CALEDONIA MILL - First
Millers' Day 1999
Haldimand County, Ontario
Robert Miller photo
Oldest
Millstone in North America - c.1610 found in Canada at Annapolis Royal,
Nova Scotia
How
Millstones work
LINKS to
Google MAPS, David Sweeney's photo gallery, and
many Canadian mill websites
Milling
Through History
"Escape the super highways and travel the back roads
along popular waterways and you will find significant, but often overlooked
connections to Canada’s industrial past. Your reward may be a simple
limestone wall or the rough outline of a foundation. Or it could be a
working mill that is still operating the way it did 100 or more years
ago—grinding grain, carding wool or sawing wood."
Fall Millers' Day, Niagara 2000
Pre-1812 Gristmill at Ball's Falls, Niagara
Measured overlay Drawings of the mill
"MILLS
IN ONTARIO - MILLS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC"
Wonderfully detailed booklet about almost 70 mills open to the public
across Ontario locations/phone&web/descriptions
by Maryanne Szuck
(PDF)
Free download - please join the Chapter
Ontario's
Historic Mills
(Amazon link)
by George Fischer and Mark Harris
ONTARIO
MILL RESEARCHERS
Census Data, King's Mills 1783, Servos Mill 1791, Secord
Mill 1783
Maps of Upper Canada & Canada West by District & County
CANADIAN
CHAPTER OF SPOOM
Society for the Preservation
Of Old Mills
The
Canadian Chapter of the Society for the Preservation Of Old Mills, also
known as "SPOOM", promotes interest in old Canadian mills
- their history, function and preservation.
The Canadian Chapter is a branch of the American international organization
of SPOOM, chartered in the State of Maine in 1972.
SPOOM "national" is dedicated to "promote interest
in old mills and their related cultural features now quickly passing
from the present scene".
The Canadian Chapter was initiated in 1999 and in 2012 we became registered
as a not for profit Canadian Corporation through our affilation with
the Ontario Historical Society.
Twice
yearly, Canadian mills are selected for tours and speakers in a friendly
get together in Canada that we call a “MILLERS' DAY”.
If you have an interest in the history
and future of old Canadian Mills, please click
JOIN US. Only $20.00 per year which includes the "Millstone News"
electronic journals and other email notices throughout the year.
Members of the Canadian Chapter are encouraged to also become members of our parent organization in the United States which reports to its members through a quarterly "Old Mill News" magazine. For more information please visit their website www.spoom.org This link will open a new window.
Click
to join our private Facebook Group 
NOTICE:
Our SPRING MILLERS' DAY 2013 will take place on May 11, 2013 at Ruthven
Park National Historic Site and at the Caledonia Mill on the Grand River.
Members will examine the site of David Thompson's huge complex of mills
at the Indiana ghost town on Lock 1 in the Grand River Navigation Canal.
A special guided tour of the Caledonia Mill restoration project will
happen first thing that morning. Meet us at the Caledonia Mill 10am
May 11, 2013 for a great day of old mills.
Registration Form
(download & print)
Map (good regional
detail for printing)
View Caledonia
Mill in a larger map
Many
members toured Sir Adam Beck Power Generation Station following the
Chapter's October 2012 AGM in Niagara Falls. Beck produces
slightly more hydro electric power than Hoover Dam
47
Members tour Toronto Distillery District - Spring Millers' Day
2012
Backus Mill (see video below) in Port Rowan Ontario, is a national historic site and of special significance, as it was during the bicentennial celebration year for this mill in 1999 that the Canadian Chapter of SPOOM was born.