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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY 117
apart even were considered as neighbors. In all their gatherings, and
they were frequent, the most perfect equality and good will prevailed.
Among the most prominent evils and hardships incident to the
settlement of the Firelands was that of procuring bread, even of the
coarsest kind. Even as late as 1820 there were not mills sufficient to
supply the wants of a rapidly increasing population. Ebenezer Merry
had erected a mill at Milan, Maj. Frederick Faley one at Cold Creek,
near the present Village of Venice,' and there was one near the head of
the creek, and a man named PoAvers had built one on Huron River, in
Greenfield Township. These were all small affairs, with one run of
stone. The machinery and dams Avere rude, ill-constructed, and out of
order a great portion of the time. The roads were almost impassible
for wagons, and even dangerous for a single horse with a bag of grain
and a rider on his back.
Mr. Drake says: "I was of that age Avhen not large enough to do a
man's Avork on the farm, but still large enough to go to mill, and it was
a duty I Avas generally detailed to perform. The following expedition
to Powers' Mill will show how it Avas done. The mill stood in the woods
and resembled an old-fashioned tan house. The basement, containing
the machinery, was uninclosed, the upper story boarded up barn fashion,
and constructed inside with more regard for convenience than beauty.
The presiding genius of the establishment was constructed on the same
principles—one leg being much shorter than its mate. He was old and
cross. Alillers were then as absolute as the 'Autocrat of all the Russias.''
There was no appeal from their decisions, and as it Avas a matter
of bread, if not butter, people were willing to submit to a great deal to
secure so desirable a consummation. The state of the roads and the
distance most persons came made it necessary to spend one night at
the mill. The night I was there I found some ten or twelve others, and
AVC all camped doAvn Avherever a vacancy could be found among the
bags. The regular clicking of the hopper, the surging, gushing sound of
the water, as it escaped from the mill wheel, the noise of people talking
and traveling around hunting for bags, and the singing of mosquitoes,
produced a concert of discordant sounds that precluded the possibility
of sleep. Still there AA'as no complaining; it was considered as a necessary
evil. The next night Avhen I lay down at home on a comfortable
bed, I could have said with honest Sancho Panza: 'Blessed is the man
who invented sleep.' "
BLOOMINGVILLE
Is situated in the northwest corner of the toAvnship and about one-half
of a mile east of Pipe Creek and on the line of an old Indian trail, and
seems to have been a favorite camping ground long previous to the settlement
of the country, for Indians and traders, in their journeyings between
the mouth of Huron River and Lower Sandusky, the ground
being high and dry and an abundance of wood, water and fine feed for
their horses in the immediate vicinity. The banks of the creek at the