Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/513

 >^

��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

��499

��52x72 feet. It manufactures what is called " the new-process flour " — simply the flour sep- arated from the outside of the wheat kernel, without being ground, crushed or powdered, as it is claimed mills have been doing ever since mills were made. The machiner^^ of this mill was purchased- and placed in the mill with the view of carrying out this principle to perfec- tion. It commenced operations in February, 1877, under the management of John Staub and Hicks Brown. In September of the same year, this partnership was dissolved, and the mill passed into possession of the present pro- prietors, Messrs. Hicks Brown and M. D. Har- ter, under the firm name of Hicks Brown & Co., who have since increased its capacity 50 per cent, and established a trade which requires the running of the mill da}^ and night, and the employment of about twenty persons.

Some idea of the amount of this business may be gleaned from the fact that they are paying out yearl}^ to the farmers of Richland County about $200,000 in cash for wheat, beside the wheat they get in exchange for flour. Of this flour, a very small part, coniparatively, is marketed at home, as the entire population of the county could not consume the product of this mill. It is shipped to the seaboard cities, Boston alone taking nearly half of what is made ; Philadelphia, also, taking a large share. The mill is conceded to be one of the most complete in the country, yet the wide- awake proprietors are continuall}" on the look- out for improvements, both in machinery and method, being determined that their fl^ur shall stand in the front rank as to quality. Several improved machines have been added, and other additions are contemplated. The magnificent Harris-Corless engine, which operates the ma- chinery, is of the renowned Centennial pattern, and is capable of turning out 300 barrels of flour daily. Their brands of flour are "Brown's Best," "Belle of Richland," "Brown's May- flower" and "Brown's Charter Oak," which

��they intend shall become justly celebrated, and kept up to a high standard of excellence.

The largest manufactory in the city, if not in this part of Ohio, is the iVultraan & Ta^dor Company, manufacturers of threshers, steam engines and their component machinery. The Company has been established about thirteen years. In 1867, Mr. C. Aultman, of Canton, Ohio, President of C. Aultman & Co., of that place, and Mr. Henry H. Taylor, of Chicago, Grcneral Westeiy^i Agent of C. Aultman & Co., conceived the idea of building a better style of threshing machine, in many respects, than had ever been seen in the market. Few men in America, perhaps, knew as much about thresh- ing machines, in 1SG7, as they, and their very knowledge of the great room for impi'ovement led them to consider the propriety- of getting out something better. Having built up the reputation of an endless-apron thresher, until it stood at the forefront of the endless-apron or Pitts style of machines, they could not liut finally discover and acknowledge the essen- tially fault}', and therefore wasteful, principle of separation in that class of machines. Mr. Taylor, who had for years been interested in building a vibrator style of thresher, knew what wonderful merit thei'e was in it if per- fected, and that it could be rendered the lead- ing machine in the market. With this view, Messrs. Aultman & Taylor formed a copart- nei'ship and began to look for a location for their factory. After carefull}' weighing the ad- vantages of a large number of localities, they selected Mansfield, Ohio. The grounds for the selection of ^Mansfield were : 1. It was the geographical center of the best hardwood dis- trict of the country, and the}- had determined from the start to locate where an abundant supply of the very best material could be had, as it was their aim to have their thresher win the reputation of being built from the best material oljtainable. In this matter, time has demonstrated their wisdom, as to-day, if any

��'TT?

�� �