So I always ask people, have you ever been to Bonneyville Mill?

And a lot of people will say, no, never been out there.

I've only been out on the grounds of here and up on the big observation deck that they have, but I've never actually been inside the mill, so I'm really happy to be here with Courtney.

Courtney, you're.

You're the man who runs the mill.

I'm the miller.

You're the miller?

Yep.

You're the only person in this area that doesn't have the last name Miller.

But you are a miller, right?

That's the point, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So.

Right.

So you are the miller, though.

tell me a little bit about Bonneyville Mill and what goes on in here.

It's a beautiful building.

Bonneyville mill is, is a grist mill.

Grist mill grinds grain into flour.

And, it has been here at this location since 1837.

Wow.

it says 1832 on the side of the building, but that's a long story.

but we know the mill was built in 1837. but we currently have two sets of mill stones, and we have two turbine water wheels.

And each water wheel powers a separate set of stones.

How long has this mill been in constant operation?

Well, that's kind not up for debate.

Kind of.

The claim to fame of this mill is that it's supposed to be the oldest continuously operating grist mill in Indiana.

Well, that's a good claim to fame to have, you know, and and besides the mill here.

And we'll have a look at, you know, in, in operation here in a few minutes.

What can people experience if they come out here?

Oh, well, the mill is open to the public.

we are closed on Mondays, but other than that, we're open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.. And, anybody that visits the mill, you can either enter through the basement, you can get a little bit longer tour that way, or you can enter from the main floor and the tour is free.

groups that come to the mill, if they schedule a tour that does cost.

But it's a more lengthy tour.

Okay.

And it runs about an hour.

Yeah.

whereas a mill demonstration runs anywhere from 3 minutes to 15 minutes.

And so, like today, I rocked up for this interview.

Can people just show up like that?

Just come on in and.

Yep.

And there's no problem whatsoever.

You show them how to do.

No, we'll be here and, we sit in the office over there and yeah, when we hear the door bang, we get ready, we offer everybody a mill demonstration, which is fantastic.

And I'm going to get a demonstration here in a second, too.

And of course, Bonneyville area is the mill.

It's it's more than just the mill two.

You got beautiful gardens and other things.

Oh yeah.

We have, some the, the Dahlia gardens, that are in bloom starting in August usually.

that's a beautiful garden.

We also have the quilt.

We're on the quilt tour.

Yep.

And we're on the Heritage trail.

I never realized saw of this area just how big the whole quilting scene is.

Yeah, it's a big thing, right?

Yeah.

And people take it real serious and they're really good at it.

So.

Yeah.

So awesome.

Well, you want to give me a demonstration here?

you mentioned that you have to going on here, so.

Yeah, show me what you want to show.

there's two sets of stones, and this set is what we usually use for demonstration because it has this little peak window here.

So you're what you're looking at here is the top millstone through here.

each stone weighs about 1,800 pounds, and we get two of them.

Well, how do you get it in?

Oh, well, we use the crane, and I think.

I think you guys got video of that.

Oh, maybe we did one point.

but the grain goes in the big funnel over the top.

That's the hopper.

And it falls down into the shaker here.

Okay.

And the shaker tray, when it gets bumped, it drops the grain into the eye of the top stone.

So the stone is like a big donut.

It's got a hole in the middle.

The grain drops through the center.

It works its way to the outside and then down, but down the spout.

And then.

And then here it starts.

yep.

The corn goes through a sifting process.

so the paddle conveyor takes it upstairs and drops it down into the sifter.

Why does it need to go all the way up and then back down?

And it just is there.

Is that just part of the.

That's the easiest way to get it?

most things in the mill, they go up first.

Yeah.

And then everything else.

Is gravity taken back where you want it?

I suppose that's, space.

Space efficiency too, you know, it's, All right.

So.

Yeah.

Show me.

What's this?

Well, this wheel, opens the gates that surround the turbine.

Water wheel.

Okay.

And when they open, that exposes the runner wheel inside the turbine, and the water rushes in.

And as it drains through, it's going to start turning that number three drive shaft.

And that's what runs everything.

It can be bolted or geared up to anything in the mill.

that's what makes everything move.

Can you do it?

Yep.

Oh, nice.

I didn't even know we were going to get, like, a a full demonstration today.

This is excellent.

Oh, there you go.

That's cool.

So from the whole process, nothing runs on electricity?

Nope.

Just everything is just.

Yeah.

All that.

And how do you, like, if something goes wrong with this, do you fix it like you learn to fix it?

Yeah.

Do you have to keep passing down that?

No, I, I've had to do a lot of fixing on a lot of different things.

I've only been the, the head miller for, five seasons.

Okay.

But in that time, there's been a lot of times when things have gone wrong.

Yeah, yeah.

So you just have to figure it out.

Yeah, I like it.

Well, it's wonderful.

And.

And people actually buy this thing once it's done.

So you sell it here as well?

Yep.

The, flour is offered for sale here in the mill, and, people can come in, they can get a bag of flour and go home and make something yummy.

The corn meal after it's been through the stones and drops down this downspout.

And this is unbolted or, sifted cornmeal.

Yeah.

And I do have customers that want it that way.

Okay.

So I'll have I've got a bypass chute that I can run it directly up to a bucket from here, but most people buy it.

Sift sifter.

What's the difference?

there's chunks and holes and just sifting.

So sifting just makes it more fine.

It makes more consistent.

That's a good way of putting it.

Yeah.

And so there's this floor here, but there's also upstairs as well.

Tell me a little bit about what's going on.

upstairs.

the drive shaft.

