Clark-Scotland County MO Archives News.....Sndyer's Mill  at Ashton, MO July 7, 2004
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Helen St.Clair http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00014.html#0003331 February 12, 2005, 10:23 pm

The Media
IN TIMES PAST:   The Kahoka Gazette-Herald -Jan 22, 1937  tells us about the 
old Snyder Mill.  Snyder’s Mill seems to have begun as a small saw and grist 
mill. They did custom grinding of flour and corn.  In 1963,  Kenneth Doud’s 
The Good Days,  wrote telling us that a Mr. Shaw owned and operated a grist 
mill on Lynn Creek north of what was to become Ashton.    (quote) “However, 
Joseph Snyder of Pennsylvania bought the mill, enlarged the building, and 
converted it into a general grinding  establishment.  His remodeling resulted 
in a four-story building, sixty feet wide by one hundred forty feet long, with 
a basement which was used for the big steam boiler; a scale house, and an 
office.  Mr. Snyder was a distiller, and was soon converting most of the 
county’s surplus grain into whiskey.  the distillery could handle fifty 
bushels of corn daily, and each bushel produced four gallons of whiskey.  Four 
operators and one government inspector operated the distillery, and the 
whiskey was sold over the most of the United States. 
	One winter day in 1864 three young men from Luray, the two Combs 
cousins and a man by the name of Williams, were gathered around the steam 
boiler getting warm, having just arrived from Luray with a load of grain.  the 
boiler exploded killing the three and scalding Mr. Snyder seriously.  Mr. 
Drew, an employee, was so badly injured that, for the rest of his life, he 
wore a silver plate in his head where a piece of his skull had been 
shattered.” (end quote)     Then, according to the Kahoka Gazette - Herald of 
January 22, 1937-  (quote) “When the late Col. Drew was injured at the mill, 
as described, he was a less than grown young man.  He was preparing wood for 
the mill boiler and was working just outside the mill when that fateful 
explosion occurred.  A portion of the exploded boiler came to earth some 
hundreds of yards from the mill and there lay for many years.
	The two young men killed in the explosion were sons of Capt. John B. 
Williams and ‘Uncle Harvey’ Combs, the former living southwest of Luray and 
latter west of Luray.... The young men killed were inside the boiler room when 
the explosion occurred -- warming.”  (end quote) 
	In the Kahoka Gazette- Herald of January 22, 1937 is the following 
story of an incident at the distillery.  (Quote)"The building housing Snyder's 
Mill was framed.  As it was located on flat ground which was subject to 
overflow, at times from the Fox River.  The building stood on upright timbers 
that raised it about three feet from the ground.  The under space was boarded 
up with rough planks with wide cracks between.  During the early fall of 1895 
or 1896, parties acquainted with conditions at Snyder's distillery, conceived 
a plan which beyond a doubt would result in a 'perfect' crime.  The purpose 
was to supply -- without cost to the conspirators -- a goodly supply of Uncle 
Joe's fine whiskey.  So, one night they visited the distillery equipted with a 
wash tub, a number of gallon jugs, a hammer and a brace and bit.  Crawling 
under the house and tapping the floor with the hammer, it was a simple matter 
to locate the barrels of whiskey lying on their sides on the floor.  Next move 
was to bore up through the floor and through the barrel slave.  That done, 
they quickly placed the wash tub beneath, so it would catch the flowing 
liquor.  When the tub was full enough, the jugs were submerged until they 
filled.  As there was no way to stop the flow had they even wanted to do so, 
the liquor was allowed to waste after it filled the tub.
	Although the burglary and larceny up to that point appeared to be 
a ‘perfect crime,’ the temptation to ‘sample’ Uncle Joe’s famous whiskey 
proved to be the undoing of the culprits.  Unexplained intoxication the day 
following the raid, led to the arrest of the allege guilty parties.  The case 
was tried in the Circuit Court.  I fail to recall the result of the trial, as 
well as the names of the defendants.”(end quote)
	There is nothing left of this building, but perhaps a few pieces of 
foundation and the stories of a time gone by.  Helen St.Clair
	






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