native district.

It may be mentioned that Bellow Mill is situated on the Bellow Water,
near where it joins the river Lugar. One of Burns' finest songs
begins:--

"Behind yon hills where Lugar flows."

That was the scene of William Murdock's boyhood. When a boy, he herded
his father's cows along the banks of the Bellow; and as there were then
no hedges, it was necessary to have some one to watch the cattle while
grazing. The spot is still pointed out where the boy, in the
intervals of his herding, hewed a square compartment out of the rock by
the water side, and there burnt the splint coal found on the top of the
Black Band ironstone. That was one of the undeveloped industries of
Scotland; for the Scotch iron trade did not arrive at any considerable
importance until about a century later.[3] The little cavern in which
Murdock burnt the splint coal was provided with a fireplace and vent,
all complete. It is possible that he may have there derived, from his
experiments, the first idea of Gas as an illuminant.

Murdock is also said to have made a wooden horse, worked by mechanical
power, which was the wonder of the district. On this mechanical horse
he rode to the village of Cumnock, about two miles distant. His
father's name is, however, associated with his own in the production of
this machine. Old John Murdock had a reputation for intelligence and
skill of no ordinary kind. When at Carron ironworks, in 1760, he had a
pinton cast after a pattern which he had prepared. This is said to
have been the first piece of iron-toothed gearing ever used in mill
work. When I last saw it, the pinton was placed on the lawn in front
of William Murdock's villa at Handsworth.

The young man helped his father in many ways. He worked in the mill,
worked on the farm, and assisted in the preparation of mill machinery.
In this way he obtained a considerable amount of general technical
knowledge. He even designed and constructed bridges. He was employed
to build a bridge over the river Nith, near Dumfries, and it stands
there to this day, a solid and handsome structure. But he had an
ambition to be something more than a country mason. He had heard a
great deal about the inventions of James Watt; and he determined to try
whether he could not get "a job" at the famous manufactory at Soho. He
accordingly left his native place in the year 1777, in the twenty-third
year of his age; and migrated southward. He left plenty o