Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1929-08-22
rgan County Democrat McConnesye Thursday August

other at ,the corner where Elmer
! Taylor now resides, and still am
| other on the southeast corner OIL
| Union and Eighth street. While |
/ am not positive, | think water from
| the court house was used in the hrst
mentioned, and probably waste wa
ter from the pumps which were
near the other two. The fire engine
was stored at the market house
which stood where the armory
building now is. I cannot remember
an! use of this machine, only the try
that could find a place to connect,
were not sufficient to operate it.
! Another foundry occupied the place
whore Montgomery's barn now
stands, and was owned and oper~
ated by Cyrus p Fisher, whose prin-
cipal business was the building of
threshing machines. | remember
Mr.. Fisher and his reputation OF
| being the strongest man in this To-
cality
The milling business may be, |
think, considered the principal
business in early times. The Dos
ter mill located below the lock had
woolen factory in connection, and
furnished employment for many
men The -four was packed In bar
rels by a hand power press. The
barrels all were nailed, that is each
hoop was nailed before the packing,
except the top hoops which must be
nailed after All flour was in bar
rels, as before mentioned, and ship
| viz e
east. This mill was abandoned in
The early seventies, the owner clos
ing it and buying the present Elk
Eye mill. The third mill was the
James Gillespie mill and formerly
the John E. Thomas mill; each OF
the three had a wooden factory con
itcted, and the Gillespie mill had a
saw mill in addition. All mills were
run by water power. Wheat was
plenty in those days, and the mills
operated continually day and night.
There was no market for bran,
therefore it was spouted into the
river, and | have seen it used as saw
dust for path across muddy street
in order to cross dry footed to get
their whisky. Flour was not to be
had by the citizens, except at the
mill. and you must take your sack,
as no paper sacks were even thought
of. The first sacks to he used were
cotton, and used by Eli Shepard J;
this was just prior to the Civil war,
and was soon abandoned on account
of the high price of cotton. The
Gillespie mill did not have much
space on which to build, and the
fla ,ix,n
back to the hill, the river road pass
ing through the building. There was
a track or ways laid for distance
of at least 500 yards on which to
roll the -four barrels to a point
where it was considered safe above
the dam for steam oat to land,
and there was a ware h use at this
point in which to store iour.
Ferries And Bridge
The road from PennsFille, travel
ed IT that time. called the lower
road, came to the river at the mouth
] of Douda run, then up the river
Thus it was quite necessary that ii
ferry should be maintained below
/ the dam, as well as another above
the present bridge site. The build
ing of the first bridge in 1861 i'm
mediately killed the upper ferry,
and The other in a short time. The
lower ferry was operated by car
riage travelling on an overhead
rope, which ran from the brow of
the hill on the west side to pole
on the east side, and this rope must
be high enough SO steam boats could
pass under at all stages of water.
This necessitated pole Ca huge
poplar 80 feet high, with the car
riage on this rope, a line reaching
from the carriage to one end of the
ferry boat. where it passed over a