Iowan thrilled to discover old dam

NORA SPRINGS - It all started with a photograph.

The photograph of a Winnebago River dam that provided water to power a grist mill in Portland piqued the interest of Dale Mills of Nora Springs.

“I didn't even know that a dam existed up there. I knew that the mill was there and obviously where there's a mill, there had to be a dam,” he said.

But when a friend gave him a picture of the 1870s dam several years ago, it started a treasure hunt of sorts, which continued until last summer.

While scouring the river bottom for his son-in-law's missing wedding ring, Mills hit the jackpot.

He found thick wooden planks on the bottom of the river. From the river bank, the pieces of wood extended at nearly a right angle about 25 feet into the stream. One end of each plank was laying on a two-foot-thick log on the river bottom.

Steel spikes about a foot long and a half-inch square were pounded into the log.

As Mills looked closer, he spotted a loose plank. It measured 54 inches long, 4 1/2 inches thick and about a foot wide.

It was a piece of center-cut walnut.

“Cool, very cool,” Mills said.

“It's just a miracle that it's there. Those boards have been under the water for more than 140 years.”

The piece is as smooth as a tabletop. Mills floated it back home.

Mills' wife, Judy, recalled hearing her husband call out, “Dam is found. Oh the joy.” It was reminiscent of the famous Lewis and Clark call when they spotted the Pacific Ocean, “Ocean in view. Oh the joy.”

Mills is a big Lewis and Clark buff.

He still can't quite believe his good fortune.

“I've looked for this literally hundreds of times,” he said.

The Portland grist mill was built in the early 1870s just upstream from the 250th Street bridge. The dam was about 500 yards upstream near the railroad bridge.

A mill race connected the structures and provided a 12-foot head of water to spin a turbine to power the mill.

Mills said he is not sure what he is going to do with the plank. He is considering donating the artifact to the Kinney Pioneer Museum in Mason City.