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The Mill's history and environment
Jackson's Mill is a member of SPOOM (Society for the Preservation of Old Mills); to learn more about Mills both in Ontario and Worldwide please go to www.spoom.org or directly to www.hips.com/spoomcanada for the Canadian Chapter.
Jackson's Mill, formerly Glen Coe, in 1878 (Meacham Illustrated Atlas)
Geology, environment, life at the Mill
For the naturalist, amateur or professional, the Mill provides unlimited, ever-evolving diversion.
Geologically, the Mill sits squarely atop the 'Frontenac Axis', the unconformity which bounds the Canadian Shield meta-igneous basement assemblages and the later Ordovician sedimentary rocks which give Kingston its sobriquet - 'the Limestone City'.
Collins Creek Valley to the west and the Limestone escarpment that supports the Mill reflect an underlying Graben structure in the pre-Cambrian basement rock. It has been active since the Mesozioc and the limestone is correspondingly draped synclinally over the ancient meta-granite . A transect of the valley through the Mill finds pre-Cambrian outcrops through the Limestone both to the East and the West. The Race Waterfall which tumbles over the Southern property line and the flood plain to the West of the Mill are in water-worn Ordovician limestone, and the keen observer will find natural graffiti in the striations from Pleistocene glaciation in the flat exposed flood-plain rock.
Keen observers there are Burbrook Road is a first-year field trip for the School of Geology from Queen's University and has been the basis of more than one postgraduate thesis. The Rideau trail passes along the edge of the property and walkers often pause to watch the tail race exhaust from beneath the Mill join the year-round spring that forms the headwaters of Bur Brook in the Northern wooded portion of the Mill property. The spring is actually the exit of a Karst structure draining part of the upper portion of Collins Creek Valley and it's inlet can be observed in 'the Sinkhole' in the Southwest corner of the Millpond, some three hundred meters to the East of the Mill. Dave, who looks after that that land for his Grandfather Marv, welcomes sensitive visitors, and the Millpond and Upper Race Structure are a lovely diversion for the Rideau Trail hikers who transit his property to pass by the Mill.
Less active spectators who still prefer more action than geology and morphology provide will not be disappointed. The Collins Creek watershed and the floodplain to the west are a Conservation Area and together with the other surrounding wetlands, farmlands and woods, as well as the Mill property itself, afford a diverse and ecologically rich temperate habitat for a wide variety of flora and fauna. The main lounge windows provide a comfortable hide to watch the show. As the seasons rotate through the curtain of estuarine forest framing this vast theatre, the performers constantly move, molt and change as the timeless plot revolves in its orbit around the sun.
The actors in this quintessentially Canadian diorama include myriad birds and animals, too many and varied for these short paragraphs, as well as the sporadic, intruding homo sapiens and his technology. Migratory waterbirds, woodpeckers, ravens and raptors, large and small, sail past in the sky; flycatchers, jays, songbirds, swallows and swifts of every persuasion, the occasional owl. Snakes (small, timid, non-venomous) sometimes slither past and the lowest levels are not called 'The Batcave' for nothing.
Mammals small and large, squirrels (red and grey), chipmunks, and other 'wee sleekit, cowerin' timorous beasties' abound. Porcupine, raccoons and larger beasts bumble and flash past the Mill, including the otter who fished in the snow-veiled Creek and the Race last winter, and who regularly left slide-tracks (?!?!!!) across the lower lawns.
White tail deer slip through the woods and if you are lucky, you may glimpse an Eastern Coyote stalking them. Fishers are rumoured, but Flower, Pluto nor I have seen one. According to Dave from across the road, in the mid-1970s, Collins Creek became the last port of refuge for a Black Panther, escaped from a zoo in Gananoque some 25 miles to the East. Followed by cops, amateur huntsman and press, he 'terrorized' the countryside North of the 401 (it was the 1970s after all) until, reaching the Mill and Collins Creek, he found a sanctuary to spend the rest of his days. Dave hunted him as a boy (quite cautiously and unsuccessfully) and the first residents of the Mill, the Cairns family, were very careful with the chickens that they raised in the stone horse barn, particularly after their first encounter. The story goes that Mr. Cairns went out in his nightshirt one moonlit October evening, to investigate a ruckus in the henhouse. Apparently he was thinking 'bloody raccoons', and was armed with a broom. He came face to face with the startled cat and it was a toss-up as to which one fled faster.
Alas, the panther is long gone, as Mr. Cairns' chickens, but there is plenty else to see. Perhaps if you listen carefully, watching the moon set over the Collins Creek watershed, some cool October night; sitting next to the open fire on the upper deck, glass in hand - you might just hear the spectral echo of a panther's cough. Such is life at the Mill.
Please click images to enlarge
If you or your family have any anecdotes about Jackson's Mill or the surounding area please contact us, we would love to hear from you.
From the Mill Archives
TEXT TRANSCRIBED BELOW
HISTORY OF KINGSTON TOWNSHIP
(extract from pages 23 and 24)
As the farms were cleared and improved, industries were required to provide facilities to finish the products that had been produced.
