A short story about William “Summie” Allen taken from the book “WIMBERLEY'S LEGACY” edited by Williedell Schawe in 1963 & published by The Naylor Company of San Antonio, TX.

Starts on page 111, ends on page 112

A short story about William “Summie” Allen taken from the book “WIMBERLEY'S LEGACY” ge 112

TAYLOR WATER HOLE

Down the river & around the bend from Moon Rocks, there is a long pool called Taylor Water Hole- named for an early settler named Flem Taylor. The river was never harnessed there, for William “Summie” Allen used steam power to operate his gristmill, located on a bluff near the lower end of this “hole.” Mr. Allen was another Confederate Veteran to make the Wimberley area his home. His customers north of the river either forded the Blanco at the Middle Crossing above the Taylor Water Hole, where the water was belly-deep to a horse & sometimes floated the wagon bed, or came by way of Clopton's Crossing, near the Estes place. When customers from Purgatory Springs came by the short cut, they used lock-chains on both rear wheels of their wagons & skidded down the steep hill. To return home, they climbed Devil's Backbone, a long & winding route up Shelton Holler. (Hollows are “Hollers” to people in this area.) With a sack of corn across the pommel of his saddle Charley Williamson could take a look at his cattle on the way to the mill; then do a little fishing while the meal was being ground & make a deer hunt on his way home.

Mr. Allen's portable power plant was a mechanical marvel for its day. At one end of the high-wheeled iron float was mounted an upright boiler & at the other end there was a reciprocating steam engine. By proper & pampered manipulation this weird contraption was an unpredictable source of power that produced a mechanical energy about equivalent to the amount of human energy spent to keep it running. To control the vibration created by the pulsation of the engine, the float had to be chained to a tree or set in a pit, where it could dance in a stationary jig; otherwise, the whole affair would waltz off toward the river in a momentum gaining shimmy. Water was “toted” in a bucket to fill the sump tank, where a hand operated pump was used to force it into the boiler to maintain the proper water level. At the same time, splinted cedar or seasoned oak chunks were alternately fed into the firebox to keep a head of steam. For the slightest infraction of any one of these operational procedures, the engine would come to a wheezing halt or run amuck in a cloud of steam. The history of this old Allen boiler is punctuated by frequent explosions which sent men & horses running for their lives; but it was never known to have taken a life or failed to blow the whistle when the cord was pulled.

… .

William Summie Allen