This is the thirty-sixth in a Series of Reminiscences by E. R. Brown. Brown was born in Pulaski County on August 9, 1845. His writings are abstracted from the “Pulaski County Democrat” on microfilm housed in the Pulaski County Public Library, Winamac, Indiana. Find links to earlier entries at the end of this article.
Published in “Pulaski County Democrat,” November 30, 1922
It is really surprising how quickly the Village of Pulaski, previously so isolated and quiet, acquired notoriety and became active as a business center. I think I have said before that very early a laid out road with considerable travel crossed the river at a ford barely below where the dam was built. On the east side it connected with the roads that are still there, while on the opposite side it angled northeasterly and united with the Monticello and Plymouth state road near the house on the J J. Lowry farm.
But the site of the town of Pulaski was really at the back part of the man’s farm who lived in a log house above where the M. P. Washburn house now is. Though a track on that side of the river led down to what was called ‘the lower ford,’ near where the grist mill was located, it was not an established road and only a few people used it when the water was too deep to cross the upper ford. Good sized lad that I was and near where we lived, I had never been over it myself before work on the improvement was started.
And that, by the way, was one of the first things to be done, not only to have a public road running past the mills, but to arrange for others farther away, so people could get there. Though the Monon railroad had been in operation for some time and the towns of Francesville and Medaryville were several years old, no roads directly connected them with the region about Pulaski.
The same is substantially true also of the central and eastern part of Van Buren township. Hence such roads were looked after. A new road to Francesville meant to be direct was established. I happened to hear one of the men who carried the chain talk about it. It started at a stake in front of the grist mill at Pulaski and followed the river closely down the old Horstman farm, where it crossed the old Monticello road and proceeded in a practically straight course to the bridge across the Monon east of Francesville. I recall that the man said part of it did not have a house along it. Soon after establishing the roads the mill people also had signs painted and placed at prominent places showing the way to the mill. That was the first instance of that kind that I knew of in the county, though now so common.
Hence, by one means or another both the saw mill and grist mill soon had a liberal patronage. For the most part both were run day and night. For many months it seemed that certain wheels in the grist mill could not be kept from screeching which could easily be heard at our farm, so we always knew when the mill was running.
In spite of all that could be done, the saw mill persisted in being undermined from below, while the grist mill, owing to its length and obstructions from growing weeds and grass, failed to carry sufficient water for the wheels. Then one night, during a heavy rain, a stream of surface water gathering on the town plat broke around the northeast corner of the grist mill and washed out a fearful excavation, including a large section of the mill wall. It almost went far enough to tilt the mill in that direction. All of this tended to show how easily the soil along the river washes out and what a problem it is to harness and control its power.
At a later date, different water wheels were installed and the race dredged deeper if not wider while in the meantime the saw mill had been discontinued. I am not sure, however, that the trouble with the race was never entirely overcome. The dam soon began to give way in races and these being patched with brush and logs finally resulted in the entire dam being composed of them, as it continued to be for many years. I never knew of any other such dam on the Tippecanoe or in this region of the country. They are quite common in some other sections where streams have no rock bottom and it is clearly possible to make them daily durable and satisfactory.
One feature of the early history of the grist mill furnishes food for thought, as the saying goes, particularly in view of what happened to it and most mills like it later on. That was the changing of it at considerable expense from a merchant to a custom mill at the behest of its farmer patrons. It was built and equipped with the plan in mind that it should be operated to its full capacity in grinding grain belonging to those operating it and that its products should be sold on the market as is true of all mills of any consequence now.
It was meant of course that it should serve the surrounding territory, but it was to do that by furnishing a market for grain as well as by supplying the needs for ground products. To that end a basis of exchange was adopted whereby so much flour or other stuff was given for a bushel of wheat, or if preferred that wheat could be sold out-right, and if ground products were wanted they could be bought at prevailing prices.
At the same time markets for any surplusage were looked after, including shipments east and south. My understanding is that this course was proving reasonably profitable and satisfactory to those owning the mill. I distinctly recall among themselves they were confident that with better roads, increasing population, larger towns and more than all else, longer acquaintance and more familiarity with brands, conditions were bound to improve.
However, the farmers of the surrounding territory were not satisfied and the proprietors, being farmers themselves, concluded to yield to their wishes, all the more because the farmers said that subject to the customary toll they preferred to have their grain ground and the entire proceeds returned to them to be fed on their farm so as not to rob their soil. This appealed especially to my father. Long after he had disposed of his interest in the mill he continued to have his wheat mostly ground, selling only the flour and feeding the remainder. Hence, the change was made, involving a complete change of front as to business plans and an outlay of over $1,000,00.
As far as I know this was completely satisfactory to all concerned. I know I often heard my father say that while the enterprise was nothing like the moneymaker some imagined it to be, he was receiving a fair return on his investment, and even if he was not he would not complain, seeing the help it had been to the county. But who could have foreseen that the day would come when our Indiana farmers, one after another, would desert every mill doing business on that plan and leave it to rot or burn down? As to the more recent history of the Pulaski mills, others are better qualified for that.
Links to Earlier Articles
- Part one(Common Inconveniences) October 2018 newsletter.
- Part two (Land) June 2019 newsletter.
- Part three (Trees & Timber) November 2019 newsletter.
- Part four (The River) February 2020 newsletter.
Later editions are carried as separate posts.
- Part five (Public Roads)
- Part six (Schools)
- Part seven (Markets & Trading Points)
- Part eight (It’s Mills)
- Part nine (Wild Game)
- Part ten (Feathered Wild Game)
- Part eleven (Animal Pests & Birds of Prey)
- Part twelve (Fishing in the Early Days)
- Part thirteen (Wild Fruit)
- Part fourteen (Early Commerce on the Tippecanoe)
- Part fifteen (It’s Homes and Home Life)
- Part sixteen (House Raisings)
- Part seventeen(Clothing a Family)
- Part eighteen (Log Rollings)
- Part nineteenth (First Trip to Winamac)
- Part twenty (Grubbings and Wood Choppings)
- Part twenty-one (Apple Peelings)
- Part twenty-two (Sausage Makings)
- Part twenty-three (Parties and Amusements)
- Part twenty-four (Early Wheat Raisings)
- Part twenty-five (Quilting Parties)
- Part twenty-six (Early Religious Practices)
- Part twenty-seven (Early Church Buildings)
- Part twenty-eight (Early Clergymen)
- Part twenty-nine (Early Funerals)
- Part thirty (Cold Winters and Wet Summers)
- Part thirty-one (The Morals of Early Settlers)
- Part thirty-two (Its Wet Lands)
- Part thirty-three (Early Sickness)
- Part thirty-four (Changes in People)
- Part thirty-five (Historical Markers)