M. D. Cornog plaster mill, 1873, on the site of Thomas G. Walker's Tilt Mill
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The Thomas J. Walker Tilt Mill on Little Valley Creek was built around 1796 and operated for a short time. In 1798 it is described as "a stone tilt forge 24’ by 18’". No mention of the mill has been identified after 1802 though in 1811 Thomas J. Walker sold the property to John Henry, smith. Given Henry’s employment he may have been planning to use the mill to manufacture metal products.
The mill site enjoyed a short-lived renaissance in the 1870s as a plaster mill as shown on Witmer’s Atlas (above). It is likely that the mill ground limestone rather than plaster.
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A detailed timeline for the Mill(s)
- 1791 Thomas Walker, 200 acres, no mention of mill (tax)
- 1795 Thomas G. Walker, no mention of mill (tax)
- 1796 Thomas G. Walker (tenants John Yocum, B. Smith) Tilting hammer: $200
- 1797 County Tax - Blacksmith & tilt hammer – John Yocum
- 1798 Glass tax – Thomas G. Walker - Stone Tilt Forge 24’ x 18’, 2 windows 3 panes each
- 1799 County Tax Tilt Mill – Thomas G. Walker (occupier: John Yocam)
- 1800 County Tax Tilt Mill – Thomas G. Walker (occupier: Nathan Scott)
- 1801 County Tax Tilt Mill – Thomas G. Walker (occupier: Nathan Scott)
- 1802 Thomas Jerman Walker to John Llewellyn – tilt mill mentioned in deed W2-145
’also the said John Llewellyn shall have the full and entire liberty and privilege of ingress, egress and regress to pass to and through said Walker’s other land to a certain ditch or race of water which turns said Walker’s Tilt Mill for the purpose of leading water from and along said ditch or race to a bank or meadow purchased by said Llewellyn from said Walker, two nights in every week from sunset to sunrise …’
- 1847 Atlas – no mill shown
- 1860 Kennedy’s atlas – no mill shown; owner E. G. Griffith
- 1873 Plaster mill (Witmer’s Atlas)
- 1880 John M. Wilson to Charles Lyman, (deed G9-175), mentions dam and waterway
- 1883 Charles Lyman; no mill (Breou’s Atlas)
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