This drive shaft goes all the way to the top floor.

That's two floors above here.

And up on the next floor, there's a wooden pulley mounted on that drive shaft.

And that is what's running the power conveyor and the system.

Yeah.

Now, up on the third floor, we have a line shaft up there, and we have the main grain cleaner.

Okay.

Located on that floor.

It's not running right now because it's not hooked up.

Okay.

But all the machinery does function.

It does function.

I mean, I struggled yesterday just to connect the gas to my outside grill, so I feel like a terrible excuse of a handyman.

But you can you can just keep a whole mill going.

Well, from 1830 so far so far.

Yeah.

No, I think it's amazing.

And, I really hope people do come out here because, as you mentioned, for our individuals coming out or a couple of people, it's free to just pop in and you'll do this for our name.

Oh yeah.

Yep.

We will run them mill demonstration for anybody that comes in the door.

So Courtney, this is some of the stuff, the products that you've actually made here.

So tell me about the variety going on.

Well, we grind wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat spelt yellow and white corn.

Nice.

Actually, this year we're doing some extra things.

but that's kind of a special program that we're going to be running.

Okay, so this is, rye flour and this is a Scottish oatmeal, and then this is yellow corn meal.

these are our mixes that we added just a couple of seasons ago.

And so I have a lot of people come in that say I don't bake.

You know, I don't bake I yeah, I just use mixers.

So now we have something for them.

Nice.

So they can't walk out the door without without something.

so we have a cornbread mix and a pancake mix.

And so when people buy these things, does it stay, like, does it go back into the entire parks department?

Does it stay with Bonneyville Mill, or how does it goes into our general.

Yeah.

Fund and then building fund and yeah, it helps maintain the parks.

oh yeah.

Which we're very lucky.

We have a lot of great parks in Elkhart County.

So tell me a little bit about like, like, okay, I just went I was in Bristol before here and I had breakfast that I got rye toast because I love rye bread.

Can you make that with that?

Like, I'm terrible when it comes to baking.

I haven't a clue.

So.

So, what what kind of things could you use that for?

We have a lot of recipes that we can offer people.

Oh, right.

You're interested?

but you can find a lot of recipes online.

Yeah, true.

But that's cool.

And, yeah, the rye makes excellent bread.

Yeah.

we have some bread flours that we sell, but.

But wheat flour.

Yeah.

Really good bread.

And as an Irish man, like, what's going on with this Scottish.

Well they're Scottish so yeah.

Then you get some Irish something here going No I am just kidding We had a, we had a customer.

we didn't used to grind oats.

Yeah.

But he came in and he lives half his year in Scotland.

Okay.

Who lives his other half a year here in the United States.

And he asked the former Miller, could you make me some oatmeal?

I can't have him in Scotland, which is ground on the stones.

Nice.

So he kind of guided John on what the consistency should be.

Yeah.

no, it's never oatmeal.

Listen, Irish people like Scottish people.

Yeah, it's.

Yeah, we it's English people that we vote don't like.

No, no, I'm just kidding I was kidding.

We like everybody.

but no, that's awesome to that.

And then the yellow, corn meal as well.

Like.

Yeah I mean, I know people watching this bake are going to be like, come on, Dave, you don't know what this is used for, but what can you use it for?

corn.

A lot of people make corn bread.

Yeah.

Of course, it makes good fish batter.

Oh, yeah, that's about it.

Yeah.

a lot of people use it for that.

there's a lot of recipes that I call for cornmeal.

I feel like I need to bring the rye in the cornmeal home with me, because my wife loves cornbread, so.

And I love rye toast.

So I think between the two, we got to get this going.

So I thank you so much for showing me around.

I really appreciate it.

There's so much to see and so much to do.

And again, you're just closed on Monday.

You're open even on Sunday.

Every other day on Sunday.

Yep.

So Tuesday through Sunday, 10 to 5, 10 to 5.

Just show up to the parking lot over here and just, great facilities and everything here.

And as you might, where did I see before when I climbed up there, like observation desk deck.

Is that still here?

The lookout tower?

Yeah, the lookout tower is on the other end of the park.

Okay, okay.

Yeah.

So I just came across that one day and I was like, oh, that's cool.

And then I climbed up and it was really pretty.

I wasn't sure what I supposed to be looking at.

Yeah, but it was really pretty once you're up there.

So before we go, what is this?

This is an example of what the turbine looks like.

most visitors.

Yeah, that come in the door.

Not most, but a lot.

We'll come upstairs and they'll say, where is your water wheel?

Because everyone expects to see a vertical, upright water wheel on the side of the mill.

Because that's what you see in pictures.

Yeah.

And so that's how all mills operate.

Well, that's not true.

Okay.

this mill has always operated on horizontal water wheels.

Okay.

The water wheel goes around in this direction, and the current system?

no pun intended.

Right.

Current system.

System?

our turbines, the first turbine was probably installed here in Bonneyville in the 1880s.

Okay.

we have an 1860, leffel turbine.

We have a 1910 leffel turbine, and we have an 1875 American turbine.

Nice.

But what happens is, these gates have been taken away so that you can actually see the runner wheel.

Yeah, center.

That's the part that moves.

but the gates go all the way around.

And what I did when I turn the mill on is they were in a closed position.

And when I opened them up, that opened the slot here and here and here, the water rushed them and started to run that center water wheel.

And that's how the turbine functions.

Awesome.

Well, thank you so much for showing us around.

And, I hope a lot of people show up and enjoy it.

I hope so too.

Thank you.