USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People > Part 39
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Col. Harvey Jones was a typical business man and manufac- turer, close, careful, methodical. He never returned at night until his books were balanced, and was a constant worker. He was a promising and successful business man. He commenced life as a poor boy in a country store and gradually worked him- self up to become a man of affairs. It is related of him that as soon as his brothers had their crops in he would begin trading and buying from them, and generally by harvest time he owned all their crops. He is described as a man of medium height, slim and straight, weighing about 145 pounds, complexion light, hazel eyes with gray hair, his face always shaved. His manners were gentlemanly and he was always courteous in business. His death was a misfortune to Neenah and his estate.
Mr. Jones did not live to complete the improvements, but the administrators of the estate did complete the lock in 1852, and the canal and dam were finished and boats ran through for many years. It was a great event that raised the enthusiasm of the villagers in June, 1856, when the steamer "Aquilla" passed the Neenah locks on her famous trip from Pittsburg, Pennsyl- vania, to Green Bay. She met with an ovation all along the river. The Fox River Improvement Company had purchased the boat in Pittsburg and run her down the Ohio river, then up the Mississippi river, then up the Wisconsin river and through the Portage canal into the Fox river, then down the river through Princeton, Berlin, Omro to Oshkosh and over Lake Win- nebago to Neenah, where she passed the river, canal and locks into Little Lake Butte des Morts on her celebrated trip to Green
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THE LOCK, CANAL AND DAM.
Bay. "When that boat passed through Neenah it was a day of great rejoicing throughout the Fox river valley. Guns were fired, flags were hoisted, speeches made and uproarious rejoicings were indulged in at every landing. That was a great day for the Fox river valley."
The "Oshkosh Courier" announces, June 11, 1856: "The work on the lower Fox river has been completed. The 'Ajax' and 'Pioneer' have passed through the locks and canal from below Appleton. The steamer 'Aquilla' has for some weeks made regular trips between Oshkosh and Appleton through the locks and channels at Neenah. It is hardly possible to estimate the importance to Oshkosh of the completion and successful opera- tion of this great enterprise." Many boats passed the channels and pioneer Neenah participated in the economy of transporta- tion incident to navigation over the great water route. The coming of the railroads in 1863, requiring expensive swing bridges over the canals and the lake, discouraged the boat channel until at a very early day the navigation through the town yielded to the greater benefit of railways and steamboats ceased to run in 1863, as solid bridges were made to span the channels of ac- cess through Neenah.
Four sluiceways were made into the end of the dam in 1881. and the dam and water power came into control of the Neenah Water Power Company in 1890, composed of the users of hy- draulic power on both races, and the same company controls the power at Menasha, bringing the ownership and control of the power of both channels under one control, as it should have remained from the beginning. The council tree point was cut away by the Government in 1890. No freight is now handled by boat at Neenah. The natural channel above the dam, im- proved by dredging, is extensively used in the summer months by pleasure yachts, operated by sail or run by steam. naphtha and gasoline. The finest of these yachts is the "Cambria," Capt. John Stevens, and "Tia Juana," Commodore William M. Gilbert.
In olden days the people of Neenah entered the competition in steamboating. The second steamboat on Lake Winnebago, the "Peytonia," a famous boat, was built at Neenah. The "Jenny Lind" was the next boat constructed there; then the "Van Ness Barlow." built on the lower lake, and the first boat to pass the Neenah lock in 1852. The experience of the "St. Paul." built to sell to the Government during the war, was the last of the early day experiences at boat building.
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XXXI.
WHEN NEENAH WAS KNOWN AS THE "FLOUR CITY."
Among the very earliest. of the manufacturing enterprises in Neenah was the making of flour, and at one time there were eleven mills operated at the same time, its product for a number of years mounting into many millions of value. It was recog- nized as among the leading flour mill centers. The original flour mill built by the government with its one run of stone, re- paired and operated under lease of Harrison Reed and then by Harvey Jones, had by 1854 been taken over by Mr. John R. Davis, who improved and operated it until it was burned in 1874 and it gave place to the Winnebago Paper Mill.
