Two essentials to life in the early days were flour and water.
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The former was provided by various windmills, beginning with one on Windmill Hill in 1817.
It was abandoned in the early 1830s and destroyed by a gale in 1844.
Other windmills were built, such as government mills at George Town and the bottom of Margaret Street, and a private windmill in Invermay - but all were small and inefficient.
A waterwheel mill was built at Corra Linn in 1822 and proved reasonably successful despite its distance away.
Water provides more energy than wind.
Several entrepreneurs realised that the Cataract, which was on their doorstep, could provide both cheap flour and fresh water.
But what happened next became a farce.
In 1826 Roderic O'Connor was promised a grant on the south side of the Gorge for a flour mill, on the understanding he would build an aqueduct to bring water into Launceston.
Time passed, with no mill and no aqueduct.
So the government promised John Walker £300 if he built a water race to a mill at the entrance to the Gorge and allowed them to take his discharge water.
In 1831 Walker began construction of a dam which was most likely at the base of First Basin, with a long water race to a mill on a two-acre site granted near the entrance to the Gorge.
He didn't plan it well and quickly ran into trouble.
He claimed to have been unaware there was a reserved street blocking his race from reaching the mill he'd begun.
This seems unlikely.
The street was called Cataract Road and though unformed, was well known.
It is far more likely that he seriously underestimated the cost of building the long water race and, having spent over £2000, ran out of money.
Whichever the reason, he decided to finish the race at a small flat area of rock, on the south side of the Gorge close to the bottom of the Cataract.
He built his mill there.
It was an immediate success, churning out flour at a good profit.
Then disaster.
Roderic O'Connor suddenly pointed out that Walker had built the mill on his 10-acre grant.
Ironically, this appears to be the land granted to O'Connor for building a race and mill, which he didn't do.
Now he told Walker to remove it, having allegedly first tried to sell it out from under Walker and failing.
Walker had no choice but comply, and being completely out of money, formed a partnership with his building contractor Andrew Sibbald.
Over 1835/36 Mr Sibbald dismantled the mill and rebuilt it on the originally intended allotment, after which Walker sold out to local businessman Mungo Somerville.
The Cataract Mill became the only mill operating in Launceston, selling fresh water to the citizenry in addition to flour and contract grinding.
Today we know it as Ritchie's Mill.