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Story of Moore’s Mill grist’ for history

0 Comments | Pantagraph; Bloomington, Ill., Dec 16, 2007 | by Bill Kemp

Milled grain was the staff of life on the frontier. Early settlers would make long, arduous treks to the nearest gristmill to have their wheat, corn, oats and other grains ground into flour or feed.

Without such mills, pioneer life could be cruel. For example, during the winter of the Deep Snow, 1830-1831, when roads and trails were impassable and mills inaccessible, pioneers were forced use makeshift mortar and pestles to pound their corn into meal.

The most famous gristmill in McLean County was the one operated by the Moore family of Mount Hope Township. Situated on the south bank of Sugar Creek about three miles west of McLean, Moore’s Mill survived into the 20th century, becoming the last operational water- powered mill in the county.

John Caton erected the mill – originally intended as a sawmill – in early 1842. Caton, though, quickly tired of the enterprise, and he swapped the mill for Jacob Moore’s 160 acres of nearby farmland. Moore, who was a miller in Ohio before settling on the Illinois frontier, converted Caton’s operation into a gristmill.

Moore obtained a pair of millstones 46 inches in diameter, with the top stone, known as the “runner,” weighing 1,600 pounds. According to one account, he also pieced together an “ingenious system of shafts, and cogwheels, all made of wood.” And after two waterwheels proved unsatisfactory, he finally procured one able to supply enough power to turn the millstones.

Concentrating on rough’ grains

By the 1860s, Moore stopped grinding wheat and instead turned exclusively to corn, oats, rye, and other “rough” grains. Mills of this kind were affectionately known as “corn crackers.”

At one time, there were several dozen water-powered mills scattered throughout McLean County, with many lining the Mackinaw River. There were also mills powered by oxen, steam and, in at least one failed attempt, wind.

Jacob Moore passed away during the summer of 1889, though his son, David, had been running the business for more than a decade. David Moore enlarged the dam, installed a modern turbine wheel and replaced his father’s hand-hewn mechanicals with steel shafting and cast-iron gears