In Elma, old mill is grist for new wheel

Fred Streif, Don Moeller and Frank Maciejewski didn't plan tospend part of their retirements building a replica of a water wheeland mill.

But one thing led to another after Elma Historical Societymembers got to talking about the grist mill that used to stand notfar from the society's museum. It was one of 23 that once dotted thelandscape.

"I guess it started out with Edie Boller," Streif recalled.

Society members had built a walkway behind the museum to thefoundations of the old mill site, next to Buffalo Creek.

"Edie Boller walked down there and said, 'Wouldn't it be nice ifwe could reconstruct this mill?' " he said.

Boller, a longtime resident of Elma who died in December, oftentalked about the Historical Society happenings with her son, StateSupreme Court Justice M. William Boller.

"My mother used to volunteer every Thursday at the museum,"Boller said. "She told the story about this mill. I thought, wow,that would be something that would be good to do."

Before he was a Supreme Court justice, Boller brought the projectto the McCowan private charitable foundation, where he was one ofthree trustees. The foundation gave an initial donation of $5,000 tothe society. Another benefactor, Chester Borczynski, also an Elmaresident and benefactor of the private Rupp Foundation, also pitchedin.

Moeller and Maciejewski, both retired engineers, and Streif, whohad worked in construction surveying, got to work.

Maciejewski had suggested they take a trip to visit some workingwheels, but they found descriptions on the Internet. They designedtheir pattern after studying pictures of old wheels.

The men, with the help of others, finished constructing the 1,800-pound, 10-foot-high hemlock wheel last fall. They estimate each putin about 500 hours.

It was moved from the barn to the nearby millrace, the channelcarrying water from the creek to the wheel, by Frank Struck ofStruck Trucking Co. of Elma. He hoisted it with a winch onto theoriginal foundation.

Everyone held their breath as the first water, fueled temporarilyby an electric pump, poured through and the wheel began turning.

"I danced a jig on the bank I was so happy," Historical SocietyPresident Marlene Baumgartner said.

Streif said local Boy Scouts working toward their Eagle Scoutrank will clean out the millrace.

"Then the water will do the work completely for us," he said.

But that won't be the end. The men are starting to construct amill building at the wheel, and they're looking for more volunteersto help them. They have fly and drive wheels, drive shafts and oldclutches from the old Blossom Mill.

Maciejewski, Moeller and Streif explained that in the 1800s, Elmawas thick with trees. The trees were cut down for farmland, andsawmills were built to create lumber.

The sawmills operated for years until 1900, when, Maciejewskisaid, "You could hardly find a stick of timber left to feed themills."

Includes reporting by Southtowns Correspondent Nancy Gish.

e-mail: bobrien@buffnews.com