October: Missouri Ozarks
Water levels were much lower than normal.
On the morning we went to shoot, we were lucky to find the mill with the lights on. There had been some sort of event held the night before and apparently someone forgot to turn them off. It was an unusual circumstance that I think adds something special to the image.
Built between 1927 and 1929, Falling Spring Mill was used to grind corn for feed, saw out shingles, saw firewood, and generated electricity on the site. The second of two mills, it differed from the original structure in that the first had a wooden wheel. The mill was first constructed of timber, then later enclosed with sawboard siding. The mill's present overshot wheel came from Johnson Spring, located approximately three miles down Hurricane Creek from Falling Spring.
Thomas and Jane Brown homesteaded the Falling Spring area in 1851. They settled in a land which looked very similar to their homeland, Tennessee. The area around Falling Spring provided for their basic needs -- water for livestock and personal use, and trees from which to build a cabin. Known today as the Thomas Brown Cabin, it was the first of four houses built near this site. The half-dovetail notching used on the corners of the cabin helped shed water off the logs. Use of the half-dovetail joint may be one erason why this building is in good condition today.
