Pust's watermill “The Machine“

Of all the watermills, the biggest and most outstanding was definitely the one belonging to Franjo Pust. At the beginning of the 19th century, even before the watermill started operating, there used to be a factory for the production of smokeless tobacco (snuff), run by Mirko Markić. In 1831, Franjo Pust and comrades took over the factory, which functioned successfully until 1848. After the introduction of the Austrian Absolutism and state monopoly over the tobacco trade, this private factory was transformed into a roller mill in 1849. The size of the roller indicates that it was the first one belonging to this type of technology in Croatia. The roller was bought in Vienna from L. Nemelk's company. The watermill was powered by an 8-metre-high water wheel onto which water was drawn above small village houses by the means of a large water channel (spout), which was more than 200m long. According to the information from old business books, the watermill ground more than 25 wagons of wheat per month.
It was wired for electricity in 1932 when an alternating-current generator was installed, powered by a turbine from a sawmill, located 450 meters upstream. The entire upper part of Ivanec was powered by this electricity.
After 1932, the watermill was taken into lease by Emil Obsiger, the son of the owner of the previous “Janje” Inn (The Lamb) in Varaždin. It also used to be called Pust-Obsiger's watermill throughout the history.
In this watermill high-quality white wheat flour, the so-called “nuler” and “cvajer”, was produced.
The folk-name for this place was “The Machine” because it used large machines in the production process.
The watermill stopped working in 1970 as a work unit of the “Bednja-mlin” company from Ludbreg whose management ordered dismantling of all machines and their transportation to Ludbreg. Unfortunately, the watermill house was left to decay and then it was pulled down some years later.