Timme’s Mill and Mirror Lake

Mirror Lake was “born” in 1860 when a dam was built between the high cliffs along Dell Creek at the outskirts of the village of Delton. The first dam along Dell Creek was set up around 1849, fairly close to the present site of the Lake Delton dam, and powered a sawmill. By 1859 this was known as the Marshall saw mill. In 1850 Jared Fox and Elijah Topping built a second dam along Dell Creek a short ways upstream from the first dam. This would later be known as the Sarrington dam. Fox and Topping built a sawmill at their dam and later a grist mill.

During the 1850s wheat became Wisconsin’s first major agricultural crop. Advances in agricultural equipment better suited to prairie conditions allowed more acres to be planted. By 1860 Wisconsin was producing the second highest yield of wheat in the US. Over the next five years, Wisconsin farmers harvested over 100 million bushels, more than two-thirds of which were exported. The explosion in wheat production meant there was money to be made in milling the wheat into flour.

In February of 1860 Benjamin Boorman purchased a quarter of an acre of land along the rocky cliffs of Dell Creek to build a dam and mill, paying the princely sum of $1,000 for the property and the flowage rights to the water upstream. Boorman bought the property from Fox and Topping. Boorman was an Englishman and seems to have emigrated some time around 1840. Two of his children were born in New York state but by 1845 he is listed as being from Delavan, Wisconsin on a Sauk County land record. On the 1850 census he is listed as a farmer in Walworth County. By 1855 Boorman is listed as being of Dellton, Wisconsin on another Sauk County land record.

The March 1, 1860 edition of the Baraboo Republic reported:

New Dam at Dellton 

A new Dam is now being built over Dell Creek, to raise the water thirteen feet, the structure being a tree dam, 180 feet across at the top. It is intended to supply the new Flouring Mills of Mr. B. Boorman, which will soon employ two run of stone, with capacity for three or four. The contract of building the dam was recently let to Jacob H. Adams for $890, by whom the work will be vigorously prosecuted until its completion. This dam and mill will prove a great advantage to our neighboring village, which will, by this means, shortly become a grain market.

At the time Boorman was building his dam, Sauk County had 16 “run” of stone in various gristmills around the county. A “run” was considered to be one set of circular mill stones which sat on top of each other with bottom stone being stationary and the top stone being turned by a series of gears. The Basset Mill in Baraboo was among the largest gristmills. It was started in 1855 and twice enlarged. In 1860 Basset was putting in two more run of stone at this mill and two new steam-powered flouring mills were built that year in Sauk City and Ableman, each with two runs of stone. So with Boorman’s new mill on Dell Creek, Sauk County’s milling capacity would be enlarged by fifty percent in one year.

Boorman started building his dam was started as soon as possible in the spring. Not just the dam had to be done in time for the next harvest but also the mill. By late July of 1860 the new dam was just about completed when disaster struck. The south end of the dam gave way due to the poor quality of the bank at that end. The torrent of water damaged or moved all of the bridges down stream and also took out the dam at Fox & Toppings mill and the dam at Newport. A small steamboat being constructed at Newport was also swept down the river. Boorman’s dam was the least damaged and was repaired at once. Fox & Topping’s dam was also rebuilt. The Newport dam was never rebuilt.

In November of 1860 Benjamin Boorman and his wife Elizabeth sold the mill property to Horace La Bar, who was a relative newcomer to Delton. In May of 1860 he is listed as being of Walworth County on a Sauk County land record, but by November is listed as being of New Buffalo (now Town of Delton). LaBar was born in Pennsylvania around 1827 and is listed as being a farmer in Delavan on the 1860 census. It is quite likely he knew Benjamin Boorman and there may also have been a family connection. An Albert Boreman is listed in the LaBar household in 1860, this is most likely Benjamin Boorman’s son. Many county histories refer to the firm of LaBar and Boorman as owners of the mill. It is unclear exactly how long the partnership lasted. An advertisement from the October 5, 1864 issue of the Baraboo Republic lists the pair and calls the operation the Dellton Mills.

Boorman eventually left the operation and Horace LaBar ran the mill for the first eleven years. By 1866, the mill was running three runs of stone and could manufacture up to 200 barrels of flour a week. LaBar was shipping the flour to Chicago as the “Occidental” brand. The Baraboo Republic describes Horace LaBar as a “very upright and energetic business man, and thoroughly master of the milling business.” The paper describes the mill as very nice at a very romantic point on a romantic creek. The original name of the lake is reported to have been LaBar’s pond. This was reportedly changed to Mirror Lake when Clara Noyes of Kilbourn exclaimed, “What a mirror!” after seeing the mill pond.

