Anonymous

“ Another phrase is, “It’s all grist that comes to his mill,” meaning that the individual gets all the breaks and capitalizes every advantage. Then too, there is the phrase, “run of the mill,” which has become synonymous with routine product or performance, and “he has a millstone ’round his neck.” Perhaps the best known of all is the saying, “The mills of the gods grind slowly yet they grind exceeding fine.” Many a man has had this hurled at him when his sins of omission or commission have eventually overtaken him.
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The toll for having grain ground in a grist mill was usually paid in kind. ”

“ Many have become museum pieces. States and individuals are conserving them. Henry Ford’s collection of covered bridges at Dearborn, Michigan, is the largest in the country. The inclusion of a covered bridge in Carillon Park is recognition of its status in the evolution of American life. ”

“ The grist mill represents a striking evolution in the process of satisfying the hunger of man. The Indians pounded corn in a hollowed rock which was a crude mortar. Peasants all over the globe performed the same kind of service to obtain flour from wheat. It was the earliest hand power era. The Puritans, Cavaliers and Pilgrims probably obtained their first grist in this way. They were familiar with the use of grinding stones in Europe, so it was not long before the grist mill sprang up in the first clearings. ”

“ The wheel pit was a danger hole. If a man fell into it while the wheel was turning he had little chance of escape. Millers were known to have been drowned in their own mills when someone opened the water gate at the wrong time.
There were two kinds of mills—the water wheel construction and the tub mill. A tub mill was the simplest and cheapest of all types of grist mill. In it the wheel was located down in a pit or “tub” and lay horizontally with a vertical axle, whereas the water wheel type was a wheel rotating on a vertical plane and mounted on a horizontal axis. ”

“ The staff, post, wheel, crude pulley, wedge, inclined plane, and screw were all in use. Those pioneers builded well, little dreaming of the wonders that would be unfolded by the industrial revolution. ”

“ Whole grain is crushed by the action of the lands and passes to the outside of the revolving stones through the grooves. Below, a miller in the Loranger Grist Mill, Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Mich., is preparing the face of a burrstone with a special tool. ”

“ They maintain that the stones produce a higher grade of flour than can be 6 made by modern machine methods. So great was the demand for the millstone-ground flour that a manufacturing firm in Indiana made a miniature grist mill equipped with stones which was used in many private homes and on some farms. Power was furnished by a motor, a far cry from the old water wheel.
This picturesque mill is located just north of Dayton and is more than 100 years old. ”

“ The structure was held together by pegs of hard wood. No mortar, cement, bolts, or nails were used. The marvel is that so many of them have stood up for more than a century. In their way they were masterpieces of construction.
A third feature of interest is that while most of the old bridges followed the same lines of construction, no two were precisely alike. Many writers have emphasized the fact that each bridge has a certain individuality. ”

“ Colonel Patterson had ten children, the youngest of whom was Jefferson. He succeeded to ownership of part of the estate and the mills. Here on December 13, 1844, his son, John H. Patterson, founder of The National Cash Register Company and a notable figure in industrial development, was born and spent his boyhood, serving a hardy apprenticeship in work. ”