presidential debate between republican governor mike pence and them or senator tim kaine --inning; 30 p.m. eastern democratic senator tim kaine beginning at seven: 30 p.m. eastern. watch live on c-span. watch live and any time on demand at www.c-span.org and listen live on the free c-span radio app. "american artifacts" takes you to historic places to learn what artifacts reveal about american history. rock creek park covers 1700 acres. we visited peirce mill, built in the early 1800s along rock creek. >> i'm standing in front of

park. and rock creek this is one of the last vestiges of the rural past of washington, of itsll, the only one tight left. it was part of a way of life of arming and milling that happened in the early 1800s. the mill -- the owner of the fromwas a former quaker .ennsylvania named isaac peirce he came to the washington area in the late 1790's and not a lot of land. ultimately 160 acres along rock creek park. there was an old mill here that he bought, and he built this mill in about 1820. a hold farm stand here -- farmstead here. there was a building that may barn,een a distillery, a an entire farm area here.

the middle, as i said, was built in 1820 and stayed in operation through almost the entire 19th century. was subsumed into rock creek park in 1890 when rock creek park was founded, and he kept operating for seven more in 1897d finally ended when the main shaft of the mill wheel broke, and that was the end of milling operations forever. back in the early 19th century, this was rural land out here. this was washington county. it was a separate legal jurisdiction from washington city, which is what we now think of as downtown. florida avenue was the old boundary street, the northern boundary. washington county was sparsely inhabited. less than 10,000 people lived

out here most of the 19th century, mostly farmers and large landholders, and farmers here grew all sorts of crops. a lot of wheat and corn and ride for local use and for shipping along the east coast. mills were very of orton to this rural economy. because you had farmers that were growing grain, you had to -- they had to really come up with an of the show way of compacting that material for transportation to markets elsewhere, and essentially, that the miller's job was, to turn a crop of harvested grain into flour and meal and pack it into barrels so it would be commercially -- a viable commercial product. there were mills all along rock creek that used the power of the

creek to turn the millstones, the localerved farmers, grinding their grain for them so they could ship it to market. there were a number of mills along the creek. thece mill behind me is only surviving one. there were several others in the district. just south of here was the adams mail that was actually owned by former president john quincy adams point. there was the reliance mill further down near georgetown. there were a number of mills north along the creek as well, so it was a thriving local industry, milling, in the 19th century. mill, we believe, was typical of many of the mills in the early 19th century in that it used what was then a advanced system

of peters and police and wheels and belts. this was a system developed by a delaware inventor named oliver evans and patented by him. he invented it in the 1790's, and it changed milling. there were lots of little mills like this throughout the eastern seaboard, and it was a very labor-intensive operation originally. miller's had to have lots of intotance to poor grain the mill and sifted out once it pack it intond and barrels and so forth, and evidence came up with a way of automating almost all of that, using the same energy from the mill wheel that moved the , he useds themselves that same energy through various cause and wheels and chutes and automate thet to entire process. this allowed basically a mill to

one orby a miller and maybe two assistants. so it saved a lot of money. maybe mills much more efficient, and really made a big difference . we believe -- we are pretty sure mill had that oliver evans type system in it and has been restored now to have that system. once the mill had ground all of wasgrain into flour and it packed into barrels, sometimes the barrels would be given to the farmer who brought them usually. this was a so-called custom mill, a small mill that served local farmers directly as opposed to some larger mills that had more commercial roles. so the barrels would be given back to the farmer. the miller would take a percentage. it was fixed by law as his cut. that would be his payment rather than a payment in cash.

the farmer would take his grain and barrels and usually take it into washington city or down to for sale there, for distribution to other cities along the eastern seaboard, or, as i said, into washington city along one of these rustic mill roads that used to be out here in washington county. the main road that is now georgia avenue, for example, to here went down and connected to 7th street and ended up downtown at the large center market on pennsylvania avenue. a big, bustling market that sold all sorts of produce and farm goods, and farmers would sell flour downll their there. the mill stopped operations in 1897 when the main shaft broke. the mill was already on the

ground of rock creek park. very quickly, the mill became a very rustic, scenic spot for gathering and recreation. it was seen as a romantic emblem of days past even at that time. there were frequent -- there were dances in the mill. people would come out and ride out in their carriages on weekends just to enjoy the park out here. would be a gathering space for them. soon in the early 1900s, the mill wheel was taken down, and a big room was added on, and they created this teahouse. teahouses were very popular in the 1910s, they were a fad almost. so there was a tea house here, and again, this was a rustic type of bucolic entertainment

that people really enjoyed. and the teahouse was very popular. and continued in operation up under the1930's when works progress administration, there was finally an effort to restore the mill back to its operating condition, put the wheel back and put the machinery back that had been taken out, so that is when the teahouse finally ended and the mill was first restored. mill through the 20th century went through a number of iterations of working and not working. it takes a lot of effort to keep a mill like this going. .he wooden machinery wears out the mill wheel itself wears out. it is out in the elements. it is made of wood.

