Hope Hollow, A Beginning
by
Martin E. Nass
In the fall of 1850, Wilson Brewer, William Brewer, and William Stanley came with their families to the area they called Hope Hollow. Today, that site is located at the intersection of 280th Street and Inkpaduta Avenue, about six miles south of present day Webster City. William was the nephew of Wilson; Stanley was a brother-in-law of Wilson. They came by ox team, following the river, which had just been named the Boone River, according to J. W. Lee.
Winter was coming on, and the party of about 15 people needed to make preparations for the winter. They built shelters, set up a large tent, and holed up for the winter. Deer and other game were plentiful; fish were available in the river, which also provided water. There was an abundance of firewood to keep them warm.
When the spring of 1851 came, the party pulled up stakes and moved north, following the river, until they came to a place they later named Newcastle. Today, Newcastle is Webster City.
Three years later, another settler came to the Hope Hollow region. He was Thomas Williams who made the first land entry in our county. He claimed 400 acres in Section 31, Township 88, Range 26 and in Section 36, 88, 26 on June 25, 1853. He constructed a saw mill. He dammed up the river with rocks and logs and erected a building for his sawmill. Charles Fisher was hired as the millwright and took for his pay some of the land owned by Williams. The mill went through the first year with success, but the dam washed out the next spring. Undaunted, Williams reconstructed his dam about 200 yards further south and worked to rebuild the mill as a grist mill. The construction took too long, so he sold the mill site to Lambert Sternberg. Sternberg completed the construction by putting in a dam of logs and poles bolted together and added machinery to grind wheat. He put in an old fashioned Rose wheel which was 14 feet tall. The building to house it was a story and a half tall, with a basement. It was located at the southeast corner of the present day Bever Bridge.
The settlers brought their wheat and corn from thirty and forty miles away. They sometimes lodged overnight with the miller's family. The miller worked for a sixth of the ground grain, which was called the "Miller's Toll." Sternberg got his money when he sold his portion of the grain. Lambert Sternberg operated the mill until 1863, when he sold it to Jay Sternberg. Jay then sold it to John Ross in 1868. A year later, in 1869, John Ross was found in the wheel pit under the mill shot in the back. His nephew, also named John Ross, was charged with the murder. His trial was the first one held in our county. After he was acquitted by the jury, he left the county. The mill reverted back to Jay Sternberg who sold it again, this time to James W. Kimbell. He redesigned the mill by putting in a 48 inch LaFell water-wheel, which was a horizontal wheel with the water flowing into the center of the wheel.
James Kimbell soon sold out to his son, Ben Kimbell. When Ben died, his widow sold the mill to Joseph Bone, who had recently rebuilt and operated Bell's Mill. Since Bone operated two mills, he decided that the name of this mill should be Excelsior Mill.
Bone rebuilt the miller's house, which stands today with the miller's windows on the south side. These windows allowed the miller to observe the traffic to the mill, when he was at home. Bone also raised the mill 12 feet, making it the tallest mill in the county. Bone hired Adam D. McKinlay as the miller, while he continued to operate Bell's Mill. It is of interest that McKinlay had a daughter, Effie, who became the mother of our noted author, MacKinlay Kantor. MacKinlay added the extra "a" to his grandfather's name McKinlay because he thought that gave it a more Scottish "flavor."
The mill continued to operate until Bone sold it to P. G. LaBarr in 1889. In 1895, it was sold to P. B. Osborn, who converted the mill from water-wheel power to steam power. The flow of water was insufficient some of the time to enable the mill to operate. Steam power provided a constant source to operate the mill. Unfortunately, in 1899, the steam engine exploded and destroyed the mill completely. The Tremaine post office was discontinued at that time.
Today, standing at the east end of Bever Bridge, one can look at the miller's house and think back on all that occurred at this site of Hope Hollow, Williams Mill, Bone's Mill, and Tremaine. If you listen carefully perhaps you can hear the creak of the ox wagons, the sound of the shotgun that killed John Ross, the grinding of the mill wheel, and the final blast of the explosion that destroyed the mill. None of this remains today except for a sign on a post identifying the site of Bone's Mill.