Old Riedel Dam and Early Industries

Max Krueger, the plaque's gin installer, was still a teenager when he worked here. Born in Greifswald in 1851, he landed at Indianola in 1868 and worked as stevedore, factory hand, cowboy, miller, traveling photographer and merchant before buying a ranch at Twin Sisters in Blanco County, which drought took from him. He rebuilt in middle age, making oil well equipment at a San Antonio machine company. He wrote his memoir in 1925, two years before his death in Wiesbaden; it was privately printed in 1930 and reissued by Texas A&M University Press in 1976 as Second Fatherland.

What the plaque says

Old Riedel Dam and Early Industries 250 yards west lie the remains of a pioneer dam built in 1869 by Carl Edward Riedel to supply the power for his sawmill, gristmill and cotton gin. That year another German immigrant, Max Krueger, helped install Riedel's gin-- first steam cotton gin in Karnes County. Shortly before, Krueger had built the barracks to house 50 U.S. Cavalrymen near Helena. Within 2 years a town grew up near Riedel's industries and was named Riddleville in his honor. On June 9, 1871, the U.S. postal records were moved from Ecleto post office (3 miles up the creek, where Kelly's Stage Stand stood) to the post office here. Between 1870 and 1886 Riddleville was one of the 5 principal towns in Karnes County. It was located at the crossing of the Helena-Gonzales Road and the Yorktown-Sutherland Springs Road. In 1876 its population was about 75. In 1905 the name of the town was changed to Gillett. With lumber from his mill, Riedel had built a hotel, which was destroyed by fire about 1905; but he immediately built a second hotel. Many homes and business houses in this area were constructed of Riedel's lumber, which can still be found today in existing Karnes County buildings. (1969)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Panna Maria — 13 mi
  The Silesian village on a plateau above the San Antonio River that claims the oldest permanent Polish settlement in America, with a church of 1878 and a ceiling found again in 2000.

More markers nearby

• Harmony Baptist Church and Cemetery — 5.5 mi
• Nixon — 9.9 mi
• St. Ann's Catholic Church — 9.9 mi
• First Baptist Church of Nixon — 10 mi