many habitual drinkers of ardent spirits are brought to their end by what is called spontaneous combustion″ and then went on to describe in some detail an event he’d witnessed. One of the most prominent residents of Delta was Walter H. Denaut. Born in Prescott, Denaut worked in Delta for a time before returning permanently in 1839, opening up a general store. In 1849 Denaut built himself a very impressive family home, today’s Denaut Mansion Country Inn. In 1850 he bought the Old Stone Mill from the previous owner, Amelia Macdonell. He invested heavily in the mill, including switching power from a waterwheel to turbines in the 1860s and changing it from a custom mill to a merchant mill. The mill was known at that time as Denaut's Mills. In 1857 when a new post office was applied for, the name Beverley was already taken and the name Delta was chosen because the shape of the two Beverley Lakes, connected by the village, resembles triangles - the shape of the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, delta. For years Delta was the only significant community in the region due to the Old Stone Mill with farmers going to the mill to get their wheat ground on a custom basis (1/12 to the miller with the rest returned to the farmer as flour). Businesses such as merchant shops, taverns, inns, blacksmiths were established to service this influx of people, Delta was the regional service centre. By 1851 the population of Delta was 250 and an 1897 fire insurance map shows a population of 500. From early 1888 through to mid-1952, Delta was served by the Brockville, Westport & Sault Ste Marie Railway. The village had one of the larger stations on the line. Today, sections of the train bed serve as roads and/or paths used by all terrain vehicles. The village's Old Stone Mill saw use for 150 years, from 1810 thru 1960, and played an important role in the area's harvesting needs. In 1963, Hastings Steele, the mill's final owner, deeded the property to a group of trustees for $1. These trustees formed the core of The Delta Mill Society who extensively restored the mill (rescue rehabilitation in 1973-74 and major conservation rehabilitation in 1999-2004) and have it open to the public during the summer and for special events. In 1970 the mill was designated a National Historic Site of