ItmaybementionedthatBellowMillissituatedontheBellowWater，nearwhereitjoinstheriverLugar。OneofBurns’finestsongsbegins:——
“BehindyonhillswhereLugarflows。“
ThatwasthesceneofWilliamMurdock’sboyhood。Whenaboy，heherdedhisfather’scowsalongthebanksoftheBellow；andastherewerethennohedges，itwasnecessarytohavesomeonetowatchthecattlewhilegrazing。Thespotisstillpointedoutwheretheboy，intheintervalsofhisherding，hewedasquarecompartmentoutoftherockbythewaterside，andthereburntthesplintcoalfoundonthetopoftheBlackBandironstone。
ThatwasoneoftheundevelopedindustriesofScotland；fortheScotchirontradedidnotarriveatanyconsiderableimportanceuntilaboutacenturylater。[3]ThelittlecaverninwhichMurdockburntthesplintcoalwasprovidedwithafireplaceandvent，allcomplete。Itispossiblethathemayhavetherederived，fromhisexperiments，thefirstideaofGasasanilluminant。
Murdockisalsosaidtohavemadeawoodenhorse，workedbymechanicalpower，whichwasthewonderofthedistrict。OnthismechanicalhorseherodetothevillageofCumnock，abouttwomilesdistant。Hisfather’snameis，however，associatedwithhisownintheproductionofthismachine。OldJohnMurdockhadareputationforintelligenceandskillofnoordinarykind。