In March of 1871, Horace LaBar sold the mill to Frank Dorn of Delton along with numerous village lots for $9,400 and LaBar eventually moved to Jewell County, Kansas. Dorn operated the mill for two years before selling it to Jacob Adams in 1873. Adams had built the original dam in 1860 for Boorman and by this time owned the lower mill built by Topping and Fox as well as a foundry. Adams ran the mill for eleven years before selling out to David S. Buck. Buck was from Middleville, Ohio. Buck’s brother was a miller and helped him run the mill. Buck mortgaged the mill to a J. P. Schults of Baraboo in 1884 and lost it a few years later. In 1890 the mill was purchased by David Reynolds. Reynolds oversaw the addition of rollers to the mill. This was new way of grinding wheat with steel rollers.

With the addition of rollers the name was changed to the Mirror Lake Roller Mills. In 1894, August Timme, a 51 year old German immigrant purchased the mill and lent it the name that would stay with the site until this day. Timme had been head miller at Hoyt’s mill in Baraboo. Timme had four sons and three daughters but one of his daughters and his wife died a few years before he bought the mill. 

August Timme and his sons would see the mill through its biggest improvements and through some of its biggest catastrophes. After about fourteen years into operation. The Timmes faced their first great crisis when their dam washed out in April of 1908 due to heavy rain. The south end of the dam, built in 1860, gave way and it wasn’t long before Mirror Lake was gone. The flood also took out a new iron bridge below the dam and downstream the Sarrington dam and flume were also destroyed. Shortly after the dam went out, rumors circulated that dynamite might have been used to blow up the Mirror Lake dam by angry fishermen who were displeased with new laws regulating the sport. One silver lining was that after the dam went out, small pools of water were left which made for easy fishing. It was also reported that a search might be made for a gold watch lost in the lake.

The loss of the lake was not only a hardship to the mill but also the burgeoning resort industry that had sprung up around the lake. Resort subdivisions like Loch Mirror Park were being created on the lake. In 1908 Al. and Lou Ringling built a cottage there due to their love of bass fishing on Mirror Lake. 

The Timmes put in a new dam as soon as possible and because the  iron bridge was wrecked beyond repair it was decided that a new bridge would be built high above the gorge. Work began as soon as possible on a reverse truss bridge which was built by the Milwaukee Bridge and Iron Works Company. It was said that the reverse design would make the bridge less susceptible to wind and storms. The bridge was completed in December of 1908. August Timme retired from the mill about this time and moved back to Baraboo, turning the business over to his sons. August Timme died in 1912.

The Timme brothers enjoyed a few years of calm before the next calamity struck again due to heavy rain in June of 1917. This time the Sarrington Dam downstream was the first to go and then the north end of the Mirror Lake dam went out and threatened the Timme mill building itself. Quick work with sandbags against the foundation saved the building. Both dams were rebuilt as quickly as possible, again with logs. In the 1920s a cement face was finally put on the dam. The Timmes enlarged the mill as much as possible and added a grain warehouse above the mill on the hill. The mill became famous for its Self Rising Pancake Flour. The mill was also one of the few that made pure graham floor using old millstones. Pancake suppers were also held with various organizations in Wisconsin and Illinois to promote the flour. 

In February of 1949 the Timme Brothers retired and sold the business to Joseph and Frank Kaminski. They continued to operate the mill until 1957 when a spectacular fire destroyed the mill on February 16, 1957. The fire was discovered by Lake Delton police man Clifford LaMar at about 3 a.m. Eventually seven fire departments and 100 firemen were on the scene but there was nothing to be done except try and keep other buildings in the area from catching on fire. The loss was estimated at $150,000 to $200,000. With the mill being built under the bridge, the bridge also suffered major damage. It was questioned whether the bridge could be fixed but eventually it was repaired and lasted until 1986 when it was replaced. 

The Kaminskis did not rebuild the mill and eventually the dam property went into receivership. It was later acquired by the Hoffman brothers who owned Ishnala restaurant on the lake. In 1976 ownership of the dam was transferred to Sauk County. The area where the Timme Mill used to be is now a small county park. An exhibit there highlights the mill and some of the millstones are on display.

Timme Mill County Park (S. Burritt Avenue Lake Delton, WI)