The Dream of the Flameless Mill
A bold industrial scheme in Olympia to run a lumber mill via the power of the tides—and the quiet, resourceful spirit behind the invention.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A few years ago, A. J. Miller, of Olympia, brought forward a scheme for the operation of a lumber mill by the power of the tide. But he could not find men with money to take hold of the project and it was dropped. Some parties of late, however, have put up a fluming mill to be run by the tides and the force of the tide. The mill is situated in a narrow inlet behind the Sound and big enough to keep a small, living room almost steadily, and grind flour to supply the water requirements of the country. Local ingenuity, in San Francisco, and other well-known machine shops have, from time to time, been used to develop the inventors' ideas, at a cost from $100 to $300. The total amount of money used by the inventors, when accumulated, is estimated as high as $6,000. The wealthiest men have been involved in a little venture, by purchasing the invention lists, while in every case, in order to get the final stamp of the standard examinations, proceeding, of course, to go through the grueling ordeal of the law's stiff courts.
“Some parties of late, however, have put up a fluming mill to be run by the tides and the force of the tide.”
This 1878 report captures the early, experimental obsession with alternative energy sources in Washington, echoing the modern search for sustainable maritime power in Puget Sound. Miller's failed struggle for capital mirrors the classic 'valley of death' for inventors trying to move from prototype to production that still defines the Pacific Northwest tech landscape.
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