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Exploring Gristmills: History and Function

This quiz explores the history, function, and significance of gristmills, featuring questions about their development, usage, and specific examples in the United States and Europe.

#gristmill #history #technology #agriculture #industrialization #engineering

1 Limited examples of gristmills can be found in Europe from the ________.

2 Wheel of the 1840s-era Grist Mill at ________ in Sturbridge, MA

3 Phelps Mill in Otter Tail County, ________

4 They also had many other ________ uses such as fulling cloth, husking rice, papermaking, pulping sugarcane, and crushing metallic ores before extraction.

5 A similar process is used for grains such as wheat to make flour, and for ________ to make corn meal.

6 In order to adapt water wheels for gristmilling purposes, cams were used for raising and releasing ________ to fall on a material.

7 The first written account is that of ________, describing the mill at Cabira, although the chronology and design of the mill are ambiguous.

8 In a watermill a sluice gate is opened to allow water to flow onto, or under, a ________ to make it turn.

9 The bottom stone, called the ________, is fixed to the floor, while the top stone, the runner, is mounted on a separate spindle, driven by the main shaft.

10 The grist mill at the Wayside Inn in ________

💡 Interesting Facts

  • the oligopoly formed in Minneapolis by Pillsbury, Northwestern Consolidated (pictured) and General Mills before the Great Depression was the world's largest flour miller.
  • the Noah Ogle Place (pictured) includes the last surviving tub mill in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
  • the once-buried remains of a power canal and flour mills in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota have been unearthed and are now open as Mill Ruins Park to provide historical interpretation in the area.
  • remnants of a gristmill, distillery and oil well have been found at Falling Waters State Park which also has the highest waterfall in Florida.
  • Price's Mill (pictured) was one of the few remaining operating water-powered gristmills in 1970 in South Carolina.
  • Fort Defiance in Iowa was built to protect a gristmill and sawmill during the Dakota War of 1862.
  • James A. Forbes planned to build the first flour mill in California, but delays in construction allowed competitors to flourish, driving down prices and forcing him into bankruptcy.
  • Beaver Creek State Park in Ohio, USA, is home to both Little Beaver Creek, a National Scenic River, and a restored 1837 mill.
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