Title
Delta Mills Grist Mill
Description
View of the Grist Mill from the south bank of the Grand River. Picture taken east of the Delta Mills Bridge prior to 1904. The dam which was constructed nearby can be seen just east of the mill.
The Grist Mill was built in 1837 on the north bank of the Grand River, near the corner of Vermont Street and Main Street. It was built by Erastus Ingersoll and remained in operation until the 1880's. The structure was finally torn down in August of 1904 following a flood in the spring of the same year.
"Their first threshing was done on the ground, and the first wheat-grist was taken to Eaton Rapids by Mr. Cooley, who was gone three days. The children could hardly wait for the first loaf of bread to bake, but when ready for the table they divided it with the dusky Indian children, who enjoyed it as well as they. The earliest mills near them were at Eaton Rapids and Ingersoll's, now Delta. When they patronized the mill at Ingersoll's they took the grist down the river in a log canoe or " dugout," and then went across the country, through the woods, and hauled the canoe and ground grist back along the narrow path, through mud and water, with an ox-team. The canoe was not a first-class land-carriage, but they managed to haul it by fastening a log-chain around its nose, though it required great skill and constant attention to prevent the curious vehicle from often overturning in the rough pathway. Sometimes in the winter when they wanted to cross the river with their oxen and the ice was not strong enough to bear them, Mr. Cooley would cut a channel across and swim them over."
1) History of Ingham and Eaton Counties, Michigan
The Grist Mill was built in 1837 on the north bank of the Grand River, near the corner of Vermont Street and Main Street. It was built by Erastus Ingersoll and remained in operation until the 1880's. The structure was finally torn down in August of 1904 following a flood in the spring of the same year.
"Their first threshing was done on the ground, and the first wheat-grist was taken to Eaton Rapids by Mr. Cooley, who was gone three days. The children could hardly wait for the first loaf of bread to bake, but when ready for the table they divided it with the dusky Indian children, who enjoyed it as well as they. The earliest mills near them were at Eaton Rapids and Ingersoll's, now Delta. When they patronized the mill at Ingersoll's they took the grist down the river in a log canoe or " dugout," and then went across the country, through the woods, and hauled the canoe and ground grist back along the narrow path, through mud and water, with an ox-team. The canoe was not a first-class land-carriage, but they managed to haul it by fastening a log-chain around its nose, though it required great skill and constant attention to prevent the curious vehicle from often overturning in the rough pathway. Sometimes in the winter when they wanted to cross the river with their oxen and the ice was not strong enough to bear them, Mr. Cooley would cut a channel across and swim them over."
1) History of Ingham and Eaton Counties, Michigan