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Tyrone Mill Manrs rearf Corne True Whe ýrnMkan tteitnn BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO, WEËDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1976 130 years later, the Tyrone Mill is still a busy place. It's had its share of ups and downs since 1846 when it was built by Jas. McFeeters, who later became Mayor of Bowmanville. In 1890 a severe flood washed out the dam and cut off the roadway in the iront of the mill for several weeks. During the mid-fifties (this century), it was virtually abandoned, until 1957 when John Thornbeck arrived "to resurrect a business that was obsolete 30 years ago." With determinatiori and hard work, he successfully turned the fortunes of, the mill àround, and once again, it's a thriving centre of activity. The water-powered mill delivers 65 horsepower, and even more in the wintertime when water from t he mill pond is denser because of the cold temperatures. -Photos by Liz Armstrong by Liz Armstrong Two decades ago, the 1Ô-year-old grist milli in Tyrone stoodrempty and virtually abandoned, a wea- thered monument to the past, but of little value by mid-20th century standards. At the time, most people thought that the old building was going the way of dozens of other small 19th century businesses, which had served well in their time, but were inevitably stepping aside for new enterprises blessed by modern technology. That was before John Thornbeck bought the historic old structure in 1957. These days the mill hums with activity, probably as busy now as it was a hundred years ago. Single-handedly, John undertook the task of trans- forming the bilding into a saw mill, and once again putting the water-powered turbine, installed in 1860 by Samuel Vanstone, back into use. "Back in 1957, there wasn't a shaft or pulley in the place," John says. Even the huge old grain mixer was mne. Five days a week, John saws and finishes lumber, and every Saturday, he grinds, rols and mixes cattle and pig feed for local farmers. He found the old mixer in a field north of Burketon and re- stored it to its original purpose. Built to Last There's hardly a machine in the building that isn't over 50 years old - - museum pieces by some standards. But they do the job. Except for people like John, the rest of us forget too easily that it was the rule rather than the exception decades ago to build machinery (fully backed by a solid guarantee) that was designed to last longer than a lifetime - - or even two. And despite its age, John can boast that his machinery is up-to-date. His customers know that when they take him lumber to be sawn and then fintshed on his newest piece of rnachinery, a four sided planer made in Williamsport, Pennsylvania in 1942, that they aren't buying his services just to keep him in business. They get a fine finished product and their money's worth. Except for a few electric bulbs to light the premises, the millworks are completely driven by water power har- nessed from the pond out at the back of the building. When John slowly turns the wheel operating a gate mech- anism which lets the water into the turbines, the mill rumbles into a symphony of sound and motion. For each particular piece of machinery he wants to use, he simply slips a belt over one of the dozens of pulleys in the mill, and he's in business. The whole effect reminds me of one of those complex, per- petual motion Christmas window displays you see at Eaton's every' December. The Tyrone Mill is probably unique in Ontario. "Most of the other water-powered saw mills in Ontario don't bother with planing wood" John explains. And even fewer have a woodworking shop upstairs equipped with metal and wood lathes, a surface planer, band and rip saws, plus hundreds of woodworking tools. Rugged Individualist The mill is a fascinating example of skilled restoration. Originally a flour and grist mill, John converted most of the old structure into a saw mill and woodshop after he bought it, though he still grinds, rolls and mixes feed ever Saturday. Each of the 20 pieces of machinery in the mill has a unique history, including the saw milpictured in the above photo, which came from Plessisville, Quebec. The mill owner too, has an interestinÜ history. Before he came to Tyrone 19 years ago, John sailed steamboats on the Great Lakes and the Atlantie coast for 10 years an then worked with the CP.R, for 16 years. on clergy reserve land, and later built a woodshop for constructing wagons and sleighs. Years later, John's father took over the business, and made improvements in the shop, including the installa- tion of an eight horsepower John Engels steam engine. About 1878, however, a bake oven in the shop overheated one day, and the building and its equipment were com- pletely destroyed by fire. Like John, his father was an innovative man, and before he rebuilt the shop in 1880, he designed and constructed a prototype of a complex wind- miii, making all the patterns for the gears himself. The new shop was competely wind- powered and lit by a coal o. lamp. When John was a young boy, he can remember standing by his father's side in the shop and watching him work at the wood lathe, turning out care- fully finished pieces with skilled hands. The same wood lathe, a few decades older, now, can still be found upstairs at the Tyrone Mill. And John exhibits the same sort of skill on the machine as his father did years ago. Expropriation The old wood lathe might still be housed in the historie Thornbeck Mill in Scarbor- ough, but in 1953, the Central Mortgage and Housing Cor- poration in conjunction with the federal government, expropriated his land and buildings to make way for a housing development. After his family had owned the property for 120 years, John's reaction to the situa- tion was understandable. "I was flabbergasted when I found out about the expropria- tion. It's bad enough when they take land away from homeowners to build a road or canal to benefit the nation, but the pioneers put up with all kinds of privation and hard- ship to build for the future. Then the government comes along and takes the place for half its market value to build homes for other people." Though John and 35 other people fought the expropria- tion through the court system twice - - first on the iegality and then on the price - - they were never really satisfied with the eventual settlement. It must be of some solace to him that the historie old shop and windmill have been res- cued from the wrecker's hammer. In a major expan- sion program announced last month, the Pickering Museum has arranged to move both of the buildings to