06/11/2026
ThrowBackThursday. Bob Fosler is working on the concrete form for the wing wall at the turbine pit inlet. Once the form was completed, concrete was poured inside. After several days of curing, the wooden form was removed, leaving behind a solid concrete wall.
In the upper right corner of the photo, you can see the tube, or race, that carries water from the millpond to the mill. If this race were completely excavated today, you would find three different generations of water conduits. Remnants of a very old wooden race still exist. Sometime later, likely during the 1920s when the dam was rebuilt, a larger smooth pipe was installed inside the original wooden race. During the restoration of the mill by the Friends of Beckman Mill, a corrugated culvert was then placed inside that smooth pipe.
This layered history beneath the ground reflects the ongoing efforts over many decades to keep water flowing to the turbines that power the mill.