The first industry was the milling operation built in 1782 by Robert Clark with the assistance of the King’s Royal Regiment under the command of Major John Ross on orders from the government. The mills, which were located at what became known as Kingston Mills, were used by the first settlers to grind grain for food and cut logs for shelter. In 1840 farmers of the township petitioned for more efficient flour mills.
By 1846 there were numerous mills that would saw the timber from the stands of beech, maple, oak, elm and pine that were being harvested from the land. These new mills were situated on West Brook, Collins and Little Cataraqui Creeks and run by such men as the Powleys who had two mills, Leonards, Nobles and Jacksons. Often the structure housing the mill included a carding, planning or shingle mill as part of its operation. The lumber produced from the mills was used by carriage builders, and timber for houses and ships. Squared timber was sent to ship building centres as well as being used in later years for railway ties.
As the land was cleared, asheries developed for the production of potash, a by-product from the burning of the stumps of waste timber. The land was then planted with such crops as wheat or oats that required grist mills to grind the grain. The first of the commercial mills to be set up were McGuins on Collins Creek at the edge of Collins Bay and Purdy’s Saw and Grist Mill on the Little Cataraqui Creek just east of the Village of Waterloo (cataraqui).
The ground grain could be used for household flour or livestock feed as animals were fattened before being taken to market. As the livestock arrived at a slaughter house more businesses were set up close by to handle the final product. Carding and fulling mills were required to process the wool before it was spun or woven at the cloth factories. Hides required stretching and tanning before harness and shoe makers could use them.
Jackson's Mill in 1900
HISTORY OF KINGSTON TOWNSHIP
(extract from pages 45 & 46)
— JACKSON MILLS —
With the surveying of the townships, land containing waterways or minerals were reserved for the Crowns use. In addition, a portion was also reserved for the clergy. This Glebe land, as it was known, was generally located in the central area of the township. In the Township of Kingston this portion of land occupied six hundred acres in lots 12, 13, and 14 of the Fourth Concession. Through the northern portion of it flowed the Collins Creek.
Just west of the glebe land was another creek that joined the Collins water way. It was on this creek, where the Portland Road (now part of the 5th Concession Road) crosses, that the Powleys set up a mill. This saw mill was linked over land to the one on the Westbrook Creek by following the Portland Road southward and then taking a trail (Cloggs Road) to the open portion of the Third Concession Road which then led along another trail (Westbrook Road) to their mill. In 1852 the mill on the Portland Road was run by Ellis and Patterson. Later it became part of James Gibson’s Elm Grove farm.
During the time that the glebe lands were being redistributed, permission was granted to EVW Jackson for a mill to be developed on the Collins Creek at the edge of the property. The Fifth Concession Road allowance was opened up from Counter’s Inn on the Sydenham Road westward to serve the grist mill and Charles Briton’s carding operation.
George Counter’s stone inn which was located on the north-west corner of the Sydenham Road and Fifth Concession Road was in operation from 1835 until 1900. The inn, which now houses an antique shop, became known as Mrs. Counters Inn and was licensed from 1837 until at least 1850. The main floor consisted of the bar, dining room, and nursery while the upper floor and attic contained the sleeping quarters. In 1863 Charles Counter petitioned council to license his Farmer’s Inn. Across the road on the north-east corner stood a frame church that was constructed about the same time as the inn.
By the time the K. & P. Railway passed through in 1875 the Irish farmer and now mill proprietor, Robert T. McDonnell had developed his Glen Coe property to include one hundred and seventy-two acres, and a two storey frame home on the hill across from the mill. The mill itself was a large three and a half storey frame structure for the milling of flour. A quarter mile portion of the creek east of the mill had been quarried through limestone bedrock to form a raceway. The race which led from the bulkhead of the mill was led by the mill pond, the level of which could be raised or lowered by the use of waste gates.
Even though much of the land continued to belong to the church into the 1880s, a school had been constructed on the north-east corner of James Gibson’s farm in 1855. Initially the school did not serve the families to the east of the mill.
The mill property was subsequently sold around the turn of the century to the MacRow family who installed the sawmill. Each summer during a dry spell, men from the mill would take teams of horses and scrapers and deepen the millpond. The men would then continue up the Collins Creek removing trees and beaver dams that blocked the flow of water. The train which picked up and dropped off mail across from the mill was stopped at least twice by the rising water of the millpond. The mill was sold again in 1961, remaining in operation another ten years before being renovated and turned into a private residence.
Although maps use the name Bur Creek given to the community in the 1930s, residents still know it as Jackson Mills.
Jackson's Mill was sold in 1981 after this advertisement appeared in March/April edition of The Upper Canadian.
As can be seen in the drawing, the upper level of the mill no longer existed at this time, due to a fire.
Please see the newspaper article below that pre dates the 1981 sale, and gives an overview of the renovation project in the 1970's after the Mill ceased her working life.
