Gristmills

This very poor photo from the Beacon Express January 26, 2000, is thought to be a local mill and perhaps even the Nathey mill which my great great grandfather owned once. It looks like the wheel may be a Breast Wheel (see below). Grinding stones that are attributed to that mill were found on Eglin Air Force base and are pictured in this article.

Each time I start one of these projects I learn a lot. The reason I am doing this one is because of my ancestor's involvement in this field. Learning about gristmill workings is giving me an insight into his life and the hardships he had. I also come into contact with some very nice people. One is Hal Neuman who graciously allowed me to use 2 of his drawings from his page on gristmills. http://www.geocities.com/neander97/features/watermills.html Another is John Lovett whose mill can be seen at http://www.fallsmill.com/ He sent me a very well written essay on water mills. I have drawn on the expertise of many folks while doing this project and I wish to thank them.

The earliest means of grinding grains was with a mortar and pestle setup. The mortar was a flat or, if one was lucky, a scooped rock on which to place the grain. The pestle was a rounded rock that fit the woman's hand nicely. She would rub the grain around on the large stone setting up a rhythm and making the job go easier. Later, more thought went into the process and taller stones or hard wooden containers were made so that instead of sitting on the ground a person could stand and do their work. Either way, rubbing the grain between hard surfaces to break it up into usable particles, was a long and tedious job. Finding the right sized tree trunk for the larger vessels might be a chore as well. The larger systems did, however allow for 2 people to work together and we all know shared work is much more fun. There are interesting pictures of early women sitting together probably singing, laughing and talking while grinding enough meal for the family's use.

Querns or hand mills were other alternatives. Hand mills first were two stones much like those of the gristmill. They consisted of a flat fixed stone and a "runner" stone that turned with a hole in its center into which one poured grain. There was a handle on the top stone with which to turn it while often there was no peg in its center to keep it in place — one relied on the weight of the stone to do that. Other systems had an axle by which the top stone turned and had a piece of wood with which one regulated the particle size. The meal would simply flow out from between the two stones and fell on the table holding the mill. The stones were very heavy and it took a lot of energy to get them started. After they were started, they were much easier to turn. They were often made of found stones that were roughly dressed and rarely maintained as were those of a water mill. Later hand mills were made of wood or metal. Animals were used to turn grinding stones, too.

Gristmills turned by water have been around for many centuries, some as early as 19 BC. In the United States they were becoming quite common in the 1840s. Later mills were run by other means, but we will only look at water mills this time. Millers have made a pretty fair living by charging a portion of the grain as payment for their labors. In England only the miller was allow to grind grains. Small hand mills were outlawed forcing people to take their grains to a "custom" mill.

There are three major parts to a gristmill: the raceway, water wheel and grinding stones. The raceway channels the flowing water to the wheel. The water forces the wheel to turn. The turning wheel powers the grinding stones by a series of shafts and pulleys or gears and shafts. The grinding action of the stones breaks the grain into small, usable pieces like flour, cornmeal, and grits.

There are many types of water wheels that were used. The first and least efficient looked like a great paddle wheel and was called "undershot." It was simply propelled by the flowing water pushing on its blades. The "overshot" wheel was much more effective and took more careful planning and placement. Water was directed to the top of it and it had blades that were more like buckets or troughs to catch and hold water. At the very least its blades were slanted rather than set perpendicular to the wheel. The weight of the water was the driving force and it built up momentum as it turned. One source says, "The overshot wheel is most effective when it turns as slow as it possibly and still handle the total flow of water available to it." It needed to be placed so that it was never in the stream as the motion of flowing water would slow its momentum. Breast wheels were another type that had the water directed at about 1/2 the way towards the top of the wheel. It did better than an overshot wheel if water levels rose as it would not be drastically slowed by the water flow and was often used where it would be too difficult to use the more efficient wheel. It was half way between the two previous types.

Another much more primitive type was the tub wheel pictured above. It was horizontal and required only a shaft between it and the grinding stones. It requires rapidly moving water and was also called a primitive turbine. Most wheels were made of wood and needed replacing about every 10 years.

Sluice gates controlled the flow of water going to the wheels. The gear mechanism that caused the grinding stones to turn varied greatly. Sometimes determined by the financial circumstances of the owner but more often than not by the technology of the era and the area. Mostly there was a gear attached to a shaft turned by the water wheel. Additional gears and pulleys or simple setups of ropes wound around tree trunks turned the grinding stones. The diagram on the left shows an undershot wheel with an elaborate system of gears and pulleys, while the one at right shows a much less sophisticated arrangement. Some gears were like barrels with vanes on them while others look like the ones to the left.

