Image:Alex Gus Courrege Blacksmith Shop.jpg

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Alexis Courrege1870 - 1954
Gustave Courrege1894 - 1975















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Blacksmith shop, rice mill will soon be part of history

VINTON -- The 100-year-old Vinton Blacksmith Shop and Rice Mill, now owned by A.J. Monceaux, is being demolished.

Monceaux said time and the elements have rotted the building and made it dangerous.

In its heyday the shop, owned and operated by Alex Courrege in the early 1900s and later by Gus Courrege, was a beehive of activity.

Embers in an old blacksmiths forge in the southeast corner of the building glowed by day and sometimes by night as the Courreges worked over the years to keep area farmers horses shod their wagons rolling and plow points sharped.

Area ranchers also had their cattle brands fashioned at the shop and to test the finished product the Courreges took to branding the wall in the establishment to keep up with their handiwork and keep a unique file of local brands on hand.

Several brands visible today include those of the Stine Ranch, Gray Ranch and Rucie Moore and Bob Baggett ranches.

In another part of the building the Courreges had a thriving rice mill business that brought in area homemakers wanting their rice hulled and cornmeal ground right there on the spot. 

To take care of the job the Courreges bought an Engleberg Huller, patented in May 1886, that was used to first shake the rice, freeing it from any metal that may have fallen off their farm machinery as the rice was cut.

The clean product was then put into the grinder, where special screens were used to pulverize the grain and out would come the best cornmeal and grits any one could ask for.

I.B. Courrege Jr., who still resides here, said he remembers the shop as a gathering spot where a good cup of coffee could be found to go with some tall tales that were told while the sound of a hammer hitting the anvil could be heard in the background.

He noted that over the years area school children found it interesting to stop by the shop and see what a blacksmith did for a living.

Monceaux said while its sad to lose the establishment he is proud of the fact that the shaker and grinder is still in good shape and has contacted the company to see if there are any parts still available so that he may refurbish the antique.

He said there were a few old tools, indicative of the time, that hes managed to save and will hang on to.

"History was definitely made here and a unique way of life successfully supported the Courrege family for decades," he said.

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  • (del) (cur) 03:06, 11 July 2010 . . Aberksan (Talk | contribs) . . 992×1928 (974,177 bytes) ( Brenda Merchant ==Blacksmith shop, rice mill will soon be part of history== VINTON -- The 100-year-old Vinton Blacksmith Shop and Rice Mill, now owned by A.J. Monceaux, is being demolished. Monceaux said time )

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