Story Number 2: A Game of Numbers – 20 and 57 Milling Stones

Nikola Štefanac – Štigle is 67 years old and was born in Rastoke in House number 7.

The first three houses in Rastoke do not exist because state road D-1 passes through that land. The owners of those houses lived in other locations. But it is well-known which house had a mill and which did not. “Therefore, house number 4 did not have a mill and house number 5 did. The owners of houses number 11 and 12 shared three mill stones and a koš, and that is the precursor of modern-day washing machine. House number 6 did not have a mill, but rather a forge above the house and an opanci shop. Houses number 7 and 8 shared a mill with four milling stones, two koš and one water-powered circular-saw. House number 9 also had a mill with two milling stones and a koš. House number 10 had a mill with three milling stones and a koš, which was used for washing biljac (a type of home spun woollen shawl, which was quite coarse and heavy) and suklenka (thick woollen socks) and other clothes. House number 11 had a mill with three milling stones and a koš and house number 12 had two mills with five milling stones. House number 13 had one milling stone and a circular-saw with a wood shaper and a koš. House number 14 had a mill with three milling stones and house number 15 had a mill with two milling stones and a koš. House number 16 had a mill with two milling stones and house number 17 a mill with three milling stones. House number 18 had a mill with two milling stones, one circular-saw and a wood shaper. Houses number 18 and 19 had a shared mill with three milling stones and a water-powered sawmill. It is interesting that houses number 20 and 21 had a mill under a shared roof, each one had two milling stones, four altogether. House number 22 had a mill with two milling stones and a koš. House number 23 had three milling stones and a koš. House number 24 had a mill with two milling stones and a machine for hulling barley (for human consumption). Houses number 25, 26 and 27 had a mill with two milling stones. House number 28 had a mill with two milling stones and a miller’s room. House number 29 had a mill with two milling stones and a small water-powered sawmill. House number 30 had a mill with three stones and a koš.” Nikola, also known as Štigle, wrote all this down. And you do not have to add and subtract; he remembers 57 milling stones working in 20 mills in Rastoke in the old days.

Life on the Water

One of the most frequent questions or wonderings about the life of Rastoke residents is how they lived surrounded by so much water. Nikola says that he is often asked whether the wooden houses were humid and he explains, “The houses are only one part wooden, not just because of structure, but also because of humidity. The lower part is made of stone and the upper part of wood. People slept in the upper part and the bedrooms were airy and dry. We spent time in the stone part because it was cool there. It was cool in the summer and warm in the winter because the walls were thick. Oh, yes… There was humidity in that part but we compensated for that by lighting a fire, that is we had a wood-burning stove for cooking there.” They had to be careful so that the house would not flood. That was a constant care so everyone had to participate in regulating water when the water level was high. People were in agreement about that. The neighbours always helped each other because the following would happen; for instance, the Belko family opened one sluice gate, Braco opened another, the Skukan family opened a third and our dam, down here by the Vodena ovca, would raise on its own in response. There was another dam before the glava (a wooden barrier that protected the house and mill from the onslaught of water) and everything went downstream to the waterfall and into the Korana River. Water passed through. We had to regulate it. Maintenance was very important. That was one of the most important things of life in Rastoke.

Nikola adds an important story about the bridges which interconnected mills, houses, gardens, small island yards and people and reveals a curiosity about the Stari most (Old Bridge). “The old bridge had two babke (piers) and stone abutments and the top of it was wooden. It was destroyed in World War II and in 1943 from the rubble of the two piers a single one was built and it was done for a railway bridge, which was found somewhere around Rečica (near Karlovac) and brought to Slunj. Since this construction was not long enough to bridge the whole gap, a part of the bridge was made from iron rods and the other part was this iron construction. Once, a colonel from Austria, who spoke Croatian and was older than my mother – who was born in 1930 – came to me and asked me whether I knew from where the bridge construction was. I said, ‘I do not know, somewhere around Rečica.’ And he said to me, ‘Can I check something and do you want to come with me?’ He found some documents saying that the bridge construction was cast in Austria, in Klagenfurt.”

