Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/501

 From 1667 to the close of the century, there was a rapid increase in the number of mills. The references to them in the description of metes and bounds in patents become more and more frequent. There are also many references to the transfers of this form of property. The details of the expense of erecting a building of this character at this time have been transmitted to us in the recorded account of a mill belonging to Edward Chisman of York. The stones and iron were imported from England at a cost of thirty-seven pounds and thirteen shillings. The remuneration of the millwright was ten thousand pounds of tobacco. The other items of expense were the labor of the sawyers in preparing the plank, of the smith in putting in the machinery, the wages of two persons in superintending the workingmen, the food and lodgings of the latter, the timber which entered into the construction of the building and the gates of the race, and finally the nails. The entire cost amounted to twenty-one thousand four hundred and five pounds of tobacco, equivalent in value to one hundred and seventy pounds sterling. It is interesting to note that the annual profits