New Hartford, Minnesota
"Old Rush" Mill and Historic Site
Come for a visit! Please stay for a lifetime!
The "Old Rush" Windmill
was a large and complicated machine built for the simple purpose of grinding small grains.
The "Old Rush" was a typical 1870's windmill: a narrow, two-story house balanced
on an oak post and fitted with four 26-foot frames rigged with linen sails.
When the wind rose--a 20- to 30-mile-per-hour breeze was best--the miller pivoted the house to
catch it. Steve Reuter and Robert W. Miller were the first "Millsteers" at this site.
The sails spun a shaft mated to a geared wheel of 51 teeth called a rack.
The rack drove a perpendicular wooden cage gear called a pinion. The pinion turned a
shaft that spun a running millstone against a fixed bedstone below. Wheat and corn
fed through a hopper between the stones emerged as flour and meal.
Keeping the running stone turning from 105 to 110 times a minute--was tricky and dangerous.
For his trouble, the miller got a sixth of what he ground.
The "Old Rush" Windmill is
located off North Road and is open to the public 9 am to 9 pm from May 1 through September
30 each year. The Mill is in operation on weekends from mid-June through September.
