Welcome to Smith's Mill Pond, also known locally as the Oakland Pond. This is a great pond to kayak, canoe, paddleboard etc as it is sheltered on all sides and is actually quite a bit larger than we imagined. We had discussed placing some water caches on the pond for sometime and this past weekend provided the perfect opportunity. We were able to utilize most of the entire pond and came away with 20 hides for your enjoyment. All these caches were designed and placed with the intention of being accessed from the water. To try to access these from land would result in TRESPASSING on private property.... so please respect the local landowners. This series has a variety of difficulties to challenge all levels of cachers, so please do not try something out of your "comfort zone".
Smith's Mill Pond is the home of the original mill that is now known as Brant Flour Mills Ltd. The first mill was built in 1823 by Job Loder on the NW side of the McKenzie Creek. A dam was built creating a large pond which allowed a water wheel to turn which drove the milling process. Several different people owned the mill until the Smith family purchased it in 1897 and operated it through 3 generations until 1976. At this time a modern electric mill started production under the present day owners, the Storjohann family.