ONE OF THE FIRST MILLSTONES. 



l'.\ \ . A. (J HA II \.\l. ^ 



IN 1903 I found on the plains near Limon, Colo., a granite mill- 

 stone, if not of prehistoric times, at least of aboriginal 

 origin. While that part of Colorado is covered with small 

 fragments of disintegrated granite, showing the surface to be 

 denudation from the Rockies, no mases of granite are found 

 short of the mountains nearly a hundred miles farther west. 

 The shape and wear of this stone, however, are distinctive 

 enough to tell the tale, even though picked up among the 

 Rockies themselves. 



A practical man. figuring on a showing and profits, would 

 want to know the plan, the kind and capacity of the mill. The 

 answer is. a granite stone weighing 12 pounds, elliptical in 

 outline, longitudinal diameter 14 inches, transverse 10 inches, 

 average thickness 1 .1 inches, oval on the under side, and dished 

 and smooth from the edge to ■,: inch in depth at the center on 

 top. A portion only of the bottom was worn smooth. 



An anthropologist looking at this stone would say that here 

 is one of the prehistoric or aboriginal grinding stones of primi- 

 tive man. In this hollow, grain was placed and crushed by 

 another stone of about the size of the first, held in the hand of 

 the grinder, and rubbed or vibrated backward and forward. 

 This accounts for the smoothly worn hollow surface. Turning 

 the stone over, the rude chipping of the under portion to form 

 the oval shape takes us back to the chipped-stone age. The 

 smoothly worn portion of the bottom, not being centrally 

 located, was not made smooth by contact with the earth or a 

 base, when in use, but was made smooth by another use of the 

 stone : when the grain was ground in the hollow, the meal 

 was then mixed with water and kneaded into dough. This 

 was then removed from the trough, the stone turned over, and 

 small portions or balls of the dough patted into flat cakes on 

 this smooth portion of the bottom, for baking on hot stones or 

 by being held over coals of fire. 



We thus see the baker's implements and art arising in rela- 

 tion with, and as a part of. that of the miller. The dished form 

 and elliptical outline of this stone enable us to trace the 



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