Local History Interview Millville Dean from Millville being interviewed by Megan a student at Greenwood Friends Middle School, accompanied by her teacher, Shelly. Hi. My name is Megan and I am from Greenwood Friends middle school. I am here to interview Dean on December 13, 2000 for the Profiles of the Fishing Creek Watershed Project. Megan: Where do you live now? Dean: I live in Millville Megan: How has Little Fishing Creek been an influence in the history and culture of this community? Dean: Well, it's probably the reason why the community was founded in the first place. There were a number of springs around here being descended into Little Fishing Creek and when John Eves came here, he settled just across from it. Megan: What are and were the major industries here that made use of Little Fishing Creek? Dean: Well, when John Eves came he brought several sons and one of the first things he did was to build a sawmill, which was powered by Little Fishing Creek. They also built a grist mill, a feed mill. Little Fishing Creek also powered it. That was early in the settlement period in the first 30 or 40 years. Later on, there were additional dams put in to run the tannery and the wagon horse. Megan: What kinds of things have changed in this town over the years? Dean: The town is probably like any other community in the world that's changed with all the mechanization. All of the industries that used the stream for power are gone. The last one was really the grist mill. It replaced the waterpower with electric power before they went out of business in the first place. The stream is no longer nearly as critical from that standpoint. It does supply water to the community and it's one of the main sources today because of the fact that the wells that are used for pumping water into the community's water system are located right along Little Fishing Creek. But beyond that, the stream itself doesn't even provide recreation like it did in the old days before the swimming pool, when kids would swim in it. Today it is fairly shallow, lacking in any real deep holes, so it doesn't even present an opportunity for recreation in that sense. It's stocked by the fish commission and becomes a fishing site during trout season, but that is about the only recreational use it gets. Megan: What are some of the things you did for fun growing up here? Dean: We played around in the creek, no question about that, but that has changed. Wasn't any swimming pool here. The woods around here were also much more dense and less populated then today. A lot of city people have come out and built summer places and even permanent residences in what were wooded spots. We did a lot of camping. I was actively involved in the Boy Scouts. We were outdoors in the summer and winter. The other advantage to having a grist mill was that there was a large pond, about four acres long, and that pond would freeze over in the winter time and they would let us skate on it. We used it for ice-skating. Megan: How has Little Fishing Creek changed in the time you have lived here? Dean: It used to flow more regularly, I think there has been a build up in the area of homes and paving and parking lots, the school has become a major area of concentration. The Millville High school and the Millville Elementary Schools have paved large areas to the north of town. The water run off now happens quickly as the creek comes up much faster and it gets muddy and runs off. Then there isn't any retention in the ground. Even though you have quite a lot of rain, the creek drops down to a much lower level then it did when we were kids. So, you see, development has had a really adverse effect. Megan: What are some legends or stories about this town? Dean: I would guess that the one that is the most predominant is the one about John Eves coming here and settling down, creating the first community in the county. That's had historically a Quaker background. As a result of that Quaker influence, I think a lot of the things that are associated with the community are considered to be Quaker based. Megan: What are some places to see that are important in Millville. We'll be taking pictures of Millville, what are some places you recommend seeing and taking pictures of? Dean: Oh, I would guess that you would find it interesting to visit the Meeting House. You've probably already been there before, but I think that says something about the community. Across the creek is a monument to the first home in the community where John Eves first settled. Shelly: Can you give us directions? Dean: Sure. You just go across the bridge here from Jerseytown and take the first right, and as you go up that hill, about a 1/3 of the way up on your left you will find a small cleared area right on the side of the road where there's a stone pile that's approximately two feet high, and is about three or four foot square, and on the face of it is a plaque that states it is the site of the original settlement. Shelly: Okay. Dean: If you're trying to take a look at what's happening in the watershed, there are a couple of things you might want to look at. The base of the mill over here, the grist mill, it was a water powered mill, and so you can see some of the underpinnings that are there that show how the water came in and ran through the mill to provide water power for that. Over here on this side of the plant is where the water company is located, where the pumping facilities provide the water for the community. And if you try to stay around the watershed concept, you might find that to be interesting. You could even check with the local people here, in Millville, I think they will allow you to take a tour of the facilities. Shelly: So they take the water right out of the creek? Dean: Well, they take indirectly out of the creek. There are wells that are basically sediment collectors near the stream and they flow in through basins under the main pump house. Water is treated there, chlorine is used to neutralize ,and then is pumped up through a reservoir on a hill. I don't know how extensively you want to get involved in that. There's a new reservoir they built on top of the community that brings water down through a water system. I think they put the first water system in around 1909. It was one of the first communities in the area that had a public water system. It was run as a private business at that time. It eventually closed and was made into a public waterworks at some point in time. If you go down to the local town hall somebody could take you to see what that water company was like. Another thing that's being done now, in terms of the environment around here as far as water goes, there was a retirement community built here on the hill. They put in a retention basin and now it's nothing but ground works, but it's there. The school is expanding up here. They're in the process of doing that. They're putting in a few retention ponds to keep water from flooding immediately down through the community. Maybe you would find it interesting to go see what a retention pond looks like. Shelly: Was the creek ever dammed in your lifetime? Dean: Oh yes, the dam along the hill, up here above the town, and it went out after a flood, one time after a couple trees washed in. Then came along a concrete dam. The state wouldn't allow it to be put back because people were fishing in that area. So that dam was here and that was the principle dam in my lifetime. When I was real young kid it was right below the bridge down here, unless it was at the tannery. And there was a little dam, it was a wooden dam, when the Eves got here, to power the saw mills when they got here. They were only a temporary thing. Late 1700's to early 1800's.