Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/506

 446 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI still in use in some places. The first improve- ment over the wooden plow in general use was the steel point, then the whole of the point and mold board were made of steel. Of course, the wooden implement, or even the one with steel point was vastly inferior to the modern plow, and work accomplished by it not to compare in quality with that done today. The modern cultivator and disc har- row were as unknown as the self-binder. The wheat which was thus harvested by hand, was threshed, usually, by the flail, or by being trampled upon by cattle. After it was dry it was placed on the floor of the barn, or on a specially prepared piece of ground, and then beaten upon with sticks. in order to shatter the grains from the head. When this was done the straw was raked away, and then the wheat was winnowed. This was accomplished by taking it up in .shovels and throwing it into the air, so that the chaff was blown away by the wind. This wheat was ground into flour at the little mills which made their appearance at a number of places in this section. Practically all of them at first were water mills, and were to be foiuid only in those counties in the Ozarks. The people who lived in the allu- vial section were compelled to take their wheat for great distances to these mills. Corn was ground both by water mills, such as are used for the grinding of wheat, and g.lso at mills operated by other power, usually horse power. These horse-power mills some- times consisted of a great, flat wheel set at an angle on which horses and sometimes cattle were tied. Their walking set the wheel in motion, and this was geared to the ma- chinery of the mill. Corn was not infre- quently ground also in hand mills owned by many families. The mining interests were large during this period though they did not develop as rap- idly as they did later. The lack of capital to provide proper machinery as well as inade- ciuate transportation facilities prevented the development of the region to the extent pos- sible in a later period. Some of the richest had regions were not yet discovered. The great Flat river district was not yet devel- oped in full, and the very rich deposits at Doe Rim had not yet been touched. The first furnace at Bonne Terre, afterward the site of the greatest mine in the entire south- east, was not erected imtil about 1856, and the production was very limited until near the close of the war, when the St. Joseph Lead Co. was organized and began to push the work of development. The older mines v/ere still worked, but they did not produce anything like the inunense quantities of lead later taken from them. IManufacturing began to have importance toward the close of this period. Perhaps the most important manufactured product during these years was flour. Water mills were erected at various places in the comities of the upland and wheat was brought to them from all over the district to be groimd. Toward the close of the period the first steam mill in the section was erected at Cape Girar- deau. During this period, also, the demand for lumber caused the building of saw mills. Previously when lumber was desired, it was sawed from the log by hand. The first saw mills were water mills or else were driven by horse power. Another manufactured article was brick. At Cape Girardeavi. Jackson, Perryville, rVedericlcto-^T3, and the towns in the hills houses began to be built of brick. Clay ex- isted in many places suitable for brick-mak- ing and this industry began to develop.