James Hall – Blacksmith & Inventor of Traveling Corn Mill & Cotton Stalk Puller

Once upon a time in Black Entrepreneur History lived an African American man named James Hall. He was a blacksmith as well as the inventor of the Traveling Corn Mill and Cotton Stalk Puller in the late 1800-early 1900s.

Not much is known about Mr. James Hall except he was a reliable and hardworking man, abiding in the town of Waycross, Georgia at the time of his inventions.

According to The Macon Telegraph of 1899, he had invented and placed on exhibition a traveling corn mill. This traveling corn mill made it much easier to gather a bushel of meal. A person would board the wagon, start the mill to grinding and after only traveling one mile would have obtained about 32 quarts of meal which is equal to one bushel.

This wasn’t Mr. James Hall’s only invention. He also invented a cotton stalk puller, and decided to manufacture them as well in a stock company that he would organize. His goal was to manufacture them on a large scale. This invention was also documented in 1899 in the Macon Telegraph newspaper of Georgia.

It was at the Georgia State Fair in 1902 that he displayed his inventions again and received an official document, or certificate, for his invention.

Source:

1. The Macon Telegraph, Macon, Georgia, Sat. December 23, 1899, Page 6
2. The Valdosta Ties, Valdosta Georgia, Tues. November 11, 1902, Page 5