Photo Identified, Trout mill site located

          About three years ago cousin Tami Renner, with support from her family, undertook an enormous task of digitizing hundreds (thousands?) of family photos and documents and making them available online.  Many of them date to the 1800s and early decades of the twentieth century.  All are a treasure to the family and we are grateful that they have been preserved.  Thank you, Renner cousins!  The collection can be found here:

          https://rennersteindorf.shutterfly.com/

          Many of the older photos were taken and collected by Tami’s great-grandmother, Jennie Trout Steindorf (1875-1956), daughter of William H. Trout who authored Trout Family History (1916).  As with any collection of historic photos, several are unidentified.  One such unidentified photo has been sitting on my desktop for two years.  It was labeled “Trout mill location.  Possibly Meaford, ONT”

Photo likely taken by Jennie Trout Steindorf c. 1928.

          In an attempt to identify the photo, I forwarded it to several libraries, museums, and historical societies in the Meaford area to no avail.  Then I forwarded it to our friend Robert Burcher, who led our reunion hike to Trout Hollow.  After a few dead ends, Robert wrote to me:

“On a whim yesterday I went into the village of Walter's Falls (on the Bighead River) to see if that was the correct location. When I asked at the front desk of a Hotel that is built on the old mill site the owner just smiled and reached over to a shelf and brought forth this:"

Photo by Robert Burcher.

“Eureka!! Turns out she is somewhat of a historian and member of the Hallman Family, so she could give me the complete run down on the site. She passed this sheet on to me.”

Walter’s Falls was founded by John Walter over 163 years ago.  John Walter (1804-1867) and his wife Elizabeth Payne (1804-1882) are buried in the church yard of St. Philip’s Anglican Church.  This beautiful stone church, built in 1880, is located beside the Inn and is open to the public year round.  Settling around the river, John harnessed the water power to develop a sawmill, feed mill, and woolen mill.  The sawmill was operated by the Olmstead brothers until it was sold to Willard Hallman in the early 1940’s.  The sawmill increased its power capacity and expanded in the 50’s, but outgrew the power and changed to the hydro grid in the early 80’s.  Willard’s son John continued to operate the sawmill until it burned in 1984.

          On page 93 of Trout Family History, we find mention of this mill and confirmation of its association to the Trout family of Meaford:

“And in the early summer of 1852 we built Walter's grist mill.  This was thirteen miles from the lake, and three miles beyond the nearest settler.”

          It’s not much, but we have a date, a name, and a general location, more than enough to confirm the site.  The year 1852 fits the mill history description of “over 163 years ago.”  “Walter’s grist mill” is of course a match.  And “thirteen miles from the lake” fits as well, with Google Maps showing a distance of about 11 miles as the crow flies to Meaford, which sits on the shores of Georgian Bay (Lake Huron).  

          Today the mill site is home to The Falls Inn & Spa, which according to the owners, “stands in tribute to those who laboured and operated in the village.”  We can now safely say that our Trout ancestors are included in this tribute.  

Bullrushes growing within mill's original foundation.  Photo by Robert Burcher.

Section of the original vertical mill shaft.  Photo by Robert Burcher.

The mill was located to the left of the viewing platform.  Photo by Robert Burcher.

A second dam and mill sits upstream.  The metal pipe fed water to the main mill.  Photo by Robert Burcher.