Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 17 · column 1 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
*Find out what brand* he drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other general”
• <' A. Lincoln when asked *about U.S. Grant’s drinking I *; habits (*Old Crow)
«\ Mention alcohol in the context of the mountains of "Virginia and one is likely to bring to mind clandestine homemade stills set far back iij hollows, an old movie or two featuring Burt Reynolds or Robert Mitchum, and revenue agetits running for their lives under a spray of buckshot. \. While illegal production of njoonshine whiskey was, and t<J a limited extent perhaps still is, a part of the culture of the region, there is a lot, lot niore to the story of alcohol production in these environs. • For you see dear children, ofcce upon a time legal distillation of liquid spirits was a thriving business throughout the Commonwealth.
And Rappahannock County had its own important share of the market. ’ ■ It’s not that some old-time moonshine magnates ‘went straight’ and set out to dot our biicolic landscape with industrial strength stills. • More likely legal distilleries came about due to the need and desire of farmers and millers to make some extra money from the surplus of grain produced on local farms.
In the early to mid-1800s, Virginia was a leader among states in production of wheat, rye, and com (in the 1840s, the big Midwestern grain producing states did not yet exist).
In the 19th Century, most grain was grown and ground locally.
Of the 90 or so water-powered mills in Rappahannock County in the mid-1800s, at least half were devoted to making flour from corn, wheat, or rye.
The mills were often at the heart of mini self-contained and multi-functional industrial complexes. Gristmills and sawmills would be found in the same location operated by the same owner or family. , The gristmills often wound up with extra grain. When all the livestock had been fed and all the needed flour baked into bread and pastries what’s a body to do with the leftover corn or rye. Unprocessed grains did not store well for long periods, could be expensive to transport, and problematic to market elsewhere.
So it was natural to identify other uses that might turn some ready cash.
The solution was not hard to find: convert all that excess grain into a liquid form with a long shelf life and ready and continuing markets.
And make a thirst quencher to boot; well, the quench for a certain type of thirst, anyhow.
92.5%