The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-12-11

on the ground that every third farmer in
the county could quarry stone on his prem
lses. Ed thought they might make whet-
stones rom the ledge of coarse whetstope
on top of the mountain. but water power
and machinery were necessary for that, and
the demand for Welsh mountain whet-
stones was scarcely enough of an assured
thing to warrant going into the expense of
buylnR neutrality-suspicious., where Was
their water power?
Abel johnson is going to build a grist mill
or Morris brook" said Mr.. Hixon one night
at supper. ut will cost him a penny, for
there is 80 little fall anywhere on the brook
that to get the proper head he will have to
build a very high and broad dam. But old
johnson can stand it. He has skinned
enough out of people around here to run the
risk of loss. l used to own the very mill
site he is going to build on, but he beat me
out of it,"
NV, if we had it now we could build a
mill ourselves" said Alice.
Yes" said Mr., Hixon: although the
dam will cost him a great deal, the mill will
pay him we'll. All the farmers around here,
even west of the mountains. have to take
their grain clear to Gainesville to get it
ground. and he knows it,"
IF you had kept the mill site we could
run a Rrist mill and a milestone factory at
the same time" said John.
If" said Mr.. Hixon; that's Just it. If
we had a mill site We could talk about n
mill: The trouble is, we haven't any mill
Site"
But Ed thought that perhaps thew did
have a mill site after all. Taking a meas
uring stick. he set off by himself up the
course of a brook that tumbled down the
mountain side past the farmhouse. About
n quarter of a mile above the house the brook
flowed through q curious little cir cular
glen several acres in e1tent-an amphithe-
alter that looked ms if it had once been the
bed of a small pond. The brook found It's
way out of the glen through a narrow cleft
between two small cliffs that rose to the
height of about ten feet. The cleft between
these cliffs was fairly wide at the bottom.
but rapidly narrowed toward the top, until
the SUBMITS almost touched each other.
having such a curious resemblance to per
sons holding their heads together in secret
consultation that the TSixons had long
called them the whispering rocks"
1t was at this place that Ed stopped. He
believed there could here be built az small
expense n dam which. by Il fume. would
furnish water power for a mill further
down the hill side. The appearance of tho
Whispering Rocks had often caused him to
believe the glen had at some time really
been the basin of a small pond and that n
VEN OF soft stone, finally worn away by
the action OF the water, had been where
was now the cleft between the rocks. ANY.
body could see that by walling up the cleft
q very good dam could be made.
Ed followed up the work, but he found i.
impossible to form any estimate of the
amount of water flowing into it. TIL mo
quality of the ground WAS so great that the
volume of the flow could not be calculated
Here and there it spl cad wide and shallow
over n little level; again it plunged over a
steep descent, diminished in width and
ecarcelyincreased in depth. On an average. he
reckoned. the brook WIS three feet wide and
one foot deep; but in estimating the num-
Der of barrels it would deliver a minute
the rapidity of the flow would have to be-
taken into consideration. He concluded
however, that the dam would hold enough
to run the mill all day, filling M every
night. He dec ded that the dam must be
built, aud by himself and brothers. He
did not like to call upon his father for help
or have him even know of the project anti
1t had succeeded or failed.
He came down back again to the rocks
Yes, the easiest way to build a dam wouid
be to wall up the cleft. He did not believe
that any wooden structure he could design
would resist the weight of the water; be
sides the stone for a wall would cost moth
ing-was practically on the SPOT. Bot to
build II would be necessary to stop the flow
of the water for several hours. A series OF
small dams would do it. There were little
waterfalls every few yards above the glen,
and any number of small temporary dams
could be built. OF course the main portion