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.
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18 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015 higher the dam, the more power created. "Fall" is the change in vertical elevation over the course of a stream or river. Because Nebraska is relatively flat with low stream fall, dams backed up water farther upstream, creating larger mill ponds. In locations where water courses provided lower fall, horizontal water turbines were used to generate mill power. Turbines were made of iron, with gates around the turbine to control the amount of water passing through. In addition to the turbine, the main components of water power were the head-gate, flume and penstock. A head-gate at the upper end of the mill race governed the amount of water that entered the race (flume) from the mill pond. The flume, built of strong planking, was the conduit to carry water to a penstock at the end of the flume, which housed the turbine. To escape the penstock, the water passed down through the submerged turbine and turned its impellor to create motive power, before discharging back to the river or stream. The Neligh Mill was powered by a 64-inch Leffel water turbine, which was geared to a 10-foot flywheel mounted above the back wall of the penstock. The flywheel transmitted power to the shafting in the mill basement via a one-inch Roebling steel wire cable. The mill dam initially created a four-foot fall, which was gradually raised as more machinery was added that required additional horsepower. By 1880 the dam's eight foot height created 66 horsepower. Because the mill was on the higher north bank of the river it never suffered flood damage, although the dam, flume and penstock were washed out or damaged many times. The mill enjoyed immediate success from local and distant patrons. Because there were no mills to the west or south, customers came 50 miles or more from those directions. The mill also did large business with the cattle ranchers along the upper Elkhorn and on the Niobrara, shipping hundreds of loads of flour and feed to those points. By October 1875 Gallaway and Lambert shipped flour to merchants at Columbus, Yankton in Dakota Territory, and other points up the Missouri River. In 1878 the mill landed a contract with the Indian Department for 12,000 sacks of flour for the Dakota reservations. According to one newspaper, "between 350 and 400 wagon loads" were needed to deliver the contract. To fill large contracts, the mill was run day and night. The Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad arrived in Neligh in 1880, opening new markets in eastern Nebraska, Lincoln and Omaha. April 1885 brought a government contract for 343,000 pounds of flour for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Contract work was done in addition to filling orders for their regular customers in local trade areas. During the 1880s the new steel roller process began to replace stone buhrs to grind wheat into flour. With the new method and improved sifting machinery, the amount of flour made from a bushel of wheat was increased 20 to 30 percent. In 1886 Gallaway and Lambert had the Neligh Mill converted to the new process and installed seven stands of double rollers. They also built a warehouse addition to the mill and a 25,000 bushel storage elevator Water power improvements seen in this 1903 view include the permanent dam and a second penstock added to generate electricity. Beginning with the Gilman ownership, all mill outbuildings were painted red. NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, N418.9-17