate endless frustration, hard work, and snide
and caustic comments from onlookers and discouraging prospects of
completion.
The embankment would cave in every few minutes, notwithstanding our
amateurish shoring attempts, but we managed to keep ahead of the
cave-ins by shoring up quickly before the whole dam caved in on top of
us.
During all this, the level of the water in the mill pond had to be
lowered so that we could work in this spot, which is about two or three
feet below the bottom of the mill pond. The lowering of the water level
resulted in great consternation to the inhabitants thereabouts, whose
only concern seemed to be _when_ were we going to raise the pond. No
one seemed to care about our sudden demise from the pond breaking
through the dam.
Of course, the pumps had to be working constantly while we were
employed in this operation. One of these pumps was loaned to us by
S. R. Nickerson of Hyannis, and the other was given us by Colonel Ralph
Thacher of the Cape Cod Shipbuilding Corporation, some of the few
persons who were sympathetic with our cause.
Although this pump from Colonel Thacher was probably around fifty years
old, it proved to be a most reliable and excellent piece of apparatus,
consisting of a large, horizontal, single cylinder, “make and break”
engine, driving a heavy, eighteen-inch rubber diaphragm pump. It
certainly puts to shame some of the modern pump equipment of today,
chugging along hour after hour like a patient old horse without much
noise and clatter.
We all became very fond of this sturdy antique which, to my mind,
combines functional beauty with gratifying simplicity and reliability.
Cooling was a simple matter of a pail of water in the cylinder jacket
tank; lubrication was by a few grease cups and an outside glass oil
container about the size of a large tea cup; and the starting was easy
and positive, all by hand.
[Illustration]
All the visitors seemed to be drawn to this piece of equipment when it
was operating, and we signified our tribute by mounting a small flag on
the pump every Saturday morning.
I should not forget to relate how Harvey Studley, a young, local
contractor, sent up three men and all the shingles necessary to
entirely re-do the roof of the mill itself. Harvey also gave us a
goodly supply of 10 × 10 hard pine timbers which we put to good use in
the sills and otherwise.
About six months before this project got underway, Harvey, who is
generally a quiet, peaceful soul, delivered an impassioned speech
at our annual Town Meeting, decrying the lack of interest by the
townspeople in the preservation of some of our own landmarks.
The building itself had to be raised by Bob Hayden and his crew, and
a new foundation completely made on the old. When this was done, new
sills put in and the building lowered, things looked a little better,
for at least the building sat upright.
Harvey gave concrete help, but although a good many people expressed
their admiration of the job we were doing and the task which we had
undertaken, we didn’t get too much actual help. It is always more fun
to watch work being done.
We did, however, among other people, receive help from a photogenic
barrister, Harold Hayes, who spent an afternoon in his boots with
a shovel helping us to disturb the mud of the centuries. One kind
gentleman, whom I do not know, was watching us one day as we were
trying to pry off some of the rusted bolts and nuts from the old
turbine. He showed up the next afternoon with a large, much-needed,
Stilson wrench which he donated to the cause.
Ben Baxter, one of the living heirs of the “Baxter boys”, and a
descendant of some of the best sea captains the Cape has ever produced,
gave much of his time and effort and loaned us considerable equipment.
Ben is an expert mariner, engaged in ferrying cargo back and forth to
Nantucket, virtually bring “oil to the lamps of China”. I don’t think
anyone knows Nantucket Sound better than Ben Baxter. Between his trips
to the island, Ben found time to be with us every Saturday. He is a
stout fellow.
My friend, John Doherty, who is engaged in the building of homes and
selling of real estate, has delivered to us many loads of loam, fill,
and sand.
Charles Cunningham, a local contractor and builder of large buildings,
was most generous in offering the use of his stock pile, where a
treasure was found of different sizes and shapes of all kinds of lumber
and materials. He told us to take anything we could use, and the offer
was music to our ears.
I do hope Mr. Cunningham didn’t feel too chagrined when he saw how much
we were taking, but nevertheless he grinned and said to go ahead and
take whatever we wanted.
The Hinckley Lumber Company of Hyannis graciously offered, and we
quickly accepted, lumber and supplies from their mill and warehouse.
Our busy surveyor of highways, Chris Marsh, loaned to us from time to
time a machine called a back hoe, which does marvelous things, and some
men to help with the hard digging.
One generous soul, Tom Powers, has given us several beautiful trees
which we are planting and hope will live to beautify the structure and
the landscaping. Tom is a director and officer of several banks, owns
most of the real estate on Cape Cod, and is a teller of tall tales in
any dialect you wish.
