THE MILLING OF WHEAT 279 



purchase enough of No. 1 hard wheat to make 1.5 barrels of 

 flour. In some places in Minnesota only one-eighth, the legal 

 toll, was taken, and the amount taken varied from this to one- 

 third at Minneapolis. It was stated that 700 years ago the 

 English miller with his small toll made several times the profit 

 that the Minneapolis mills made in 1891. 



Geographical Location and Extent of Milling Industry. The 

 first development of the milling industry in the United States 

 was in New York and in Pennsylvania. These states exported 

 flour to the other colonies and to the West Indies. They long 

 held first rank, and still mill large quantities of wheat, having 

 held fifth and seventh places respectively among the flour pro- 

 ducing states of our country in 1900. In the number of es- 

 tablishments and the amount of capital invested, they have 

 always held first rank, at least until after the early nineties. Vir- 

 ginia, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Michigan later as- 

 sumed importance as milling states. Thirty years ago, the flours 

 most sought after in the home and foreign markets were those 

 of St. Louis and the south. St. Louis was thsn much the 

 largest flour-making center of the United States. The im- 

 provements in milling processes changed the whole situation, 

 for the best flour was now made from spring wheat. In the 

 great rush to obtain Minnesota flours, St. Louis and southern 

 flours were for the time forgotten. The first Minnesota mill 

 was erected in 1823. The development of the milling industry 

 in Minneapolis was most remarkable and rapid, chiefly by rea- 

 son of the cheap water power obtainable from the falls of the 

 Mississippi river. Other factors were the nearness of the 

 wheat fields and the subsequent improvements in the art of 

 milling. Before 1860, the annual output of the Minneapolis 

 mills. was about 60,000 barrels. This increased to 98,000 barrels 

 in 1865, 193,000 in 1870, 585,000 in 1873, and over 1,000,000 in 

 1876. A conflagration then impeded the industry by destroying 

 many mills, and it was not until 1879 that the output again ex- 

 ceeded a million barrels. By the end of the century, the aver- 

 age annual output was approximately 15,000,000 barrels. 



As the milling industry developed, it moved toward the wheat 

 fields. From 1877 to 1888, the receipts of flour at Buffalo were 

 22 per cent of the receipts of both wheat and flour, while from 

 1889 to 1898 they were 42 per cent. As the freight rates per 



