Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 8).djvu/276

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

of the floating grist-mill used on this river. This kind of mill is supported by two boats, and the wheel moves between them. The boats move both up and down the river, and when employment can be obtained, they are placed in the strongest current near the shore, and the mill is set in motion. Here there is no tax for ground rent, mill-dam, or race.

In speaking of mills, I may advert to one which I saw in Indiana, and which excited some interest. As I was one day passing through a wood, near a {166} small log building, I heard a singular noise in the latter, and had the curiosity to look in. There was here a grist-mill moved by a horse, and attended by a little boy about nine years of age. The horse draws upon a stable fixed in a post; but making no progress, he pushes back with his feet the platform upon which he stands, and which is of a circular form. Through the centre of this platform there is a post fixed in the ground. The walking of the horse sets the machinery in motion. The cogs, the wallower, the trunnel-head, and the stones operated pretty much in the usual way. The Lilliputian miller displayed all the airs and importance so common to the managers of such noisy establishments.

In the state of Ohio, and in other places in the west, are some natural curiosities, with respect to which I must not be silent; but as I can probably throw no light upon the mystery in which they are involved, my remarks upon them will be brief.

As to the bones of animals which have been found at the Licks, particularly at that called the Big Bone,[116] I think there can be no doubt, that they are those of animals which, from a variety of causes, have perished there. Animals in