Page 62 - Demo

60Grist millsStockdale Roller Mill, Stockdale, Wabash Co. (681.13)Because grist mills were the ancestors of today%u2019s feed mills, and because they were an important aspect of Indiana%u2019s history, we decided to include a few photographs of them in After the Harvest. Once quite common, there were over 700 grist mills listed in Indiana%u2019s 1860 census. Grinding grain was so important to early Hoosiers that paths quickly formed between mills and farmsteads, and those trails evolved into a network of rural roads. As the population increased, people started building houses near the grist mills, and towns began to grow. So, grist mills were a powerful civilizing force.As John and I searched for older grain elevators and feed mills, we found over a dozen grist mills still standing. They ranged in physical condition from beautifully restored to forlornly abandoned. Some were reproductions, having been built fairly recently as nostalgic reminders of the past. Several continue to grind flour%u2014some as small, private milling companies, others as not-for-profit demonstrations sponsored by historical associations.In Indiana, grist mills flourished when grain was harvested by hand and transported in wooden farm wagons pulled by draft animals. This was a time of little agricultural mechanization, so these simple mills were considered industrial marvels. Although, by definition, grist is unground grain, a grist mill refers to a specific type of operation where the grain is ground between a pair of millstones. Over the years, most grist mills replaced their cumbersome, heavy stones with more-efficient steel rollers, and are more properly known as roller mills%u2014although they are all routinely called grist mills.