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Sopers Mill Dam and Bridge
Photo from a glass plate negative, ca. 1890

A group of well-dressed visitors are posed at the Soper's Mill dam and bridge, located on the Skunk River six miles northeast of Ames.  The distinctive 1879 iron Rainbow Bridge was later relocated to McFarland Park, but was eventually lost when the Skunk River flooded in 1996.

Visible in his portion of the photo are the large notched logs which form the rock-filled cribbing of the dam.  When the water level of the Skunk River is low, several of the bottom logs are still visible from the bridge which currently crosses the Skunk River at this location..

Although the mill housing is not visible in the photo at the top of the page, the wood chute forming the mill race can be seen at the right edge of the enlarged image.

For many years, Soper's Mill was a popular location for picnics and gatherings.  Dale Hughes, author of Milford Township and Proud of it, thinks those posing for this 1890s photo were not from this area, but probably traveled some distance.

(from 1899 publication of S.W. Beyer)

This photo of the Skunk River basin shows the old iron bridge and Soper's Dam and Mill.

Soper's Mill and dam, circa 1870

(photo courtesy Becky Fehring)

....The 1941 photo of "Sophers Mill" actually shows the WPA rubble dam downstream from the mill site.  the photographer was standing in the old river ford cut on the south bank and shooting to the NE.  the old iron pipe that marks the site today once capped the dam and may be just visible in the lower right corner of the photo.  It's the first photo I've seen of that dam when it was intact.  It took less than 20 years for high water, ice flows, etc. to wash the dam out.  It looked much like today when I first remember the site in the mid 1960's, but the river appears to have scoured a slightly deeper channel than was apparent in the photo.  The gathering in the background is at the west end of Soper's Mill today where the road loops.  The old river ford was used before the historic rainbow bridge was built in 1876 and was part of the river valley stage road that ran from Bloomington-Ames to Story City.

Steven D. Lekwa