Revisiting Wildcat Den Mill: A Post From Ten Years Ago

Last summer (2008) I visited Wildcat Den StatePark near Muscatine, Iowa, to look at the old mill I remembered from a childhood visit.

Even as a small child I noticed that the Pine Creek Grist Mill lacked a wheel. Here's why; this mill was powered by a turbine, which has recently been uncovered in the depths beneath the mill.

The first step of power transmission from the turbine was this wooden gear, which transferred motion to the lineshaft system to run all of the machinery in the building.

Here is why this mill made it to a Weekend Steam post. A steam engine from a boat was installed to provide a more dependable source of power than the creek. 'Friends of Pine Creek Grist Mill,' an organization based in Muscatine has been providing the labor to restore machinery in the mill, and it is now a great educational stop for tourists, families, and students.

The steam engine is the oldest one I have seen. Nearly all engines of this vintage either ended up in the bottom of the Mississippi or were scrapped.

It appears that the Friends of Pine Creek Mill intends to make this relic run again. The state of Iowa has owned the mill for many decades, and it is a rare survivor. It is a bit of a miracle that vandals have not looted or burned this treasure.

The displacement lubricator shows any steam fan that this engine came from the early, low pressure steam era. Tallow would have been used to lubricate the cylinder, since it will mix with water. The discovery that tallow could be mixed with mineral oil allowed steam engines to be run with high pressure steam.

This hand pump would have been used to pump tallow into the steam chest when starting the engine. Mechanical lubricators came along later, replacing the displacement lubricator for running. They had a crank to operate the lubricator at startup, replacing this little gadget.

Steam condensed in the displacement lubricator, floating the tallow out into the steam line to the engine.

The old boiler will not be used again, but it is a very interesting relic of the 1860's.

This mill has most of the machinery that was used when it produced flour and corn meal.  There are lots of elevators and chutes for moving product around to various bins, and there are rolling machines, plus quite large stone bur mills for making flour and corn meal.  Wildcat Den is worthy of your time if you ever are in the area near Muscatine, Iowa.  Back To The Old Grind!