A Thriving Industry

            In 1807, it was written by Joseph Scott in “A Geographical Sketch of the States of Maryland and Delaware” that:

“Montgomery County contained in 1806, 38 merchant and grist mills, eight or ten saw mills, two linseed oil mills, one power mill, one fulling mill, and one for making castor oil, a glass house and forge… In the neighborhood (of Clarksburg) is great abundance of iron ore.  Within eight miles of the town are six merchant mills, and four others, a forge and a glasshouse … At the east end (of Brookville) is a large stone mill, well provided with all the necessary machinery for manufacturing flour.  At the west end are mills with all the necessary apparatus for manufacturing plaster of Paris, linseed oil, and castor oil, from the palma Christi.  About 1,000 bottles of castor oil within these two last years.”[33]

            In the first half of the 19^th century, many farms were organized to meet family needs.  “Farmers hauled grain to one of the neighborhood grist mills to get flour and cornmeal custom ground.  They shipped another 50 or 100 bushels to Washington or Baltimore for sale.” [34]  This indicates an increase in merchant mill use.  

To get a good idea of how productive the mills in Montgomery County were, industrial census data are very useful. 

            In 1850, Kemp Mill (then called Valdenar’s Mill) was doing well:

[35]

Note that most of the business is with the grist mill.  In 1860, business had increased.  Note the higher value of the ground grain, and the apparent lower value of the lumber.  These are indications that the mill was at the mercy of market demands for pricing.

[36]

By 1880, the figures were even higher:

“$2000 capital investment

Hands employed – 2 males over 16 years; 12 hours a day May to November, 8 hours a day November to May; $1 a day for skilled mechanic; 75c for labourer; total $264 annual.

Mill operated full time, 3 runs of stone, maximum capacity per day 100 bushels, 2/3 custom

Water power – Northwest Branch, 14 foot fall, overshot wheel, 5 feet breadth, 20 revolutions per minute, 20 horsepower

Materials used – 2800 bushels wheat, 6700 bushels other grain, total value of materials $8015

Products – 700 barrels wheat flour, 7 barrels rye flour, 8370 pounds buckwheat flour, 384,700 pounds corn meal, 55,400 pounds feed, total value of products $10,176”[37]

The reference to “2/3 custom” work indicated that 2/3 of all of the grain milled was for customers who paid a fee and took home the finished product.  The other 1/3 would have been merchant work, where the miller bought grain from the farmer, milled it and sold it himself.[38]

            An example of a mill whose products were not just grain is Goshen Mill (1850). 

            Note the high value-added for the production of bone dust, even if the overall value is low.[39]

            One of the products at Gott’s Mill (1850) was ground plaster, where 50 tons of plaster worth $250.00 yielded 50 tons of ground plaster worth $350.00.[40]

In the second half of the 19^th century, the C&O canal provided a closer point for wheat export.  The metropolitan branch of the B&O railroad was installed in 1873, and significantly increased the land value and farm productivity in northern and western Montgomery County.  “…[it] increased the value of the farmland in upper Montgomery five to ten fold…The metropolitan road not only gave access to the markets, but it brought lime from Frederick, and that applied tot he fields fertilized them as if by magic, and lands which thirty years ago could not grow enough wheat to pay for the harvesting now in favorable years yield as much as forty bushels to the acre.”[41]

Mills still flourished despite the new markets created by the new forms of transportation.  They still handled local demands for flour and feed.  The surplus wheat was shipped at Seneca, Sycamore, Edward’s Ferry and White’s Ferry, where canal boats took it to Washington.  (A single canal boat could cold 4000 bushels).  Germantown, Gaithersburg, and Quince Orchard served as railroad export points for surplus wheat. [42]

            It was also during the 19^th century that wheat production began to shift to the Midwest, and by 1880, St. Louis was the tied with New York City for flour marketing.  Montgomery County mills would continue to support local milling needs into the 20^th century, but newer technologies had begun to take their toll on the mills.[43]