Rice was introduced into South Carolina in 1685 and spread to Georgia and North Carolina. The industry ended in 1911. The production of Carolina rice for market reached its zenith in the antebellum period, made possible by the invention of advanced machines for threshing and milling. Richard Porcher will focus on how he and co-author William Robert Judd used artifacts from the field and archives to diagram how these machines were constructed and operated. Four sources of power were used to drive the threshing and milling machines: manual, animal, water and steam. The evolution of each of these power systems will be outlined.