Water conflict among millers

Trade & Craft

The former Scherpel „Weizenmühle“ on the Wasserkunst-Pader, now „Neuhäuser Mühlenwerke“ of the company A. Rosenthal, around 1880 (pen and ink drawing, private archive Georg. G. SANTEL, Paderborn)

In the drought year of 1845, the miller Tüllmann was forced to build a cross dam in the Mühlenpader in order to be able to supply both wheels with sufficient operating water. Tüllmann’s downstream owner, the grain miller Friedrich Bodenstab, objected to this with the Minden government because this measure would deprive him of water for his four-speed mill at the Paderborner Tor.[1]

„Situation der Mühlen des Bodenstab [= „Roggenmühle“] und des Tüllmann [= Walkmühle] bei Neuhaus“ 1849 (LA Detmold, Regierung Minden, I U Nr. 660, unfol.)
„Situation der Mühlen des Bodenstab [= „Roggenmühle“] und des Tüllmann [= Walkmühle] bei Neuhaus“ 1849 (LA Detmold, Regierung Minden, I U Nr. 660, unfol.)

This typical water conflict over reservoir rights, which can also be observed in the upper reaches of the Pader, was ultimately an expression of a natural dependency. Until the 20th century, mill operations on the Pader could neither emancipate themselves from meteorological precipitation nor from the groundwater flow in the river’s catchment area. The struggle for mill water intensified once again in the 1850s with the construction of a new wheat mill. With this third Neuhaus grist mill, which the innkeeper and postman Adolph Scherpel had built in 1854/55 on the site of the old waterworks building, complaints and legal disputes among the local millers increased. In order to pacify the heated situation, in 1860 whale miller Louis Gockel finally asked the Minden district government for the state to set the permissible dam heights in Neuhaus.[2]

The former Scherpel „Weizenmühle“ on the Wasserkunst-Pader, now „Neuhäuser Mühlenwerke“ of the company A. Rosenthal, around 1880 (pen and ink drawing, private archive Georg. G. SANTEL, Paderborn)
The former Scherpel „Weizenmühle“ on the Wasserkunst-Pader, now „Neuhäuser Mühlenwerke“ of the company A. Rosenthal, around 1880 (pen and ink drawing, private archive Georg. G. SANTEL, Paderborn)

[1] Cf. „Beschwerde des Bodenstab zu Neuhaus“ to the Minden district government, 17 November 1845. LA Detmold, M 1 I U, Nr. 660, unfol.

[2] Cf. „Gesuch des Mühlenbesitzers [Louis] Gockel“, 30 January 1860. LA Detmold, Regierung Minden I U, Nr. 659, unfol.

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This is an excerpt from an essay by the historian Prof. Dr. Michael Ströhmer. The original title of the essay is: "Wirtschaftsregion Pader - Eine geschichtswissenschaftliche Skizze (1350-1950)". Should you have further interest in the economic history of the Pader, we recommend downloading the complete essay (PDF file).

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