The Mills Become Towns 189 



the west was only equaled by his amazement that so many 

 people actually took the trail to Oregon, dedicated his book, 

 What I Know About Farming, 



To the man of our age 



Who shall make the first plough propelled by steam 

 Or other mechanical power. 

 Whereby not less than ten acres per day 

 Shall be thoroughly pulverized to a depth of two feet, 

 At a cost of not more than two dollars per acre, 

 This work is admiringly dedicated by 

 The Author. 



The grist mills, run by water power, served the farmer di- 

 rectly. The toll which the miller took out of every turn was 

 fixed by law. He sold this to neighbors who did not raise their 

 own grain, or to the stores in the nearest towns. 



Essentially, the grist mill was a community enterprise. Frank- 

 lin pointed out in his Almanack that it was the link between 

 agriculture and industry. It was in its way a symbol of the 

 simple democracy which obtained in this country before in- 

 dustrial wealth and power rose to the proportions of an eco- 

 nomic problem. Long after iron rolling mills, which were 

 made in England and in France, supplanted the buhrstones 

 for wheat and rye flour-milling, milling as a business was still 

 conducted along very simple lines. Oliver Evans, who fathered 

 so many mechanical inventions, devised a mill which required 

 no hand labor. Thus, at a distance of eighty years, the present 

 unemployment problem was forecast. 



For as long as water power was the only power known, grain 

 farming was held in check. It did not pay to raise large crops 

 of wheat or corn many miles from a mill. And mills depended 

 on water to turn their stones or rollers. In the east, where 

 hundreds of little rivers flowed seaward from the fall line, this 

 did not constitute a problem. But west of the Ohio, in the 

 Black Wilderness, the value of farm land depended not only 



