Beloit
March 27, 1859
Dear Brother John,
I received yours of March the 13th. I was glad to hear that you all was all well,
but I am sorry to say that Francis has been rather unwell this last week. She had kind of a chill fever. She is much better at present, but still she
is complaining. She has grown poor the
fastest of anyone I ever did see.
I have moved again about two weeks ago. We are keeping right back of the school house
and we board the man and his wife until he goes to Pike’s Peak. I have to turn and twist every way to pay any
rent, for I can assure you there is not money to be had for anything. It is all trade. I have got about fifty cottage bedsteads on hand. I won’t sell any of them for any price. That is cash.
Once in a great while have a chance to trade one for something.
I have taken a job of the reaper company. I have to work at the bench now and my pay is
to be a reaper and mower. They don’t pay
anyone anything but farmer’s notes and reapers, and so I paid my horse in either. I think that times will come better this
coming summer. They are going to build
two new churches here this spring and a number of other big buildings. Peak’s saw mill has not run any this winter and
I don’t think it will this spring. That mill
in Belvedere was sold last month at sheriff’s sale for $1,600. I think it was sold cheap enough. The Gilman offered my father in law an undivided
half of it for $1,000. I do not know
what he is going to do about it.
I, of course, can’t come and see you this spring. I am so engaged here that it is impossible
for me to come, and that is not all. I
have not got the money and I can’t get it where it is owing me. I am going to work at Reapers until next
June. I have bought a patent fanning
mill [see description at the end of this
letter]. I have the right of two
counties: this county for one and the county east of this for the other. I have the right for one year to build 100
machines for $200 and whatever I build over and above that I get $2.00 per
machine. The shop price is $25 and the
price delivered is $30. The cost of
making is about $12, patent fee and all. If I can sell all the mills I will clear from
$10.00 to $12.00 a machine. It is the best
machine that is in use. It separates the
two kinds of grane [sic] by themselves and the oats in another and also the
grass seed in another. Most everyone
says that it is the best thing that ever was brought to the county and so I think
I will go into this after I get my reaper job done. I can have plenty work or jobs to do if I’ll
only take such pay as groceries or dry goods, furniture, ___, or something of the kind. One man came to me the other day and wanted
how much I would make 100 wheels for seed (excuse my pen it is very bad)
sowers. I told him the price I would
make them for. Well, said he, I want to
if you can use such pay as we give. I asked
what their pay was and he said it was dry goods. I answered him very quickly,
no siree, and that is just the way it goes all over this place. I am
in hopes that things will change before long.
We board this man and his wife and take pay in groceries,
etc. What a vast difference there is in
this place compared with the time when I came here the first time. One half of the houses are empty and rent is
down about one third on an average.
I have here given you some ideas what I am doing and going
to do and what I am going to make. I am
going to try to make something this summer.
There is one thing very certain; I shan’t have a great deal of my
money. The mills will sell for what they
cost me.
I am sorry to say that I can’t help you at present for I don’t
have any money at all now. I haven’t had
but two dollars to my name in three weeks.
I don’ t really have money enough to pay for some little things that is necessary
to have in the house and I don’ t think there is another family in the place
that gets along with as little and deprives themselves of as many things as we
do. If there is, I should like to see
them.
I have not seen Mr. Hutchinson to say anything to him about
the cattle. I have got something that I
could grade with him if he felt dispose to do so. I don’t know what the cattle are worth in
your place. I can trade for some here
from $60 to $70….very good ones too. I
may see him this week and I will pump him for a trade, etc. He has been looking for a letter from you for
some time.
My sister in law is here and is going to stay this summer
and go to school. I must not forget to
tell you that I have a Newfoundland puppy given me the other day. He is growing fine.
Give my respects to all.
Yours affectionately,
Edwin
Very much a part of a museum collection these days seems to be the
fanning mill. They were as much a part of the farm of the old days as the old
oaken bucket. At least a few years ago, it could be found sitting forlornly in
back of the barn, long since forgotten by the present generation. When I lived
on a farm in the 1950s, we also had one stored in back of the granary, with
seemingly 50 years of dust on it. I used to like to crank it, and always
wondered what it was used for. I was told, "Oh, that's just an old thing
we used to separate grain."
A fanning mill is a peculiar-looking device made of wood, with a
metal crank and wooden hand grip, and with sliding drawers, rounded board
edges, shaped carrying handles, and sometimes lathe-turned knobs atop the frame
posts, appearing almost like a piece of furniture. Like other old-time
machinery, fanning mills were attractively painted in gaudy colors which, by
this time, have long since faded away. But when restored to their natural
beauty, they are quite attractive.
Fanning mills removed
straw, chaff, stones, dirt and dust, weed seeds, and light immature seeds from
wheat, oats, rye, barley, and other grains. It was important to remove
contaminants for better preservation during storage, to have mold and grit free
flour, and for securing viable seed free of weed seeds that would compete with
a growing cereal crop. Fanning mills were a great technical advance over
winnowing, the hand-process of pouring grain from one container to another in a
breeze to blow away the lighter matter.
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