THE OUTDOOR WORLD 



359 



est men in the rolling mill business. 



Davenport & Weeks acquired the 

 privilege by deeil in 1827 from Peter 

 Scofield to perpetually flood a strip of 

 land on the cast side of the pond. The) 

 raised the old dam from ten to twelve 

 feet and built the small lower one for 

 the wire mill which they had recently 

 built. They also acquired the propert) 

 on both >ides of Mill River, including 

 the pond, as far north as the Simcox 

 property just bought by Mr. Borglum, 

 and extending south beyond the small 



from the woods and flowing through the 

 boarding house grounds emptied into the 

 flume of the wire mill. At this tank the 

 washing of clothes was done and the 

 stock was watered. About ten rods 

 north of the tank was a barn, the upper 

 story of which was used as a granary. 

 They built the lower wire mid and put 

 in annealers and what was considered 

 modern machinery for drawing wire and 

 making pump chain, the rake teeth wire 

 being drawn at the upper mill, the wheel 

 of which is still standing:, but half of the 



p8£L 



- 



THE WHEEL OF THE FIRST ROLLING MILL. 

 The same wheel was afterwards in the wire mill (repaired) with new shaft, etc., but was the 



"same old wheel." 



cemetery. The ancient highway crossed 

 a ford just opposite the small cemetery 

 and joined the present road a few rods 

 west of where Mr. George Boyd has 

 recently built a tine place. There was 

 no highway for bridge as now just be- 

 low the dam. Davenport cv Weeks also 

 built the boarding house and tenements, 

 the stables and slaughter house on the 

 hill just north of where the old cellar of 

 the boarding house now remains. Op- 

 posite the boarding house on the west 

 side of the highway, there was a wooden 

 tank tilled by a brook that ran down 



dam has been swept away. The upper 

 and lower mills were connected by a pri- 

 vate way along the side of the lower 

 flume and river. There was a blacksmith 

 shop on the northwest of this way, and a 

 carpenter's shop on the southwest. As 

 an instance of the enterprise of Daven- 

 port & Weeks, it is told that during the 

 gold fever of "4 ( > they shipped around 

 the Horn to California rake teeth rods 

 bent to shape, packed in oats, and sold 

 the oats for enough to pay the freight 

 and received a large price for the rake 

 rods. 



