These millstones were used to grind wheat and corn into flour. Glendale oral histories say that in 1870 these burrs, as they were called, were brought here from Toquerville, Utah, 100 miles away. Histories of this area report that when James Leithead refounded Glendale in 1872, he brought with him the gristmill machinery he had used on the Muddy River, about 175 miles southwest. The effort required to transport these heavy objects suggests how important they were to hungry settlers.