The next flour mill erected and the first by private enterprise, long known as the Neenah Flouring Mill, was built by John R. and Harvey L. Kimberly in 1850. The timber was hewn oak cut on the north shore of Lake Winnebago and hauled to the site over the ice. The machinery came from a mill in Rensselaer county, New York, shipped by lake to Green Bay and up river in Durham boats, polled and towed by hand and lines against the current, unloading at the portages, the cargo carried and rolled around the rapids. Mr. H. A. Burts was the millwright and Mr. S. G. Burdick head miller. J. and H. Kimberly operated this mill for fifteen years, becoming closely identified with milling in the West. It is related that their flour sacks were very numer- ous, and a mother, having made some trousers out of them for her young hopeful, he walked the streets displaying in a promi- nent part of his person the well-known printed legend, "Kim- berly's Best." When the partnership was dissolved Mr. Harvey L. Kimberly took the mill. It was once leased to Oborn & Stevens, and again the firm was Kimberly, Kurtz & Co .. and afterward Mr. Harvey L. Kimberly operated it alone until it passed into the control of his son, Daniel Lucius Kimberly. by whom it was conducted until about 1883. The property was taken over by William Davis and in 1903 was nearly destroyed by fire, in which condition it remains, the oldest building on the water power.
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NEENAH AS THE "FLOUR CITY."
Mr. Harvey L. Kimberly arrived in the settlement in June, 1848, and made an agreement with Mr. Jones, which gave him the privilege of purchasing two lots in each block of the plat of Winnebago Rapids. Mr. Kimberly then returned to his home in New Haven, Connecticut, and at once made arrangements ac- cordingly. Forming a partnership with his brother, John R. Kimberly, then a resident of Troy, New York, their native place, and leaving their families behind, they arrived at Neenah in September, having shipped a stock of merchandise from Buffalo to Green Bay by schooner, which they chartered in connection with Jones & Yale for that purpose. On reaching Neenah they then announced- their readiness to fulfill their agreement with Jones and carry out their business intentions, but here a diffi- culty arose. Whenever they made a selection of any lots they were either disposed of or reserved. At last, unable to obtain suitable lots for their purpose, they began to talk of accepting some very favorable offers proposed by Reed at Menasha, which soon produced its effect, and they were permitted to make their own selection for building a residence, a store and mill. It now became necessary for one of them to go to Green Bay to forward their goods shipped from Buffalo. Jones & Yale were also ex- pecting the arrival of their goods at the bay. H. L. Kimberly and L. H. Jones accordingly started on horseback over the trail, a mere bridle path. Mr. Jones being obliged to return home im- mediately, Mr. Kimberly remained to look after the interest of both in the coming freight. At the end of a week's delay, the necessary arrangements completed, Mr. Kimberly set out on his return, accompanied by H. L. Blood, then proprietor of the Astor 'House at the Bay, bound for Grand Chute. Arriving at the present site of Appleton, they found John F. Johnston living in a board shanty, the only resident of the place. This being the point of Mr. Blood's destination and unable to find lodging for both, Mr. Kimberly was advised and, in fact, compelled to push on a mile and a half to a Mr. Murch's, near Lehman's Landing. Scarcely had he resumed his way when the sky became overcast and he found himself in almost total darkness, obliged to depend entirely upon the instinct of his horse, which at last brought him to a barway at the roadside. Opening this and unable to see anything, he again seated himself in the saddle with unlimited confidence in his four-footed companion and soon found himself at the house, where he was informed that they had no accommo- dation for man or beast, but pointing to a light at Mr. Craft's,
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
some half a mile across the field, he could probably find what he was in search of there. Making his way toward the light, he met with no better success, but was advised to make another effort at Murch's. Retracing his steps, he this time found Murch, who granted his request and entertained him with perfect pioneer hospitality.
On arrival of the goods they were displayed in a building erected for the purpose that year by Benjamin Paddock, who occupied the upper story as a residence, situated across the street from the present library building and which may be seen at the present time.
