The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-18
SUCCESSFUL CAREER.

SUCCESSFUL CAREER.
Charles Alfred Pillsbury was born at
Warner, Merrimac county New HamD-
shire, Oct. 3, 1912. At the age OF twenty
one he graduated from Dartmouth col
lege, having diversified his collegiate
studies with teaching as a means OF par
tiaI seif-support. He went to Montreal,
where for six Yeas he was engaged in
mercantile pursuits, most of the time as
clerk. Sept r. 1885, he married Miss
Mary a. StinsOn, of GoffstOwn, n. H.,
who was a daughter of Capt Charles
Stinson. Mrs. Pillsbury and twin sons,
c. S. and John S., about twenty-one
years of age, survive him.
Three years later he came to Mime
apOlis, and soon afterwards bought an in
terest in a flour mill at St. Anthony Fails.
At that time there We're four or five
mills in Minneapolis, but they were of
the old-fashioned sort, using buhr stones
for reducing the grain. He applied him
self diligently to learn the details of the
business, always alert to adopt new meth
DDS, and resolved to make the best prod
uct possible. About this time a mid
dlings purifier. a Minneapolis invention,
was introduced, and gradually perfected
so as to produce a revolution, in cOnnec-
ton with other improvements, in the pro-
cess of milling.
simultaneously with the invention of the
of the roller mill. The old buhr stones
We're discarded, or only used in a part
of the process, steel rolls taking their
place to disinteSrate the grain and re-
duce it to -four by a series of carefully
gauged rollers. For some years the Min
neapOls mills enjoyed a monopoly of the
new process, reaping large profits from
the economy of the process and the high
quality of its product. These improve
ments in turn stimulated the wheat
growing industry of the Northwest for it
brought hard spring wheat from being an
inferior grade in the markets to the first
rank, giving it the preference over the
softer winter wheat
PRESTIGE GAINED.
In 1872 Mr.. Pillsbury had gained such
prestige that he associated his father
George A. Pitlsbury-his uncle, John S.
Pilsbury had been with him from the
beginning-in the business, and greatly
enlarged its scope and operations, At a
later period his brother F. c. Pillsbury
was admitted to the firm, which continued
as Charles a. Pillsbury & Co, until the
acquisition of the property by the English
syndicate, which controlled it until the
spring of the present year. To the orig
lnal mill were added, by purchase or
lease, the Pillsbury 'B' mill, the Empire,
. Excelsior and Anchor mills. These were
all rebuilt and fitted with the most i'm
proved and modern machinery. To sup
ply them with wheat a millers' associa-
ton was organized whose buyers pene-
trateG all parts OF the Northwest. A sys-
tenn of elevators for the storage of the
vast supplies of wheat needed to keep the
mills IN operation was built. These ware
houses were distributed along the lines
Of the railroads penetrating the wheat
districts Of the Northwestern states and
territories.
Not content with these achievements
the milling firm decided to build a new
mill. 1t was located on the water power
on the east side of the river. Mr. Pills
bury visited Europe to study the process
of milling in vogue there, and went to
Buda Pesth, The seat of the celebrated
Hungarian mills, which then produced
the best -four known to European tastes
Having mastered all the science and prac-
ticaI skill employed in the business there,
he proceeded with the equipment of the
Pillsbury "a mill When completed it
had a capacity of 1000 barrels of -four per
day, and was then, ard is today, the
largest mill in the world.
TO say that Mr.. Pillsbury has organ
lied q milling business producing 1900
barrels of -four daily, year in and year out,
with the accompanying methods of secur-
ing constant supply of seventy thousand
bushels OF wheat per day, and of dis
tributirg the products ir ali he markets
Of the world; that the business has pros
pered through droughts, panics and
strikes, and that no combination of car
1iers or grangers has been able to crush
It, is sufficient, without words of eulogy,
to characterize the sagacity, the enter
prise and breadth of resources of the
mind which had planned and the firm
ness of the hand which has held the
helm.
SOLD TO SYNDICATE.
Mr.. Pillsbury remained in the conduct
of his vast milling industry business until
1890, when the mills and good will were