(April 2005)

The following article was found in the

"The Lexington Paper dated Monday December 5, 1910"

(By A. V. Pierson)

          The first white settlers on the Mackinaw were the Henlines, who settled in what is now Lawndale township. In 1828 they procured their supply of corn the first season partly from the Indians and partly from the white settlement of Money Creek. In the spring of 1829 the Pattons, Haners, Downeys, Brumheads the Messers, settled within the present confines of Lexington, and the first crop of grain raised by white men on the Mackinaw was raised by them.

At that time almost every family owned and operated their own mill. Said mill was of the most simple mechanism, being constructed by sawing a section from a large log some two or three feet long, with one end hollowed into a bowl-shaped cavity that would hold from a gallon to a peck or more of shelled corn. The corn was placed in this cavity and pounded with an iron pestle until it was reduced to the desired fineness. Then it was sifted. These wooden mills were called mortar blocks.

The First Mill

          In 1830 John Patton constructed a hand mill that was such an improvement on the mortar blocks that it was used quite generally by the community. In 1831 there was a horse mill built on the Mackinaw. The mill was the product of the combined genius of John Patton and William Haner. It was on the farm of William Haner, which is now owned by Mrs. Stephen Finley, the mill being located on the hill near the present residence. This mill was a vast improvement on Patton’s hand mill as far as grinding corn was concerned, but was a failure in grinding wheat which the settlers had begun raising by that time. In order to get their wheat ground the settlers were compelled to go to Cheney’s Grove, to Bloomington, or to Ottawa.

          In March, 1838, John Patton appeared before the county court, asked and received permission to build a water mill on the Mackinaw, near his home. It was located on the north bank, about one mile south of Pleasant Hill, near the center of section 28. In 1837 William Haner built a mill, this was on section 20 now owned by Charles Becker.

          Other early mills were those erected by John Haner, Mr. Wallace and Mr. Bigger. Most of these early water mills were short lived. John Patton became involved in vexatious litigation with certain land owners who claimed they were damaged by back water from the dam. He became disgusted, tore out his water gates and dismantled his mill. The floods of 1844 gave the Haner mill a pretty black eye and it hardly recovered when it was put out of commission by the steam mill built by Combs & Soule at Pleasant Hill. Two portable saw mills lived at that time, one owned by John Scrogin, of Lexington, the other by a Mr. Jenkins. These mills were eight-horse power and were also put out of commission by steam mills.