Varner's Mill in The Mansion (Location)

The novel doesn't say what is produced by the mill that Ratliff calls "Uncle Bill Varner's water mill" (347), the site of "the annual Varner's Mill picnic" (326). The Town clearly refers to "Uncle Billy Varner's saw mill" (33), but the different word Faulkner uses in this novel makes it unlikely that this mill is used to turn trees into lumber. As a "water" mill this one relies on water power from the "mill pond," which collects water behind "Varner's mill-dam" that is periodically released to drive the machinery (347-48). That process suggests a grist mill, which turns corn, for example, into flour. In any case, what really matters in the story is what Ratliff calls "a dog thicket" on the bank "jest above Varner's mill-pond": "a clump of gum and hickory and ash and pin oak switches" (347-48); it serves the dogs in the area as a place to relieve themselves, and provides Ratliff with the power to drive Clarence Snopes out of politics.