[Block 35B]

John B. Tison owned this horse-powered mill. This was probably a grist mill, that is, a mill to grind grain like wheat and corn into flour. It was called a horse mill because it was not powered by the wind like a windmill or by water like other mills, but by a horse or a team of horses. Most horse mills were powered by a horse who walked on a treadmill set up as an inclined plane. As the horse walked, he stayed in one place but the treadmill moving under his hooves turned the gears which made the mill function. Since St. Louis had no streams running directly through the town, a horse mill or windmill were the only means of powering machinery in the days before steam and electrical power.