A Trip to the Sugar Mill

Pat and I must have been pretty little for this memory. Daddy grew some sugar cane and when it was ripe he cut the stalks to put in the wagon to take to the sugar mill. He would cut two little pieces for us to chew on. It was reedy and hard to chew but the juice was so sweet. He hooked the mules up to the wagon and was ready to take the cane to the sugar mill. Daddy let Pat and me go with him and I'm pretty sure that Mama fixed us a lunch which was probably a biscuit and sausage. We sat on the back of the wagon and dangled our feet over the back for the long rough ride. There were no paved country roads at that time. We didn't mind as it was a new experience for us.

There were two popular places in the area to swim. One was called The Big Pour Off and the other was called The Little Pour Off. We went by The Little Pour Off on our way to the sugar mill and Daddy stopped the mules to let us wade in the shallow part of the water for a bit.

At the sugar mill the cane was unloaded, cut into small pieces and put in a huge vat where the juice was squeezed out. In order for this to happen mules were hooked to a tie beam so that they walked around and around the huge vat until all of the juice was squeezed out. The juice from the cane was taken into the sugar mill where it was cooked until it made a syrup called molasses. Daddy waited for his share of the molasses, which was a few gallon buckets with little handles. He loaded them onto the wagon for the long trip back home. Daddy had two very tired and sleepy little girls ready for bed when we got home.

For breakfast Mama would bake a skillet of biscuits for us to butter and eat with some of the molasses. Yum ... yum. Y'all should get some molasses and see what you've been missing. A long rough ride in a wagon surely would make you appreciate it.