The Buffalo News from Buffalo, New York • 43

Sunday ebruary 24 1980 The Bltfuo News HW aM tiTMUB tMB DHfl9VH sSBwtaJL 1 j'dHi rsZKa mmRVK1 ggk 9 W1 ZrgjESrL V' CRAMER INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES INC ABRASIVES CUTTING TOOLS ASTENERS GRINDING LUIDS JANITORIAL SUPPLIES HANDTOOLS MRO SUPPLIES POWERTOOLS PRECISION TOOLS INDUSTRIAL MACHINERY MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENT 26 WEBSTER STREET NORTH TONAWANDA 14120 695 3600 ESTABLISHED 1900 WHERE WOULD YOU IND A GREAT SUPPLIER STEEL MACHINERY AND INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES? RIGHT IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD! Grain Elevators Took City to the Top THE RONTIER MILLS IRST WERE EVIDENT IN EARLY SKETCHES i J'f 10 Ric Products Corporation country companies like Inter national Milling Co Russell Miller Milling Co Pillsbury Co Hecker Jones Jewell Mill ing Co and others all built big new mills in Buffalo during the 1920s LOUR milling industry was a small time local business when it started the flour industry grew with the canal and Buffalo quickly became a major trans fer point where grain was moved from lake ship to canal boat or storage bins This transfer work was first done by gangs of immigrant workers who carried grain in baskets on their backs As the grain traffic increased it went from 500000 to 2 mil lion bushels between 1836 and 1841 some of the deep think ers of the day tried to come up with ways to unload ships faster One entrepreneur Mahlon Kingman developed a horse powered to lift the grain out of the holds but it didn't work well He told his friends "Irish men's backs are the cheapest elevators ever Enos and Sanderson Io PO Box 277 Buffalo NY 14240 Phone 716 876 2370 MILITARY ROAD AT THE YOUNGMANN SERVING INDUSTRY SINCE W95 milling industry today centers on six plants all owned by companies headquar tered in either Minneapolis or Kansas City Mo General Mills Inc of Min neapolis operates a mill at a4 South Michigan Ave It dates back to a 1903 facility built by Washburn Crosby Co Inc In 1928 Washbum Crosby and several other companies merg ed to form General Mills Another Minneapolis firm Pillsbury Co owns the mill al 250 Ganson St It was built in 1922 and was the larg est flour mill until hit by a fir in 1972 It was rebuilt and remodeled on a smaller scale after the blaze BUALO WAS blessed by geography as easternmost port on the Great Lakes That loca tion plus inventions such as the grain elevator the steel milling roller and the large lake bulk carrier ships combined to Buffalo's advantage As the West became more and more productive flour mill ing centers sprang up in places like Toledo Chicago St Louis and Minneapolis where grain was milled into flour and ship ped to the big markets of the East By the time the 20th Century came around it became obvi ous that the most efficient way to do things was to ship the wheat to Buffalo by boat mill it into flour and then send the packaged flour to markets fur ther east by train or canal barge By 1926 Buffalo's grain and Yes indeed right here on Military Road at The Youngmann you'll find hot rolled bars plates structurals sheets and cold finished bars Also we carry expanded metal grating threaded rod rebars and mesh drill rod and shim stock By ROBERT SUMMERS One of oldest indus i tries the milling of grain into flour has been a backbone of the Buffalo economy for the past century and more Early records are sketchy but it appears that flour mills have been grinding it out since about 1825 the year the Erie Canal opened and population stood at 2412 Citizens The first flour mills were small affairs with mill stones powered by waterwheels They sprang up along the canal near erry and Amherst streets The names of the first mills and their owners have dimmed with time Old' newspaper ac counts say one of the first flour mills was called the "rontier and was owned by Ste phen Howells Other early mills included the owned by a Mr Enos the Black Rock Mill the Erie Mills the Queen City Mill and the CW Evans Mill BY THE 1930s Buffalo sur passed Minneapolis as the flour milling center of the country The opening of the St Law rence Seaway in 1958 led to the decline of Buffalo as a grain transfer center but the flour milling industry stayed Buffalo still mills more flour than any other city with some 12 million tons of wheat flour produced here each year But in the past several decades changes within the flour indus try have threatened position Today more and more flour mills are being built in other areas such as Martins Creek Pa and Albany Changes in railroad rate structures are making it more economical to mill flour in the Midwest and ship it to market by train The growth of the large markets in the South and West have also lessened role as flour maker to the nation At our Machinery Center you will find shears saws drill presses Iron crafters for punching and notching Roll formers press brakes hoists we have it all We can put productive power in your shop large or small Then in our Industrial Department you will find over 10000 items from tools abrasives and fasteners to chain wire rope slings hydraulic tools cutting tools ladders shovels nails and you name it Just call us we'll do the rest THE MAN AND HIS MARVEL The face of the Buffalo Water more quickly than men could do it by hand His invention the front was changed forever in 1841 when Buffalonian Joseph Dart modern grain elevator right helped Buffalo on its way to left invented a to unload grain from ships becoming the grain milling center of the world LEWIS ALLEN and a Mr Lord equipped a Black Rock mill with a water powered lift ing device that worked to some degree So there it is! Since 1895 has been the leading supplier of STEEL MACHINERY AND INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES We are located on ten acres Military Road at the Youngmann acres of free parking right in your own backyard But it was not until Joseph Dart: came along that the Buffalo grain and flour industry really took a giant leap forward In 1841 Dart using principles earlier developed for flour mills in Delaware invented what essentially was a series of con veyor belts connected to a steam engine The first grain elevator was bom Dart called it a ap paratus consisting merely of a series of buckets attached to a leather or canvas and rubber belt revolving upon pulleys" But it was the device that would eventually turn Buffalo into a grain and flour capital Big grain storehouses and big flour mills sprang up all over the Buffalo waterfront not only in Black Rock but on Buffalo Creek (now the Buffalo River) By 1865 Buffalo had 29 grain flour industry had grown in elevators which could store a spectacular fashion The major total of 6 million bushels flour milling companies in the INTERNATIONAL Miillifoods Corp of Minneapolis owns a mill at 120 Childs St II ws built in 1927 when the company was called International Milling Peavey Co is close by at 87 Childs St The facility was built in 1924 by Russell Miller Milling Co which was acquired by Peavey of Minneapolis in 1954 Seaboard Allied Milling Corp of Kansas City operates the for mer George Urban Milling Co mill at 200 Urban St Seaboard purchased the facility in 1965 Another Kansas Cily firm Standard Milling Co operates at 503 Seneca St This mill was part of the old Hecker Jones Je well Milling Co which Stand ard acquired in 1932 I buyers and specifiers as it did over 131 years ago Buffalo based since 1902 A To PI nee NEWS WANT ADS Jus! Pick Ip Your Phone and DIAL 856 5555 4 i A We're hangingour hat in Buffalo Because we believe Buffalo is a great place to do business It's the headquarters of our growing international operations The site of our new corporate office build ing And the base from which we'll be expanding and developing in the years to come We're commited to growth To inno vation in our industry And to Buffalo and the Niagara rontier The Pratt Lambert mark of excellence Ever since 1849 Pratt 8 Lambert paint has been regarded as a quality leader by both the consumer and professional alike Today the Pratt fk Lambert identification on a label continues to signal the same assurance of 7 a ta i 7 AC Im 4 I i A jit I.