34 COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES
settlement at the mouth of Mahoning creek, which later became the site of Danville. Montgomery's mill was probably built about 1778. It stood until 1863 and then was razed to make way for modern establishments.
The Crownover mill at Exchange has been replaced by a more modern structure, operated by Charles J. Yagel. The mill in Liberty township, built in 1814 by John Auten, has long since passed away, as has also the Simpson mill in Valley township.
The mill built by Philip Maus at the site of Mausdale, in 1793, was quite a pretentious structure. The millrace was dug by Irish laborers, part of them Protestants and part Catholics. Eleven barrels of whiskey were consumed in the course of the work, and Mr. Maus had frequently to jump in and disarm the two factions when a division occurred on religious lines.
There were many other small mills in different parts of Montour county, along the Chillisquaque and its branches, but they have long passed away or relapsed into ruin, their memories not even being preserved by the oldest inhabitants. The comparatively level topography of Montour and the absence of many streams of sufficient size to afford power deterred the old settlers from building mills, and not until the advent of steam did the gristmills begin to appear outside of the larger towns.
At present the principal mills of the county are located at Danville. Washingtonville. Mausdale, Mooresburg and in Limestone township. All of them are operated either partially or entirely by steampower. and most of them are fitted with the modern roller process.
The great majority of these mills began with a primitive equipment consisting of a pair of grinding stones, many of which were shaped from boulders found near at hand and a round reel covered with silk cloth. The "system" was very short, comprising but two processes, namely, crushing or grinding the grain between the upper and nether millstones, and separating or bolting the mass from the stone on the long reel, thus obtaining the good old-fashioned flour and the equally good old-fashioned "shorts" and bran.
With the advent of competition came the demand for white flour—and more of it front a bushel of wheat. Many of the mills put in additional "runs” of buhrs and more bolting reels, and thus, by first breaking the wheat, and scalping off the bran, they were in a position to handle the flour-yielding portion to much better advantage. The Fowler mill at Espy reached the highest state of perfection, having had several runs of large French buhrs and a long line of scalping and finishing reels.
The modern roller mill with its intricate system and machinery brought the milling business to a scientific basis and the mill owner who did not bring his mill up to date in equipment soon found himself with only neighborhood custom trade, that yielded little or no profit.
To think of a kernel of wheat traveling over a mile and a quarter from the time it entered the stock bin until the finished product reached the flour sack and feed bag. was beyond the ability of the average miller. The man who studied the system until he could follow the twenty or more reductions and separations, and knew when each one was right, and changed his mill until all were producing the best results, became the successful miller. Such men were not plentiful in Columbia county, with the result that only a very few mills are in position to turn out a “fancy patent” flour that will compete successfully m the market.
Quite fittingly, the “gravel picker," which has revolutionized the milling of buckwheat all over the United States, is the invention of a Columbia county man, Charles Follmer, of Benton. Through the inventor's failure to patent his machine, which is used today everywhere buckwheat is milled, it has brought him no financial return.
When the buckwheat heads are harvested, it is almost impossible to keep gravel from mixing with them. Then, when the seeds are ground into flour, the tiny bits of rocks are ground with them, and produce gritty flour.
For years this difficulty could not be overcome. Finally Follmer devised a system of three pipes through which air currents were drawn. Beneath them the buckwheat was passed, the seeds being drawn up, while the gravel was left.
Manufacturers quickly seized upon the ingenious device, which Follmer thought too simple to be worth patenting. So successful was it that on one occasion a car of buckwheat flour sent from the White Mills to the South soon after the “picker” had been produced was refused. The Southern purchaser insisted that the buckwheat flour was loo white to be pure buckwheat, and could not be convinced that no wheat flour had been mixed with it. Buckwheat under the old system had been of dark color on account of the ground stone which it contained.
