Homm Mill/Hoppers Mill as situated on St. Peters Road. The junction in the distance is T930, of which a left turn will be to Manztville after a mile.

Karl Jens, the owner, retired from a greenhouse business in NJ. He saw this property for sale, visited it, liked it, and only after he decided to buy it did he find out the mill went with the property.

What a pleasant surprise! Maybe yes, maybe no. Amazingly, the mill was in very good condition and retained very much of its equipment.

The archway under St. Peters Road through which the tailrace exits from the mill.

There is a collection of about 10 millstones on the property. Different stlyes including segmented burrs(buhrs). *Update: The smaller stone on the left is a "hulling stone" which was used to hull the black hulls from the buckwheat seed before it was milled. Buckwheat is an herb, and not a grain or a grass. It has this non-digestable hull which is used to stuff Japanese dolls and pillows. It is also used as a fertilizer, and is used by trappers to cover their scent when setting traps. Buckwheat is hulled on small diameter pairs of millstones which often have furrows that look like bat wings. Oats is also hulled of a non-digestable hull which has no use. Animals won't even use it for bedding. Oats can also be "pearled" which means the hulls are basically worn or rubbed off of the inner seed. The hulling stones were often located on top of a stand or small platform on the second floor of the mill. This is often where "ending stones" and "middling stones" were also located. Ted Hazen 07/20/2008*

The photo of several lineshafts with pulleys and wheels attached in the ground story of the 3.5 story grist mill. The sign reads: If you spit on the floor at home, spit on the floor here, because we want you to feel at home.

A partial picture, fuzzy, of the present 26' Fitz wheel inside the mill that replaced the earlier wooden veteran used for the first 75 years until 1920.

Wooden chutes bring unfinished product back to be futher processed. The wooden flume from the headrace is behind, bringing water to power the mill to the top of the overshot wheel.

An early stand rooler mill to better process grain into flour than buhrstones could do.

The closeup of the roller mill with the brand information stenciled thereon. #1173, McAnelty's Force Feeder, August Wolf & Co., Chambersburg, Pa.

Though not in operation since 1969, the Midget Marvel/American Marvel Flouring Mill was used probably the last several decades of the mills operation.

This piece of equipment was called an air condition. The cylinder with many rows of cloth wrapped tubes would collect dust from the air in the mill as it revolved around. The coverings could no doubt be changed and cleaned, or new one installed. Was a good safety measure to help decrease the likelihood of a dust explosion.

Another piece of machinery manufactured by Augustus Wolf & Co. It is a Patented Interelevated Flour Dresser.

The bottom had at least one auger made of a wooden shaft with spiralling wooden blades set at angle but overlapping to moove the flour down the channel from one end to the other.

This machine is called The Crandson Scouring, Polishing, and Separating Machine, Huntley Manufacturing Co., Silver Creek, New York.

A board used by the miller to keep track of orders of feed mixes that were pending on a daily or longer basis. The owner: Karl & Candy Jens at 570-386-2327. The residence is across the road from the mill. Address: 248, St. Peters Road, Tamaqua, Pa. 18252