Caldwell County MO Archives History .....THE HAMILTON MILL EXPLOSION OF 1870 
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Karen Walker khw4@yahoo.com September 4, 2008, 1:55 pm

THE HAMILTON MILL EXPLOSION OF 1870
	Narrator:  Elmer E. Clark, 73, Hamilton

     "Do you remember the time when the old Hamilton Mill blew up?" we asked, 
and in reply Mr. Clark said, "I should, for I was there.  A youngster of only 
8 years, I may not be expected to remember much concerning it.  The historical 
facts, as I later learned them, are as follows:
     My father, Henry Clark, bought the mill sometime in the summer of 1870.  
He moved his family here from Connecticut and took possession of the mill in 
October of that year.  The boiler was then in bad condition, leaking, and 
mechanics from St. Joseph were employed to make repairs.  Having finished 
their work, they proceeded to test its efficiency by apply the steam test 
which they carried to such an extent as to cause the boiler to explode with 
terrific force.
     Both mechanics were horribly mangled and killed outright, Peter Custer 
and John Gilsmer by name.  Alexander Crow, a neighboring farmer was killed and 
buried in what was then the Rohrbaugh cemetery and has since been removed to 
Highland cemetery.  Lloyd Rhineman, whom father had engaged as the new miller, 
was seriously injured and died in a day or two.  The late Greenberry Hill was 
standing at an open window looking into the boiler and was hurt, though not 
seriously.  My brother Frank, though standing quite close to the exploding 
boiler, escaped with severe scalds.  Father and I were thrown several hundred 
feet.  The boiler seemed to turn a series of summer saults and came to rest in 
what was then the Peter Jones lots.
     The main mill room floor and the loading platform were piled high with 
the grain sacks of farmers who had brought them to town for their grists to be 
ground as soon as milling should be resumed.  My purely personal recollection 
of the event was in a feeling of being forced or blown in the narrow 
passageway between these sacks of grain, and where to?
     I knew I was coming to my senses in the lot south of and across the road 
from the mill, and I well remember being surrounded by a dense crowd of folks 
who had arrived on the scene, thinking I might be dead.  I have a dim 
recollection of being taken to the house of my father and cared for.  Of 
course, I was too young to understand fully the tragic seriousness of what had 
happened over at the mill."
     Interview  1935.


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