The two signs, and especially the final sign, which grace the mill
property were made by a sign painter and artist extraordinary, one
H. O. Thurston, of Centerville, a friend of long-standing.
There were many times when it seemed to me we would never finish this
job; that it really was perhaps too much for us to have ever started,
what with our limited knowledge and seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Somehow we all kept going, hoping that we would finally have the mill
completed as we envisioned from the beginning. It reminded me of the
chap who had the tiger by the tail and didn’t dare let go.
V
This land on which we live, called Cape Cod, is visited by hundreds of
tourists in the summer and dwelt upon by the year-round residents, most
of whom are totally unaware of the richness of the tradition and of the
way of life which is found here. This way of life is quite different
than any one finds in any other part of our country. We do live close
to the sea, and we have many little villages nestled around quiet,
patient roads. We have innumerable ponds and lakes, and the vast seas
on either side of us. Express highways bring crowds to the Cape, but
there are many villages and communities not encroached upon as yet to a
great degree by speed and hasty living.
Being close to Plymouth, the birthplace of liberty, and the second
landing place of the Pilgrims, we, of course, are bound to history by
close ties.
I think and I hope many people are becoming more and more aware of the
gradual loss and decay of our historical landmarks, and my thought is
to preserve the rich but dwindling heritage of our traditional land,
not by or through the Federal Government or by the State Government,
but by all the people in local communities through our own Town
Government.
There are a few restoration projects now under way and some have been
completed in the past few years. I can think quickly of the West Parish
Meeting House in West Barnstable, which can be seen from the Mid-Cape
Highway; the old Hoxie House in Sandwich; the Sandwich Water Mill, now
being restored by the Town of Sandwich, which, by the way, has a most
excellent setting at Shawme Pond, in which are reflected the tall,
white buildings surrounding it; the Brewster Mill at Stony Brook,
having been restored about three years ago by the Town of Brewster,
where one can purchase corn meal every Saturday afternoon at twenty
cents per pound.
I recently purchased some of the corn meal from the Brewster Stony
Brook Mill, where it is slowly ground between old millstones, and if
you have never tasted corn meal muffins made from this flour, you
are in for a real treat. Ground in this manner, the corn apparently
keeps the goodness and the natural nutrients of the grain. It is not
processed and bleached to a point where it tastes like a blotter. It
actually tastes like corn. We have also tried some of the wheat flour,
and the bread made from it is something to be experienced.
Other restoration projects that come to mind are two or three windmills
in Chatham and Eastham which have been restored or reproduced, and a
few herring runs, but there are many other places and sites that are
gradually going unless we all make some effort to preserve them.
We cannot, of course, entirely recapture the way of life in the 1800’s,
nor probably would we want to, but it would seem that we could preserve
and keep that which was good and those methods which were efficient,
employed so long ago. I don’t think anyone wants to give up our
electric lights for the old oil lamps, nor indoor bathrooms for the
outside “privy” (notwithstanding hearsay that the outdoor “privy” was
quite pleasant on a balmy summer afternoon), but there are many things
which we can learn from the old people that certainly would make our
mode of living and our existence a bit more pleasant, tranquil and
serene.
Although it may cost a bit more to “post and beam” a house, a bit
more for a bow roof, or box returns, or dental work on the trim, I do
believe that many people would really prefer this type of construction
once they have seen it, and I do know that most people could afford
it. I will also go farther out on a limb and say that this type of
construction is actually cheaper in the long run, and the long run
means the lifetime of a house.
Plymouth is now embarking on a very ambitious program of rebuilding the
old “Plimouth Plantation”.
I do not think that we on the Cape can do another Williamsburg, nor
do I think that we should try to restore everything we find, but each
town could do a little bit each year toward setting aside some of its
historical treasures.
We have all kinds of beaches, public landing places, swimming pools,
both public and private, for the two-week visitor in the summer, all
kinds of dance halls and bowling alleys for their entertainment; but
what a great wealth of information, interest, and education could
be aroused through the restoration of some of the old buildings and
landmarks.
The Yarmouth Historical Society, like many other similar groups, has
been doing an excellent job. The Captain Bangs Hallett house has been
authentically repaired, restored, and reconstructed by and through the
Historical Society. Captain Bangs Hallett was one of the deep-water
sailors who commanded some of the well-known clipper ships, the
giants of the sea. This house is open to the public every afternoon
in the summer and reflects the way of living at that time of the more
well-to-do sea captains.
My idea is not to restore the Baxter Mill just as another museum which
would be filled with all kinds of ancient bric-a-brac, furniture,
glassware and curios for people to look at and pass by. My thought is
that we should restore and reconstruct this mill, holding to exact
authenticity, so that the final result would be exactly the same mill
with its fundamental mechanisms and its simple dignity, and turn out
the same products.
[Illustration]