Nebraskaland

NEBRASKAland January 2015

NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.

Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/440846

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16 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015 F lour milling was one of the earliest and most important industries to develop in Nebraska. Early settlers needed mills to grind their wheat and corn into flour and cornmeal, and also create a market for local cereal grains. Early mills were often operated in conjunction with a sawmill to cut timber into dimensional lumber. By providing needed services, mills began community centers in newly settled areas, and were a necessity for any fledgling townsite. During the first years of settlement, most Nebraska mills used water for motive power. Settlers naturally followed the water courses inland and mill building followed. Additionally, early developers and town boosters touted the available water power of Nebraska's rivers that could power numerous mills, factories, and other industrial enterprises. The Elkhorn River, flowing some 200 miles through northeastern Nebraska, was believed by some promoters to be a source of unlimited water power. In 1872, a small party of men from West Point in Cuming County traveled up the Elkhorn to see the country above Norfolk. One of the sightseers was John D. Neligh, a manufacturing entrepreneur and founder of West Point, Nebraska. The party stopped at a promising townsite in central Antelope County and noted its water power potential. In October Neligh went to Omaha and bought the land from the Omaha and Northwestern Railroad Company. By early 1873 Neligh had his new townsite surveyed and platted, and built a dam on the river to power a saw mill. William B. Lambert, an associate Nebraska's Historic Neligh Mill By Thomas R. Buecker JOHN D. NELIGH This early view shows the mill penstock with its 10-foot fly wheel that turned a 1-inch wire cable drive to power mill machinery. NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, N418.9-112 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, N418.9-5

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