Saturday was "grinding day" years ago and eveerybody took their "turn of corn" to the meal to have it ground. During week days the mill was used to saw logs for lumber. The first steam mill to be brought to Harlan County came from Virginia about 1887. It was brought by John Pennington who sat it up about a mile below Baxter. Big crowds gathered at the mill every Saturday. It was an all day trip for those who lived on Martin's fork and other "far away" places.

"We got up before day light to make the trip and sometimes waited until sun down to get our meal," an old timer said. Some of them brought a little "snack" to eat and some of them just didn't eat.

"My father gave me a quarter one day to buy something to eat with for dinner," one who went to the mill remembered. Instead he bought a watermelon. Everyone helped him eat it. The mill owner kept watermelon's lying around in the saw dust to sell.

Steam Engine Fascinating

Sometimes they rode their horses back to town and bought some cheese, crackers and sugar at Will Noe's store on Second Street. That was a good meal.

It was fascinating for the smaller boys to watch the steam engine grind the corn. The miller used slabs of logs from lumber to fire the engine. some days he ground as much as 50 to 100 bushels a day.

The men stacked their bags of corn under the shed to wait their turn. the miller poured the corn down in the "hopper" and it sifted slowly down as it ground and came out in a bin.

For his toll, the miller took out a gallon of corn from each bushel. If he had enough meal for his own use he sold the rest. in later years a few more mills were brought into the county.

The one shown in the picture was near Evarts. The owners were Wilse Carroll and Pole Smith.

There was a mill on Catron's Creek that was visited by the neighbors for miles around. One day a man and a little boy were on their way to the mill. the man was riding an ox. In front of them was another man riding a horse and sitting atop of his sack of corn.

The horse got scared at something and ran against a snag, teating the sack open. As the corn began to spill on the ground, the other one came untied and all of the two bushel fell to the ground.

The ox came up behind him and feasted upon the corn. His owner couldn't get him to budge. He got off the ox and with his bare foot kicked him in the nose.

The owner tied the sack at both ends with paw-paw bark and salvaged a little of the corn. It was a task to get the corn to mill and back but that was the only bread they had for many years until the stores began to sell "brought-on" meal.

Friday July 3, 1953

Volume 52 Number 154

page 1 & 6

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