Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1912-08-16

there Is catch in your throat wheI
you miss it-but no-that ciump o.
walnut trees lift It for a moment The
az OF the real estate Spectator hal
not come quite that far yet.
Those bees fitting far up among the
dead brances against a background OF
gray sky are the Oldest settlers of this
county. The colony was there In that
same tree long years before a white
man set foot in Missouri. There are
men living who knew that tree and
Its wild bees sixty years ago.
Turn to the right after you cross In.
dian Creek and go about two hundred
yards to where the stream pours in a
broad white waterfall over a low ledge
OF rock and drifts lazily in a wide pool
with streak Of silver bubbles down its
center. The banks here are rock, with
hollows gouged In them and overhang-
Ing shelves that cast black shadows
upon the stream.
Watts's mill squats low upon the op-
posite bank. The weathered gray Of its
sides and roof is the exact shade Of
the limestone beneath and all around
II and the old mill seems to merge
with It and is part of 1t. You look
In vain for any line OF cleavage be-
tween mill and rock The years have
blended them into one somber gray.
An Atmosphere Of Gray.
The naturalists tell Of birds and
lesser creatures OF the wood who take
on the color Of the bark or the grasses
upon which they live. You think Of
this as you see the miller in the door
way. His clothing. even to his cloth
slippers. his long beard. his soft felt
hat, sprinkled with flour, are a uni
form gray. the gray Of rocks and mill
Stubbins Watts. great-great-grand-
son Of Daniel Boone, is rs years old
But the old water mill Is older than
he. 1t was built In 1880 and for eighty
two years has been grinding corn and
wheat within ten miles of Kansas City.
The hands that hewed its walnut
beams and fashioned the hickory pins
that keep Its weathered boarding in
place moldered into dust a half GEN.
tury ago. but the old mill grinds on
just as patiently, as faithfully, as un-
mindful Of passing time and genera
lions as It did long years before this
city was dreamed Of.
You pass your hand over the sur
face Of walnut beam, hewed out by
the az Of John Fitzhugh, eighty-two
years ago, and lay your fingers In a
gaping notch Just as his az blade left
1t. and think OF the changes that have
come TO Western Missouri since then.
Westport Landing grew out along the
old wood road until II bridged with |
paved streets the miles between II |
and Westport and overfiowed south
ward and yet the old mill wheel turn
ed and the corn was ground to meal
between the homemade stones OF rock
Quarried on the bank of Indian Greek.
Since this mill was built the COM
merce Of the Santa Fe Trail came
nourished for a time and died; and
then the rush Of forty-niners TO Cali
fornia flowed past It, and after them
the railroads came and passed on TO
the Pacific, and with them the legions
Of pioneers like the clouds of locusts
overspreadlng all the land beyond to
the westward. The Mormons of indie
pendence, who brought their grist to
this mill. departed to found a new en-
pire beside the dead sea in the nm.
known desert Past this old mill. tust
two hundred yards to the east. where
the big elm leans out over the creek.
armies OF the Civil War hurried
splashing wildly through the ford. the
Southern amy in flight from the defeat
at Westport. the Northern forces hot
In pursuit.
Indian Creek Has Never HURLED.
A great city OF tall buildings and
all things modern has made the conn
Try to the north like a teemipg ant
bill. where all is hurry, hurry. hurry
but Indian Creek has never hurried.
Its stream has flowed placidly, baskine
Ing the sun. ,pausing In the shadows Of
Its trees; and Just as placidly the old
mill wheels have turned. their slow
creakings attuned to the liquid muir.
murings OF the waterfall.
Placidly has stubbins Watts gone IN
and out among the turning shafts for
sixty-two years. barring those four
years Of strife when he fought in the
Southern army. In those years he was
aroused and filled with fervor that
got him honorable mention more than
'nce for deeds on the battle front. But
when 1t was over he returned to In
iian Greek and the old mill and the '
yurgling OF the water as II ran under
he door soothed him into a calm {
philosophy and he talks but little.
Yes. he says. "it's pretty here:
hey say there's no prettier bit Of I
cenery In Missouri. / like to hang I
mt the window here and watch the !
bubbles and the shadows, and listen
o the water and the wheels, well
Just couldn't live without them"
The old man with the -four busted e
lothing and beard has distinguished
ncestry, and In the family Bible are h
he documents to prove II. b
Bis grandfather. Samuel Watts, was 1,
volunteer soldier in the army Of Gen.
raj Lafayette which came from c,
rance and fought with Washington
the Revolutionary War. The rec B
rds show that he was wounded seven
mes. that he was captured by the n