At that time what we now call the "upper end of town" was supposed to be the site of the business center of the future city, and the four corners near the present track of the Chicago & Northwestern railroad was considered the four most desirable corners in the entire plat. J. & H. Kimberly were exceedingly anxious to secure a building lot at or near these corners, and urged Harvey Jones to sell them such lots as they wished, but Mr. Jones, not wishing to dispose of the most eligible locations, refused and would offer them nothing with which they were satisfied. Finally the Kimberlys began to cast about and thought that they might perhaps do better elsewhere, and they had at that time a most favorable opinion of Depere, which location they had seen while coming up the river. Mr. Curtis Reed. of Menasha, just then interested in securing settlers and particu- larly business energy and experience as well as capital, made the Kimberly Brothers exceedingly favorable offers, all of which, becoming known to Mr. Jones and he seeing that they were de- termined to have what they wanted or nothing, finally concluded to give them choice of lots, and arrangements were soon per- feeted securing a location on which they shortly afterward built a brick store. still standing, and residence lots as well. The large white house, still standing, and one-half of it now occupied by .J. A. Kimberly, Jr., was erected in 1849 and was then and for some years the finest house in the county and the admiration of all the early comers and still is a venerable colonial home. The brick store at the time of its building was a very fine store and for many years was the leading store of the town. In 1857 this store was taken over by Mr. J. Alfred Kimberly, son of John R. and Mr. Havilah Babcock, who formed the partnership of Kimberly & Babcock and continued the business in the brick
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NEENAH AS THE "FLOUR CITY."
store until the winter of 1863, when they moved into the Petti- bone block, on the corner of Wisconsin and Cedar streets.
Mr. Harvey L. Kimberly was born in Troy, New York, July, 1811. After his visit to Neenah he brought his family the follow- ing year and made it his permanent home, engaging in mercan- tile business and the flour mill enterprise with his brother, John R., as described above. Harvey L. Kimberly was married at New Haven, Connecticut, to Mabel Ann Hoadley. She died in Neenah, leaving two sons-Daniel Lucius and Augustus. Mr. D. L. Kim- berly was born in New Haven, May 16, 1841, and came to Neenah with his parents, where he died in 1901. He had engaged in the drug business in 1861, which he continued to 1874, and re-entered in 1881 with Fred Elwers, the old firm being long known as Kim- berly & Elwers. He became interested in the old Neenah mill, as mentioned above, in 1865. He was married in 1878 to Miss Frances J. Hewitt, of Menasha. Mr. Kimberly had been mayor, alderman, treasurer and held other offices. The Neenah mill as operated in his time is described in 1881 as having a capacity of 175 barrels of flour per day, containing five sets of corrugated rolls, three sets smooth rolls and three run of stone.
Mr. John R. Kimberly, who came to Neenah with his brother, was born in Troy, New York, January 1, 1801. At the age of fifteen he learned the carpenter trade with his father, Hazard Kimberly, and engaged in contracting and building, buying and selling lots and houses. He came to Neenah with $15,000 and engaged in mercantile and milling, as mentioned above, making great success by his untiring energy and close attention to details. He built with others the Reliance Flour Mills in 1868, his last milling venture. Mr. John R. Kimberly was married November 3, 1828, at Rochester, to Miss Aurelia Aldrich, born March 8, 1802, in Wrentham, Massachusetts. There were five daughters and one son born to them-Eliza R., Mary A., the wife of the late Judge J. B. Hamilton; Delia F., Susan A., S. Emma and J. Alfred Kimberly, so long known in the business life of Neenah.
The next mill erected was the long time Winnebago mill, lo- cated on Cedar street just at the end of the river bridge. It was erected by Edward Smith and H. Wheeler in 1852. While build- ing Mr. Hugh Sherry was interested in the plan, but sold out before the mill was finished and erected the Fox river mills. Edward Smith retained his ownership from the beginning, and Mr. John Proctor became his partner in 1857, the firm known
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
so long as Smith & Proctor. It was a large frame building. Mr. Wheeler was a millwright and planned the mill, and Mr. Hugh Sherry, being a miller, was to run the mill. Smith & Proctor ran this mill for nearly forty years, when the property passed to Kimberly, Clark & Co., and the mill was removed to give room for the Badger Paper Mill.
Mr. John Proctor, so long identified with the milling industry of Neenah, was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, March 30. 1818, came to Neenah in 1857. He was once a member of the legisla- ture. Mr. Edward Smith, who first engaged in mercantile pur- suits in Neenah in 1850, was all his life closely identified with its business, financial and civic affairs. He was the first and second mayor and a stockholder and incorporator of the First National Bank, and a stockholder in the first paper mill. His death occurred in 1890 when 68 years of age.
