When I was VERY young (we're talking over half a century ago!) my parents owned a farmette in rural PA on the Yellow Britches Creek, which I have heard my father describe as one of the premier trout streams in the country. About a hundred yards away from us was a cider mill powered by water. It was an undershot wheel that had a long millrace upstream from it.

The millrace is basically a straight stone trench that gives the water its maximum velocity so there's more power for the wheel. There was a diversion dam that diverted water from the stream.

Because of our proximity to this operation, my parents called their little spread "By a Dam Site".

Now, if there's anyone out there who wonders about punning being hereditary, you need wonder no more.

By the way, you would not believe the amount of noise this mill made when operating.

The mill building was still there five or six years ago, but falling into ruin. I couldn't see inside to determine whether any of the machinery was still there.


TEd