Watson's Mill is an historic flour and

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

Manotick Manotick ( ) is a community in Rideau-Jock Ward in the rural south part of the City of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is a commuter town, suburb of the city, located on the Rideau River, immediately south of the suburbs Barrhaven, Ontario, B ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. It is the only working museum in the Ottawa area and one of the very few operating industrial grist mills in North America. Watson's Mill still sells stone-ground whole wheat flour which is made on site. The mill is also well known for its

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

Annabelle. The legend is that Ann Currier, wife of Joseph, haunts the mill, following her death in a tragic accident there in 1861. Watson's Mill is Manotick's most recognized landmark. Its image is used as a symbol for the village. Moss Kent Dickinson and Joseph Merrill Currier founded the mill as the Long Island Milling Enterprise in 1860. It was one of a series of mills constructed in the area using power from the

Rideau Canal The Rideau Canal is a 202-kilometre long canal that links the Ottawa River at Ottawa with the Cataraqui River and Lake Ontario at Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Its 46 Lock (water navigation), locks raise boats from the Ottawa River 83 metres (272 ...

. It earned its current name when it was purchased by Harry Watson in 1946. Watson was the last owner to operate the mill at an industrial level. When the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority bought the mill in 1972, it was developed into a museum. The mill is open to the public during the summer months and hosts a variety of events, including milling demonstrations every Sunday.

History

Watson's Mill was originally known as the 'Long Island Milling Enterprise', and was constructed by Thomas Langrell, an Ottawa contractor, for two prominent Ottawa businessmen: Moss Kent Dickinson and Joseph Merrill Currier. Dickinson was a successful

forwarder A forwarder is a forestry vehicle that carries big felling, felled Timber, logs cut by a Harvester (forestry), harvester from the stump to a roadside landing for later acquisition. Forwarders can use rubber tires or tracks. Unlike a skidder, a ...

and

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...

owner. He was nicknamed 'King of the Rideau' because of his many freight and passenger steamers that travelled up and down the Canal. Dickinson was also mayor of

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

from 1864 to 1866, just prior to

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

, and lived in what is now the South African Embassy. His partner, Joseph Currier, was a lumber baron, and a partner in the Victoria Foundry located in Ottawa, where all of the Mill machinery was cast. Watson's Mill was originally one of four milling operations built at the same time. A

saw mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

was completed in 1859, the

in 1860, and a

carding In Textile manufacturing, textile production, carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver (textiles), sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passi ...

mill in 1861. The Canada

Bung A stopper, bung, or cork is a cylindrical or conical closure used to seal a container, such as a bottle, tube, or barrel. Description Unlike a lid or bottle cap, which encloses a container from the outside without displacing the inner v ...

, Plug and

Spile A spile (sometimes called a "cask peg") is a wooden or metal peg used to control the flow of air into, and carbon dioxide out of, a cask of ale or wine. Spiles can also be used to broach liquids (like maple syrup) from a tree. Ale use Cask ale ...

Factory was constructed in 1875, completing the Long Island Milling Enterprise, later to be known as the 'Manotick Mills'. Dickinson intended to develop a village around the Long Island Mills complex. He bought 30 acres of land and sold it as building plots. The village was named 'Manotick', an

Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...

word meaning island. Dickinson also built a house across from Watson's Mill, which still stands today and has been turned into the 'Dickinson House Museum'. Watson's Mill remained in the Dickinson family until 1928 when Elizabeth, Moss Kent Dickinson's youngest daughter, sold it to Alexander Spratt. Spratt had six children: Charlie, Billie, Helen, Ken, Dick and Hubert. The whole family lived in the Dickinson House while Alexander was running the mill. Alexander died of brain cancer in 1936. His wife continued with the business until it was sold in 1946 to Harry Watson. Watson, his wife Anna and his six children Ron, Bill, Jack, Jim, Bob and Mary all lived in the Dickinson House as well. With the introduction of the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

, it became cheaper to import

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

and

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

from the West than to grow and mill wheat in Ontario. Spratt and Watson gradually transformed the Mill into a feed and seed operation to keep up with the changing times and to accommodate the local

dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

and livestock farmers. Watson also began distributing coal and cement.

Ann Crosby Currier

Watson's Mill is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Ann Crosby Currier, the second wife of Joseph Currier. Born in 1841, Ann was the daughter of a successful hotel owner and grew up along with seven siblings, in the village of Caldwell,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. In 1861, Ann was married to Joseph Merrill Currier, at that time a co-owner of the Mill. On Monday, March 11, 1861, 6 weeks into the marriage, coinciding with the return from Joseph and Ann's honeymoon, Currier and Dickinson held a small party to celebrate their first successful year of operation. While making their way through the congestion of moving equipment and machinery, tragedy struck. Ann's

crinoline A crinoline is a stiff or structured petticoat designed to hold out a skirt, popular at various times since the mid-19th century. Originally, crinoline described a stiff fabric made of horsehair ("crin") and cotton or linen which was used to ...

and dress became caught in one of the

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...

shafts on the second floor of the Mill and she was flung against a pillar and killed instantly. Following this tragedy, Joseph immediately lost all interest in the Mill and eventually sold his shares to his partner Dickinson. Since that time, there have been numerous unconfirmed sightings of Ann's

in Watson's Mill, causing the site to be often considered among Ottawa's haunted buildings. Watson's Mill currently runs a number of events promoting the haunted nature of the building including the Terrifying Tales at Twilight and visits by the Haunted Ottawa and Paranormal Society.