The Fox River Flour Mill was built in 1856 by Hugh Sherry, the father of Henry Sherry, who had been connected with the old Government mill after he came to Neenah in 1849 and was one of the originators of the Winnebago Flour Mill, himself a practical miller. The mill was subsequently sold to William E. and J. R. Ford, who operated it until sold to Kimberly, Clark & Co., on the site of which they erected the Globe Paper Mill, which is still in operation.
Eben and John Welch built a sash factory on the east side of Cedar street, and in 1868 A. W. Patten converted it into a flour mill and sold it in 1877 to Howard & Davis. This mill was controlled and operated by Mr. Charles B. Howard and Mr. John R. Davis, Jr. Mr. Howard became sole owner and on the decline of milling traded the machinery for a farm and sold the land and water right to Kimberly, Clark & Co .. then went over to Menasha and built a paper mill. Mr. Davis established the large lumber interests at Phillips. .
Mr. C. O. Page and brother built a planing mill, occupied by E. F. Wickert, which was several years used as a flour mill. The Cronkhite & Burdick flour mill in the Lajest building was in- stalled in 1854.
The brick or Atlantic mill, located on the upper race, was commenced by Mr. J. Mills in 1856 and before completion the next year E. W. Peet became interested in it. when it was finished and run several years by Mills & Peet. Burdick & Clements leased the mill in 1861 and ran it one year. Then Clement & Sherry ran it two years until 1864, when Clement &
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NEENAH AS THE "FLOUR CITY."
Stevens began their successful career in this mill. This was J. L. Clements and John Stevens, the inventor of the roller mill. They first leased the mill, then purchased it.
The stone mill adjoining was erected and completed about the same time as the brick mill by James Smith. S. H. Lisk became interested in this mill and the mill was operated under Smith & Lisk. This mill had many leases and owners. First it was leased to Lisk & Patten; then Oborn & Stevens; next Lisk & Porter; then L. C. Porter; then Porter & Olmstead; then O. L. & L. O. Olmstead, and in 1873 was purchased by the firm of Clement & Stevens, then owner of the brick mill, and the brick and stone mills were then combined into the Falcon Mills, the most ex- tensive milling concern in Neenah, with eight run of stone before changing over to the rolls. This was the first mill in the world to operate the corrugated rolls, now the universal milling prac- tice over all the civilized world. The Stevens corrugated rolls were invented and set up in this mill. Mr. Stevens was a prac- tical miller. Some of the millers who had charge of the work in this mill were James Jones, W. T. Patterson and W. W. Patter- son. This mill was the first in Neenah to enjoy a railroad siding, having secured a side track six years before it was extended to other mills. The mills are now replaced by the paper mill of the Neenah Paper Company, an extension of the original Patten Paper Company's mill. Mr. J. L. Clement became a large fur- niture dealer in Milwaukee, and died in January, 1908.
The Reliance Flour Mill of J. A. Kimberly & Co. was a stone structure of original design, erected in 1868 by John R. Kimberly & Co., the firm including Mr. J. Alfred Kimberly and Mr. Havilah Babcock. It was run for ten years by this firm, when Mr. John R. Kimberly transferred his interest in April, 1877, to the partners. The mill was installed by II. A. Burts, millwright, and was forty by seventy-five feet and four stories high. It had six run of stone in the buhr stone days of milling. Some of its millers were James Martin, C. Kurtz, E. Evens and Will Kurtz. The mill was dismantled a few years ago and made into a part of the Badger Paper Mill of Kimberly, Clark & Co.
Mr. A. W. Patten purchased the Page building and substituted flour mill machinery, which he run for several years as the Key- stone Mill and then sold to A. D. Gustavus, and it was subse- quently remodeled into a planing mill.
The Island City Mills, built in 1867 by Carl Striddie and A. H. F. Krueger, is the only flour mill of all that long list of splendid
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enterprises remaining in business in Neenah. Mr. Striddie died in 1877, after which the mill was operated by Mr. Krueger and J. R. Davis, Jr. Later it was organized into a stock company, and after the death of Mr. Krueger in 1906 it has been under the sole management of Mr. E. F. Lachman, who is also president of the Wisconsin Millers' Association. The building is stone and originally thirty-four by sixty feet, but has an addition in the rear. Mr. John Jamison, an old time millwright, had charge of its building. Mr. Krueger was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, 1823, and located on a farm in Clayton until he built this mill. He was nearly all his life while in the city retained in office either as county supervisor, mayor, alderman or other civic office, and was once an assemblyman. The mill is equipped with the roller system and improved machinery with capacity of 200 bar- rels. The stave making and flour-barrel making industry, which accompany the production of flour, was several times attempted in Neenah and carried on successfully by Mr. Theodore Brown, who commenced in 1866, doing a large business as long as the milling was extensive. The site of the factory on Wisconsin street is now occupied by residences and all trace of the enter- prise has disappeared.
