The flouring industry is the first manufacture recorded in American annals. The first wheat was brought to this country by Bartholomew Gosnold, and landed at an island in Buzzard's Bay in 1602. The first flour-mill mentioned in American history was the hand-mill, which consisted of two small millstones, one having a handle, rubbed upon the other. Perhaps the most celebrated flouring-mills in the period immediately after the Revolution were those of Delaware, on the Brandywine. Up to 1785 the different milling processes were separate and largely done by hand; but Evans, by the introduction of the elevator, conveyer, and other mechanisms, combined the different steps into a continuous system, dispensing with one half of the labor formerly required, and enabling the miller by machinery alone to take the grain through " from wagon to wagon again."
The first flour mill built in Minnesota was run by the government. The mill was built by soldiers from Fort Snelling in 1823 at St Anthony’s Falls. This was the beginning of the Minnesota wheat and flour industries. The earliest flour mill built with government help in Minnesota was built by Lemuel Bolles in Afton in 1845-1846. Merchant milling in Minnesota made its first substantial beginning in 1854 when Eastman, Rollins & Upton erected a mill on Hennepin Island. The mill was dubbed "The Minnesota" and was the first to ship flour to the eastern markets. As the railroads began linking Minneapolis to the west in the late 1860s the number of Minneapolis flour mills grew rapidly.
When flour was made from the hard spring wheat of the Northern Plains using conventional milling techniques, it was discolored and speckled with particles of husk or bran, and it did not keep well. In addition, conventional mill stones destroyed much of the most nutritious part of the wheat kernel. In 1870, Edmund La Croix of Faribault went to Minneapolis and introduced the middlings purifier into the Washburn B mill which increased the value of Minnesota flour from $1 to $2 per barrel. The middlings purifier resulted in a revolution in the manufacturer of flour. Instead of grinding as much flour as possible on the first grinding, the aim came to grind as little as possible on the first grinding.
As the country grew westward, so went the wheat and flour industries. Soon, one state stood out in the production of flour and that was Minnesota. Minnesota became known as the "Flour Milling Capital of the World." It was said that nature laid the foundation for the milling industry in Minnesota when she filled the soil with a remarkable quality and quantity of food nutrition, and laid out strong a reliable streams for cheap and efficient power. After that it was simply matter of human energy and method.
The first flour mill built in Minnesota was run by the government. The mill was built by soldiers from Fort Snelling in 1823 at St Anthony’s Falls. This was the beginning of the Minnesota wheat and flour industries. The earliest flour mill built with government help in Minnesota was built by Lemuel Bolles in Afton in 1845-1846. Merchant milling in Minnesota made its first substantial beginning in 1854 when Eastman, Rollins & Upton erected a mill on Hennepin Island. The mill was dubbed "The Minnesota" and was the first to ship flour to the eastern markets. As the railroads began linking Minneapolis to the west in the late 1860s the number of Minneapolis flour mills grew rapidly.
Long before Pillsbury added fame to Minnesota, Archibald’s mill in Dundas was the mill millers made trips to see if they could discern Archibald’s secret of Archibald’s flour beating flour. Archibald’s secret lied in the process not the quality of the flour which allowed him to produce whiter and purer flour.
When flour was made from the hard spring wheat of the Northern Plains using conventional milling techniques, it was discolored and speckled with particles of husk or bran, and it did not keep well. In addition, conventional mill stones destroyed much of the most nutritious part of the wheat kernel. In 1870, Edmund La Croix of Faribault went to Minneapolis and introduced the middlings purifier into the Washburn B mill which increased the value of Minnesota flour from $1 to $2 per barrel. The middlings purifier resulted in a revolution in the manufacturer of flour. Instead of grinding as much flour as possible on the first grinding, the aim came to grind as little as possible on the first grinding.
Tremendous consolidation took place within the flour industry between 1880 and 1900, as numerous mergers occurred. In 1876, 17 firms operated 20 mills; in 1890, four large corporations produced almost all of the flour made in Minnesota. By the early 1900s, three corporations based in Minneapolis controlled 97 percent of the nation's flour production. They were Washburn-Crosby Company, which became General Mills; Pillsbury-Washburn Flour Mills Company, which became Pillsbury Flour Mills Company; and Northwestern Consolidated Milling Company, which became the Standard Milling Company. This Minneapolis "Flour Trust" dominated the national flour market until the 1930s.
As consolidation took place, the number of operating mills stabilized at about two dozen, but auxiliary buildings multiplied rapidly. Warehouses, grain elevators, boiler rooms, engine houses, packing facilities, and railroad tracks crowded the land along the river. Over the years, the labor of many men constructed canals, mills, and support buildings. Others unloaded newly arrived grain onto conveyor belts that carried it to the millers, who put it through the rollers and processed it into the final product. Still other workers packed the flour, first into barrels and later into bags. Under brand names like Gold Medal and Pillsbury's Best, the newly packaged flour found its way to markets all over the world.
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