34 Nebraskaland • July 2023
eligh Mill, in the northeastern
Nebraska town of Neligh, is a
place where the past doesn't
feel all that long ago — as if
the mill workers have gone for coff ee
and will be back shortly. The 19th
century machinery is still in place, and
longtime site supervisor Harv Ofe can
tell you how it all worked. Yellowed
notices and posters adorn the walls,
and penciled graffi ti shows the math
of long-ago transactions and the dates
of noteworthy local weather.
John Neligh began building the
water-powered mill in 1873. Another
local businessman completed the work
and opened the mill the following
year. Neligh Mill operated for nearly
a century before becoming a state
historical site maintained by History
Nebraska.
Humans have been grinding grain
into fl our for thousands of years, mostly
by hand. The oldest known mortars and
pestles date to about 35,000 B.C. The
use of millstones — also known as burrs
— in water-powered gristmills dates
back more than 2,000 years.
N
By David L. Bristow,
History Nebraska
Neligh
Mill at
150
