THE REPUBLICAN

August 10, 1883

 

MILLING MINUTES

Completion of Improvements in the Waupaca City Roller Mills

Three New Set Added.

 

            “Bread is the staff of life”, is an old and trite saying, but the addition of a few “Waupaca County Potatoes” seems to be one of the necessary adjuncts to a good bill of fare.  However, in this article, we will leave the potatoes out and give a description of a model and modern institution that is just ready to commence operations on a grander scale than ever, in transforming the hard cereal into all the best grades of that which enters into the “staff of life” – The Waupaca City Roller Mills.  The foundation of this enterprising institution dates back to 1867 when Wm. Dayton, J. M. Dewey and M. R. Baldwin, built the Waupaca City Mills and removed the machinery from the old mills, (now Woolen Mill) thereto.  In 1870 fire destroyed them and in 1871 the present structure, a good solid frame, three stories high, with basement and cupola was re-built.  The basement is of granite and the main body of the building is brick venired.  Since the above dates Mr. Baldwin has become the sole owner of the property.  Mr. Baldwin is a thorough practical man and no more honest, upright, and good principled citizen can be found in the state.  He is one among others of our enterprising citizens that have exerted their example, money, ambition and influence that makes Waupaca stand today, an A No. 1 town, with a still brighter future prospect before it.  In 1876 Sam T. Oborn, born ad brought up in a mill, came up from Neenah and engaged in this mill.  Having had experience in the improved methods of milling by the patent roller process, he used his influence in that direction and three years ago four set of the Stevens patent rolls were put in the mill, and Mr. Oborn rented a half interest in the property and formed a business co-partnership with Mr. Baldwin.  From the date of putting in these rolls, dates that reputation of the choice brands of flour made by Baldwin & Oborn of the Waupaca City Roller Mills.  So pressing have been the demands of their constantly increasing trade, that the capacity and facilities of the mill have been increased by the addition of three new sets of rollers, making eight set in all.  Besides other repairs and improvements, it has kept Fred Guldager and a force of first class mechanics busy for the past two months.  Sam Oborn has given his personal oversight to all the improvements, and are this issue of the REPUBICAN reaches its readers this machinery capable of producing over a hundred barrels of flour daily, will be in active operation.  A visit to this mill revealed a net work of machinery, wheels, spouts, coolers, bolts, smutters, aspirators, rollers, burs, belts, elevators, middlings purifies, etc., impossible to describe at this time, but we are under many obligations to Messrs. Baldwin & Oborn for their courtesy and explanations while showing us over the mill.  In the basement is the water trunk that receives its supply of Waupaca river water from a twelve foot head, and contains four iron turbine wheels – three of the Brown pattern, and one large Monitor wheel, just put in, to drive the new rolls.  On the first floor is three set of rolls and the other five set are on the second floor.  The patentee of this system is John Stevens of Neenah, who, by the way, is a brother-in-law of Mr. Oborn.  They are manufactured by John T. Noye of Buffalo, N.Y., and are self-automatic feeders.  A hungry man couldn’t feed any better.  Each set performs a different office in crushing or rubbing the flour from the grain or middlings, until after visiting various purifiers, bolts, etc., the “patent” or some other pure brand is bagged ready for the market.  They have been obliged to take out three run of the old stone, but retain two run yet – one for rye and one for feed.  On the 2d floor are 13 bolting reels, most al of which have been re-clothed with the finest of silk bolting cloth.  On the 3d floor is one Smith, one Standard and one large new double Case middlings purifiers, one aspirator and one Victor wheat brush.  The cupola or 4th floor contains a regular spider web of pipes that perform the important office of elevating the grain and middlings and convening it to its proper channels in the various processes of flour manufacture.  The writer cannot leave this subject without a reflection on milling today as compared with the past.  He an look back to childhood days when on a Saturday night he watched, with his sister and brother, through the window pane, the coming of the white clothes up the walk, and the happy greeting of father and his loved ones.  The old red mill, with its overshot wheel and other machinery would contrast strangely with the modern mill above described.  The mill referred to is in Concord, Mich., today the miller – old Uncle David, sleeps in the village cemetery, we doubt not but there’s many a change, also, at the old red mill; since the writer used to occasionally have to be fished out of the flume.  But we must wind up by saying: Baldwin & Oborn’s Roller Mill adds another link to Waupaca’s enterprising business chain, and we believe the $8,000 or $10,000 expended by them will soon be returned to them by an increased demand for their choice grades of flour.  A lit of the working force in this mill is:  M. R. Baldwin, S. T. Oborn, A. F. Bennett, Wallace Baldwin, Andrew Wells.  A spur track should run down the pond bank to accommodate the milling business of Waupaca, and perhaps the Central may see it to their interest some time to building it.