In and Around the Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina

Mingus Mill

This is the continuation of the post called “Oconaluftee Mountain Farm Museum"of 13-August 2009 (earlier posts on the Cherokee Reservation can be found under “Native Americans” on the right side of my blog under the list of categories. ) After recounting our visit to the farmstead I ended the post by wondering whether we should keep exploring the area around the Oconaluftee River or go back to the Cherokee Indian Reservation in Cherokee, NC. Well we decided to stay around the river area and see what else we could find. Oconaluftee is the name of the river valley where, a long time ago, there was a Cherokee village and Appalachian community.



We drove down the road about ½ mile and saw a sign directing us to the “Mingus Mill, an 1886 Turbine Mill.” We parked and followed a trail to the site of the old mill.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

This historic grist mill, still on its original site, does not use a wooden water wheel to power all of the machinery of the building, but it uses a small working cast iron turbine instead. In the early 1900s this was still an operating mill grinding wheat and corn for the Appalachian community nearby. It stopped operation in the 1930s when the land, and the mill, was bought to be part of the newly created Great Smoky Mountains National Park.



John Mingus had the mill built in 1886 by Tennessean millwright S. Thomas Early and his assistant Aden Carver. It was completed in three months at a cost of $600. Until it was purchased by the Park Service in 1934 this mill operated at wholesale and retail levels. In 1937 when it was restored, Aden Carver was in his 90s and helped with the restoration. The mill was closed during World War II then reopened in 1968. In summer the mill is open and demonstrations are given showing how the mill originally operated.

Demonstration


Grinding cornmeal

Mingus Creek is the source of water for this mill. The water comes to the mill via a sluice (canal) and a wooden flume thus turning the turbine which provides power to the mill. See sketch below.



Starting at the mill we walked along the sluice canal



then I climbed a bit to look inside the sluice to take a picture.




We went up a trail to see where the creek emptied into the millrace. (Note: A sluice is a water channel that is controlled at its head by a gate (from Dutch word 'sluis'.) For example, a millrace is a sluice that channels water toward a water mill.)


We kept walking and looking at wild flowers



and mushrooms along the way



Then we arrived at Mingus Creek, where some of the water is diverted into the millrace ( which then flows down to the mill.)



It was so peaceful near this creek, just the birds chirping and the soft murmur of the water. We stayed there for a while, and then went back towards the mill to take pictures close to the wheel pit.

Don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge them.

After a last look at the mill we left



We took a detour to drive back around the hills one more time




But it was getting late and we were a bit hungry so we decided to get back to the Reservation.



We stopped at a Cherokee restaurant to eat some authentic Cherokee fry bread with beans and a side of sweet potato fries.

….For a moment evening sun sits on a mountain top before he descends down;
And pretty soon native night creatures will be the only sounds;
Then the mountains become covered with a smoky mist;
As nature gives the land a good-night kiss;
Every star is lit as they sparkle throughout the night;
And treetops dance in the water with shadows by the moon light;
And soon the land of Cherokee becomes quiet;
Until morning, nature says goodnight.
-Frank Goss, 2006

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Let me end by saying how grateful I am to all my blogging friends for leaving comments on my blog. I read them all and I thank you for your kind thoughts and encouragement. I especially enjoyed reading your comments about the French bashing subject I talked about in my last post. Unfortunately these anti French sentiments are still being passed around. Last Tuesday I received a copy of an anonymous email being forwarded at large about the ungratefulness of the French people towards the USA. It certainly would be bad if it was true but this email originated in 2003 and the facts in it are inaccurate. A good source for checking if an anonymous email is accurate or malicious, on any subject such as medicine, politics, religion, etc. is to go to the web site called Snopes, Urban Legends - it will show if the email is true or false. In the case of the French bashing showing how ungrateful the French were, it was false. Here is the site: http://www.snopes.com/.

Thank you again for visiting my blog and writing comments on my posts – it is like having many new friends all over the country and new and nice connections all over the world. Having a circle of good friends in the blogosphere is something I appreciate.

I am going on a trip and the next one or two posts will be published while I am away. I won’t be able to go and comment on my readers’ posts either, but shall do so when I come back.

A vintage postcard you may like to thank you