The Mill and Its Millers

The mills have been in Rastoke from time immemorial, however, Rastoke were not always inhabited. The French built the first dwellings around 1810. Next to the mills, the first two dwellings were constructed and the military crew, who used the mills was inhabited there. From the storage of his memories, Nikola tells a story, “Old people said that someone planted linden trees so that the army would have shade when they passed through there. By the Warehouse, they had a mulberry plantation. They also brought yellow pear trees, which people later grafted onto blackthorn, and the trees spread. People used them for making great rakija. It is actually a semi-wild pear. There were also grapevines, which were brought by the Austrians, and during the time of Austria-Hungary, they were planted on Šušnjara and Lisac, near Blagaj. Grapevines were also present here on Pliš and on Sokolovac near Cvitović. The French brought some of their grapevines as well, but they were not the first ones here. There were stories that there was a mineral water spring in Old Town of Blagaj, but it was filled because it stank a lot.”

Every mill had its millers, loyal customers, who were acquired through quality milling, friendship, family connections or in other ways, through recommendation. Nikola also explained how the milling fee worked, “The milling fee was called ušur. People paid with either grain or money and the cost was 10% of the brought quantity. Every mill had round wooden containers for measuring – ujam was a 5-litre container, četvrtinka was a 10-litre container and kabal was a 20-litre container and it had two handles, unlike the first two.”

Milan Holjevac, 1988.

“In the summer months, people came early in the morning or late in the evening and the reason was shade for their cattle, which they used for transporting their grain, the so-called meljava, in and out. Everyone knew there were millers who had to wait for a longer time for their milling to be done. They were invited for warm pogača (a type of bread) or lunch. During the milling, all kinds of stories were told and, as a six-year-old, I heard an interesting story from a man from Marindolsko brdo, which I remember very well. He said, ‘Listen to what I will tell you now. This kid will certainly live to see it and we will probably not. There will be war in our area and many people will get hurt and leave this area and very few will return to our villages. Those who do return and stay will have problem with game, which will chase them from their own houses. They will not be able to grow and produce food,’” Nikola says.

Blacksmiths and Woodworkers Were Busy

There were forges in Rastoke and one of them was behind the house in which Nikola’s ancestors lived. “One of my grandfather’s brothers was a blacksmith. The forges mostly existed because of the cattle, horses needed to be shoed, ploughshares needed to be maintained and tools used for stone working needed to be made. And in the 1950s when Tonkovićev most (The Tonković Bridge) was constructed, the blacksmiths did the most of the work and all by hand.”

“There were also woodworkers and carpenters, who took care of the mills,” Nikola says and adds, “A mill cannot be constructed without wood and stone. The carpenters and blacksmiths were the foundations. Klepci needed to be sharpened. The milling stone used for wheat flour needed a special way of sharpening or klepanje. It needed to be cut on both sides so that, when in rotation, the wheat would be peeled instead of ground. The other milling stones needed to be prodded to create little holes so that the grain would be ground. Corn, oats, barley and other grain needed to be ground. After that, the milling stone needed to be smeared with brick and everything that remained red needed to be removed so that the stone would be sharp. Every miller did that for himself. When they were milling a lot, they needed to sharpen the stones up to three times a week because if they did not, the stone would not mill properly.” Nikola remembers, “Klepac looked like this – it had a blade on one side and the other end was pointed. That needed to be taken to the blacksmith so that he would harden and sharpen it and then you would use it for sharpening your milling stone. That was the head of the axe, which was mounted on a wooden handle. The millers would sharpen their stones slowly… Often they would have scars on their hands from the stone. When the stone bursts, it goes under your skin. If it is a bigger piece, you can take it out, if it is a tiny one, it stays in. That was the reason Rastoke residents always had their hands full of stone fragments.”

Good Stone for Good Flour

If one wanted good flour, one needed to have a good stone. Nikola’s uncle was a mill master. He learned a lot from his uncle and used that knowledge to help the younger generations of Rastoke residents, who had already learned a lot on their own and from their ancestors.

“Normally, our ancestors would search all across Croatia for milling stones, they would even go to Slovenia, Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina. They would buy stones in quarries there and then work them later. Some stones needed to be softer and some harder. They used a special tool to cut the stone so that the wheat would be peeled and, in that way, yield more flour and the surface of the stone needed to be conical so that the stone would dislodge the flour into a container below,” Nikola stresses.