The Mill Building in 1961
There is limited factual information about the mill so many of the answers to several answers are based on typical situations from the early 20th century.
Where was the mill located? In the early 1800s, James Withrow established a tannery across Jefferson Street from the Andrew Lewis spring that supplied water and near a sinkhole for disposing waste. In 1825, he expanded the tannery by building a 40' x 90' brick building on a limestone block foundation. In 1900, the brick building was torn down and the LM&E building was erected on the old foundation.
What kind of a building was it? The building was a three story frame structure sheathed with corrugated steel that had been painted red. It was often referred to as the “Old Red Mill”.
Why were there three stories? There were several steps to milling flour with the cleaning and sifting taking place on the upper floors. From there, the grain would drop down chutes to roller mills on the first floor.
What types of machines were on each floor? Roller mills were the heaviest machines and were on the first floor. Wheat would pass through 8 rollers to produce fine flour. Sifters, cleaning machines, and dust control machines were on the upper floors. After each rolling, material would be taken to a sifter on an upper floor, then back down to a roller.
How did the material get to an upper floor? Grain elevators were used to move material from a lower floor to an upper floor. The elevator was a canvas belt with cups attached to it. As it rotated through a bin at the foot of the machine, the material was scooped up and carried up to an upper floor where it would dump into a bin above a machine. There would often be a dozen elevators in a mill of this size.
What building materials were used? After the mill burned down in 1961, an estimate was made to rebuild it. Materials included 7,000 lineal feet of 12x12 beams, 900 lineal feet of 8x8 beams, 11,000 lineal feet of 2x6 studs, 8,500 lineal feet of 3x8 joists plus 14,000 feet of oak flooring and 40 double hung windows. Although construction methods were different in 1961, the overall amounts of lumber were probably similar.
Where did the lumber come from? The lumber undoubtedly came from the St. Lawrence Boom and Lumber Company in Ronceverte which at the time was the largest softwood mill in the country. Virgin pine forests along the upper Greenbrier River, Deer Creek, and Knapps Creek were cut during the fall and winter and piled along the stream banks. During the spring flood, there would be a log drive down to the mill at Ronceverte that could saw 110,000 board feet of lumber a day. Sawing lumber for the flour mill would have taken about a half a day. The oak flooring would have come from other local hardwood sawmills.
How long did it take to build the mill? According to the Greenbrier Independent, the old brick tannery building was being torn down on June 7, 1900 and 5 months later, on November 1, the mill was in full operation, producing 50 barrels of flour a day. Its capacity was later increased to 75 barrels a day in 1906.
Did the mill operate 24-7? No, mills typically ran 6 days a week with one day dedicated to routine maintenance such as lubricating line shaft bearings and cleaning the machines. The equipment had to be kept clean to avoid infestations of insects, some having life cycles of only a few weeks. Machines would occasionally break down so the mills would actually operate at about 80% of their advertised capacity. In 1906, the mill capacity was advertised to be 75 barrels per day and operating at 80% capacity, it would produce about 420 barrels of flour a week.
How many people worked there? There would have been 6-8 workers in the mill and 3 or 4 running the power plant each shift. Since a shift would have been 10 - 12 hours, the mill would have employed around 25 people. Many more in the community would have provided supplies to the mill and shipped the 6 tons of flour produced each day to market.
How much does a barrel of flour weigh? A US barrel of flour weighs 196 pounds. That comes from the traditional British weight for a barrel of flour which was 14 stones, with a stone being 14 pounds so a barrel would weigh 14x14 or 196 pounds.
How much flour was produced each week? At 80% of capacity, the weekly production was 420 barrels and would weigh about 40 tons or almost 16 thousand 5 lb bags of flour. The population of Greenbrier county in 1900 was about 20,000 so the mill could produce almost a bag of flour every week for every person in the county. Needless to say, much of the flour was shipped to other markets.
How much wheat was used each week? A bushel of wheat weighs 60 lbs and yields about 40 lbs of flour. Producing 420 barrels of flour weekly would involve milling about 2000 bushels of wheat each week or 110,000 bushels per year.
According to the 1920 Census Bulletin for WV Agriculture, the wheat yield in Greenbrier county was about 12 bushels per acre so on an annual basis, the mill purchased wheat grown on about 9,000 acres. This was roughly 2/3 of the 14,000 acres of wheat planted in Greenbrier county. Another 12,000 acres of wheat were grown in Monroe county.
What's the difference between white flour and whole wheat flour? This illustration of a wheat kernel shows a covering of bran enclosing the endosperm and germ. Nutritionally, bran provides insoluble fiber, B vitamins, and minerals. Germ is the plant seedling and provides healthy fats, E vitamins, and antioxidants while the endosperm consists of proteins and starch. White flour is made by removing the germ and bran, then grinding the endosperm to a fine powder. Whole wheat is healthier because it contains all the nutrients in the entire wheat kernel, but the fats in the germ become rancid after several months at room temperature. Today, white flour is enriched with the minerals and vitamins that are lost when the germ and bran are removed during milling.
How many machines were in the mill? The 1905 Sanborn Fire Map listed 20 machines that were installed in the basement and the three floors of the mill. They are described on the Machine page of this website.
Where did the machines come from? The September 13, 1900 issue of the Greenbrier Independent stated “W. H. Wade, representative of the Salem Mill Works, Salem, Va., is here engaged in putting the machinery in the big mill”. Salem Machine Works produced roller mills, bolting machines, purifiers, bran dusters, packers and cornmeal outfits so it is likely that the mill was outfitted with their machines.
What powered the mill? The mill was powered by an 80hp steam engine with a coal fired boiler. It had a 50' brick chimney that may have been built with bricks from the old tanyard building.
What brand steam engine was used? The Greenbrier Independent reported on August 1, 1901 that “The new engine, which was built at Mansfield, Ohio, arrived here Tuesday”. There were several companies making steam engines in Mansfield in the early 20th century, the largest was the Aultman & Taylor Company although the Mansfield Machine Works was another manufacturer and might have supplied the engine. D. June & Co was another company in Fremont, about 80 miles from Mansfield, that specialized in 2hp to 200hp steam engines for roller mills.