Thomas Lingle

From Iowa Writers Project, History of Johnson County, Iowa, Works Project Administration, 1941 47

To the north and northwest of Solon, in Big Grove Township, stretched a broad expanse of level, fertile, well-watered land. It was here that Thomas Lingle, a miller as well as a farmer by trade, located a dam and mill not far from his claim. In 1840 the mill was completed and in operation; the full-flowing creek which furnished the power was known henceforth as Lingle's Creek. But ill-fortune hung over this mill though it was well patronized by the whole countryside. After having been damaged several times by floods, in the early fifties, it was completely washed out and destroyed. Then Frank Riddle took it over in 1854.