POLK TOWNSHIP
St. Clair County, MO History, 1883, page 1042-43:
Polk Township - Albom D. Ashton, William Gardner and Joseph Bollinger all came
before 1840 and the latter owned a mill site on Weaubleau Creek. It was the
northwest fractional quarter of section 19, township 38, range 24. On this same
site a mill was built in 1845 by Mr. James Gardner. It was a grist and sawmill,
the former having two runs of burrs, and was probably the second mill erected in
the county.
It stood for ten years and then the booming waters of the muddy Weaubleau took
it into an affectionate embrace and delivered it to the swelling bosom of the
beautiful Osage.
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St. Clair County, MO History 1883:
James Gardner, one of the first Justices of Peace in the county, erected a mill
on Weaubleau Creek in Polk Township in 1845. It was a grist and saw mill and had
an extensive patronage, especially east and south. The mill stood for about ten
years when high water carried it off.