MILLING STONE, 37+ lbs, Eastern Plains of Colorado, 1870s

Description

MILLING STONE, 37+ lbs, Eastern Plains of Colorado, 1870s
Diameter:  12 ½”
Thickness:
3 ½”
Weight:  37 lbs
.5 oz
This intriguing millstone came out of an eastern Colorado farm with a
windmill.
Millstones are stones used in gristmills for grinding wheat and other grains.  In use, they come in pairs—a stationary base known as a bedstone and an upper stone called a runner stone that rotates.
The listed millstone is the top, or runner stone.
In general, grain is between both stones and depending on the quality of the resulting flour, the top stone (runner stone) is lifted up or down.
This intriguing runner stone has a set of very worn grooves—or furrows—carved into its surface, indicating this stone is rather old.  Most likely it dates to the early 1870s.  It’s relatively smaller diameter indicates it was probably used for “batch” work—small sporadic grinds, perhaps by a farmer with a wheat crop windmill.  This runner stone definitely WAS NOT used for an entire community that needed their wheat ground—those are much larger and heavier.
The center “hole-depression” was outfitted with a metal inset to hold the
moveable adjusting rod.
This Milling Stone also shows a side braking notch!
A rare addition to such artifacts.
Early settlement to the plains of eastern Colorado saw the introduction of what is called “winter wheat.”   Winter wheat became an important crop in the dry regions of eastern Colorado because it could be grown without irrigation.  The crop is planted in the fall and it comes up the next spring when the ground is still moist from spring rains.  It is harvested before the hot months of the summer begin—and THAT is when milling would start with this relatively small millstone.
This artifact will add a wonderful presence to your backyard garden!
To save shipping costs, this item will be shipped in a heavily wrapped USPS box!
Minor dings, chinks