Cable Mill at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

[@HikingWithShawn]

Have you ever been to Cable Mill at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park?

[@jeffreyulrich3592]

Very nice and well preserved area. I looked back at some pictures I took there eight years ago. That wooden weir and flume that diverts water from the creek quite a distance away to power the mill wheel was a major feat of engineering and craftsmanship in the day. I'm sure the people who lived in that area when the mill was a commercial center didn't have easy lives. But seeing it now, it seems so idyllic that it's tempting to wish we lived back in those simpler times where people didn't randomly shoot at you when you went to school or drove down the road. Since a water mill features so prominently in this video and I'm waxing philosophical, I can't help comparing it to the mill on the Floss. It might not be 500-year floods that now seem to occur every hundred years and sweep away mills like bunches of matchsticks. It could just as easily be a train wreck that leaks toxic chemicals or an F5 tornado that devastates a town and turns people's lives upside down.

[@HikingWithShawn]

I just wish some of that was still around in Southern Illinois. We had quite a few mills around the region at one time.

[@jeffreyulrich3592]

​@@HikingWithShawnYou're right. Little Egypt didn't preserve its grist mills very well. There had to have been water mills every few miles along streams that had steady flows, yet not much trace remains in Southern Illinois. Some of the place names have "mill" in them, but that's all. Missouri, on the other hand, has a lot of old water mills still standing, many of which are on public land and well maintained. The Bollinger Mill and covered bridge west of Jackson comes to mind, but there are several more. Somewhere I've got a book called Water Mills of the Missouri Ozarks that tells the history of several of them and includes watercolor illustrations. A lot of the Ozark mills were powered by large springs, not very common in Southern Illinois, so they probably were used much longer. My dad said he remembered the Bollinger Mill in operation into the early '50s as a feedmill. I worked in the laboratory at a modern flour mill for a few years, so I find the history of milling interesting. I've toured the Bollinger Mill. It started out as a grindstone mill, but later was converted to a roller mill. An interesting project for someone would be to research the locations of historical mills in Southern Illinois, go to the sites, and try to locate any remaining traces.

[@HikingWithShawn]

@@jeffreyulrich3592 Sadly, you're right. I wish we could had left behind some stuff. I would love to research it and make it into a video series. I might have to do that.

[@needyjames8769]

Bout to say...bout time for a fall migration Snake Road video when you get back ...I'm gonna get over there this year.

[@HikingWithShawn]

We are back now. We’ve went a few days. Saw mainly racers and cottonmouth.

[@thomasmccallister4010]

Funny how I hit the like button but dont get counted. Looks like your being cheated on view counts.

[@jeffreyulrich3592]

Sometimes it takes a bit to catch up on the like counts I've noticed. Same with the comments. You can leave a comment sometimes and while it will be visible the number of comments will not change right away. I have left comments before, on the other hand, that seem to simply disappear into oblivion for no apparent reason that I can see.

[@HikingWithShawn]

I don’t care so much about likes. I just like seeing your comments 😎