Anamosa - A Reminiscence 1838 - 1988

1-1-__
__'_""§‘""'I-n~.,___
--._,______.-._
Scene at the Buffalo River Bridge (Submitted by
Kathleen and Larry J. Conmey)
father retired. and was later solely owned by one son.
J .S. Matthews.
In 1896 Matthews sold the mill to C.H. Anderson.
Every few years. while the Buffalo mills were in
business. the dam would go out with the flooding rivers
and creeks. This was a constant threat to all the old
mills. causing thousands of dollars in damage. worry
and frustration.
The Walworth brothers. whose name is still familiar
to the Anamosa community (Walworth Avenue was
named for this family). were world-famous inventors
and operated at first from New York in 1841. This firm
was known as the Walworth Manufacturing Company.
an extensive brass and iron factory. Caleb C. went back
east after working for a time in the mills here. He was a
skilled mechanic and was the inventor of many
valuable patents. some of which include the multiple
tapping machine: the pipe vice: an automatic device for
cutting and threading pipes: the automatic sprinklers:
wrought iron radiators. as well as improvements in
steam traps, to name a few. The Walworth Company
installed the first heat plant in the White House in
Washington D.C.
He was one of five sons of W. H. Walworth. The sons
were James. George. Clark, Harrison, and
J.D.(Dennison). J.D. served as early Jones county
treasurer and recorder, before returning to the east.
J.J . Walworth was called the father of the steam piping
business and every shop in America could trace its
genealogy to the old shop.
The Buffalo mills were not the only mills in the early
settlement. " in the fall of 1839. Calvin C. Reed, son-inlaw
of Ebeneezer Brown, built the first grist mill. or
‘com-cracker’, as it was more properly called". wrote
Edmund Booth, early settler and later editor of the
Eureka newspaper. "This was on the William Jackells
farm, a short distance from the mouth of Dutch Creek,
originally called Reed's Creek on the early maps. which
empties into the Wapsi at Joslin’s Ford. The stones
were brought from Thin Grove, by Benjamin Brown,
father of Ebeneezer Brown. These stones had the
appearance of being split open by lightning. A year or
two later they were transferred to the grist mill of Davis.
Walworth and Ford. This mill stood about 30 rods
southeast of the Matthews stone mill on the Buffalo.
"A saw mill which took the place of the Reed gristmill
was carried out by the high water. Another mill
was erected. only for sawing, and Mr. Reed and Mr.
Brown continued to operate this for some years longer.
“Mr. Benjamin Chaplin informs us that previous to
the erection of the Reed Mills the grinding was of a still
more primitive order.
"The affair was dignified by the title of corn mill, but
in reality the grinding was done by hand.
"A good sized stone had been hollowed out and an
opening made for the meal and cobs to drop through.
Fitting roughly on, or in, this stone was another. near
one edge of which a small hole had been drilled and a
wooden pin inserted.
“Grasping this pin the farmer ground his own grist as
merrily as though he were king of the realm. The
partrons of the mill came long distances to get their
grinding done. Previous to this the nearest mill was at
Rock Island, to which place Harrison Joslin. (called the
old general) once made a trip with an ox team through
deep snows, reaching home after an absence of sixteen
daysfi'
Calvin Reed and a Mr. Jenkins built a dam and mill.
where the Iowa Electric dam is now, in 1840. It was
washed out in a flood a year or two later.
The next owner of the mills on this site was Judge
Joseph Mann. He was sent here by General George
Jones of Dubuque. He owned the Anamosa Gazette for
several years and was elected county judge and senator
for Jones and Jackson counties. For all of that he was
not without a sense of humor.
Along about 1851. someone was bragging about his
fleetness of foot. Judge Mann. not to be outdone.
stepped forward and made a wager with him. Huber,
who was not so fleet of foot. bet the braggart that
Joseph Hunt. (later named postmaster] could carry
Mann on his back and still beat him if he was allowed a
10-yard start. The proposition was accepted and a
crowd gathered to watch Mann bouncing down the
street on the back of Hunt. The braggart should have
chosen another competitor. Mann won the bet.
His luck didn't hold out, however. for in the big flood
of 1851, his flour and saw mills were swept away.
The next owners of the mills were Horace C. Metcalf.
James Graham. and James Hudson. H.C. Metcalf had
come to the area in 1847 and was instrumental in the
development of the city. J. Hudson was considered a
“woman-hater" and a confirmed bachelor who had
amassed a goodly sum of money before his death in
1902. Graham. it has been said. was the inventor of the
Graham cracker. This has neither been confirmed nor
discounted by any information obtained by this writer.
Graham. Metcalf and Hudson built a new dam across
the Wapsi and. after one year's labor, saw the large 4-
story mill completed in December 1857.
In June 1858 they constructed a building near the
mill and used it as a store. where it did a great deal of
business for a time. That same summer a fisherman
reportedly caught salmon near the bridge. The river
was high enough to allow these fish to pass over the
dam and up the river, according to the local paper.
In the fall of 1860. Mr. Metcalf bought out the
Graham and Hudson portion of the store business and
he moved his stock of merchandise uptown to his newly
erected business east of the Fisher House (now Iowan
Hotel building).
Between 1867 and 1870, Hudson sold his interest to
Metcalf for $6.000 and Metcalf and Graham in turn sold
the mills to Milton Doan of Linn County for $28,000.
Doan had sons. Hicks and Hayden, and the firm was
known as Doan 8: Sons.
In 1871, Metcalf came back to the site of the mills on