36 Nebraskaland • July 2023
Neligh Mill, in other words, is
based on ancient technology that
was refi ned over the centuries. But it
also refl ects the rapid technological
advances of the 19th and early 20th
centuries as well as the unpredictable
nature of the meandering, fl ood-prone
Elkhorn River.
Using water power meant building
a dam that was tall enough to have
adequate "water head" — the height
of water backed up behind the dam.
The water was diverted into a fl ume
where it turned a turbine that powered
the mill.
Early photos show water pouring
over a brush dam, a crude type of dam
made by anchoring piles of brush with
pilings and covering it with earth and
rocks. Such dams were prone to being
washed out by high water.
Neligh Mill replaced its brush dam
with a concrete-based frame dam in
1903. The new dam was both stronger
and taller, powering ever more
machinery inside the mill and even
providing power for the town's fi rst
electrical grid.
But there was no taming the Elkhorn
River, which was prone to fl oods, ice
jams and burrowing muskrats that
undermined dikes and dams. After a
fl ood in 1915, the mill installed a large
Neligh Mill employees in 1911 with bags of So-Lite fl our, one of several brands the mill produced. HISTORY NEBRASKA, RG3551-0-26
Neligh Mill and its original "brush dam," circa 1884. HISTORY NEBRASKA, RG3551-0-5
