Arizona republican., 1898-11-15
OLDEST MILL IN AMERICA.
1T Began Operations Long Before inc
 Revolt fionary War.

The old Watertown grist mill is soon
 to be no more. This mill is probably
 the oldest in the country, and today
 continues to grind corn by means Of
 the upper and neither n1illstones, and
 to<use water as a power to move ma
 chinery. It was established during
 the seventeenth century, and stands
 almost in the center of Watertown.
 spanning the mill c-sak,' over the wa-
 ters of which 1t has absolute control
 Just the age Of the mill is unknown
 It was first mentioned in the town rec ords in 1885, when twenty acres of land
 was laid out to the use of the mill.
 There is some controversy over the
 ownership of the mill in it's early years
 Of existence. It is claimed by not
 few that the mill was town institu- tion and was erected at the public e9-
 pense for the accommodation of the farmers and general public who had
 corn to grind. Others say the mill never belonged to the town. Decades
 upon decades have gone by, however, since the mill could possibly have been owned by the town. In May, 1639. Nicholas Davidson, as agent of Mat thew Cradock, of London. conveyed to Thomas Mayhew fer ( 500 one-half of the water mill in Watertown. This seems to prove that the mill was of private ownership.
 The old mill was originally 1ocated at the beginning of the mill creek, and was removed to it's present location in the latter part of the seventeenth cen tury. It is stated that with one ex- ception. water was here employed as power to move machinery for the first time in America. In the early days people with corn to be ground not only fN ha of fpy,tn 11fIf from all the adjoining places, Cam bridge, Newton and elsewhere. The Watertown farmers were entitled to preference, and the out-of-town people had to wait until the Watertown corn had been ground. During the King Philip war the old mill was carefully guarded by the town soldiers, the peo- pie fearing an attack upon their source of sustenance and it's possible destruc- tion.
 The old mill has rot always been employed in the grinding of corn. Long before the revolutionary war it was used for spinning cotton and also for the manufacture of paper. The Brit ish government wished to control the spinning of cotton for the colonies, and forbade the importation Of cotton spin ming machinery into America. A young man who immigrated here, however, brought the ideas of a cotton spinning frame and manufactured his machine in Blackstone, set it up in Watertown and operated one of the earliest, if not tho earliest, cCttCn mills in the colo nies.. These industries apparently proVed failures. for the mill again re- turned to it's original business and has ground corn to the present day.
 A portion of what is now called the original mill still stands, although sev- eral times enlarged. In the old part are the mill stones, which slowly grind round and round, propelled by the wa ter wheel which hangs beneath, and which is given power by the mill ereek water The grist mill has first right to the water supply, and in case the water runs low it's wheels must be sat isfied first. The mill creek is thought by many to be a natural waterway. The late Pro. Ho:sford explored it more than once, and expressed the opinion that it was built by the Norsemen.
 The old mill is to be vacated ths first Of next month. With the more mod l ern methods of corn grinding the old mill cannot compete, and it is prob able that after this month it will never again return to the grist business. Fred Hutchins has been miller for nearly half a century.
 It Is prCD2Dle InaL lnC G1lSlOfICttl hO- ciety will try to secure anything con- nected with the mill Of unusual historic interest when the mill is about to be destroyed. The mill is now the prop crty of the Waltham Savings bank. Just what will be done with it is not known. It adjoins the land recently taken. along the north bank of ;he Charles river by the Metropolitan park commission, and eventually it will probably fall into their keeping. The 1 water power in the mill creek is valued at s1O,00O. Doubtless it was worth l that sum and more too a hundred l years ago, but today there is no de- | 1nand for such privileges. At one time | net many years ago the owners of the i property were offered $30,OOO for it, i which they refused.-Boston Trans l cript.
 SHE POSED FOR BOUGUEREAU.