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Garner Mill, located on Shoal Creek.
Shoal Creek originates in middle Lawrence County, near Etheridge. It flows in a southerly direction, through Lawrenceburg, and eventually empties into the Tennessee River. The coordinates of this EarthCache take you to the ruins of the Garner Mill, which was destroyed during the flood on July 13, 1998.
The Garner Mill was used extensively from 1825 to 1849. It was built in 1820, and functioned as a grist mill initially, and then was converted to a water powered sawmill in 1851. The ruins of the foundation still survived the flood, as well as the footings for the dam on the far side of the river. Both the dam and the mill were destroyed in the flood. It is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
Rivers are formed by springs, waterlogged soil, glacial melt, or surface runoff from precipitation. All rivers join with other rivers, streams, creeks, and eventually, lead to the oceans.
The lower end of a river is known its base level. The base level of a river or stream is the lowest point to which it can flow, often referred to as the 'mouth' of the river. The water in a river is usually confined to a channel, made up of a stream bed between banks. In larger rivers there is also a wider flood-plain shaped by flood-waters over-topping the channel. These banks of a river are continuously under attack from the force of the rivers flow. Large rocks are broken down to small ones, small rocks crushed into sand. The changing affects on the surrounding landscape can be amazing.
Not only is a river a mover of land, rivers have been used as a source of water, for food, for transport, as a defensive barrier, as a source of power to drive machinery, and as a means of disposing of waste. This was certainly the case for the Garner Mill, which depended on the flow of Shoal Creek to power its wheel. For thousands of years rivers have been used for navigation as one of the easiest ways to move goods and people up and down stream. Dams and levees may be built to help control flooding, control the flow of a river, store water, or extract energy. Canals are dug to connect rivers to one another for water transfer or navigation. River courses may be dredged or modified to improve navigation, or straightened to increase the flow rate.
Middle Tennessee is mostly composed of limestone, worn away as its various rivers and creeks flow towards the Tennessee River, which flows from north to south in the eastern part of Tennessee, and then traverses northern Alabama, to flow south to north in the western part of the state to join with the Ohio river, then the Mississippi river to the Gulf of Mexico. The remainder of the mill dam is composed of limestone.
To log this cache please email the cache owner the answers to the following questions (do not post in your log). You must also post a picture and area near the posted coordinates with yourself and GPS with the Shoal Creek in the background.
1. About how wide is the river at this location, between the foundation of the Mill and the footings across from the old dam?
2. In which direction is the river flowing at this location?
3. How deep were the flood waters that destroyed the Mill? If you look at the house across the street, they were at the front porch, but did not flood the house.
Please park along the side of the road, and C.I.T.O. the site when you visit.
Stay clear of the ruins, as they are not stable.
Additional Hints
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