Originally started by the elder Henry Redwood, the mill at Spring Creek was passed to the partnership of his two sons in 1870. It was converted to a roller mill (still using water power) in 1885.
The millstones from this mill can be found at Blenheim Heritage park.
A article from the Marlborough Express, Volume XXII, Issue 56, 8 March 1886 has a lot of general introduction about mills, before giving us a detailed picture of the newly improved mill in 1886: (paragraph breaks added)
The article was reprinted in Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XX, Issue 70, 24 March 1886, rightly ditching the long introduction, and keeping just the details about the mill. A few details were changed, and these appear to have been deliberate corrections rather than just transcription errors:MESSRS REDWOOD BROS.' FLOUR MILL.
Although it is said - and said by the millers themselves - that in no important industry has there been so few improvements made until the last ten years as in that of flour milling, it is undeniable that the mill of to-day would not be recognised by our great grandfathers, were those venerable people to rise from the dead. The flour mill of to-day is almost as great an improvement upon the windmill turret which used to dot the broad acres of the English counties, as the "Flying Dutchman" on its way from London to Bristol is upon the "Highflyer" coach which used to bowl along the Great Western Road. First, the windmill was supplanted by the water-wheel; and now the water-wheel is being elbowed on one side by the turbine; while water power of every description has to give way in large cities to the all-powerful steam engine. Whether the flour mill of the near future will be driven by electricity - and the grain converted into household loaves like a flash of "greased lightning" - we cannot say. To a person who has not watched the growth of mill machinery, it would seem that the millers had now reached the height of their ambition, and that all that remains to be done is to enlarge the machinery and increase the power, in order to develop the output. There are many respects in which early man seems to have grasped an important fact in all its completeness, leaving civilisation in its advanced forms very little to add. The first man ground his cereals after he had accidentally learnt to grow them - between stones, and it looks very much as if the last man will do it in the same way. For the finer processes of flours steel rollers are used, and for the first or breaking-down process those rollers are also used in some establishments; but we gather from the organs of the trade in England, Germany, and America, that the upper and nether millstones still hold their own.
Windmills are disappearing, except on a small scale for the purpose of drawing water; the "dusty miller" is a person rather of scientific proclivities than of romantic associations, though he cannot escape being as "dusty as ever" and the "maid of the mill" is enshrined in legend. Other institutions may come and go, but the mill stones grind on for ever. Machinery has been so perfected as to be purely automatic from the first treatment of the grain, to the time the flour is ready for delivery to the baker. The human hand had less to do with grinding the corn than have the eye and brain. Nor must it be imagined that water power stands any chance of being altogether supplanted. Steam may do for large mills, such as that in Newcastle on Tyne, where in a month sufficient flour is ground to feed the population of New Zealand for a year. But in rural districts all over the world, running streams will he dammed up, mill leads will be constructed, water wheels will go their rapid but ponderous round, and in some cases the modern turbine, a horizontal wheel which specially concentrates enormous water power in a small space and with little apparent effort, will be made to drive the mill.
But in such a first class mill as that of Messrs Redwood Brothers at Spring Creek, which we visited recently, they have a splendid water power of the good old sort, and it is not necessary even to contemplate steam or a turbine. During the past few years the proprietors have so greatly improved the picturesque stream, and have obtained such an unfailing fall, that their wheel uses 7360 gallons per minute, and gives 35 horse power to the machinery when working in the ordinary way, and is capable of providing double as much when absolutely necessary. This result has not been attained without expense and difficulty, as the massive and yet easily moved gates at the mouth of the lead and the solid concrete walls by the side of the mill race abundantly testify. As things now are, thanks somewhat to the operations of the River Board, the Spring Creek - a stream as beautiful as it is useful - is not affected by floods, and what we townspeople would call low water is unknown. Humanly speaking Messrs Redwood's mill can go on till it wears out a century hence, without any alteration in the water power.
Inside the mill there have, been wonderful and extensive improvements and additions during the last two or three months. So extensive have they been, that it speaks volumes for the skill and tact of the proprietors that all the work was done without suspending flour making for a single day. It is obvious that this was a task as important as it was difficult; for, while the Spring Creek mill feeds nearly the whole of Marlborough, the loss of a week's grinding would have been a serious matter.
Everybody knows the general run of a flour mill, and we need not describe it in detail, though Messrs Redwood's new machinery well merits a lengthy reference. The whole process of flour-making is now automatic and selfworking from the time the grain is poured into, the elevator until it is packed and weighed, and it is marvellous how neatly and busily the wheat passes through so many processes without the intervention of man's hands. The break-down is still done with millstones, but the finish is performed with a steel high-roller mill made by Hervy Symons, of Manchester. This manufacturer (for whom we understand Messrs Holmes and Bell of Blenheim are agents) selected and sent out all the other new machinery, and the result is that Messrs Redwood have a plant which cannot be beaten in Europe. The first thing that met our eye was one of Burlingham, Innes, and Paternoster's Corn and Seed Separators, which operates upon 25 bushels in an hour, and is a kind of machine that no farmer ought to be without. Its capacity is hardly sufficient for the mill, and another machine of the same patent, made expressly according to Messrs Redwood's instructions, and capable of cleaning 50 bushels in the hour, has just come out in the Arawa. Then there is a Eureka separating and scouring machine (by Homes and Ewell of New York), and a Middlings Purifier said to be the best machine for the purpose in the world. The silk dresser is on the centrifugal principle, with the machinery inside the barrel, and is obviously an improvement upon all processes hitherto devised for the same object. A remarkable piece of machinery is Homes and Kwell's Flour Packer and Weigher, the very perfection of automatic action. Into this machine pours down the flour, ready for the baker; and, by setting it to any capacity, a sack of flour, of whatever size is required, is filled to the exact weight - a fact which we personally tested - and only requires stitching to be ready for delivery. Norton's Stone Dresser has an object sufficiently indicated by the name, and it takes the place of the pick which from time immemorial has been use for the purpose. There are other pieces of automatic machinery which are most interesting. For example, a bell sounds whenever the stones happen to be empty, a thing which, barring accidents, is not likely to occur while the mill is going. The sacks, after being stitched, are slung up and stowed away in the warehouse by machinery, and of warehouse room there is soon to be an abundance. A new two storied building with concrete floor is in course of erection, the dimensions being 60 x 21 1/2. When this is finished, there will be storage for 20,000 bushels of wheat. In 24 hours the mill can put through 450 bushels and turn out ten tons of flour. Under ordinary circumstances, working day time only, the amount is four tons. In 20 weeks, working day and night, the mill could easily put through 80,000 bushels, a quantity sufficient to feed Marlborough for 12 months.
These facts will no doubt astonish the reader, and will shew to what dimensions this great industry at Spring Creek has grown. No further description of the machinery is needed - we advise our readers to go and see it for themselves, and have the benefit of the practical explanations which Mr J. H. Redwood and Mr Fred. Redwood so courteously afford. We will only add that the new machinery and alterations during the past few months have cost £1,000, and that the brothers Redwood themselves planned and carried them out. The result needs no praise from us. There is no better flour in New Zealand than that produced at Spring Creek. There are no "seconds" or "inferior sorts" - all is at one quality, and that the very best that can be made. The new machinery enables the firm to buy and grind wheat of all sorts, so that the farmers of Marlborough as well as the millers and the consumers, cannot fail to benefit from the establishment we have been describing.
From The Marlborough Express, July 14, 1887:
Redwood Bros
Spring Creek Flour Mills
Are cash purchasers of Wheat any quantities and are prepared to grist, through their new roller process, at 6d per bushel.
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