 | Esom Slone's Grist Mill |
James Slone
(1725-1808) moved from Pennsylvania and settled in western Virginia along
with other early German settlers. In 1750, Slone operated a mill on Maggodee
Creek near the present day community of Wirtz, Viriginia, in the Old Bonbrook
area. After the American Revolution, Patrick Henry, the first governor of
Virginia, deeded Slone the tract of land where the mill stood. Slone ground
the corn and wheat produced by the local farms in the fertile area around
his grist mill until his death.
In his will,
Slone wrote: "I, James Slone of Franklin County, in perfect sense and
memory. First, I want all my just debts paid. To my wife, Sarah Slone, during
her natural life or widowhood - 150 acres whereon my grist mill now stands,
and half the net profits of the mill. At her death or marriage, the land
and mill go to my son Clifford Slone. I also give my wife Negro woman Eady,
and at the death or marriage, to be equally divided between my 2 sons, Clifford
and Reuben Slone. Also to my wife, 1 riding horse, saddle, and bridle, and
2 cows and calves, 4 sheep of her choice, and all my hogs, together with
all the household furniture and working tools. To my son Clifford Slone
- half the net profits of my grist mill, and at the death of my wife, the
whole to revert to him. To my sons Patrick, Thomas, & William Slone
& my daughter Milly Kelly - $5 each & no more. Executors: my son
Clifford Slone and my wife Sarah Slone."
Upon the death
of Clifford Slone, the mill passed to Clifford's son Samuel. When Samuel
fell upon hard times, he was forced to sell his mill and land to pay his
debts. Samuel then built a mill along the south prong of the Pigg River
between 1840 and 1850. The mill passed from Samuel to his son Esom who rebuilt
the mill during the 1880's to 1890's. In later years, the mill came into
the possession of the Beckett family when Esom's daughter, Laura, married
a T. J. Beckett. Manfred Cannaday of Callaway, Virginia, ran the mill from
1924 until about 1934. Banks closing in 1933 resulted in foreclosures and
Cannaday lost the mill. The final operator, Posey Jones operated the mill
up until the late 1940's.
The property
on which the mill stood was purchased in 1996 and the mill was sold to Doug
Minnix of Callaway, Virginia. Virginia's Explore Park purchased the mill
and the mill was dismantled down to its foundation in early 1997.
When the gristmill
reopens at Virginia's Explore Park, the new waterwheel should average six
revolutions per minute which should be enough to turn the millstones at
125 revolutions per minute. The mill will grind flour with 19.76 horsepower
using about 500 gallons of water per minute, according to the distance the
water falls. One horsepower is required to raise 33,000 pounds of water
one foot off the ground. The mill will be a post and beam frame structure
with horizontal lapped siding and a shingle roof.
Slone's Mill
is a small one and a half story wood frame grist mill, 18 feet by 24 feet.
Originally the two millstones were located near the south wall and later
moved to the north end. Both millstones are 48 inches in diameter. One millstone
was used for grinding corn and the other was used for grinding wheat, oats
and rye.
One pair of
millstones is a French Burr stone from France. This pair of millstones is
a rare example of a solid French Burr stone. The norm had been for millstones
to be made in pieces, although some solid stones were manufactured until
around 1775. The practice of making French millstones in pieces was done
for two strong reasons: easier to ship to other countries and the greater
economy of manufacture at home and abroad, especially if a mistake was made
on some part of the stone. There are only two other examples of these solid
French Burrs found in America today.
Ground flour
and meal could normally fall by chutes into meal boxes in front of the Hurst
frame. The second millstone's flour could also be sent up to the loft by
an elevator to an eight foot bolting reel which sifted the flour. A bolter
was a vital piece of machinery if the miller wished to produce white flour,
grits, or buckwheat flour. It was necessary to sift off the course bran
and indigestible hulls of buckwheat and oats. Another elevator was perhaps
used to lift grain to a grain cleaning machine that would consist of a rolling
screen and a smutter. A sack hoist could lift sacks to the loft where it
was dumped into bins for storage and tempering of the grains before ground.
White flour was packaged into wooden flour barrels.
The mill contains
usual mill furnishings but there are three items that are of an unusual
design or appearance. The "trammel" is unusually shaped. This
was used to test the millstones spindle for true, upright running.
The wooden
millstone crane screw in a 19th century mill in uncommon. This is more of
an 18th century appurtenance. In the early 1800's, most mills adopted metal
millstone crane screws.
The hopper
feed system is unusual because the hopper was placed directly over the eye
of the millstones, rather than being off set back from the eye over the
back end of the wooden shoe.
The mill had
a wooden overshot water wheel 20 feet in diameter by 42 inches wide on an
iron shaft. This was in keeping with the period of the early 1840's when
wooden water wheels were being replaced by all metal water wheels. Iron
shafts and hubs first replaced the old troublesome water wheel shafts. The
mill has a unique system of metal counter-gearing where a leather belt drives
a pulley which engaged a shaft with two lesser face gears that engaged small
metal pinions or stone nut gears. The system is found in restored mills
in the original wooden form of this type. Two-step gearing was developed
to permit larger water wheels to operate more than one pair of millstones
at faster speeds than smaller diameter water wheels.
Water flowed
down the head race and collected in a mill pond above the mill where the
water flowed down a sluice box to the wheel. The mill remained water powered
until it ceased operation. The water control gate arm was adjusted by a
lever which came through the wall on the platform at the head of the steps.
More than likely, the entire flow of the south prong of the Pigg River at
that point was diverted down the mill race to operate the grist mill.
The mill is
laid out in the traditional pre-settlement European technology of flour
milling where the millstones are on a platform and the ground material falls
into bins below thus found in "low milling," "flat milling,"
or "American milling" technology. The miller only went on the
platform to dress his millstones or fill the hoppers with grain. Otherwise
his work station was at the meal boxes where his millstone adjustments were
close at hand.
The mill also
has the traditional open loft bins running under the eaves similar to a
traditional English country mill when the miller and his helpers carried
sacks on their backs up stairways or hoisted them up trap doors to the level
above. This method was used to store and temper grains. It allowed natural
bleaching and aging of the flour after it was ground by returning it to
the loft and spreading it on the floors to cool and dry after milling.
Slone's
Mill also reflects the changes and additions of Oliver Evans' "automated
milling system" of 1787 with the addition of elevators and conveyors.
This new method became outdated after the mid-1800's. The mill did not convert
to the modern roller mill system and continued to operate using the traditional
millstones and wooden water wheel.
While most mills in the area converted
or added the roller system, Slone's Mill continued to use the long and true
millstone method of grinding. Most mills in the area and in Virginia converted
to the modern I-X-L Overshoot Water Wheel manufactured by the Fitz Water
Wheel Company in Hanover, Pennsylvania. Slone's Mill maintained a satisfactory
balance between using natural water power along with the traditional methods
of flour milling.
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