Livingston County, Missouri
Josiah Whitney purchased the southwest.quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 18, Township 56, Range 24, in Blue Mound Township along Shoal Creek, in Livingston County. As Whitney's land contained a good mill seat, he constructed a mill. It was located just inside the western border of Livingston County, at the location now known as Dawn. Josiah built a mill that came to be known as Whitney's Mill. It was erected in the year 1837 and became a noted establishment in early days. Whitney also began operating a ferry at his mill on Shoal creek in 1838. The first public bridge in the county was thrown across shoal creek at this point in the winter of 1841, and built by Col. Sarshel Woods, of Carroll county. In the 1840's, someone opened a little store and the place, generally known as Whitney's Mill, began to grow. In March 1853, Wm. Hixon, acquired the site and laid out a town, which he named Dawn. [History of Caldwell and Livingston Counties, Missouri, 705, 1188, 1191].
Daniel Boone, accompanied by a group of bee hunters from Boone and Howard counties, traveled in a northwesterly course, passing through what is now Chariton, Carroll and Livingston counties. On their return trip, they camped on the bank of Shoal Creek where Dawn now stands. Here they pitched their tents and explored the surrounding country.
Among those who camped on Shoal Creek at that time was Joshua Whitney, a native of Massachusetts and a miller by trade. Having observed the fertility of this region, he decided to return with his family and form a settlement. The following spring he returned and built his home and a mill.
There seems to be a difference of opinion regarding the exact date of the building of Whitney's Mill. Some of the old settlers say that, "they helped build the mill dam in 1829." The History of Caldwell and Livingston Counties, published in 1886, says, "The origin of Dawn was the old institution on Shoal Creek known as Whitney's Mill, which was built by Joshua Whitney in the year 1837." This mill was probably built several years prior to 1837, but the exact date still remains a mystery. There was no doubt that Joshua Whitney was the first settler and built the first house and the mill in this community. He is also credited with building the first public bridge in Livingston County.
In 1853, William Hixson purchased the old mill and operated it for a time. The date has not been definitely established as to just when it was destroyed. [Dawn Clipper, 3 July 1886; http://www.lcl.lib.mo.us/~lcl/History/Places/Mills/dawnmill1.htm].
Turn of the Century Photograph of Whitney's Mill
"... We traveled through the lower part of Missouri without any difficulty, the people treating us kindly and advising us to leave the main road, as mobs were collecting on it. We traveled on byroads and came out at Compton's Ferry, on one fork of Grand River, where we camped. Next day we traveled across a prairie of thirty miles without inhabitants, and arrived at Whitney's mill, on Shoal Creek, Livingston County, Missouri. We crossed over the mill pond next morning in a flat boat and started across to Caldwell County, a distance of fourteen miles. When we were about two miles out we met a party of sixty men, armed and mounted, led by Thomas Bryan, who compelled us to give up our arms and return to Whitney's mill, where we remained a week.
... While they were drunk and asleep one afternoon we hitched up, recrossed the mill pond, told the women living there that we were going back out of the State, and took the back track for two miles, where we halted a few minutes and requested Elder Joseph Young to take the lead of the company, which now numbered eleven wagons and families. He objected, but appointed Bro. Levi Merrick to take charge. We started on, leaving the main road and taking a dividing ridge without any track and traveled on that afternoon and night and halted just before daybreak to bury a son of mine, sixteen years old, who had just died.... The next day Bro. Walker's son-in-law [of Caldwell County] piloted us to Haun's mill, where we arrived in the afternoon, found a number of brethren waiting to get grinding done. We remained until next morning, and, as we had been on short rations for a number of days, we purchased some grain, and, as we could not get it ground until late in the day, we concluded to wait till next morning.[History of the RLDS Church, 2: 251-52].
Mike Riggs at Whitney's Mill Site Near Dawn, Livingston County, Missouri
Warren Foote described his journey through Livingston County.
[August] 26th, [1838]. We crossed Grand River at Compton's Ferry, which is 15 miles from Brunswick, and 25 from Keetsville. Here we came on to a large prairie, of a very rich soil. The weather continues very hot.
27th. Continued our journey on the prairie in a westerly direction, and found our road to be a very blind one. We crossed some very high ridges, from which we could see miles in every direction with here, and there a grove of timber, like an island in the midst of the ocean. Fifteen miles to the west we could see the Blue Mounds which looked like a range of rough broken hills. We traveled 15 miles and camped on a small creek one mile from the Mounds.
28th. I went up to the mounds to see what I could discover. The Blue Mounds is a range of rough broken hills running in an easterly direction. West of the Blue is a mound about 40 feet high, containing 8 squire rods of level ground on the summit. It is circular. We spent the most of the day in hunting our road. There had never been but half a dozen wagons through this route, which made but very little impression in the thick prairie grass. We found the track running directly across a main traveled road running north and south. We traveled three miles today.
29th. We had some trouble to follow the wagon tracks, but finally succeeded in finding our way out, to Whitney's Mill on Shoal Creek. We traveled 13 miles and camped at Mr. Walker's, a Mormon. The country from Compton's Ferry, to Whitney's Mill is not inhabited. It is a high rolling prairie. Mr. Walker lives on Shoal Creek, in the southeast corner of Caldwell County, 33 miles from Compton's Ferry, and 30 miles from Far West, to go the prairie road, and 20 to go up Shoal Creek. We got some excellent melons here.
30th. [August 1838] I was taken with a diarrhea in the night, and feel very weak this morning. We took the road up the creek by Haun's Mill and arrived at Uncle Josiah Richardson's towards night. He lives 10 miles east of Far West. They were much pleased to see us, and were some what surprised, as they did not know that we were coming. We were pleased to get to our journey's end, although we were very much prospered on the way. We did not meet with any accident on the whole journey, and were well treated passing through Missouri. [Warren Foote, Autobiography, BYU; http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/WFoote.html].
Whitney, Mann and Baker were some of the prominent men living in that part of Livingston County. "Josiah Whitney was a Yankee and the well know operator of the mill that bore his name... Mr. Mann was captain of a militia company and a leading citizen... Baker was" another prominent citizen. In 1838, during the Mormon War, Mr. Mann's company of militia was stationed at Whitney's mill and operated throughout the surrounding country to prevent any further emigration into Caldwell county. Some of the company were at Haun's Mill. The Mormons [in Caldwell County] heard that over in Livingston, directly east of them, another company of Gentiles, under Capt. Wm. Mann, was menacing them; and so they did not disband, for while they confided in Comstock's company, they had no confidence in Mann's, which for some time had been operating at and near Whitney's mill, on Shoal creek, stopping Mormons on their way to Caldwell from the East, turning them back in some instances, taking their arms from them in others, etc." [History of Caldwell County, 146, 1189].
Mr. Hughes Showing Whitney Mill
Paul Debarthe described a recent visit to the site of the former mill: Mike Riggs, Sharon Harris, Diane Forsythe and I traveled to Dawn, Mo. this afternoon to see the remains of Whitney's mill. It perched on the hill overlooking Shoal Creek to the west. Its power must have been transferred up the slope from the stream to the much larger facility than I would have anticipated. It paces about 42 ft. e-w by 33 ft n-s. A doorway to the south can be seen in the foundation of burned stone. The mortar in some cases is soft and in others remains durable, probably indicating tuck pointing repairs. Mr. Hughes was most accommodating in showing us the site. -Paul Debarthe, 9 November 2003