MILLS ON THE DUNK AT SCALES POND The body of water known today as Scale's Pond, has had a long history in milling and hydropower generation. It is not certain when milling operations at this site began. The most likely date is 1837, the year after Nathaniel Wright purchased the land on which the mill was located. He bought 125 acres of land from Thomas and Elizabeth Hooper in December 1836. Mr. Wright , with the help of his sons, began a milling business to supply the new settlers in the Freetown , Kinkora , Newton and Middleton areas. The 1841 census lists three saw mills, three grist mills and one carding mill on Lot 26. The 1833 census gives only one saw mill and one grist mill on Lot 26 and from that we can conclude that one of the new mills reported was Nathaniel or George Wright 's at South Freetown . According to Mrs. Doris M. Haslam , Nathaniel and his family built the mill and millpond from scratch. One source suggests that the first mill was constructed in 1819 and operated by Nathaniel Wright Jr. of Bedeque . Mr. John Ambrose Smith , a local octogenarian claims that a mill or mills operated on the site when his grandfather emigrated to the district in 1841. The surveyor's log book for the first survey of the Scales' on Lot 26 mentions Wright's Mill in an entry for 4 April 1842. This entry would indicate that the mill existed before the road. Transport of products to and from the mill must have been via the Dunk River . The road reports in the P.E.I. Legislative Journals first mentioned the mill in a report for 1852. It was then called Wright's Mill. The property on which the mill was located was purchased by George M. Wright , a miller, from his parents Nathaniel and Christiana Wright, on 9 December 1854, for $50.00. The property contained 125 acres (code 104). Joy Best , a native of Westmoreland , came to work at the mill in June 1858. Mr. Best leased land from Joseph and Benjamin Bradshaw and built a house (code 104). George Wright continued to operate the mill until his death in 1867. Prior to this, he had erected saw, grist and carding mills at this location. The mills continued in operation, by George Wright 's brothers Lorenzo and Robert, until his widow, Betsy Maria sold the mill pond and adjacent property to Mr. David Rogers , a resident of Freetown , on 22 December 1870. Mr. Rogers built a house, and farmed the property. Thus began a period of intense activity with two men working the mills full time. George Cook worked at the grist mill for over twenty years with Mr. Rogers . He sold 65 acres north of the Dunk River to David Rogers on 13 February 1882. This land was called part of the "Alemone Lot," and was within reasonable distance of the mills. In 1886, Jane Cook purchased the farm and mills at Walls' Bridge, and it is believed that her husband George ran these mills as well as working those of David Rogers . As well, local boys were hired during peak seasons. Mr. Cook built a house opposite the present structure and David Rogers , originally a blacksmith as well as a farmer, constructed a shop behind the mills. The mills stood side by side somewhat perpendicular to the stream and may have been connected. A small separate building abutted the grist mill and contained machinery to process oatmeal as well as space in which to store it. Construction of the Mill and Dam The dam was probably constructed of cribwork, filled with rocks and stones, and was not of any significant height, as the early overshot wheel derives most of its power from the rate of flow and weight of the water held in each bucket on the downward turn. These low dams did not succumb to holding back a large pond volume, as was experienced with the higher dams of later years when more volume was required to operate powerful turbines at a high rate of revolutions per minute. The Grist Mill The wheel shaft enters horizontally through the lower section of the mill building producing power by engaging two bevelled wooden cog gears, which turned a second vertical shaft. This was engaged to a large nine inch circular granite or burrstone four feet and eight inches in diameter, which had semi-circular grooves to channel the grain over the flat surface, and revolved slowly over a second but stationary stone of the same size which crushed the grain or corn kernels into flour. The Saw Mill The whipsaw was a saw usually set in a frame, for cutting timber lengthwise and was commonly worked by two people. A later modification enabled the whipsaw to be operated by mechanical means, and these were used in the early saw mills. This was explained by Mr. E. Wright of Middleton, a descendant of the previously mentioned Wright family. He also showed an old board cut by such a saw. The cuttings are quite different from those of a circular saw, being rough with straight saw marks. Though they were considered most suitable when used with the slow, overshot water wheel, however they could not match the efficiency of the much faster circular saws that later replaced them. 66