Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1889-08-08

doors watching the grain come in or
the four go out. II was his elevator,
hopper-boy, conveyer, and kiln-drier
which changed the old process of milling
into that which has bnt recently again
been revolutionised by the great mills of
the Northwest.
Leaving the mills and the lighter at
their doors loading Brandywine corn
meal for the West Indies. we arc hero at
the foot OF the long mill Hraoes.h Four
of them, two on either aide, bring down
q dark, silent and powerful volume from
the damn above. Batween the races lie
the pathways which for a hundred years
have been familiar walks of tho towns.
people; and here ut the lower gates,
whore, if the rniiIs ara in action, there
are bu. some spouting and snarklipg Jets
from crevice and hole, the flood retnrns
to the stream when they are die with
cataract that draws admiring groups con-
tinuaily. Picturesque ia the view up the
stream, where its wAtsrH foam among the
exposed and rugged bowldsrs, aud besu.
titul are the vists4 thRt open through the
lestnge of summer on either side Along
the pathways, under the skies of jane, go
scores OF pleasure seekers, children
laughing, lovers IN close company, elders
s9eSiuR ths sweet air aud enjoying the
bright landscape Tne French families
who came to Wilmington when their rev
olution had followed ours, and again in
the dsys OF blood that ensauguined San
Brandy&ine. Their bath h-houses were
placed here beside the race, and their
white capped blancbisseuses set benches
ft,N ha AZ AF alw kr,
after the manner of old France.
Lingering here, long after their bands
had disappeared from the surrounding
country, were lonely survivors OF the
handsome and peaceful Lsnni- Lensppe
The ruins OF their wigwams survived the
revolution, and all the picturesque stream
is haunted with those forms Of aboriginal
romance whose legar ds now have grown
questionable. Ipdian princesses may
well have padded their swift canoes in
the quiet reaches OF the creek, and stesred
them boldly down the rapids; fleat hun
tsra doubtless shot game in the hills, and
soeered the dsh as they passed upward.
Whsu Penn purchased the Chester county
lAnds,20 miles above US. the Indians care
fuily reserved the right OF catching shad
there forever. II wAs a little earlier than
this treaty that Psnn's elder associate,
George Fox, on his religious visit to the
scattered settlers in the colonies, came to
the Brandywine aad crossed in this vi
oinity with difficulty. BE had come
from New Jersey, aud was vending his
way slowly and tediously by the unoer.
tain forest paths to the settlements down
on the Eastern Shore. Fox doubtless
had made his crossings higher up than
where the race banks Of ths old mills
now are. But here, where few stones
aud timbers in the stream mark the ruina
Of 'the barley mill dsm," was the ford
of the "old Kings Rosd,"a highway
that in its time was Of more than Local
importance, connecting the settlements
Pennsylyauiaward with those down on
the Chesapeake.
Quite famous in Its day was ths old
barley-mill. John Fleming, Scotchman
here cleaned the grain and in winter en-
joyed q turn ct Oaledonian sports on the
ice. With q countrymsn, William Key
he Is remembered by Miss Montgomery
in her "Reminiscences OF WIlmin yton, y
az oontesting the game of ''golding" witt
that picturesque exile from Dublin
Archibald Hamilton Rowan. the secretary
OF that organizat.on-the United Irish
men-whose 'utils effort ia hehalt o.
Ireland's political liberties marked th'
decade from 1870 to 1900. Above Johr
Fleming's were other mills, whose origir
and history would burden our sketch Il
describe separately. One, however, wa,
Gilpin's paper mill ana here, in 1917, til,
making of paper in endless rolls was frs
effected, the patent being that of rhomai
Gilpin, dated year before. Upon hi
machinery, in 1891, he made the papel
for Layoisns's great atlas, which Matthew
Carey aud son-rhe son was the lat,
Henry O. Osrey-published that year ii
Philadelphia. Ehs invention revnlu
ito lizsd tho proos ises OF paper manutac
ture, and the Nav England mill owner
came, as il was said, to see its operation
aud went away to initiate it in their owl
factories.
Here by the barley mill the valley |
somewhat less contracted thau tRrthe
up. The hills rise with longer slope
IL is above that we enter upon NOR
! rugged and picturesque ground. Vwt
of the races with the well tcodden wall
beside one OF than, accompany us unit
the "ssoond dam" is reaoaed, and her
is one OF the most attractive spots upoi
the stream. The high and staep BAN
, is piled with masses OF rock in wilt
! IL not grand confusion; the view Il
either direction, up or down the crsek
is charming. To enjoy the beauty her
many a vigitor before us has walked III
from the lower mills, and we have come
no doubt, in the footsteps of man,
famous people. One of them must hav
, been that agitsting Briton, William Oob
! bets, FIR he was in Wilmington dusin
the two years from 1874 to 1796, and hi
, ruminations on the condition of mankin
must often havs Brought htm to tn
banks Of the Brandywine.
] Above the second dam we enter par
J OF the valley appropriated by manutat
tories, which have replaced the smalle
. beginnings that we're neighboss in tim
: past to Gitpin at the paper mill, Isaa
> Jones ut the old snu,f mill and job
, Fleming down at tho harley mill. Thes
greater structures have flied the littl
valley with busy WORK people, who's
I homsly bat not untidY villages flank th
factories, clusgsring down closely alon
stream, or finding a narrow toothDld o
!, the bold sscents. Passing them thong
t not without pausiu2 frequantly to enjo
4 fresh charms OF vista aui prlspsot, "
A enter that part Of ths BrAndywine whic
I in ths past thres.quartsrs OF centur
5 has contributed at isast equally with il
s natural bssuties and revolutionary batti
+ TO make the whole stream famous W
l. have reached the great powder yards {
o the duponta, which now stretch upwRr
II along the creek distance measured j
II miles, adjoining great demesnes of far
d land waicl rise ont OF the valley o
q either hand. Our walk necsssasil
d pausss, for the way beside the stream
10 fsuced across and the gate Of the el
is closure is strictly though civilly guardet