The Daniel Cragin Mill, known in the twenty-first century as the Frye's Measure Mill, is a historic

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

established in 1858. The mill is about three miles (5 km) west of the town of Wilton in

Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Hillsborough County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. As of the 2020 census, the population was 422,937, almost one-third the population of the entire state. Its county seats are Manchester and Nashua, the state's ...

. For over 150 years it has produced woodenware and wooden dry measuring boxes. In 2021 it mainly made Shaker-style pantry boxes and furniture pieces for the various

Shaker communities The Shakers are a sect of Christianity which practices celibacy, communal living, confession of sin, egalitarianism, and pacifism. After starting in England, the Shakers left that country for the English colonies in North America in 1774. As they ...

and their commercial retail shops. The mill was added to the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1982.

History

Daniel Cragin era of 1858–1909

Daniel Cragin was of Scottish descent. In 1856, aged 21, he was renting a room in the Putnam Bobbin Factory near the mill's location. There he built knife trays and wooden toys which he turned into a business. He started his business with ten dollars. He turned a profit from the beginning and by 1858 he accumulated enough money to purchase a nearby existing building where wool was carded and cloth was sized. He converted the building into making wood products and it eventually became known as the Daniel Cragin Mill. The building was originally built by Eliphalet Putman sometime between 1750 and 1800. It was at the site location of the Putnam Bobbin Factory. The building became a watermill factory when Cragin brought in veneer-cutting equipment and steam-bending machines to begin making wooden products. The factory was powered from two nearby water sources, Burton Pond and Nathan Barker's Pond. By 1878 Cragin had added production of sugar boxes and

dry measure Dry measures are units of volume to measure bulk commodities that are not fluids and that were typically shipped and sold in standardized containers such as barrels. They have largely been replaced by the units used for measuring volumes in the me ...

boxes and had hired six others for his normal mill operations. He soon mostly concentrated on dry measure boxes, since it was more profitable. His handmade round containers came in five sizes: one

quart The quart (symbol: qt) is an English unit of volume equal to a quarter gallon. Three kinds of quarts are currently used: the liquid quart and dry quart of the US customary system and the of the British imperial system. All are roughly equal ...

, two quart, four quart, single

peck A peck is an imperial and United States customary unit of dry volume, equivalent to 2 dry gallons or 8 dry quarts or 16 dry pints. An imperial peck is equivalent to 9.09 liters and a US customary peck is equivalent to 8.81 liters. Two pecks mak ...

, and one-half

bushel A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an imperial and US customary unit of volume based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel is equal to 2 kennings (obsolete), 4 pecks, or 8 dry gallons, and was used mostly for agricult ...

. By 1885 Cragin began selling these in full sets, or "nests", bound in iron bands. The containers were sold varnished, plain, or rough. Storekeepers, farmers, and fishermen needed a standard unit of dry measure for their trade products for barter and sales. In the late nineteenth century Cragin's dry measure containers were popular among these entrepreneurs and became the mainstay of his business. He was able to sell many containers and full set "nests" in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Eventually the national standard of measurement switched over to weights and the market for his dry measure containers came to an end. Cragin made a specialty type measure called a "piggin", a small wooden pail with a handle formed by continuing one of the staves above the rim. The wooden pail was used to feed the pigs in of the table scraps after a meal and from kitchen cooking. Before electricity was readily available, the mill supplemented its needs with an 1871 one-cylinder steam engine for additional heat, to operate the

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...

s, and for additional energy for the steam vats. The antique engine is still at the mill.Adamowicz, pp. 6667

Whitney Frye era of 1909–1960

In 1909 Whitney Morse Frye and his father, Dr. Edmund Bailey Frye, bought the mill from Cragin. The name of the mill then became E.B. Frye & Son. Frye was educated in engineering at Lowell Textile Institute and

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

and received a degree in the field. With this knowledge he redesigned and invented machinery and techniques to make the mill more productive. Frye continued the Cragin line of wooden trays, boxes, and pails in addition to his normal processing of grains. Later he added curry cards (combs for cattle), wool cards, ice cream freezers, and

Shaker-style pantry box The Shaker-style pantry box is a round bentwood box made by hand. Such boxes are "associated with Shaker folklife because they express the utility and uniformity valued in Shaker culture." Description The bentwood box was originally a workin ...

es. Frye later added

hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

to the mill by improving the existing water-power system to include a series of pipes from Burton Pond and Nathan Barker's Pond to provide a controlled water force, or "head", to maintain a system to generate electricity. It furnished the mill's electrical needs as well as the electricity for Frye's nearby house.

Harland Savage Sr. era of 1961–1981

Harland Savage Sr. was first employed at the mill as a part-time worker after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He was soon promoted to a full-time employee and then in 1951 to the general manager of the mill. In 1961 he purchased the mill and operated it until his 1981 retirement. At that time his son Harley and his wife Pam Porter Savage took over operations. They have operated the mill to the present day. In the late 1960s Shaker eldress Bertha Lindsay of the

Canterbury Shaker Village Canterbury Shaker Village is a historic site and museum in Canterbury, New Hampshire, United States. It was one of a number of Shaker communities founded in the 19th century. It is one of the most intact and authentic surviving Shaker communit ...

asked Harland Savage Sr. if he would be interested in making Shaker-style oval boxes since the village's last skilled pantry box maker died in 1961. Frye's Measure Mill added these boxes to their line of Colonial boxes and distributed them to all the Shaker communities for gift shop sales. When Fry died in 1960 Savage had bought the business from the estate. In 1980 Harvey Jr with his wife purchased the mill from his father.

Colonial Williamsburg Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has 7300 employees at this location and ...

authenticated the wooden measuring containers made of pine and oak at the mill as being from the 1700s. The mill is one of a few remaining operating water-powered measure mills in the United States after 150 years of operations.

References

Sources

*Adamowicz, Joe, ''The New Hiking the Monadnock Region: 44 Nature Walks and Day-Hikes in the Heart of New England'', Publisher UPNE. Published 2007. *Dell'Orto, Michael G. et al., ''Wilton, Temple, and Lyndeborough'', Arcadia Publishing, Published 2003. *Livermore, Abiel Abbot et al., ''History of the Town of Wilton, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire'', Marden & Rowell Printers. Published 1888. Lowell, Massachusetts

External links

Frye's Measure Mill official websiteBentwood, Shaker boxes still made the old way
{{NRHP in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Industrial buildings completed in 1817 Buildings and structures in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire Tourist attractions in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire National Register of Historic Places in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Wilton, New Hampshire Furniture manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in New Hampshire