34
COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES
settlement at the mouth o f M ahoning crcck, which later became the site o f Danville. M ontgom ery's mill w as probably built about 1778. It stood until 1863 and then w as razed to make w ay fo r modern establishments. T he Crow nover mill at Exchan ge has been replaced by a more modem structure, operated by Charles J . Y agel. T he mill in Liberty township, built in 18 14 by Jo h n Autcn, has long siiK e passed aw ay, as has also the Sim p son mill in V alley township. T h e mill built by Philip M aus at the site o f M ausdale, in 179 3, w as quite a pretentious structure. T h e m illracc w as dug by Irish laborers, part of them Protestants and part Catholics. Eleven barrels Of whiskey were consumed in the course of the w ork, and M r. M aus had frequently to jum p in and disarm the two factions when a division occurred on religious lines. T n crc were many other sm all m ills in d if ferent parts o f Montour county, along the Chillisquaque and its branches, but they have long passed aw ay or relapsed into ruin, their memories not even being preserved by the old est inhabitants. T h e com paratively level topography o f Montour and the absence o f many stream s o f sufficient size to afford power deterred the old settlers from building mills, and not until the advent o f steam did the gristm ills begin to appear outside of the larger towns. A t present the principal mills of the county are located at Danville. W ashingtonville. M ausdale, M ooresburg and in Lim estone town ship. A ll of them are operated either p ar tially o r entirely by steam power. and most of them are fitted with the modem roller process.
T h e great m ajority of these mills began with a prim itive equipment consisting o f a pair o f grinding stones, many o f which w ere shaped from boulders found near at hand and a round reel covered with silk cloth. T h e "system ” w as very short, com prising but two processes, nam ely, crushing or grinding the grain between the upper and nether millstones, and separat ing or bolting the m ass from the stone on the long reel, thus obtaining the good old-fashioned flour and the equally g c ^ old-fashioned "shorts” and bran. W ith the advent o f competition came the demand fo r white flour— and more o f it front a bushel o f wheat. M any of the mills put in additional "ru n s” o f buhrs and more bolting reels, and thus, b y first breaking the wheat, and scalping o ff the bran, they w ere in a position
to handle the flour-yielding portion to much better advantage. T he F ow ler mill at Espy reached the highest state o f perfection, hav ing had several runs o f large Frencli buhrs and a long line o f scalping and finishing reels. The m odem roller mill with its intricate system and machinery brought the milling business to a scientific basis and the mill own e r who did not bring his mill up to date in equipment soon found him self with only iicigfiborhood custom trade, that yielded little or no profit T o think o f a kernel o f wheat traveling over a mile and a quarter from (he time it entered the stock bin until the finished product reached the Hour sack and feed bag. w as beyond tbe ability of the average miller. T h e man wlio studied the system until he could follow the twenty or more reductions and separations, and knew when each one w as right, and changed his mill until all were producing the best results, became the successful miller. Such men w ere not plentiful in Columbia county, with the result that only a very few m ills are in position to turn out a “ fancy patent” flour that w ill compete successfully m the market. Q uite fittingly, the “ gravel p icker," which has revolutionized the milling o f buckwheat all over the United States, is the invention of a Columbia county man, C harles Follm cr, of Benton. Through the inventor's failure to patent his machine, which is used today every w here buckwheat is milled, it has brought him no financial return. When the buckwheat heads arc harvc.sted. it is almost impossible to keep gravel from m ixing with them. Then, when the seeds are ground into flour, the tiny bits o f rocks are ground with them, and produce g ritty flour. F o r years this difficulty could not be over come. F in ally Follm er devised a system of three pipes through which a ir currents were draw n. Beneath them the buckwheat was passed, the seeds being drawn up, w hile the gravel was left. M anufacturers quickly seized upon the in* genious device, which Follm cr tnought too simple to be worth patenting. S o successful w as it that on one occasion a car o f buck wheat flour sent from the W hite M ills to the .South soon a fte r the “ picker” had been pro duced w as refused. T lie Southern purchaser insisted that the buckwheat flour w as loo white to be pure buckwheat, and could not be convirKcd that no wheat flour had been mixed with it. Buckwheat under the old svstcm had been o f dark color on account o f tfie ground stone which it contained.
