The Mercury from Pottstown, Pennsylvania • Page 38

THE WHEELS OF OLDEST INDUSTRY KEEP TURNING WITH WATER POWER The Pottstown Roller Mill Established 241 Years Ago, Has Colorful History Uy Larry Davis Behemoths of industry and business, while claiming gross incomes in the hundreds of millions of dollars and owned by a list of stock holders seemingly endless, can seldom boast of any extensive longevity. A handful can trace their beginnings to a century ago; fewer than that can go back any further. Hut a Pottstown business industrial concern, with a haughty look at the giant empires which literally dictate the course of American economy, claims a history of operation which pales by comparison the life span of the big money operations. The unusual firm is Pottstown Roller Mills. much data to defend its claim and none at all to dispute functioned as a business establishment for the past 211 years.

It is the oldest in the Pottstown area. As the probing researcher local history often discovers, the past shrouds in tantalizing obscurity the hard-core facts he seeks. (irain mills, powered by water, were once quite common to this general area at, the turn of the 18th century. Hut the most enduring was the one built along the Schuylkill river at the mouth of the Manatawny creek in 1725 by an enterprising miller whose identity has been lost in time. With the dawn of the 19th century, 75 years later, it was known as Mill, after Jesse Ives, its propietor.

And still later it was known as (label Mill. Much of the original was rebuilt and additions were made, yet the main part of the null which stands today is still in use. The null saw yeoman duty during the American Revolution, providing flour for Continental Army. In early times, flour was packed in wooden barrels of 106 pounds and in jute and cotton sacks of 92 pounds. A TEN FOOT DROP from the Manatawny creek shoots water through this mill race into the roller mill when gates, in background, are closed.

Charles N. Krause checks the flow of water. BY A UNIQUE SYSTEM of wheels, putties and gears rather than the conventional industrial electric multitude of jobs are accomplished at Pottstown Rotler Mills. This sack of grain is being four stories from giuund level by water power. TIME GCES BACKWARD when the power is turned on at the PoMsfown Roller Mills, Inc.

There is no electric switch here. The wi eel which Stanley F. Sfoudt is revolving allows water pressure to activate various operations within the plant..