Bauer Mill

During the dry season of 1911, Gottlieb Bauer prospected the terrain around the town of Arusha for a better spot to establish his family. He had soon found suitable land in the beautiful forest area on the Temi River in the Wa-Arusha tribal territory. The land was in sight of Arusha located between the villages of the chiefs Angarashi, Toronge, and Mekogi. The river had year round water and enough flow to power a mill. The Bauers bought a further 400 hectares of land there intending to farm coffee and vegetables, but Gottlieb�s main focus was to built a grain- and sawmill as well as an oil-press. During 1911 Elise, his wife, and his mother, Friedericke, remained with the children in Leganga (where in December 1911 Rudolf was born), and continued with the vegetable and grain farming, while Gottlieb built a permanent house on the Temi River with several large sheds for all his tools and equipment, a lathe and workbench as well as a blacksmith workshop.

In early 1912 the Bauers left Leganga and resettled in their new house on the Temi River. From Rudolf Bauer�s memoires a good description is available of a typical settler family home and its surroundings: �It had a solid foundation and was built up to the raised ground floor with cement and then with bricks, which my father had manufactured with the help of native employees. In a mud pit the clay was pounded with the feet and then filled into wooden moulds and dried in the sun. In this way two large rooms emerged. In the front was the living- and dining room, and behind it the parents� bedroom. A wide staircase led upstairs. To the right of these stairs was the bedroom for us children. The left side served as a provision room. There non-perishable food stuffs were stored, such a 2 sacks of raw coffee, one or two sacks of rice, as well as a large sugarloaf. The roof of the house was covered with corrugated iron. In front of the residence was a porch [�] Behind the building a beautiful flower garden had been created of which our gardener Lempoto was in charge[�]The living quarters and the kitchen building were about 20 meters from the mill-stream. On the right hand side a path lined by lemon trees led to the brick oven. To the left of the garden was an alley of cypress trees. Opposite of the residential building was a big poultry yard, in the middle of which was a large pond for geese and ducks. Many chicken, guinea fowls, and turkeys were kept in the chicken shed, which was raised very high off the ground to provide safety from predators. Next to it was also a pigsty.�

After the house, workshop and mill buildings had been completed Bauer constructed the mill fittings, including the mill wheel, and dug a five meter wide canal that was fed by three small springs surfacing in the river bed of the Temi. The canal with its length of some 400 meters was partly lined with concrete and led the water to the mill wheel. Over 100 native workers were employed to dig out the canal as well as a small weir for additional water storage.

The workshop and mill erected by the Bauers were the first in the Arusha region and were soon to become a well known stopping point for migrating Boer families from South Africa who arrived with their oxen and wagons before settling in German East Africa. The mill was a successful venture and many nearby farmers brought their grains to be ground there. Each morning also native ladies carrying bowls of cereals on their heads would arrive from the surrounding villages to grind their produce.

When in Arusha last week I was so lucky to find the channel of the flour mill that my great grandfather built along the Temi in 1911, see attached picture (that's me in the photo). It starts about 100 meters north of the railroad bridge and carries on up north for about 300 meters - It is fed by three spings surfacing next to the Temi.

The house is unfortunately gone. It was exactly at that spot where the railway is crossing the Temi now.

Today the mill and house of the Bauer�s have vanished. They had been built at the spot, where later the railroad bridge would pass the Temi. The canal has however survived, even part of the concrete lining in its lower part is still existent. It runs for about 300 meters on the eastern side of the Temi, and joins the Temi some 150 meters north of the railway bridge. Since the Temi has changed its course over the past decades, it has destroyed the lower part of the canal, but some of the concrete elements are still found and are today used as a favourite spot of locals washing their clothes in the river.