The molasses was received from the river via punts in casks which were loaded onto
a truck or buggy and drawn up a steep gradient via a tramway by a friction hoist
driven by steam power. Upon arriving at the works the truck would go onto a turn-table
where it would be turned around and run over the molasses receiving tanks. Upon emptying
its contents into the tanks, it was then returned to the punt to repeat the process
until the entire freight of the punt was emptied. Molasses was also received via
tank-drays, which was run by a shoot into the same receiving tanks. The molasses
was then measured and pumped by rotary pump into the storage tanks.
From the storage tanks, the molasses would then run by gravity into a 900 gallon
(4091.48L) mixing vat sunk into the ground. In this vat was a mixing gear driven
by a belt from an overhead shaft, which would mix the molasses with water from the
well and other ingredients for making the wash.
After being thoroughly mixed, the wash was then pumped by a Blake pump to the vats
in the fermenting room. In August of 1889 there were eight vats with a provision
for four more. These vats were constructed of 3 inch cedar, measuring 8 feet (2.4384m)
in diameter and 9 feet (2.7432m) high and holding 2200 gallons (10001.4L) each. The
vats were stored on strong hardwood stands with gangways erected to enable proper
supervision. Special attention was paid to the ventilation of the fermenting room
with the roof being lined to secure an equal temperature.
When the wash is ready for the still it was run by gravity to a small tank and from
there was pumped into a receiving tank at the top of the tower. From here it would
flow through a float-valve into a small cistern where it was arranged in such a way
that the still was supplied uniformly. The still was steam-heated and worked on the
continuous principal. It was made of copper and stood 31 feet (9.4488m)high. It had
two boilers, distilling column, rectifying column, wine-heater, cooling column and
a worm coil cooled with water. For the time, it was fitted with the most modern appliances
for producing high-class spirit.