Gristmills were important part of region’s past

Willis Picklesimer, Estill Picklesimer, and Homer Picklesimer Sr. operating a gristmill in 1942.

By Jonathan Picklesimer

Burr stone in the chimney of the Kretzer family home.

Until the mid-1940s, a gristmill was an important part of Eastern Kentucky communities that provided a needed food source and a lesson in economics.

Cornbread is a staple food in the Appalachian mountains. East Kentucky hills provide poor soil for growing wheat, but the yellow clay is a fertile home for corn. A family could farm enough corn not only to feed their livestock, but also have corn to dry for meal to make cornbread. Whenever you needed corn meal, you could take a sack of corn to the local gristmill.

Homer Picklesimer Sr. operated such a mill on Stonecoal Branch in Johnson County until the mid-1940s. The mill was open from 8 a.m. until noon on Saturdays. In 1942, he replaced the steam engine that he had used for over a decade with an internal combustion engine that could operate on both gasoline and kerosene. This flexibility was important during the gasoline rationing of World War II. He and his sons, Francis and Willis, travelled to Hazard to get the engine.

“It was my job to keep the engine running,” Everett Willis Picklesimer, 94, said. “I was 14 at the time and did not like getting up early on Saturday morning.”

The engine used a belt to turn the burr stones used to crush the corn. Burr stones were imported from France and contained a high amount of quartz. The sandstone from these hills would be quickly worn away by the corn kernels and leave behind sand in the meal; no one wants sandy cornbread. Family legend has it that the burrs travelled by barge up the Big Sandy, Paint Creek, and Mud Lick to the home of John Milt Conley. Then the stones were transferred to a wagon and transported to the mill site. These burr stones are now part of the fireplace in one of Picklesimer’s descendant’s home.

The dried corn was poured into a hopper above the burrs and fell down between the spinning stones. The stones were mounted on a screw that allowed them to be moved closer together to produce finer meal. The mill operator could use one hand to feel the meal and the other to adjust the stones to reach the right consistency. The meal would fall into wooden bin and be brushed into a waiting sack, usually the same one that brought the dried corn.

Payment was made in the form of dried, unground corn. Picklesimer had a cigar box for a toll box. He would scoop a portion of the dried corn into the toll box and set it aside for his fee. At the end of the day, the collected toll would be ground for the use of his family.

Successful gristmills understood a simple principal that many modern companies do not appear to understand. Greed is bad for business. If the miller wanted to feed his family, he had to collect enough toll to make his own food, but not so much that his customers wouldn’t come back. It was not uncommon for a family that was running short on corn to pay less of a toll. That family had a little more food, and were happy to return because the miller had consideration of their circumstances. This concept is what economist Adam Smith called “enlightened self-interest.”

Businesses that operate on greed pursue only what is best for them at that time and does not consider the impact on the customer. Many businesses seem like they want to make money now with little thought of the future. Perhaps today, as it was in the 1940s, this is not a wise model to pursue. Perhaps making a little money today, knowing that a customer will still be around to purchase more product next month or next year, is a better strategy than maximizing profits short term, even in times of inflation.