Morningstar Mill - Originally Named Mountain Mills

The Morningstar Mill Park, Interpretive Center, Museum site is made up of a number of buildings: the gristmill, (more familiarly known as Morningstar Mill) the turbine shed, the millers house, the icehouse, sawmill and the barn.

As you cross the bridge to enter the site, the gristmill is straight ahead and the sawmill, is to your left on the other side of Beaverdams Creek. The turbine shed is attached to the rear of the gristmill. Up the hill and to the right of the mill is the millers house, and behind it is the icehouse. As you first entered the parking area the barn was in front of you. In the bottom of the barn is our recreated blacksmith's shop circa 1905. In the upper portion of the barn is the area where we are recreating the carpentry/carriage for approximately the same time period shop.

The site, with the mill, millers house, and gorge as focal points, is a unique representation of early Ontario milling heritage of provincial significance. The mill and millers house were designated in 1997 by the City of St. Catharines under the Ontario Heritage Act as buildings of historic and architectural value and interest.

Gristmill

HISTORY OF OWNERSHIP

The gristmill was built in 1872 on land owned by Robert Chappel to process wheat, oats, barley and rye. It was constructed of native stone quarried from Beaverdams Creek to form the mill pond. The mill stones (flinty burr stones) originally came to Canada from the LaFerte fields of France and were brought over as ballast on ships planning to take back logs for sale in France. In 1875, the City of St Catharines Water Works Commission purchased property at DeCew Falls and constructed dams across Beaverdams Creek, interfering with the water supply to the mill. As a consequence, in 1878, the City of St Catharines was compelled to purchase the property from Chappel. This was the beginning of a long relationship between the City and the site that is locally known as "Morningstar Mill."

The City proceeded to lease the mill to a number of millers. Ellis and Drake ran the mill for a time and their names appear on the original sign, under layers of paint. By the early 1880s the third Welland Canal had been completed and resulted in an abundance of water to power the mill. The City sold the property to Wilson Morningstar in 1883, who in turn leased it to Charles Knoll.

Around 1892, the interior of the Mill was destroyed by fire but the original stone structure remained intact. Morningstar, assisted by his brother Wallace, rebuilt the mill installing new equipment acquired in Toronto from the Greey Company.

Wilson Morningstar operated the mill until his death in the mill by heart attack in1933. The water-powered turbine seized shortly thereafter and the mill was abandoned. Morningstar's widow, Emma, sold the property in 1941 to Ontario Hydro who repaired the turbine building. In 1961 Hydro leased the property to the City of St Catharines, and the next year Mountain Mills Museum was opened with Donald Robson, Morningstar's grandson, as the curator.

Ontario Hydro declared the property surplus and the City purchased the mill site in 1989. In 1992 the volunteer group "Friends of Morningstar Mill" was established and they began to restore and then operate the mill as an operating gristmill. At the start of the restoration project, much of the machinery and stones were as Morningstar had left them in 1933.

EXTERIOR FEATURES

The one and a half storey mill has a gabled roof, with wood shingles. Tie rod ends are visible between the first and upper floor. The windows are double-hung with six panes in each sash and with a tooled lugsill supporting each window.

INTERIOR FEATURES

When Morningstar reconstructed the interior of the mill the interior woodwork, floor, support beams and elevator shafts were of white pine. The inside walls of the building were plastered in the customary fashion, but not painted, so as not to taint the flour within the mill. Today, the original white pine has aged to a golden brown.

MILL OPERATIONS

When grain was brought to the mill it would first be weighed on the scales that are located just inside the entrance door. Then the sacks of grain were dumped into a bin located at the rear of the ground floor and the grain flowed down a chute to the cleaner, located in the basement, to remove all the dirt and chaff.

The clean grain was then moved by elevator to the ground floor and discharged onto the millstone where it was ground to flour. The millstones weigh approximately 1500 lb. (680kg.) and rotated at approximately 100 revolutions per minute. The flour was then returned to the bolter, located in the basement, to create the finished product. (The bolter sorts the flour into different sizes.) A corn sheller, which was used to strip corn kernels from dried cobs of corn to produce feed for livestock, is also located on the ground floor of the mill.

There are presently three bolters located on the second floor that are not in use. The small one was designed and constructed by Morningstar and the two large bolters, also designed by Morningstar, were constructed commercially.

TURBINE SHED

The turbine shed houses the penstock, turbine pit and shaft and is attached to the gristmill. Power for the gristmill is generated by water turning a horizontal reaction turbine rather than a vertical water wheel. Water to turn the turbine is supplied by an iron pipe that transports the water from the millpond to fill the penstock. The vertical penstock is a wrought iron cylinder 3 ft. (1 m.) in diameter and 40 ft. (12 m.) deep. The vertical penstock leads to a 15 in. (38cm.) horizontal penstock that feeds the water to the turbine. The 40 ft. (12 m.) of water in the penstock creates the power to turn the 15 in. (38 cm.) reaction turbine located at the bottom of the turbine pit.

After the water passes through the wheel it escapes through a raceway to join the creek near the bottom of the falls. The penstock must be kept full for the turbine to rotate and so as water leaves at the bottom it is replaced with water from the pond. A steel shaft and right angle gear transfer the power to the gristmill. The turbine generates about 49 horsepower.

When Robert Chappel constructed the mill in 1872, the turbine pit and raceway had to be blasted out of solid rock. In 1992 when the Friends of Morningstar Mill were formed to restore the mill, the turbine shed was in a state of collapse and the turbine had not been used since it had seized in the mid-30s. As a result, the Friends completely reconstructed the shed and refurbished the penstock, turbine shaft and gears.

SAWMILL

HISTORY

There was a large frame building located across the creek from the gristmill when Wilson Morningstar purchased the mill property in 1883 from the City of St Catharines. It was used as a community hall where dances and meetings were held. One night there was a serious fight and Morningstar decided that the community hail must go. So, Morningstar converted the community hall to a sawmill. The sawmill was powered by its own turbine located in the same pit as the turbine that powered the gristmill. The turbine was connected to the saw by a steel shaft that crossed the creek on piers. He operated it for about 45 years. When he died in 1933 the sawmill was abandoned and eventually completely dismantled.

RESTORATION

In 2000, the Friends of Morningstar Mill embarked on the reconstruction of the sawmill. Since there was no record of the original mill, other than some photographs, it was decided to construct a sawmill of the type used in the 1890s. The timbers to construct the mill came from a barn located at the Lions Club Park in Beamsville. The mill will incorporate a vertical blade circular saw 50 in. (127 cm.) in diameter. The logs will be attached to a carriage that will carry the logs to the saw. It is hoped that its own turbine can power the sawmill in the future. The sawmill is a work in progress

THE BARN

BLACKSMITH SHOP

Morningstar also had a blacksmith shop and pattern shop on the site where the current parking lot is. This was a large two story cinder block building which can be seen in pictures dated 1905 - 1910. Blacksmiths who are members of the Friends of Morningstar are constructing a replication of a blacksmith shop that would have operated in or about 1905. It is planned that this shop will have an overhead drive belt system to power belt driven lathes and a belt driven drill press that have been donated to the shop. All blacksmiths are invite to come and take part in all open house events and make use of the equipment.

CARPENTRY SHOP

The main floor of the barn will be set up as a carpentry shop. We currently have a shopsmith with a 10" table saw, a bandsaw, mortising machine and a planer all in one. This machine weights approximately 2000 lbs. All carpenters and wood workers are invited to come out and lend a hand in creating the shop and or using the shop once it is set up.