IOWA GHOST TOWNS
COUNTY OF MITCHELL
Bush's Mill/Light Plant
Mitchell County, Iowa
LOCATION: NW corner of the intersection of Highway 9 and the River Road. East side of the Cedar River and
North of the present day Highway 9 Bridge.
By: Cindi Youngblut 7/7/04
Reproduced with the approval of the: Mitchell County Historical Society
From “The Story of Mitchell County 1851 - 1973”
Click
on picture to get a larger view.
While I haven't found that it was officially ever a town, perhaps the "settlement"
they are referring to is in this location, due to the name:
In 1856, a Mr. Strayer and Mr. Heckart opened a sawmill on the Cedar River west of Osage after building a dam.
In 1858 they sold it to J.H. Brush, who repaired the dam and added a grist mill. It was later sold to McKinley
Brothers.
The mill burned down in 1879, reportedly without insurance. In 1894 the site was acquired by the Osage
Electric Light, Heat, and Power Company, a group of Osage businessmen. They installed a Kingsbury water
wheel and belt-driven direct-current generators.
For 18 years the plant generated power for Osage. In 1912 the dam failed and a steam plant was constructed
west of the I.C.R.R. tracks (South of Main Street). The building later became the egg drying plant during
World War II and later became the blood drying plant, and was producing a chemical insecticide as of 1973
when The Story of Mitchell County was compiled.
The site of the dam was discernable at that time a short distance up the river from the Hwy 9 bridge.
By: Dora Biederman 7/8/04
Neal--Interesting pictures of the dam and millhouse west of Osage! I will attempt to answer your questions,
whether factual or not. I think this is correct. The mill was located immediately north of the Highway #9
bridge. My son and I have fished there often, floating down the river in his little jon boat. You can still
see the upstream side of the installation.
Click on pictures to get a larger view.
In your second picture in the top row, (webmaster's note: this refers to the
above two pictures) the house in the back looks to Dick (husband) and me like Louis Laughlin's old house.
It no longer remains. Dick says he remembers some other outbuildings on that place, and the picture looks
like there are other buildings. That picture is taken looking east, so the place on the corner of the north
side of #9 and the river road would be right.
Click on picture to get a larger view.
In the last picture, taken looking southeast, you can see the boat that I believe
was the excursion boat that was used on the Cedar River to take people on excursions. It was run by a man
named Vanderpoel, who ran the knitting mill at Mitchell that used water power. When a small child fell
overboard and drowned, he discontinued the boat service.
This dam, with the Osage Power plant, failed in 1912 and the operation moved to the present site of A to Z
Drying, on State St. in Osage.
You mentioned thinking the power plant was down by Spring Park. I don't think that is correct, but there
was kind of a dam there. Old timers remember swimming in the pool formed by that dam. Parts of it are kind
of visible today. Ask canoers who try to go down the river when the river is low. They know where the dam
was. It was at the east end of the park, near the entrance to the Harry Cook Nature Trail.
There was a sawmill located by Spring Park, but on the other side of the park. There is little known of it,
but the same history book that I mentioned above, states that the remains of an excavated sluiceway or mill
race along the east bank of the river valley directly south from the bluff to the northwest corner of Spring
Park, are visible. It says that there were a few old timbers in the river in that area and that they could
have been the site of the dam. However, little is known of it.
There was also a dam and mill just above Sunny Brae Golf Course. It was built by the Rice Brothers, associated
also with Riceville. It was for making flour. The dam proved to be very costly to maintain and the mill closed
in 1890. There was a stone building from the mill standing at the northwest corner of the golf course for many
years. It was finally taken down and the stone was used elsewhere.
| Compiled and layout by: |
Neal Du Shane |
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040105 |
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