Water: an Industrial Power Source

During the Civil War, the Manchester Powder Mill was powered by water, as were most mills. Water mills produced goods such as paper, flour, lumber, and textiles by using the flow of water to turn a large, typically wooden wheel. A shaft connected to the wheel axle transferred power through gears and cogs to machinery, allowing waterpower to drive processes like grinding, rolling, and hammering. The four main types of waterwheel were overshot, undershot, pitchback, and breastshot, and the kind used depended on the available water source. Because water-powered mills needed a strong, dependable current year-round, they were usually built beside reliable streams or rivers. The Manchester Powder Mill stood along the Duck River, like many other mills of its time, but it still faced seasonal changes in water level. In dry seasons, river levels could fall enough to weaken the current and reduce the mill's power, and undershot wheels could lose power altogether. Many mills addressed this problem by creating mill races, narrow channels that carried water to and from a mill's wheel and produced a swifter, more powerful current than the broader river. Remnants at the Manchester Powder Mill appear to be from such a mill race, which would also have allowed the mill buildings to stand farther from the riverbank and better avoid flooding in wet seasons.

Tennessee · United States