Facilities

Watson's Mill was built using

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

quarried from the banks of the

Rideau River The Rideau River (, ) is a river in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The river flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at the Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is . As explained in a writing by Samuel de Champl ...

, as well as wood cut locally and milled at the Long Island Sawmill. The mill's interior is highly ornamented; the partners, Dickinson and Currier, wished to make the Mill a model for industrial achievement and business entrepreneurship. Watson's Mill was powered by five

turbines A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...

constructed in Joseph Currier's

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

. With a sixth turbine that was used to power the Bung Mill across the river. The

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

newspaper described Watson's Mill as "a castle in the air" on its opening day. Watson's Mill continues to run milling demonstrations on Sundays during the summer season.

Whole wheat flour Whole-wheat flour (in the US) or wholemeal flour (in the UK) is a powdery substance, a basic food ingredient, derived by grinding or mashing the whole grain of wheat, also known as the wheatberry. Whole-wheat flour is used in baking of breads ...

milled onsite is available for sale in the gift shop as well as fresh

whole wheat bread Whole wheat bread or wholemeal bread is a type of bread made using flour that is partly or entirely milled from whole or almost-whole wheat grains, see whole-wheat flour and whole grain. It is one kind of brown bread. Synonyms or near-synony ...

made from Watson's Mill

. Today, Watson's Mill still has much of the original machinery in working order. The following machinery is active in milling demonstrations: * 3 of the 6 original

(others onsite but unused) * 1 of the 4 original pairs of millstones (another on display); 5th turbine powered the rest of the machinery. * Auger * Bolter * Feed grinder *

hopper Hopper or hoppers may refer to: Places * Hopper, Illinois * Hopper, West Virginia * Hopper, a mountain and valley in the Hunza–Nagar District of Pakistan * Hopper (crater), a crater on Mercury People * Hopper (surname) Insects * Hopper, the ...

and

grain Elevators A grain elevator or grain terminal is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lowe ...

* 6th powered the Bung Mill

Turbines

The turbines are the most important pieces of machinery as they supply power to all the other equipment in the mill. They are the originals, cast in 1859 in the Victoria Foundry in Ottawa. The larger turbines can generate 40-horse power and the smaller one makes 20-horse power. The turbines could operate all year, because the constant flow of water through the

flume A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to t ...

never froze. The first turbine drives the feed grinder and bolter, the third drives the elevators and auger, and the fifth drives the millstones and the seed cleaner. The other three are no longer in use.

Hopper, Elevators and Garner Bin

After the wheat is weighed, it is dumped into the receiving

. There is a small opening at the bottom, which is controlled by a lever. It allows the miller to control the amount of wheat that enters the system. This begins the automated milling process. From this point on, the grain and grist do not come into contact with human hands until the flour is ready to be bagged. Once poured through the hopper, the grain is conveyed to the second floor, via the conveyor elevator, and stored in a large storage bin called the garner bin.

Millstones and Auger

Millstones can be made from a variety of materials. The stones at Watson's Mill are made from pieces of very hard quartz called buhrstone. They were imported from France in 1859. The reason for this was that native stone from Canada and the United States would chip off into the final product. The face of the stone has a pattern of grooves, which is called the dress. Different types of millstones have different patterns - Watson's Mill's millstones have a 3/4 dress. The particular dress of the stone indicates what substance it ground. The grooves on the two stones are at different angles, and they act like scissors during milling. Only the top stone, the runner stone, turns, while the bottom bedstone remains stationary. The stones each weigh about 900 kilograms, which is about the weight of a Volkswagen Beetle. Two large iron cast wheels in front of the millstone are used by the miller to control the machinery. The small wheel allows the miller to raise and lower the top stone, or runner. The large wheel is used to open the gate to the turbine that turns the millstone. Since the top stone is so heavy, and spins quickly, a significant amount of heat is generated, which in turn warms the grist. It is important that the windows in the mill are open during milling, because dust particles are combustible. During the process, when the grist is warm and moist, it is difficult to separate the

bran Bran, also known as miller's bran, is the component of a Cereal, cereal grain consisting of the hard layersthe combined aleurone and Fruit anatomy#Pericarp layers, pericarpsurrounding the endosperm. Maize, Corn (maize) bran also includes the p ...

and

chaff Chaff (; ) is dry, scale-like plant material such as the protective seed casings of cereal grains, the scale-like parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. Chaff cannot be digested by humans, but it may be fed to livestock, ploughed into soil ...

from the flour, so the grist needs to be cooled. The grist travels up to the attic in the grist elevator, where it falls into a machine called the auger, which cools and fluffs the grist.

