Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1840-11-03
ROCHESTER,.

The flour manufacturing capacities Of
this enterprising city of western New York
are thus glanced at in letter published in
the Commercial Advertiser:
The great business Of Rochester is the
wheat and -four trade. lis position is such
that it affords the natural market for the
wheat growers of tho great " granary Of
New York; and the water power supplied
by the rapids and fall Of the river in the
descent, being about two hundred and sixty
feet within the city limits, gives the place
the advantage over all other localities in the
western region of New York. There is no
other town in the world where there are so
many Touring mills constructed upon so
large q scale, and built with such expense
and solidity. When these mills are all in
motion, as in ordinary good times they usu-
ally are, they are adequate to the daily ma
nufacturc Of five thousand barrels Of flour,
and require daily nearly twenty-five thou
sand bushels Of wheat. Two of these great
Touring mills have visited, and examined
from the wator-wheels to the machinery in
the attic, viz: the mill Of Mr.. Beach, and
that Of Mr.. Harvey Ely. The former is,
] am told, the largest establishment OF the
kind in the United States, having sixteen
run of stones. Mr.. Ey's mill, howevo., |
believe is considered as in all respects ap-
preaching the nearest to perfection of any
of them. The situation is upon the east
bank of the river, q few rods above the
aqueduct. 1t stands upon the edge of the
canal and has nine or twelve run of stones,
| forget which, and the whole edfCe ap-
pears 10 be almost as full of machinery as
the case Of a watch-and this machinery
seems to be of a most complete and perfect
character For instance boat laden with
wheat may be run along side of the mill;
the wheat shoveled into q chain Of ascend
ing buckets and carried through every pro-
cessof cleaning, grinding, cooling, boiling,
and being conveyed into the barrels, into
which il is pressed by machinery, ready
for the cooper, as the last office, to put on
the head. And the wheat is CARED through
all the different processes by being handled
but once. First, it is carried up into the
fifth or topmast loft, where it goes through
one machine to fan ont the remaining chatf.
1t goes through another machine TO be Sc
parated from cheat and cookies; and it is
then carried through another. which clean
ses it Of the smut, if any; it then descends
into the hopper, and being ground it goes
into the bo'ters whence it passes into the
buckets again, and is carried up into the
cooling chambers, into which it is thrown
and spread for cooling. AS it becomes
cool, it is carried out by machinery, and
brought down cool, suporfine flour, and
packed as have before described.
do not know that have given an in
tollgible idea Of the mill, or the process:
and perhaps some of the milIcrs may laugh
at my errors, if | have made any. If so,
let them write better account. under
stand what have written respecting Mr..
Ely's mill, and the others are generally, if
not all constructed upon the same principle
Mr. Ely can turn out for market four hun
dred barrels of flour per day. Beach's es-
adjustment will turn out five hundred; and
TO say nothing of various other manufactu-
ring establishments in different branches,
there are as many Of these massive flour
ing mills as the entire waters OF the Gene
sec, in a dry season can keep in motion.