Warren County Local
History by Dallas Bogan |
Contributor: |
Dallas Bogan on 29 July 2004 |
Source: |
Dallas Bogan, Warren County, Ohio and Beyond (Bowie Maryland: Heritage Press, 1979) page |
Return to Index to see a list of other articles by Dallas Bogan |
In the early days of Ohio the Little Miami was the most important millstream
in the State. Cheaper transportation was needed to transport the products from
the mills on the river. Besides the numerous gristmills, and flourmills, there
were one or two paper mills, a cotton mill at Oregonia and woolen mills on or
near the river. It was thought that the town of Gainsborough, laid out in 1815
(the site of Kings Mills), would be an important factory town.
Oliver M. Spencer, when a mere boy, recorded a situation in
which a type of mill (Wickersham's) was used near Columbia, now a part of Cincinnati.
He stated that he witnessed a class of mill that was actually floating on the
river. It consisted of a small flatboat tied to the bank, its wheel turning
slowly with the natural current and a small piroque anchored in the stream,
and on which one end of its shaft rested; and having only one pair of stones,
it was at best barely sufficient to supply meal for the inhabitants of Columbia
and neighboring families.
At least three mills were in operation on the Little Miami River at the turn
of the 19th century. The first mill, known as Waldsmith's Mill, was located
at the present site of Milford; the second and third mills, built in 1793 and
1799, respectively, were located near Xenia and Kings Mills.
Warren County, in 1832, contained 30 gristmills, 44 saw mills, 25 tanneries,
28 distilleries, 6 woolen factories, 3 iron foundries, 3 oil mills, 2 paper
mills and 1 brewery.
Also in this year, Todd's Fork, in the twenty- five miles of its course, turned
eight saw mills and four gristmills.
East Fork, which feeds Todd's Fork one mile below Clarksville in the thirteen
miles of its course, turned two saw mills and two grist mills. Turtlecreek had
two sawmills and two gristmills.
Some of the earliest mills in Warren County were constructed on the small streams,
which feed the Little Miami. The reasoning for this was the greater ease and
less cost of constructing a dam across a larger stream.
Directing the water current upon the wheel of the mill consisted of cheap structures
of brush and logs. This was done rather than using a reservoir to retain the
water. The waterpower was converted into energy in which to turn a huge grinding
wheel. During the dry season the mill would be idle. The clearing away of the
forests caused the smaller streams to be less constant in their flow.
Before the early mills the early pioneers used a type of homemade mill. A rather
crude method in the process of getting corn cracked into meal is described as
such (taken from the 1882 History of Montgomery County):
"Every expedient was resorted to get corn cracked into meal. The 'hominy-block'
was unsatisfactory, and grating by hand was worse. Burning a round hole in the
top of a stump made the stump-mortar; a spring pole was rigged over it, with
a stone pestle attached. Hulling corn, soaking the grains in weak lye, and then
cracking in the 'hominy-block,' or in the improved 'stump-mortar', first made
hominy.
"The hand-mill, although hard, slow work, was a welcome improvement, and
soon one stood in the chimney-corner of every cabin. The stones were about four
inches thick, and were broken down as nearly round as possible to about twenty
inches in diameter. On top of the upper stone, near the edge, one end of a pole
was fixed, the other end working in a socket in a piece of timber on the floor
overhead. One person turned the stone by hand, while another fed the corn into
the eye. It took two hours to grind enough meal to supply one person for a day,
the operators often changing places in the work.
"Before the cabins were all supplied with these hand-mills, neighbors sometimes
shouldered a peck or half bushel of corn, and carried it five miles to the cabin
of a settler who had one, grind his corn, and return with the meal. Flour was
very scarce, and, at this time, was all brought from Cincinnati, and, as we
have said, was very expensive. Most of the settlers kept a small quantity laid
by for use only in case of sickness.
"Those who could afford it had biscuits for breakfast on Sunday morning,
baked in a spider before the fire. Corn pone, dodgers and flap- jacks, supplied
them for the rest of the week. Those who could not afford to buy flour would
run the wheat three or four times through these hand-mills.
"The next advance made was when these little mills were rigged to run by
horse power, by fastening a pole across the stone, hitching the horse to the
end of the pole, and driving him round and round a circle. The next improvement
was made in running a single pair of stones by waterpower. The wheel was a simple
paddle wheel, run by the natural current of the stream, and, although not reliable,
was good enough to grind all the wheat and corn that the settlement needed."
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This page created 29 July 2004 and last updated
28 September, 2008
© 2004 Arne H Trelvik
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