Millstone Sign at Wildcat Den – Rural Muscatine, IA
N 41° 28.020 W 090° 52.118
15T E 677985 N 4592793
This sign tells what is involved in making a millstone. The millstone is at the base of the sign and was used in the Pine Creek Mill just a few feet away.
Waymark Code: WMHCB5
Location: Iowa, United States
Date Posted: 06/23/2013
Views: 4
This sign tells what is involved in making a millstone. The millstone is at the base of the sign and was used in the Pine Creek Mill just a few feet away. The text reads:
The Making of a Millstone… The millstones at Pine Creek Grist Mill use French burr stones, a very hard type of gray-colored quartz mined at just one quarry outside of Paris, France.
Millstone “dress” is the term for the system of cutting Furrows and Crackling Lines into the surface of the stone. There were many different kinds of dress depending on the grain to be ground.
Millstone Construction. Millstones were made up of individual blocks of stone held together by plaster. Steel bands are added around the outside of the stone to reinforce it.
This photo shows the “Tun,” a wooden box that encases the millstone when it is operating. (photo on sign)
The Runner (turning) Stone is raised and swung out for maintenance. This photo shows the metal bands that reinforce the individual blocks that make up the millstone. The photo also shows the Driving Spindle, that turns the Runner Stone, coming up through the floor and Bed Stone. (photo and diagram included on sign)
Grinding Grain into Flour. The Furrows moved the grain out from the eye of the millstone and cut the grain into small pieces. The Crackling Lines are fine lines cut into the surface of the Lands. They continue the cutting action reducing the pieces of grain into fine flour.
(photo) Volunteers working at Pine Creek Grist Mills restoration level the Bed Stone. The level shown is the mill’s original “proof staff” that may date to when the mill was built in 1848.
Group that erected the marker: Wildcat Den staff
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
Wildcat Den State Park
Muscatine, IA USA
52761
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: Not listed
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