Wolf, Walker & Co. built a flour mill in 1879 on the site of the Sherry sawmill. This was the last flour mill to be built in Neenah, but it was abandoned after several years.
XXXII.
THE INVENTION OF THE ROLLER FLOUR MILL.
Wheat, the king of cereals, forms the principal source of the food of the race. The milling of wheat into flour is among the earliest industrial activities of men. It remained for a citizen of Neenah to make the greatest improvement in milling or the grinding of wheat and in the flour product, and in the reduction of cost, that had been brought about in all the history of the world. It is also to the honor of our county that the invention which is outlined in this paper must take rank with the greatest inventions and discoveries of all time.
Methods of milling up to about thirty years ago were approxi- mately but refinements of the earliest primitive uses, a short review of which will best aid us to understand this invention. Mr. J. P. Schumacher, of Green Bay, has in his collection a log cut two feet long with a deep cavity worked into one end of it into which reposes a long pestle with a rounded head. This was used by the Menominee Indians to pound their corn in primitive days and wheat after white contact into a meal. On the Fox river bank at Neenah, on Doty island near the Governor Doty loggery, there is a green stone boulder with a slight polished cavity which was used by the Winnebago for the same purpose.
Similar artifacts have been recovered from the ancient lake dwellings in Switzerland, such as a rounded stone the size of the hand fitting a cavity made into another stone between which the wheat was pulverized. By fitting the upper stone for rotation the original primitive mill called the quern would be formed. In primitive times the preparation of the meal or flour was part of the domestic duties in times as remote as Abraham, as Sarah was asked to "make ready quickly three measures of fine meal." This also displays an early distinction in the product. Similar primitive milling devices are described by Livingston in Africa and exist in India to this day. In Deuteronomy it is laid down "That no man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge, for he taketh the man's life to pledge." Among the Hebrews and Romans the women made both the flour and the
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
bread. It was not until 173 years before Christ that the first baker introduced the craft, and the first male baker was his own miller. Larger stones were introduced and horse power, then water power made to rotate one on the other. A pair of Roman millstones were found in Adel, in Yorkshire. In very early times in England the maid was the miller as well as baker, as King Ethelbert made a penalty for "any man who should corrupt the King's grinding maid." Sir Walter Scott has described the primitive water mills for Scotland, and Dr. Johnson mentions in his travels the crude water mills and that when they were far away the housewife ground their oats with the quern or hand- mill, which he describes. It was a toy mill consisting of a stone with a cavity into which fitted another stone, having a hole in the center through which the kernels of corn passed between the stones and a handle with which to rotate the upper stone. The lower stone had a spout below through which the meal fell to a basin.
Improvement in the art and increased demand brought out in very early times the millstone, or buhr stone as known for hun- dreds of years in milling practice. The best stone was found in France and made up of rubble blocks into a round wheel fifty inches in diameter and one foot thick, bound together with iron tires, dressed flat on one side and then dressed or grooved so that when one is rotated on the other the picked or grooved lines will act on the grain run through them like a pair of scissors, "and thus the effect of the stone on the grain is at once cutting, squeezing and crushing." As the kernel of wheat is composed of five parts with several hard and cellular coats and the germ, much of which is not wanted in the flour, this method of crushing and pulverizing all into a mixed mass of fine particles made it next to impossible to refine or separate a good grade of flour from the mixture of bran, middlings, dust and germ. In Hun- gary, the great milling center of the continent, they made black bread. There was a tax laid on each run of stone and the de- mand increasing, rather than add more run of stone they devised a cutting machine to aid the stone. It was a set of wooden or iron rolls having their faces fitted with numerous sharp teeth or knives through which the grain was passed, cutting it into shreds, which was then run through between the millstone and ground to powder, greatly increasing the product of the stones and saving the payment of the tax. This was a wheat sawmill used to aid the stone. the only roller mill devised in Hungary,
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