Mill Races Traditional Geocache
honeybee77: This one had a good run. I'm glad so many new cachers were able to find their first cache here. :) I decided to archive it because I've moved and am not able to properly maintain this cache as it gets muggled once or twice a year it seems. I will pick up the remnants next time I'm in the area visiting family.
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(regular)
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Located on the west side of the Fox River in OTTO Park, adjacent to OTTO Engineering Co. in downtown Carpentersville.
In 1850, Julius Angelo Carpenter bought the dam site on the west side of the Fox River. His father, Charles Carpenter (for whom the town is named) owned the power on the east side. For the next 50 years, the Carpenter family used the dam and a mill race system to power industry along the river, including Valley Woolen Mills, Atlantic Flour Mills, Illinois Iron & Bolt Company's saw mill, and Star Manufacturing Company.
The mill races were man made trenches that ran parallel to the main river channel and were used to control the mill's water wheels. Water from the dam was diverted into the mill race. The amount of water flowing into the mill race was controlled by a sluice gate at the entrance. A sluice gate also controlled speed of water flowing from the mill race back into the river system. This gates were adjusted to control the amount of water flowing through the water wheels depending on the mill's power requirements. The structure at the cache location is the old sluice gate.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)