from ALDEN TIMES, date unknown
In an article on the Iowa river, in last week's Eldora Herald, S. Whited has the following to say about early mills at Alden:
Beginning at the upper portion of the county, Henry Alden and S. Kemp built a dam and erected a saw mill at Alden in 1854. The mill was a rude affair but by dint of hard labor on part of the operators it did business for several years. In the year 1857 a small frame building for a grist mill was built. In the year 1857-8 a portion of the dam was swept away by flood and ice. G.H. Woodbury, of Marshalltown, secured possession of the property in 1859, placed the grist mill in running order and improved the saw mill somewhat. In the spring of 1862 a gorge of ice came down the river and literally smashed the saw mill to pieces, scarcely a piece ever being seen again. The grist mill went up in smoke in the early 80's, but was replaced by the present structure, which is doing business at this time.
In 1869 Mr. Winch built a dam and a substantial two-story stone grist mill a mile and a half below Alden, supplied it with good machinery and it was operated for fourteen years, but in the spring of 1884 a great gorge of ice destroyed the dam and caused the mill to have the appearance of having been besieged by the Japs. It was then abandoned and the machinery removed.
In 1854 W.H.Foote erected a saw mill two miles further down the river. It was a cumbrous affair, was not a success from the begining, and the investment was declared a total loss. In 1866 "Uncle" Ben Talbut erected a dam a mile or more above Iowa Falls, removed the building last mentioned above, patched up a rude affair for a grist mill but within a year or two the water and ice made short work of it and another wreck was added to the list.