Back to the ole grind: restored Missouri gristmill refitted for steam power.

Farm Collector, January, 2004 by Manning, Dan

Twenty years ago, a stationary steam engine arrived in poor condition at its new home in Fair Grove, Mo. Manufactured about 1900 by the Southern Engine and Boiler Works of Jackson, Tenn., the old power plant spent many years of service at an Oklahoma sawmill. Today, that engine runs again, this time as power for the Wommack Mill, a historic gristmill in Fair Grove.

The engine had seen better years when it arrived in that southern Missouri hamlet. Little attention was paid to the engine's mechanical maintenance in the decades it spent turning an Oklahoma sawmill blade. Most of its open-bearing surfaces were damaged, and the internal components of the cylinder and steam chest were assumed to be just as worn.

Regardless of the engine's poor...