Online Tour Page 1   When today's visitors drive up to the museum, some are disappointed because there is no visual evidence of a water wheel at first glance. Little do they know that just out of sight from their vehicle on the east corner of the building, is an 18 foot 6 inch massive cast iron wheel originally purchased in the late 1800s. Once a year on the Saturday and Sunday of the Labor Day weekend, visitors can watch as water once again flows over the massive wheel to power the original machines inside during Millfest weekend (see banner below).  The main gear inside the mill is attached to the waterwheel and provides power for numerous pulleys and belts that drove the mill's machinery.  This gear is taller then the average person and is made of cast iron.  When the mill was built at the end of the 19th century, the machines, gears, and other equipment was brought into Las Vegas, New Mexico by train and then transported by wagon to the mill site in the Mora Valley.  Today, in our modern automobiles, a trip between these places is only about thirty minutes or so, back then the journey by wagon was an all day affair.   From the beginning of time, flour milling involved the use of two stones to crush grain, but in the latter part of the 1800s, the technology of cold steel made it possible to develop rolls that would accomplish the task in a much more efficient manner.  This roll stand contains two sets of rolls and the mill has a total of four roll stands. | Home | Next Page | Copyright 2013 Historic Mora Valley Foundation