Great Lakes Chapter
The following report and photographs come from Celia Westphal, who serves as a Director on the GLC Board. The National and Great Lakes Chapter of SPOOM were again represented at the Isaac Ludwig Mill Festival on July 14-15, 2007. Celia Westphal, Donna Scott, and Willie Ludwig (GLC President) handed out membership brochures, pamphlets for a variety of mills, and copies of Old Mill News to interested visitors. Willie Ludwig’s two-sided display of flour bags from mills in the Great Lakes area provided a real conversation piece. Some of the mills depicted have long since disappeared, while others remain in operation. Using the display as a draw, Celia Westphal proudly exhibited her mill photo albums and answered questions about the mill rosters for Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
Machinery on display included an old International Harvester Titan tractor, an old thrashing machine, and a grain binder. These items were used to harvest grain that was hauled to the mill.
Nick Reiter, from Red Power Milling Company of Burton, Ohio, brought his steel burr mill corn grinder with a 17-foot sweep. Power for the grinder came from animal power. An ox or equivalent) was hooked to the mill and walked in a circle to operate the mill. Also on display was a Meadows Mill that was sold by International Harvester in 1923. A clipper fanning mill number 6 used to clean corn, wheat, barley, and oats completed the collection. Reiter used a 1932 McCormick Deering Farmall tractor to power his gristmill and the fanning mill. The tractor was displayed by Mike Androuich of Grand
Rapids Ohio.
The Great Lakes Chapter will visit Isaac Ludwig Mill and the
Toledo Metropark System in Grand Rapids, Ohio, on October 13, 2007, for their Fall meeting.