their own site this fail. Early Dreams From the time he was a boy, John Thornbeck wanted to be a mill owner. He also had another dream, and that one came true as well. For 16 years, he worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway, piloting steam engines back in the days when they were the heat and soul of the railway system. Working out of Toronto, his route took him to such places as Windsor, Smith Falls, Mactier and Hamilton, and for the last five years he was with the C.P.R., he handled the run from Toronto to St. Thomas. John still has a lot of respect for steam engines. "They're like horses in a way. They could always do more than they were supposed to do, if you knew how to run them properly." He didn't have the same feeling about diesels. In fact, after three runs on the newer iron horses, he packed up and quit the C.P.R. It was the mill in Tyrone that benefitted from C.P R.'s loss. He gave up a lifetime of security with the railway to start all over, rebuilding and restoring the old mill. But he doesn't regret the move for a minute. "Even though I stuck my neck out a long way, I've enjoyed a better life these past few years than I've ever had." Without a doubt, he's earned his.happiness. Bank WII Wave SericeChargeýs Toronto Dominion announe- ed today the 16 cent per cheque service charge will be waived on all TD Personal Chequing Accounts where a minimum balance of $200 has been maintained during the account's monthly statement cycle. Toronto Dominion is the only major Canadian charter- ed bank to do so. TD No-Charge Chequing goes into effect with Personal Chequing Account monthly statement cycles beginning on or after August 21. Charges will be waived on all cheques and customer pre-authorized payments, and other debits normally charged 16 cents when paid by the bank, if the customer keeps a balance of $200 or more in the account during the monthly statement cycle. Other features of TD No- Charge Chequing are: - - No special application is necessary. A Toronto Domi- nion Personal Chequing Ac- count automatically qualifies so long as a minimum balance of $200 is maintained in the account during the cycle. - - Personal Chequing Ac- counts held jointly also qualify under the same conditions. - - The plan is flexible at the customer's discretion. If the customer permits the Person- al Chequing Account balance to fall below $200, the 16 cent per item charge will be applied against all chargeable debits for that monthly state- ment cycle. However, each monthly statement cycle is considered separately and charges will be waived in subsequent months if the $200 balance is maintained. A bank spokesman said Toronto Dominion introduced this No-Charge Chequing on TD Personal Chequing Ac- counts as part of its policy of improving service tl custo- mers and to meet the needs of the public in an increasingly competitive environment. John's father built this five foot scale model of a windmill back in 1880 before constructing a full-sized one to power the machines in his woodshop in Scarborough. The 97-year-old model is still in good shape and now occupies a spot in the Tyrone Mill. The real windmill will be moved this fall from Scarborough to the Pickering Museum site. Covered in wood chips, Jbhn works at the old wood lathe that used to be located in his father's woodshop in Scarborough. All of the machines are generated by water power, including John's century old metal lathe and surface planer, an 1885 rip saw from Whitby, and an emery sharpening stone which he designed himself to enable him to sharpen bis own saw blades. John not only found and installed all of the mill's machinery himself, he also cleared the miii pond of willows and weeds and made extensive renovations to both the inside and exterior of the building. But the man who runs it has an equally interesting history. When American President Teddy Roosevelt coined the phrase 'rugged individualism' he was thinking of men like John Thornbeck - - self- reliant, hard working and perseverent - - people who gave the young democracies in North America their back- bone. John is down to earth and honest too. It might make a better story to say that he restored the mill simply for the sake of posterity, but that just isn't the case. It was a matter of basic economics. "The mill is my bread and butter. I got most of the machinery from broken down mills around the coun- tryside, and even if all of them were being manufactured today, I'd have had a hard time buying them brand new." Starting in 1957, it took John six months just ir) get the grist mill back into operation, and another year and a half to install the wood shop and saw mill. Originally from Plessis- ville, Quebec, the saw mill had been brought to Ontario to make lumber for a pioneer village in the movie "Last of the Mohicans." John bought it from Arthur Gottlieb's pro- duction studio. Altogether, John searched for, renovated and installed about 20 large machines in the mill. He spent nine years looking for a turbine to replace the old one put in the building by Samuel Vanstone a hundred years before, and he finally found what he had in mind about ten mýîles from Orillia. When he biought the turbine home and dusted it off, he discovered that it had been made in Port Perry in 1910. And as with several other of his machines, he had to rebuild the 'new' turbine before it could be installed. Looking back at the major renovations, John says thathe couldn't do it today. It was a massive job, even for several men. Never Sawn Lumber Up until the time John bought the mill in 1957, he'd never sawn lumber in his life, and he'd even considered turning the building into a cider press. When he ulti- mately decided to go ahead with the saw mili, he learned the trade as he went along. "Experience is the best teach- er there is, and I learned to saw lumber by necessity." Woodworking is another matter. It's part of long tradition in John's family. Back in 1831, his grand- father settled in Scarborough This photo shows some, but by no means all, of the hand tools in John's woodworking shop upstairs at the Tyrone Mill. Several are over 100 years old, and many of them came from the Thornbeck family woodshop which was built by John's father in Scarborough in 1880. Among all the other fascinating pieces of equipment in the Tyrone Mill, John also has an 1878 blacksmith's forge, which he bought at an auction sale and still uses. Though the mill and much of its machinery is old, John offers up-to-date services to his customers. At the mill, he employs a part-time worker to help out with the chores, but adds that "this is basically a one man show."