He purchased a steam engine from a company in Corning and had it shipped to Canton on the then newly built railroad.
From the time I was ten years of age onward, they gave me permission to help weigh and pack the Golden Rod Flour which was ground on the steel roller mills.
The boiler was down in the red brick portion of the mill. The steam engine was adjoining it on the ground level at the southwest corner of the building.
Harry Putnam was the miller and Lawrence Wooster Sr. was the fireman. They had a system of bells and ropes to communicate back and forth. Mr. Putnam would be on the main floor to the front of the mill and Mr. Wooster down by the boiler where he could turn the valve to allow the steam to enter and start the engine to turn.
I was working on this fateful day. Mr. Wooster had run his bell in indicating that steam was up and Mr. Putnam had rung his bell telling that he was ready to engage the rollers.
Then a loud clashing of bells and my thought was, What is wrong?" The trouble was the boiler and sprung a leak.
Occasionally a tube in the boiler would leak and a new tube would be inserted, but this was the face of the boiler and new boiler would be needed.
Thus the poor engine would never run again as it was not a very profitable operation. The engine was still in good shape, but it was war time and so it went for the iron it contained After some ninety years of service!