Things were pretty well tamed in York County, PA by the time Hans and Anna arrived. They were farmers. Several of their offspring, several generations before me built grist mills with water wheels and ground grain for the locals. Only the foundation of one of them remains.
As a kid I was fascinated by mill wheels. In rural northern Virginia there were many grist mills including George Washington’s. Most were in ruins but if we passed one I would beg Dad to stop the car.
These were all the undershot kind. The mill races were often still full of stagnant water & Dad warned me not to get too close. One was to me as big as a Ferris wheel. IIRC it was iron & outlasted the others. The streams which powered these mills were lined with limestone, more like aqueducts.