Ancient Stone Mill Discovered in Wisconsin

AN ANCIENT MILL BELONGING TO THE STONE A.G.E. 

    There is in the rooms of the Historical Society of Wisconsin a curious relic of the stone age. It is a “quern,” or stone corn mill, and of undoubted antiquity. The lower stone is nearly twenty-three inches in diameter, and about seven inches thick. In the center is a hole one inch in diameter, extending through the stone. The stone is cut away to the depth of three-quarters of an inch for nearly its whole size, simply leaving a rim of about one-and-a-half inches in width. On one side a small channel is cut to allow the crushed grain to escape. The upper stone has a diameter of twenty inches, and the upper surface is convex having a thickness of two inches at the edge, and five inches in the center, where is a hopper-shaped opening with a diameter of five and one-half inches. Near the edge are three holes, equidistant, intended to put in sticks or something of the sort, for the purpose of turning. In the underside of the upper millstone is a rectangular slot three by eight inches and three-fourths of an inch deep. A copper disk, eight inches in diameter, carrying on one side a projection which exactly fits this slot, was found in the immediate vicinity, and doubtless formed a bearing upon which the stone revolved. The material of the mill is a greenish basalt, a variety of traps. It shows the effect of long use, the grinding surfaces being worn smooth. This unprecedented discovery was made in Washington county while digging away a mound in order to lay the foundation for a barn and at a depth of four feet below the surface. This implement is undoubtedly entitled to the first place among the pre-historic of Wisconsin. W. P. C. Madison, Wisconsin, Feb. 8, 1878.