The ninth installment (paragraph) of the Sesqui-Centennial Address of Sussex County given by Justice Francis J. Swayze on 2 Sep 1903 and printed by the Sussex Independent newspaper.... The Early Mills In a farming community mills are a necessary industry. Perhaps the earliest mill established in the county was established by Casper Shafer at Stillwater. I quote from Mr. Edsall's description: "He constructed it in the following manner: First, throwing a low dam made of cobble stones, filled in with gravel, across the kill, to create a small water power; he next drove piles into the ground to sustain the superstructure; upon these he erected a little frame or log mill house, in which he placed one small run of stone, with a water wheel and gearing in a corresponding style of simplicity. This diminutive concern was capable of grinding not more than from three to five bushels of grain per day; yet it answered the demands of the sparsely settled country for the time, and was resorted to from far and near. In a few years he erected a better mill, and commenced shipping flour to Philadelphia. He loaded a flat boat at his mill, which floated with the current down Paulins Kill to the Delaware and thence to its destination. The Paulins Kill was thus proved to be navigable, but it was much more valuable as a mill stream, and soon became so obstructed by dams that Mr. Shafer was compelled to relinquich the use of his boat." The mill at Woodbourn, was constructed, as I have already said, between 1746 and 1753. Doubtless other mills were constructed in other localities until the use of water power of the county had been put to good use. As an illustration of the extent to which our small streams were used for this purpose, I am told that the Cooper family, one of the prominent families in Wantage township, built six mills along Clove creek - a mill every two or three miles. Happy Back Up Day, Cathy DiPietro