The grinding stones were mostly granite and purchased from afar. The best ones came from Europe at great expense, but could last for a hundred years. Each stone weighed between half a ton and 2 tons and had to be lifted each year to be refaced. The wear on the grooves must be carefully repaired so that grains would be ground to the correct size. Uneven runner stones would also damage the underlying or "bed" stone. Stones were arranged so that the miller could raise them up or let them down to control the fineness of the product. Roughly cracked corn might be required for animal feed while fine meal was used for baking and intermediate corn particles were used as grits.

Farmers grew corn, then had to store it on the cob in bins till it was dry. After that the kernels were rubbed off the cob and stored in bags or barrels until they were taken to the mill for grinding. Often the family had to rub the kernels off by hand, but there were machines available. One type is seen to right. The handle is on the other side of the machine. Dried corn was fed into the trough and shoved down with a stick. A rotating disk with ridges on it rubbed off the kernels. They dropped from the bottom of the machine while the cob was forced out the side. It was still a lot of work, but much easier than doing it by hand.

Once the kernels were ready for grinding, the farmer and often his family would pile them into a cart or wagon and drive to the mill. Many families made a social event of it. Perhaps much of the day would be spent there with the grownups visiting and the children playing around the millpond, chasing ducks or otherwise entertaining themselves. Likely mom would have packed a picnic lunch and perhaps there would be a visit to relatives or friends on the way home. Most of the millers would have been friends or relatives and during the unloading of the wagon, the news and gossip of the area would be exchanged. Perhaps other community members would be "hanging out" at the mill.

The miller would take his percentage before grinding was started. Then the containers of grain would be unloaded onto the mill floor and transferred into the grain hopper. Depending on the setup, the bags or barrels could be poured into the hopper or perhaps they were poured onto the floor and scooped into it with large shovels similar to a coal or snow shovel. (More elaborate mills would have several floors and the grain would be off-loaded into bins on ground level and conveyed to the hopper via a grain elevator. This system consisted of small buckets or cups that were run through the bins and up through the floor to be spilled into the hopper above. Often a mill that had grain elevators also had means of allowing the finished product to pour down chutes into bags held or tied to the lower ends.) When the grinding was finished the meal had to be put into containers and reloaded for the return trip home.

Grain sacks were coarse and often made of burlap, while meal sacks were of a finer woven cotton. Both were used for clothing and other household products. The cotton ones used as fine dish towels were often completely lint free. I have made many pieces of clothing from flour sacks when I was a child. The shirt here is from the burlap type sack.

Once home the sacks or barrels had to be stored in safe dry surroundings so the family could use them throughout the coming year. If a farmer had made a large crop, he might barter some of his meal to other families along the way for goods he either did not grow, or things he could not manufacture for himself. Perhaps he would also have some of the corn cracked for animal feed, though I expect that might have been considered a luxury. Most animals can easily manage whole kernel corn.

One can imagine the anticipation of the children as they thought of the wonderful foods mom would make from the freshly ground meal. The odors of the warm grain wafting from the mill during the grinding process had probably already whetted their appetites. Maybe they were planning a fishing trip so they could have fish and grits for breakfast soon. Oh, and the hush puppies mom would make . . .

Some grinding stones outside an old mill	The "bed stone" found on Eglin AFB and now displayed outside Jackson Guard — thought to belong to the Nathey Mill at top of page.
A close up of same stone showing grooves from which the meal poured upon grinding.	The "runner" stone from the same site. Both are about 36" in diameter. Hole is where grain goes.
	The stones to the left are on a friend's property and are much larger than the two above. They are also not made of the same material and appear to be of a poorer quality.

This was found in the DeFuniak Herald-Breeze, but we neglected to note the paper's date: "One gem is the law passed Dec. 20, 1827, which required gristmill owners to take people in order in which they received their grain. They also were limited in the amt. they charged to 1/8 of the amt. they ground (if paid in grain)."

More places of interest about this subject:

A site that school children have developed on how a water mill works
http://www.hyperaction.org.uk/RoathVillageWeb/Mill/howmill1.htm

Kenyons Gristmill shows how it works
http://www.kenyonsgristmill.com/works.html

An English mill:
http://www.foccm.freeserve.co.uk/html/history.html

EHistory links to all kinds of info. Use their search engine for specific items.
http://www.ehistory.com/

Arcadian Mill Complex at Milton (I did not find a way to obtain permission to link to this one, but I felt it was such an important find that I would do so anyway. If I have offended I do apologize.)
http://uwf.edu/archaeology/projects/mills/mills.htm  

Various types of mills:
http://www2.coastalnet.com/~s7f7s3gt/grist.html