the mill operated at times and went out of operation, and was the last993 time that the shaft of the mill wheel broke, and the mill went out of operation, and a large effort was undertaken through the early 2000's by a group called the friends of the peirce mill to get it restored once again. in 2011, it reopened and was once again operating as a mill. >> hi, welcome to peirce mill. this is a almost 200 euros gristmill. it grounds of grain into flour using the power of the waterwheel outside. almost 200 year old gristmill.

a lot of times towns would spring up around where mills are. the farmer would bring the grain in. of the paid a percentage grain for his services to bring it in and dump it down the receiving hopper, which is over here behind you, but you are on this floor here. this is the receiving hopper. the graing to ride elevator, which is little cups that go by about a cup a second all on a big pulley. the grain cleaner tumbled around, gets rid of dirt and bugs. from there, there is corn. you put it in the corn bin. millstones, the gets ground-up, and from there, it goes down to the basement. there's a little bit of a shaker have corn meal. if you have wheat, you dumb it down. it rides the elevator up, gets

cleaned, goes into the week bin and gets ground-up. will travel the elevator a second time. back.is a big round it has a rake that goes around, all powered by the waterwheel, spreads the meal out and dries it and eventually pushes it down to the bolter, a long sifting machine that separates out the the brand.flour and then it comes out to where the three chutes are, so you can take the stack or barrel, whatever you brought your grain your flour or ran. they did not have the sifter to different sizes of use a so they had to cloth. prior to oliver evans inventing

his milling system, which you in here, which he did patent 1795, you would have to carry 50-pound sacks of flour, corn, or wheat up three flights of stairs, dump it in the cleaner. it gets ground-up, and now does in the basement and you would have to scoop up all that meal and carry that up four flights of stairs into the attic, so they would pay young boys to rate that around on the ground, spread it out and dry it, and then you had to scoop it up for a third time and taken to a whole other building to be sifted. with all of her evans' system, you could put raw materials here and get a finished product here, so he is the father of automation. ground wheatostly and corn here, but they would grind whatever the farmer brought in.

in, it had to be dry and cleaned like this, and then it gets grounded to whole-wheat flour like this. to get what you're used to seeing for baking, you have to it, and that's where the bolter comes in. back in the day, they separated the brand, the outside brown part of the seed, because they did not like to eat it. they would feed it to the animals. we now know that is the healthiest part for you, so you would have healthy animals and you could eat those. there are three types of waterwheels that were used back in the day. currently, peirce mill used a breast shot wheel. the overshot wheel is when you use and high, mountainous areas, so you have water coming down, so you can use the push of the water and the weight of the water to turn the wheel. if you live in a mixed area, somewe do here, some high,

low, you can use a breast shot wheel and a dam to do for the water to have more push when it gets here. it usually hits chest high and will turn the waterwheel backward. it is are out west where very flat, even if you have a dam, you will not get the water up very high, you will use the under shot wheel where the wheel catches the current of the water to turn the wheel. as a park, you can see all the different parts. this is how the mill parts look when they are put together for milling. this is the bed stone. this is the bottom stone. stays stationary. the top stone over here, this is the runner stone, the one that is going to spin around. you will have to use this stone crane here to lift it up and put it on. all the weight in on that little pin right here. these bars sit in the stone so

when the outside wheel is going around, this is going around. the top one ways 2400 pounds. notice it has grooves carved in all these lines. that's on the top of the bed stone. it is also underneath the top runner stone, so after spinning around, the grooves are passing each other and cutting the grain like scissors. people frequently think of stoneround flour as grinding together like this and crushing of the grain. if you do that, you get bits of rock in your flour and that's not very good for your teeth, and you also get a really stinky smell. so i asked the miller, if i smell that smell, i know my stones are touching, so i crank this lever around a few times, and it raises this a tiny little bit to get a very fine cut.

it's also how you adjust for different fineness. fine like flour is baby powder, whereas cornstarch is lumpy. the grind stone people tend to think means working hard, but it actually means pay attention. i can make sure that my stones are not touching and you get much better flour. this part is called the hopper. this is where you dump the grain in. the part here is called horse. also called the chair because it has four legs. this part here is the shoe and it adjusts for how quickly the grain is poured into the eye of the stone. this part here is called a damsel, so when the mill is running, that part is spinning around, and with the shoe is bumping up against it, it can keep a steady flow. you can adjust it like this if

you want it faster or slower into the eye of the stone. i also learned the hard way you have to give it a good whack because it is in here by friction. if you do not, the vibration of the mill when it is running will vibrate this out, and all 50 pounds of your corn will go way middleham, right in the at one time. back in the day, they did build the dam's father up the creek to divert the water into a channel to bring in water at a higher the powero increase as it got here. that has been filled in since the early 1930's. when the parks read the mill, they closed off both inns and put in a great recirculating and that takes the water puts it up in the head rate,

which is where it would normally come in. to get ready, we have to check and make sure everything is in the right place. the damsel is at 90 degrees. my shoe has been whacked so it will not dump all the corn at once. ok. now you have to had the stone. three poundsdd down there so the stones have plenty of corn to work with and do not rub up against each other. next thing we have to do is raise the top stone. right now, it is sitting down on

the other stone like a break on your bicycle, so we raise it up. it's going to break the friction . it starts moving slightly, and withoing to add the water this lever here. tolists up the gate outside lather water to go on the wheel and start running the mill. so here we go. now we will add some more water. there we go. drop the stone back down a little bit.

