Darcey,
When i was a little guy (still ain't so huge), i lived close by what eventually was the (so i was told later in life) last working water driven saw mill in New England. I remember watching those buckets on the water wheel fill with water, only to be dumped back into the river once each had done its job. once water dumped, those buckets wood capture another load and continue. There was a huge belt going around the wheel pulley and up into the rafters high overhead. From the top pulley up in the rafters, there were belts going in several directions and hooking up with other belts that dropped down to the various machines (probably the two or three saws which I don't have the memory of). I remember going there a couple of times with my father as he was looking for scraps of wood. He worked mostly in miniatures so did not need large boards.
I moved away from the area for a few years and by time i came back to the area, I think the mill was only in operation now and then. Maybe it was when i came out of the army that it had finally shut down forever. I never took any pictures of the mill and it is now gone completely. A house sits in the same spot, but I doubt the owners know anything about that old mill. I did work on a few jobs with the son of the last operator of the mill, but he never wanted to talk much about it. I am sure he had worked there while growing up. It was probably some what traumatic to him that the old mill was no longer even a landmark.
I admire that you are doing your bit to recover and restore so many old machines. Today, a lot of machines are built to be discarded when worn out. You appreciate and I am amazed at how quickly you put some of those monsters back into working order. there aren't too many like you around.
Tinker