Bolter

From the auger, the grist falls into the bolter. The bolter is a large sifting machine located on the second floor. The bolter separates the flour from the bran so that pure stone-ground whole wheat flour is the final product. Both products drop down to the main floor where they are separated into two different bags. The flour is then bagged into smaller portions which can be purchased at the mill.

Feed Grinder

The feed grinder introduced another method of grinding grain. Whereas the particular dress of the millstones limits what substance can be ground, the feed grinder was capable of grinding a variety of grains and seeds. This machine was mostly used to mix feed for the local farmers' animals. Today the feed grinder is used to grind corn, which the mill sells as duck chow.

Long Island Milling Enterprise

In addition to the grist mill, a sawmill, carding mill and bung factory were also part of the Long Island Milling Enterprise.

Sawmill

Located on the opposite bank of the river, Moss Kent Dickinson and Joseph Currier built their first

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

using their newly acquired waterpower rights to the

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

. The sawmill was built sometime before 1859 and wood sawn from this mill was used in the construction of the Long Island Grist Mill (Watson's Mill). The sawmill was small in size, measuring only 72 feet by 22 feet. Due to the expansion of the bulkhead in 1870, this first sawmill had to be removed. Construction for a new sawmill began before the old one was torn down. The second sawmill was larger than the first, measuring 30 feet by 100 feet. By 1876, a 20-foot addition was added to accommodate the new Canadian Bung, Plug and Spile Factory. The second sawmill was destroyed by fire over the summer of 1887. Although all physical evidence of the sawmill is now gone, it played a vital role in the creation of Manotick by providing lumber for the manufacture of woodwork for

wagons A wagon (or waggon) is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draft animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are immediately distinguished from ...

carriages A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...

, sleighs,

wheel A wheel is a rotating component (typically circular in shape) that is intended to turn on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machin ...

furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...

and building construction.

Carding mill

Built in just eight months, the woolen carding mill was opened December 1, 1861. Located beside the

, the carding mill completed the three buildings that made up the Long Island Milling Enterprise. Originally the carding mill measured 32 feet by 30 feet, but by 1870 more space was needed and the mill was expanded to 60 feet by 30 feet. This mill was not only a place where farmers could have their

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

carded and dressed, but also where custom

cloth Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is n ...

could be ordered. From 1874 to 1876, the carding mill was leased to R.W. Conway who ran the business. The carding mill met its fate when a fire destroyed the entire building. The exact date of the fire is not known, but it is believed to have occurred sometime between 1879 and 1885. Although useful to farming families, the carding mill was never replaced, scratched out of Dickinson's records by Moss Kent himself. Today, very little remains of the carding mill, except for remnants of its foundation buried in the riverbank.

Bung factory

Moss Kent Dickinson established the Canada Bung, Plug and Spile Factory in 1875. At the time, there was only one other operation in Canada. Dickinson shipped his bungs (wooden stoppers for barrels) all over the world After the Sawmill, which originally housed the bung factory, burned in 1887, Dickinson decided that only the bung mill was worth salvaging. A new building was constructed a little ways downstream and on the opposite riverbank from the gristmill. To power the bung mill, a sixth turbine was installed in the basement of his gristmill, and a 3-inch

steel cable Steel wire rope (right hand lang lay) Wire rope is composed of as few as two solid, metal wires twisted into a helix that forms a composite ''rope'', in a pattern known as ''laid rope''. Larger diameter wire rope consists of multiple strands of ...

ran out of the basement window and across the river channel to the new mill. When power was needed, a string was pulled, which rang a bell in the gristmill, notifying the miller to start the sixth turbine. The bung factory was dismantled in 1926 and moved to become part of a residence on Long Island in Manotick.

Modern Times

On July 1, 1963, the

National Capital Commission The National Capital Commission (NCC; , CCN) is the Crown corporation responsible for development, urban planning, and conservation in Canada's Capital Region (Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec), including administering most lands and build ...

(NCC) entered into a lease agreement with Harry Watson to open the Mill as a heritage attraction. The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) purchased Watson's Mill, Dickinson House and the Carriage Shed in 1972 in order to preserve this heritage landmark and the name 'Watson's Mill' was kept. The RVCA significantly restored the Mill – reopening it as a functioning grist mill and

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

. In 2008, Watson's Mill Manotick Incorporated (WMMI) became the owner of the Watson's Mill property. Today, it continues to run as a functioning industrial museum and community social centre. Watson's Mill thrives with a mandate to continue operating as a flour and feed mill, as well as a social, cultural and educational focal point for its many visitors. Watson's Mill is situated on the banks of the

, in the village of

. It is built next to the control dam on the backchannel as the Rideau River splits around Long Island. Built across the other channel are the Long Island Locks. Watson's Mill is 20 km south of downtown

, Ontario.

Affiliations

This museum is affiliated with: Ottawa Museum Network, and the Society for the Preservation of Old Mills (SPOOM).

References

External links

Watson's Mill
{{coord, 45.226989, N, 75.682744, W, region:CA-ON_type:landmark, display=title