Little is known of the Rewark family or the reason that the grant was obtained but Francisco Valle was one of the early and one of the most influential figures in the founding and organizing of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. In 1784 Francisco Valle was appointed commandant, both military and civil, of the post of Ste. Genevieve. Several years later, in 1796, Francisco Valle Jr., held this post and was succeeded by his brother, Jean Baptiste, who held it until the transfer to the united States and was continued in office by Governor William Henry Harrison. The tract of land was known as the “Grand Glaze Tract.” It lies on the south fork of the Saline (sorry missing line) miles southwest of Ste. Genevieve and it contained 7056 arpents of land. This grant was confirmed by the United States on July 4, 1836, many years after Mr. Valle’s death. Because of the superior site on the east bank of the creek for building a dam and mill race, Amos Roward purchased a lot, known as lot number nine, from Francisco Valle. In about 1815 Roward and a man named Hawkins built a grist mill near an old ford over which many tons of galena ore was hauled from Mine La Motte to St. Marys, a distance of about forty miles, for shipping.In 1818, the mill, along with lot number nine, was returned to the Valle family when it was sold to Valle and Brown. Brown had inherited part of the Valle Estate because of his marriage to a daughter of Francisco Valle Jr., who died in 1804.In 1832, Brown and Valle sold to a man by the mane of Gregorie. Gregorie owned and operated the mill for five years and then he sold to Joseph Pratt for $12,000. Pratt had married another of Francisco Valle Jr.’s Daughters, Mary Valle, so it was again in the Valle family. Joseph Pratt was the son of John B. Pratt, who came to Ste. Genevieve about 1745 and was one of the most successful merchants in the early history of the town. Following the depression if 1839, Joseph Pratt borrowed money from the business concern of Menard and Valle, and because of his loan he lost most of his land and the mill to them. This firm was established in 1817, the year the first steamboat made its way up the Mississippi River. Pierre Menard, one of the partners of this firm, was an Indian agent and controlled a great amount of trade throughout the west. Menard and Valle operated the mill until 1849, when they sold it to a previous owner, Gregorie, for $12,260. Gregorie held it only three months, and then sold it to Ferdinand Rozier. Rozier was one of the most prominent citizens of Ste. Genevieve. Born in Nantes, France, he came to Ste. Genevieve during the war of 1812 and immediately upon his arrival engaged in trade with branch stores in Perryville and Potosi. Shortly after the California gold craze in 1849, a young man by the name of Thomas J. Brady settled in the community near the mill. He brought with him a large bag of gold and purchased half interest in the mill from Rozier for $4,000. He married a local girl, Entler, and made such an impression on the people of the locality that the mill was soon known as Brady’s Mill, even though Rozier still controlled half interest. In the late 1850’s the mill and race were destroyed by a great cloudburst in the Saline Valley. It was then determined to build a mill that would defy the elements. A large four-story stone building was erected by the water’s edge so that a strong current caused by the dam would flow through the ground floor to turn the great paddles used for power to grind the wheat. When the race and the mill were complete, their completion was celebrated with a barrel of whiskey which at the time was sold at 37 ½ cents per gallon. The men became fired with the whiskey and declared that the Almighty could not destroy the race or the mill again. That very same night a terrific storm swept the mill race into the Father of the Waters, the race was gone, but the new mill still remained.Another race was built and the mill again commenced operation. Several years later Mr. Nicholas Rimboch was employed at the mill and had been working there for two years. He locked the mill and went home on the evening of October 12, 1866, and that night the mill burned. On his way to work the next day, someone stopped him and told him that the mill had burned but he could not believe the story and went on to see the smoldering ashes of the mill. The cause of the fire was never definitely determined but several myths have been told concerning the disaster. One of them is that Mr. Brady sent his son over to the (this is that same line) mill. The son spent the money for liquor and returned home without having purchased the insurance. The father, thinking that the insurance had been paid, set fire to the mill. Whether this story is true or not no one really knows, but it coincides with a story told by mrs. Harry Lukefahr who, as a little girl, remembers her grandmother tell of standing on her porch and watching Rozier (Brady’s partner) chase Brady through the woods with a gun.Brady departed from the community that day and years later the remains of a human were found when a nearby pond was drained. Whether these remains were those of Brady, no one knows. Today, only three walls of the great stone building still stand, naked and whitened by the storms of nearly a century, in bleak testimony of the craftsmanship of their builders. Rain has washed the soil from the hill side into the ground floor of the structure, Trees and other vegetation now engulf it and time has written its story upon the walls of the “Old Burnt Mill,” as it is now called. For as many years as can be remembered, the locale surrounding this landmark for a forgotten era has been known as the “Burnt Mill Community.”These ruins are especially beautiful in the spring and fall of the year when Nature adds her touch to the scene.
