Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Elnathan Judson Pond was born in Prairieville (later Shakopee), Minnesota Territory on Oct. 17, 1847, the third of four children of Rev. Samuel Pond, Sr., and Cordelia Eggleston Pond, who moved to Tínṫa Otuŋwe, which they called Prairieville as missionaries in the fall of 1847. “Between the mission house and the Minnesota River lay a beautiful and fertile tract of ‘bottom land,’ as it was ordinarily termed, subject to annual or biennial overflow…”

“On one side of this fertile tract ran a clear sparkling stream of water, flowing from the spring before described; itself bounded in turn by a rocky bluff rising precipitously from the brink of the stream. This land was bounded on the other side by the Minnesota, sweeping in a beautiful curve around its border. This piece of land was cultivated by the (Dakota) Indians, and when not covered by water, tadpoles and fishes, in the months of June and July was rich with waving corn,” said Samuel William Pond, Jr. in the book Two Volunteer Missionaries Among the Dakotas or the Story of the Labor of Samuel W. And Gideon Pond in 1893.

Rev. Pond, Sr., and Cordelia took care of their children, including Jennette Clarissa (born May 6, 1842 in Minneapolis, and died April 2, 1862 in Shakopee), Rebecca Cordelia Pond Dean (born Oct. 10, 1844 in Bloomington), Elnathan (born Oct. 17, 1847 in Prairieville), and Samuel William, Jr. (born April 20, 1850 in Holmes Landing).

Elnathan married Wilhelmine Minnie Catharina Elisabeth Markus in Shakopee on June 24, 1879. Minnie was born Oct. 21, 1862, daughter of William (1823-1895) and Wilhelmina (1832-1908) Markus. Elnathan and Minnie had six children. Elnathan’s younger brother, Samuel William, Jr. married Irene Goodrich Boyden. The two couples started housekeeping at the mission farm. Later, Elnathan and Minnie moved across the road to a 170-acre farm. This farm is now part of The Landing in Shakopee, according to “Pond Grist Mill Is Start of Something Big” by Ginger Timmons, Scott County Historical Society, Shakopee Valley News, Aug. 30, 1972.

Elnathan and Samuel, Jr., built the Pond Grist Mill in 1875. The mill was built for supplementary income. Elnathan and Wilhelmene’s seven-room, two-story frame house, complete with summer kitchen and woodshed, stood about a block east of the mill. The families moved the big barn from the mission farm to Elnathan and Wilhelmene’s farm.

The mill first opened for business around September 1875. A notice in the Shakopee Weekly Argus read: “S.W. Pond’s mill is now running. Custom work in flour and feed done promptly.” Although the term “gristmill” can refer to any mill that grinds grain, the term was used historically for a local mill where farmers brought their own grain and received back ground meal or flour, minus a percentage called the “miller’s toll.” Early mills were almost always built and supported by farming communities and the miller received the “miller’s toll” in lieu of wages. Most towns and villages had their own mill so that local farmers could easily transport their grain there to be milled.

These communities were dependent on their local mill as bread was a staple part of the diet.

To operate the mill, the miller placed the grain to be ground in the funnel-like hopper above the pair of millstones, after first taking out the miller’s toll. Then the miller opened the sluice gate that let water into the water wheel. As the weight of falling water turned the water wheel, large gears turning smaller gears made the shaft turn faster, much as the large gear on the pedals of a bicycle will turn the smaller gear on the wheel more rapidly.

This power was transmitted to a vertical spindle, upon which rested a large, flat disc of stone, often weighing a ton or more. This stone spun just above, but not quite touching, an identical stone set stationary in the floor of the mill. Both stones had a pattern of grooves cut into their faces. As one stone turned above the other, their grooves crossed much like scissor blades. Grain falling through the hole, or “eye”, in the runner stone was cut apart as it passed between the two stones, according to an article in The Northwestern Miller, Vol. 77, No. 7 on Feb. 17, 1909.

The miller could adjust the distance between the stones to regulate how finely the grain was ground. The milled grains moved around the cover that was over the stones, until it fell through a hole into the meal chest. From there it could be scooped into a sack to be taken home for baking. In Shakopee at that time, about ten thousand bushels a week were delivered and paid for in cash, at a higher rate than at any other point within twenty miles. Products milled included flour, bolted corn, ground grains, and livestock feed. According to Rebecca Pond in 1972, the huge one hundred-pound sacks of flour sold for five cents a bag.

Rebecca Pond remembered that there was a wheelhouse by the mill, and that her father used to shut down the business once or twice a year. “Then [she] would put on goggles to protect [her] eyes and sit down with a long time with a pick and hammer, sharpening the grinding stones.”

The Pond Grist Mill was operated by a water-powered turbine. In later years, a gasoline engine was purchased but never used much. The mill closed soon after, in 1908.

Elnathan Judson Pond died Jan. 2, 1943. He was 95 years old. He was buried at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee, according to Find a Grave. One year and six days later, Wilhelmine Minnie Catharina Elisabeth Markus Pond died at age 81 years old in Shakopee, and was buried next to her husband at Valley Cemetery, according to Find a Grave.