Industrial Archeology at Van Winkle's Mill
content by Robin Bowers (from Bowers 2003), Alicia Valentino and Jamie Brandon

The importance of the Van Winkle Mill as one of the first major industrial sites in Northwest Arkansas cannot be overstated. When Peter Van Winkle first moved to Van Hollow with the intention of opening a saw mill, there were few saw mills in Benton County. By the time Van Winkle had passed operation of the mill on to his son-in-law, J.A.C. Blackburn in 1880, only two other saw mills were listed on the Manufacturers Census for that year in Benton County--the Robinson Mill and the Grimes Mill. Neither of these two mills were steam powered nor did they come close to the 1.3 million board feet of lumber the Van Winkle Mill produced that year.

The Van Winkle Mill was almost legendary in its time. Historical accounts of the mill practically claim that it alone built Northwest Arkansas. The mill has been credited with supplying lumber for most post-Civil War houses in Benton and Washington Counties, as well as the construction of municipal buildings such as Old Main on the University of Arkansas campus and the Courthouse in Bentonville in 1872.

Contemporary observers seemed to have been fascinated with the mill and its machinery. Historical accounts often mention the large size of the equipment at the mill. Although the size of machinery varies from one account to another, the exaggerations (and inconsistencies) of these accounts help to reflect the grandeur of the mill. The exact measurements of the flywheel and the horsepower of the engine are not known but we can extrapolate from these accounts that they were big--big enough to be awe inspiring and big enough to survive in people's memories long after the mill itself was gone.

There is no doubt that the mill was a source of wonder for the inhabitants of Northwest Arkansas. Steam power was very much a new technology when the first steam engine was installed at the mill in the early 1860s. All other mills in the area, including flour mills, were water driven. The spinning of the flywheel, the noise from the engine and saws, and the smoke pouring from the smoke stack must have been impressive for local people visiting the mill - people who had likely never seen a locomotive. For rural residents who, even in the 1860s, were considered "backward hillbillies," there must have been a tremendous pride in this symbol of modernity that graced their woods.

Industrial archeology at the Van Winkle's Mill site has concentrated on reconstructing the mill operations (especially the workings of the postbellum mill) using historical data and the limited excavations conducted to date. This first stage of work was summarized in Robin Bowers' MA thesis at the University of Arkansas entitled Ozark Industry: The Van Winkle Saw Mill, 1857-1890 (Bowers 2003).

However, beginning with the 2005 University of Arkansas field school at Van Winkle's Mill new avenues in industrial archeology at the mill will be investigated. Alicia Valentino, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Arkansas with an MS from Michigan Technological University's program in Industrial Heritage and Archeology, will direct this summer's work in order to answer some important questions about the industrial complex at Van Winkle's Mill. This new work will seek to assess the impact of mill operations on local and regional scales during the nineteenth century, including the appearance of new technologies, shifting market demands, and radical changes in the mills labor force.

In the past, the field of industrial archaeology has been dominated by reports of machinery, structures, and technological innovations. Here, various approaches will be employed to acknowledge the human element of industry. New directions, including environmental history, economic geography and settlement patterns, and labor history, will contribute to a fuller understanding of the environmental, human, technological, and spatial variables that contribute to the success of an industry.

Other links on this site which deal with some of these issues can be found in the history section (the mill and its laborers) and the African-American heritage research theme section. The fact that the industrial heritage of the Ozarks is largely forgotten, is addressed by the cultural memory in the Ozarks research theme.