Butler's Mill, as I remember it, was strictly one of the outstanding
vacation spots in the neighborhood of Woodville for those who loved to camp
and fish. I know that earlier
it served a great need domestically as a processing plant for grinding corn
and wheat into meal and flour.
Note the height of this structure.
This was so that all the shafts, conveyors, chutes, etc. could be
installed. This grinding
process was powered by a water wheel type turbine that was driven by the
clear blue waters of the Paint Rock River.
A wooden structure dam was built from bank to bank of the river.
It may look rather crude to our modern day engineers, but it was a
great accomplishment when it was built maybe around the turn of the century
or even before. This dam
diverted the water over to the right bank (looking downstream) into the
water race where the turbine wheel was located.
This race had gates for the influent and also for the effluent of the
water. (Incidentally, there
were no thermal pollution problems from heating up the water as it passed
through the race, thence through the turbine).
There was, however, one health hazard that did exist, but I never
heard of Health, Education and Welfare getting involved in it.
This was from the water moccasin snakes that took refuge from
fisherman in the old dam and around the sloping rocks that protruded into
the water. I can't say just how
poisonous this snake was, but I do know that as a youngster who has walked
this old dam many a time rather than walk an extra 1000 feet across the old
covered bridge, I have had the "day lights" scared out of me by
them as they would slither into the water just before I made a step onto the
next partially submerged plank in the dam.
Just below the 10" by 10" vertical structures that you can
see just on the water side of the first tall handhewn rock pillar that you
see, was the favorite fishing spot of the late and beloved "Mr.
Bob" Jones. (He was a
brother to W.G. Jones of Woodville who recently served on the Jackson County
Hospital Board). After
"Mr. Bob" would have his breakfast under the sycamore and have all
the fisherman and fisherwomen off to their favorite fishing spots up and
down the river, he would "keep camp" and stay around for security
purposes. He always smoked cigars - Virginia Cheroots - and would fish
in the cool of this natural spot until time to call the anglers in to
prepare lunch. As a youngster,
along with some of the other children of the campers, we were always glad
when "Mr. Bob" would forget to lock his Cheroots and we could
"slip" one or two and hide ourselves in the covered bridge and
smoke them.
I guess the thing I remember most pleasantly besides the cigar
"slipping" was sleeping in the grain bins.
There were two distinct sections to the mill building and a dividing
wall between the areas. The men
and boys slept in one section and the women and girls slept in another. Of course, the men folks and boys always slept in the first
room from the entrance. This
was for protective purposes. However,
about the only things that one had to be protected from was a stray dog
wandering into the mill or some of the youngsters up to some kind of
mischievousness like slipping a live rat into the women's boudoir.
There were large grain bins in the area we slept in.
I guess they were maybe 12' by 12' and about 4' deep.
What fun to roll into a homemade quilt, maybe with your overalls
serving also as your pajamas and sleep in two or three feet of wheat or corn
that was waiting to be ground into flour or meal or be shipped away to
Huntsville for the big city markets.
I remember one of the persons that was a most integral part of the
old mill. "Uncle Dick
Jones," as everyone knew him, was I guess what General Goods or
Mother's Best Corporations would call the Chief Executive.
It was "Uncle Dick" who would reserve the mill's camping
facilities for our "crowd" you see.
"Mr. Bob" repaid "Uncle Dick" for his favors
many, many times by bringing him medicines, messages, and maybe occasionally
a pair of overalls from the village store in Woodville.
You know, it is interesting that no one ever got investigated in
those days for doing a good deed even though he might be a government
employee or official.