Milling in Pencader Hundred ranged from ancient hand-processing of grain with stones, saddle stones, and mortar and pestle to waterpowered and later engine-assisted mills that served a transportation hub between the Delaware River and the Chesapeake Bay. The Christina River provided the head and flow needed to turn millstones, helping make the area an important milling center. Among its mills were William McConaughy's sawmill on the Christina River in 1833, Andrew Fisher's gristmill near Chestnut Hill Road that the British used in 1777 during the Battle of Cooch's Bridge after millstones were not removed, and several Cooch family mills operated across four generations beginning when Thomas Cooch came to Pencader in 1746 and bought a gristmill and sawmill. After the British burned the Cooch mill in 1777, William Cooch built another mill in 1792, and later the mill known as Dayett Mills became the surviving remnant of this tradition. Alexander Porter, David and Samuel Porter, Adam Dayett, Irvin Dayett, and John Janvier also operated mills in the area, while other local mills included Crawford's Mill, Cooch Sawmill in Glasgow, Clement Sawmill at Lums Pond, and C and D Sawmill at Lums Pond. Dayett Mill, a brick building three and one-half stories high and fifty feet square, was operated by waterpower, remodeled in 1884 to add engines when water was low, damaged by fires in 1916 and 1933, and remained in operation until the 1990's, when it was one of only two operating mills in Delaware. Pencader milling also reflected broader technological change through Oliver Evans's grain-conveying system and steam engine work, Benjamin Henry Latrobe's waterpower designs, and George Washington's practical advice on grain drying, cleaning, crop management, record keeping, and marketing.