there we have it. there is the corn going into the eye of the stone. spread out by centrifugal force. the grooves are passing each other and cutting the grain into a fine powder, and it's going to come out downstairs. ok, here we see the cornmeal fresh justnice and off the wheel. this is how the miller's check for how finally the grain is ground-up. rub it in your hand. you also check to see how moist it is by clumping it. you get the bigger pieces to go into the barrel for the chicken, and this is the cornmeal down here. smell that cornmeal.

over here, you see the main shaft, which is a whole entire fore oak tree that is cured about 10 years before it is made into a mill shaft. you can see outside where it goes to the outside waterwheel, so the outside waterwheel is turning, the inside gears are turning. >> the mill is really important to washington and to all of us now because it is this unique from the early 19th century, a piece of what life was like for people in washington county in the rural parts of this area, and there's nothing like it in washington. the day a real sense of

type of technology that was used at the time. it is a way of life. it is a very direct, earthy, almost sense that you get from and watchinge mill the wheels turn and smelling the grain in the wood and everything. it is a sense that you cannot really get anywhere else, and i think it is important for people to experience that and see that because it is so different from modern life, and it is important for us to have a sense of where we came from and how much life has changed. >> you can watch this and other "american artifacts" by visiting our website.

we areweekend long, joining our comcast cable partners to showcase the history of buffalo, colorado. to learn more about the cities pueblo,istory of colorado. we continue now with our look at the history of pueblo. >> he gets its start as an adobe trading post in 1842. a commercial enterprise, small group of people come together and see the success people are having on the santa fe trail, the town's trail, and -- the trail, ande taos they decide to form their own trading post. there have been people here for thousands and thousands of years. it's not that pueblo just gets its start when these anglo and european settlers move in and building these trading posts. there are cheyenne and arapahoe

that have been here thousands of years, and they recognize the and havingthe place two large bodies of water come together. when the founders of no pueblo trading post filled it, they sort of see the success of other places, and they want to capitalize on that and make money while they still can. the santa fe trail has also its of different kinds of people going from santa fe to st. louis, and they follow these wagon trails and horse trails, and they need places where they can stop, get their supplies, trade to get what they need and be on their way on the trail. at least in colorado, this was the biggest of those trading posts, the very largest where all sorts of goods are being traded between all sorts of people. you have native american tribes, trappers, american and european travelers. spanish-speaking traders coming up from the south.

you have american pioneers and settlers coming from the west. it is almost like a truck stop that people could stop that and get the things they need and continue on their trip to wherever they are going. binns ford is probably to know three times bigger than pueblo.e love -- then l people see the success and want to sort of capitalize on that while they still can. trading posts starts at the tail end of the first trade, so the age of the beaver has passed by the time it comes into fruition. people are still trading firms, but the first trade is sort of on its way out with developments in silk making and will making and things like that. what they continue trading, .hough, are buffalo robes the people that live here would grow corn, and then they could , soe that with the natives

they can grow their own food, bring things up from taos, dried food, whiskey, vegetables, things like that and the natives could bring in things like beer, bison meat, things like that, but the main thing i would say would be traded would be whiskey and buffalo robes. from 1842g post lasts to eight and 54, and ultimately, what happens is there is a of thet between the ute people living at the trading post. the facts of that are much disputed. what we do know is that on christmas day 1854, almost everybody in the trading post had been killed. after that, the trading post is abandoned. people do not live in the trading post. they ultimately get washed away very deep underneath the ground until eventually people do not find it until the late 1980's,

1990's in the archaeology pavilion. the city itself does not start to be inhabited again until the mid to late 1860's when the railroad starts coming in. they realize this is a natural place to get everything you need to make steel. railroad andthe steal industry and coal industry that bring pueblo as a city to where it is today. i think this is a natural place to settle. people still keep coming back to this place because it is a sort of natural place to build a city. >> this weekend, we are featuring the history of pueblo, colorado. you are watching american history tv.

watch live streams of the debate and video on demand of every question and their answers. youre video clips of favorite debate moments to share on social media. not able to watch? listen to the debate live on the c-span radio app. it is free to download from the app store or google play. >> each week until the 2016 election, "road to the white house rewind" brings archival coverage of presidential races. next, the vice presidential debate from the 1992 campaign the candidates, who

discussed the role of vice president and answer questions on abortion, taxes, and the defense budget. billemocratic ticket of clinton and al gore defeated george bush and dan quayle. independent candidate ross perot and his running mate, admiral stockdale, finished third with 19%. is about an hour and a half. >> good evening from atlanta and welcome to the vice presidential debate sponsored by the nonpartisan commission on presidential debates being held here in the theater of the arts on the campus of georgia tech. i'm how bruno from abc news and i will be moderating tonight's debate. the participants are republican vice president dan quayle.