THE MILLS The building- of the Mills played a big- part in the settling of the new land, which advanced steadily as the Mills catered to the needs of the people. These needs comprised shelter, food, clothing. The Saw Mill provided the shelter; the Grist Mill, the food; and the Carding Mill the clothing. Many of the Mills provided all three services. Doubtless the Westmoreland River was a big factor in the choice of home sites — level and wooded to the water's edge, providing trans¬ portation and good water power. The miller came supplied with skill, equipment, and a stout heart. First, he attended to the water power — the dam, the flume, the gates, and the big water wheel — all laborious hand work, also the hand-hewn timbers to frame his mill. The earliest saw was called a "whip saw," and was used over a saw pit with the benefit of nothing but man power. Next, came the "up and down" saw, and, while not as slow as the first, it was still very slow, taking perhaps twenty minutes to saw eighteen inch hemlock boards, which were used for "boarding in." The miller worked with only the biggest lumber, as time was pressing. _ In the spring, when the water was high, the Mills were run day and night, to catch up with the piles of logs awaiting them. When the "circular saw" succeeded the "up and down" work proceeded much faster. Houses and barns were being built, and dressed lumber was in constant demand. The Grist Mill was a busy place, with its old round stones brought from England , and soon worn smooth in the process of grinding the wheat into flour to be made into "riz" bread from the hops on the fence; the oats for porridge and oat cakes, dried in the kiln over a smouldering fire; and the buckwheat into flour for pancakes. And no vitamins lost in the process! To have enough meal to see the family through until spring was of prime importance. The story was told by "Ma" Inman, a daughter of one of the pioneer families of Hampton shore, of hearing her father tell of hauling a few bags of wheat to John Lord 's Mill in Tryon , on a hand sleigh, to be made into flour while he waited, to keep the family in flour until spring. All the grain for the livestock was also crushed at the Mills, as grain crushers on the farms were unheard of for many years following. In the early part of this century the roller process of grinding supplanted the mill stones, making a finer, whiter bread. Not all Mills handled wool. The fleeces from the sheep could be manufactured entirely at home — washed, made into rolls, spun, and woven into great webs of various kinds of cloth and blankets. But the Carding Mill made rolls and batts, thus hastening the process a bit for those ladies of leisure of long ago. Thread for sewing was spun from flax and also woven into cloth for bedticks, towels, etc. The pockets of men's homespun garments were made of this material, and, sewn with the flax thread, outlasted the garment. Flax was also woven into much finer material, for tablecloths, bedspreads, etc. -*§{ 20 fr-