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About 1814, Nehemiah Gates erected a grist-mill on Little Darby, about one mile above Jefferson, but little of the early history of it is known. However, in 1817, he was succeeded by John Mills, and in 1819 he attached a saw-mill, on which, it is believed, the first lumber was sawed in the township, and was used for the first frame house of the territory in question. Subsequently he added a carding machine. So long as the machinery was operated it remained in the name of the Mills family.
Next in order comes the saw-mill of Isaac Jones, which he contemplated building where the present grist-mill stands, but, from a little unpleasantness arising between him and the managers of the National road in regard to the race crossing the road, he abandoned the location and erected it in Jefferson, on Little Darby, and it was known as a Mutter mill. In 1836, he erected on the same site a grist-mill, run by an undershot wheel. A few years later, he connected a carding machine, and ran the three enterprises until his death; at the same time followed his profession. The widow sold the machinery to Thomas Cartmill, who soon after erected a new saw-mill, yet standing, and added the second carding machine in 1848. He conducted the enterprises until 1857, when he erected a new grist-mill farther down the creek, and now operated by John Renner. This mill was built at a cost of about $5,000, Cartmill doing the most of the work, as he is a fair mechanic. It had an overshot wheel fourteen feet ten inches in diameter. The mill was started with two run of buhrs, but now has four. The builder operated the mill from 1858 to the spring of 1880, when the present owner took charge. It is known as Oak Ridge Mill, in consequence of it being built on a ridge once thickly-covered with that stately forest tree. About 1834, John Johnson erected a saw-mill about five miles up Little Darby from Jefferson, and ran it about nine years, when John Byerly succeeded him, and operated the mill until about 1870, since which it has passed into utter oblivion.
In 1817. Charles Roberts erected a saw-mill on Little Darby, about one and a half miles below Jefferson, which has ceased to be operated. The year 1852 marks the time when George W. Blair erected a saw-mill on Little Darby, five miles northwest of Jefferson. It was operated and did a large business for about twenty-five years, but in the meantime the building was once destroyed by fire and a new one erected.