As appeared in The Rattle - Vol. XLX No. 3 - Spring 1962

RUNS THE OLDEST U.S. MILL
When Patrick Henry was a young lad he used to take the corn, wheat, and buckwheat which had been grown on his father's plantation to a mill near by, powered by the South Anna River at Louisa, Virginia. Today his needs would be taken care of by a Theta Chi, for Jack S. Clinger, Omega, ex-'29, now is the owner of this, the nation's oldest mill in commercial operation, built in 1740. It is equipped with buhr stones which had come from France years before the now weather beaten structure had been built by an architect called Byrd, for whom it was named. The first owner, however, was John Garth.

Back of the present day ownership is a story that is arresting, and somewhat thought-provoking. After John S. Clinger left Penn State at the end of his junior year, he turned as so many electrical engineers of his era did to selling, first with Ingersoll Rand and in 1932 with the Worthing Corporation, where he sold mining and construction equipment. His last eight years he was manager of a division. Then one day he realized that he was fed up with living first in one state and then another, eight in all, and spending more of the time staying in hotels than in his home. He decided that life was too short to waste and that it would be wise to make it worth living.

By chance he found an advertisement in a New York paper of a historic old mill for sale. He knew nothing about milling, but he was intrigued by the idea of settling down at one job. His wife, who
had also attended Penn State for three years, was willing to become his business partner, and in February of 1953 they became the owners of the Byrd mill, so old and weatherbeaten that their friends thought they were crazy to acquire such a property, but today they are envied.

Rising five stories high beside the power-producing South Anna River, with tremendous ax and adz-hewn beams and wooden pegs the size of a man's wrist, the mill today is a study in sturdiness for architects as well as interest to historians. Beside the mill is a warming house, a small structure that contains a friendly fireplace. Here customers in the old days waited in comfort while their grain was ground. The timbers from which the mill and house were built were handhewn; the wooden pegs used and other primitive materials have proved their worth for more than 200 years. As a result, architects and builders still come to learn construction values.

Inside the mill little has been changed. The Clingers, sometimes wearing colonial attire, are still grinding grain in the same way it was ground more than two centuries ago. The dam alongside the building provides plenty of power to turn the old buhr-stones slowly without heat, and thus the natural flavors, nutritional values, and vitamins are retained. Each month or so the upper stone must be raised and turned over so that it can be dressed, or sharpened, thus assuring proper grinding. Through the centuries this process has been carried on carefully, and, as a result, the stones are in excellent condition. They still work slowly, and so it would take a year to produce what a modern mill does in a day, but the products of the Byrd mill do not lose vital ingredients through the heat that is inevitable in high speed milling processes.

And therein lies the secret for the financial success of the Clingers, for they are able to provide a quality product for an ever-increasing market. They were wise enough to know that persons who enjoy superior food are willing to pay more for it, and they have learned how to appeal to this type of purchaser. They have been aided by such food experts as Clementine Paddleford, Jane Nickerson, Violet Faulkner, and June Owen and such publications as Gourmet, the New Yorker, and the Diner's Club Magazine. As a result, now more than five hundred shops through the nation that make a speciality of fine and unusual foods are handling the twenty or more different products of Byrd Mill, and business is so steadily increasing that father, mother, and son, William, who is attending the Richmond Polytechnic Institute, find that they need additional help.

Jack Clinger has discovered that his engineering training has been put to the test occasionally in running the 1740 mill, as the kind of grinding equipment needed is not always available, even in a modern hardware store. Hence he and his son have to resort to the "do-it-yourself" techniques. "Wooden gearings and wooden bearings threw me at first," he reports, "since I was used to the modern precision type, but I can now whittle out the best gear teeth you have ever seen."

Mrs. Clinger serves as secretary, office manager, packager, and office boy, but in spare moments tries out cooking and baking recipes so that the additional use of the Byrd products can be encouraged. She has collected, tested, and devised about 3,000 recipes for the use of whole-grain products. Some of the materials are sold by the mill as mixes, like "Byrd Mill's Wild Rice Pancake Mix," made from wild rice from Minnesota. Most the grains used, however, are from the near by farms in Virginia.

Grinding grain from ancient stones made in France, whihc miller Clinger is sharpening

The list of the Byrd Mill products is steadily growing longer. Now it includes: brown rice flour, muffin meal, oat flour, whole wheat (graham) flour, whole wheat pancake mix, white corn meal, yellow corn meal, cracked white cereal, buckwheat flour, Scotch style oat-meal, wheat germ, natural unbleached flour, whole rye flour, fox hunters meal, rice flour, griddle cake mix, Boston brown bread meal, wild rice pancake mix, cracked rye, old tyme white grits, old tyme yellow grits, and pioneer's porridge.

These are available in attractive two-and five-pound packages not only in the special food stores, but by mail order anywhere in the nation. For twenty of the two-pound packages, including postage for de-livery east of the Mississippi, the prices range from 70 to 80 cents. Postage west of the Mississippi is 20 cents higher. For five pounds the price is about a dollar more. There is a special gift offer of five one-pound packages for $2.25, including postage.

As Jack Clinger is the official miller for Colonial Williamsburg the Byrd Mill has gained considerable attention thereby. The pound cake distributed by the Raleigh Bakeshop is from one of the Byrd recipes. Another popular goody at Williamsburg is the ginger cake, also from flour ground at the Byrd Mill. Says June Owens in the New York Times. "The waterground meal in the Virginia cornbread that is a memorable highlight of Colonial Williamsburg can he bought by mail order from the Byrd Mill for home use."

Top business is usually at Christmas time, for the packages of flour make unusual, but acceptable gifts.

When Jack Clinger purchased the Byrd Mill in 1953, he didn't have a single customer. Today 500 food stores handle his products, some physicians insist that their patients use his flours, and he has more than 8.000 mail order customers. He turns out about 600,000 pounds of flour and meal a year.

Members of the Indianapolis and Denver alumni chapters will remember Jack Clinger's participation in Theta Chi affairs. He maintains a lively interest in the Penn State chapter. His home, Louisa, RFD 5, Va., is about 45 miles from Richmond, five miles off the highway that goes to Charlottesville. He writes: "Please tell all brothers when in our area to be sure to stop in, as we would be most happy to welcome them."

ALUMNI NEWS
T-Sgt John C. Williams, Penn State, ’48, is with the office of the air attaché, American Embassy, Pretoria, Union of South Africa

Retires to Florida Glades - Ending 35 years service with the Metropolitan Edison Company, Murrell D. McKinstry, Penn State, '21, retired January 1 to a life in Florida. He had been a deputy counselor in Region III. His retirement from the company he joined in 1926 as a meter tester was announced by G. R. Parry, Lafayette, ’26, executive vice president. A veteran of World War I, Mr, McKinstry is a life member of the American Legion, a member of Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers, a member of the Boyertown YMCA board since 1940, a trustee of the Temple Methodist Church, and past president of the Boyertown Rotary Club and Businessmen’s Association.

Omega Runs Oldest U. S. Mill - The Rattle, Spring 1962