History Mystery

This week, we're happy to share more of what the Pine Knot News has learned about the 5,000-pound millstone pulled by the city of Cloquet from resident Bill Stolberg's yard.

The millstone was used at the paper mill in pulp manufacturing. It would be "mounted on a geared pedestal ... and the pulp fiber would be crushed between the rotating millstone and a stationary stone," said an email from Sappi's Tom Radovich, managing director of the mill in Cloquet.

The fiber was pinched and elongated between the rotating millstone and stationary stone, a process that improved the strength properties of t...