Master Miller

The grist mill grinds for every farmer in the glen, and the master miller runs it. You own the stones, the grind, the toll, and the mill's reputation for honesty — which is the whole of its business.

The work

• Set and dress the stones; keep the burrs true.
• Judge the grind for each customer's grain.
• Take and account the toll, honestly and visibly.
• Keep the race and wheel in order alongside the millwright.
• Direct one apprentice through a real term of years.

Context

• Answers to the owner at the quarter-day; the mill is otherwise yours.
• Three-man crew: you, the millwright, one apprentice.
• Pay is £40–55 New York currency per annum (~$100–140 in silver dollars), with the miller's house.
• In-person; autumn is the crush and the crush is relentless.
• The toll must be honest and be seen to be honest — the mill's name is its whole business.

Recorded in the parish register of Sleepy Hollow, autumn of 1799.

• Has run stones before — journeyman's papers or the seasons to match.
• Can dress a burr true.
• A reputation for honest tolls that will survive local inquiry.

Not a fit if you have ever been short at the reckoning — this is a valley, and it remembers.

Water-driven mill on the millpond, grinding the valley's wheat and Indian corn since time out of mind.

Who we are

A three-man crew: master miller, millwright, apprentice. Every farmer in the glen is a repeat customer, which is the only marketing we have ever needed.

How we work

We take our toll honestly and dress our own stones. Work is seasonal-heavy — autumn is the crush, and the crush is relentless — but the wheel turns, and pays, all year. The mill's name is its whole business, so the toll must be honest and be seen to be honest.

Who thrives here

Tradespeople who want the craft and not merely the wage: stone-dressing, gearing, and water are all learned here from someone who knows them, and the apprenticeship is a real one.

Recorded in the parish register of Sleepy Hollow, autumn of 1799.