New-York tribune., 1874-08-14
MINNESOTA INDUSTRIES.

OF THE RESOURCES OF THE sTATE-THE GREAT
BUSINESS HOUSES OF ST. PAUIs-EXTENT OF THE
LUMBER TR,DE-A LAND RING IN HE WAY.
[FRoM THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE ]
ST. PAUL Mimi, Aug. 4-The rapidity with which
cities and towns have been built in the Northwest
during the past % years aud the almost magical
transformation of frontier trading posts INTO great
commercial and manufacturing centors are among
the greatest wonders of the century. Passing Dy
Chicago, uuapproachabe in her prosperity ana III
her misfortune and whose example the younger
towns of the West have followed at more than
respectful distance the enterprise and consequent
deyeiopment Of Minnesota and especiaiiy VI
its leading cities and villages have astonsheu INC
more than anything else have seen during TWO
long tours last year and this. ST. Paul, with pop
ulatlon approaching $4,000, and a trade so healthy
and vigorous that it hardly felt the shock OF last
years panic Minneapolis, following close upon the
heels of st. Paul in respect to population, ana last
asserting its positon as one of the most important
manufacturing cities of the West Wlnona ship
ping more wheat than any other town on the Mis-
sissippi River north of st. Louis; Mankato, with
its varied industries and the local trade of large
and exceptionally rich agricultural district; !;
Duluth with its steady growth and increasing COM
merce in spite of Proctor Knott's ridicue and the
misfortunes of the Northern Pacific Railroad-each
and every is a marvel, not only for what 1t now
is but for what ii promises to become In the future
ST. PAUL AS A COMMERCIAL CENTER
During my stay in ST. Paul have been invited to
visit of the leading business houses OF the city,
and have been astonished no less at the magnitude
of the trade here carried on than at the facilities
which ST. Paul merchants have for the handling of
goods The sales of one large grocery firm are counted
by the millions annually Fronting on Third-st"
the principal business thOroughfIre of the city, the
basement of the store opens in the rear upon side
track connected with al the railroads that center at
St Paul, and only few rods from the steamboat
landing on the levee Steam elevators make every
floor of the large building easily accessible, and the
stock of goods taken in III the FAN for the Winter
trade is probably as large as will be found at any
time of the wear in many of the largest grocery
houses in New-YOTk. The sales of the leading
dry goods and notions house in St Paul last
year amounted to almost S2,qOOOO, while
those of this year, notwithstanding the hard
times. will reach $25DOOOO. These examples
will probably convey TO Eastern readers, not fam
ihar with the facts better idea of the actual COM
mcrcial Importance of this city than any statistics
that might with great labor compile. Business in
st. Paul is quiet this Summer but there is no lack
of money. The partial stagnation is due rather to
the generally unsettled state of affairs throughout
the country than TO the want of means.
The two leading industries Of Minneapolis are the
manufacture of flour and lumber The present ca
pacty of the Touring mills of that city about 1900
barrels and the foundations for several new mills
already laid. The manufacture of flour has re-
ceved impetus within the past two years
which has caused many to predict the grind
ing OF the greater part of the wheat of
Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Northern Iowa, into
flour at very distant day. near the fields where it
grows refer TO the invention of the "mddlings
purifier used now in nearly all the mills of the
State by which not only is the amount of flour made
from buShe of wheat increased. but its quality
improved SO that now the best Minnesota flour
mands a better price in the Eastern markets than
the best brands of ST. Louis flour manufactured from
No.l white Winter wheat Oneof the first mills in the
country to adopt this invention was the largest
one in this cty-the Washbun mill. 1t is using
forty run of stone, and purifes and grinds all its
middlinCs. EX-(iOv WashbuTn Of Wisconsin, who
is interested in this MILL told year that this
invention at that time added dollar TO the value of
every barrel of -four made. The machine which has
TevOlutiOnzed the flour trade rs very simple one.
The wheat is first ground in the ordinary way and
the flour separated from the middngs The former
is what has heretofore been known the best brand
of flour. The middlngs which consist of the harder
portions of the wheat broken, and mixed with the
hIan. if ground again without being purified pro-
duces only a very inferior kind of flour, and a large
portion Of them could not be used except for feed.
1t has long been known that these middlings con-
taned the whiteSt and most nutritious portion of
the wheat, If IT could only be separated from the
bran; but every attempt to accomplish this failed;
any boiling cloth that would allow the middlmgs 10
pass through allowed the bran 10 60 also, and rice
rerSd. Now the middlings first divided into two
more portions, according 10 their fneness;
this has been found necessary in order to prevent
the blowing away of the finer portions when sub
mitted TO Purifying blast strong enough to remove
thebran from the cOarser parts. The middllngs are
then dropped upon a shaker or bOltng-clOth, and
blast the power of which is regulated for each
grade is forced upward through the cloth. The
b-an. which is the lighter is thus raised above the
surface of the cloth and finally carried away while
the purified middlngs sift through. Such small
quantities of the bran as do 20 through the cloth
are held by the blast its under side and autOmati
caIly brushed off by an attachment of the machine
invented for that purpose. The purified middlings,
when ground in the ordinary way, make the whtest
and best flour known.
A recent test made in one Of the largest hotels IN
Boston proved that Minnesota flour manufactured
from the middlings by this process not only made
better bread than the best brand of ST. Louis -four
but that barrel OF il produced 10 pounds more OF
bread than an equal quantity OF the latter he
mddlings from Winter wheat it has been found,
produce only inferior quality of -four not as good
in fact as that which results from the first grinding,
so that the new process valuable only in the north
ern latitudes where Spring wheat rs raised. It's
also claimed by the milers here that the dry air OF
Minnesota is more favorable for the manufacture of
the very finest quality OF -four than the moister
climate of the East New mills now being built
in MINNEAPOLIS, in and near WinOna and at many
other points in this State.