Milford Township gunpowder mill, Somerset County, Pennsylvania

The following excerpt is from the Milford Township portion of the 1884 book "History of Bedford, Somerset and Fulton Counties, Pennsylvania". It describes a circa 1833 gunpowder mill in Milford Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. For a general description of how a gunpowder mill operated in the early 1800s, see Kauffman's 1960 book "The Pennsylvania - Kentucky Rifle". For an overview of how saltpeter was made, see the July, 1968 and November, 1990 issues of the "Muzzle Blasts" magazine. For more detailed information, see the 1776 pamphlet "Essays Upon the Making of Salt-Petre and Gun-Powder" that was published by the New York Committee of Safety.

A history book excerpt that mentions a gunpowder mill in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

The John Miller Mill referenced in the 1884 book may be the Miller mill circled on the following 1830 map, which is the published version of the 1818 Melish-Whiteside map. The Miller mill also appears on the 1818 manuscript version of the map.

The 1785 John Miller survey is shown on the following excerpt from the WPA survey map of Millford Township:

The John Miller survey (Book C-141 page 146) shows that Miller's property extended north of Wilsons Run in the vicinity of the Miller's mill that is shown on the 1830 map. This means that Miller's mill on the 1830 map is probably located on John Miller's survey.

The Bridegum residence on Wilsons Run that is circled on the following excerpt from the Milford township map in the 1876 county atlas appears to be located near the site of the Miller mill that is identified on the 1818 and 1830 maps of Somerset County. Because digging mill races is an enormous amount of work, the sawmill on the 1876 map, which was located approximately at 39.92323629, -79.13353106, may have reused the mill race from the antecedent powder mill and grist mill.

The residence on Wilsons Run is also identified as the Bridegum place on the 1860 Walker map of Somerset County:

The following 1921 map is included to show the terrain in the vicinity of the mill. The general location of the mill is circled in red.

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