door of the great northwestern wheat belt
and with the Falls of St, Anthony furnish-
ing an abundance of water power, Minne-
apolis has become the chief milling center
of the country. At the census of 1905 there
were 12 mills in operation in that city, the
total value of production of which amount-
ed to $62,754,446, an average value of prod-
ucts per establishment of over $5,000,000.
The value of products for Minneapolis was
over five and a half times that of the next
largest city, anfl greater than the combined
output of the 1 1 ne-xt largest cities."



B-\RBER. Daniel R., one of the early pioneers
of Minneapolis and for many years a prominent
miller, was born on February 14, 1817, at Benson,
Rutland county, Vermont. His father was Ros-
well Barber and his mother, Aurclia Munson
Barber. The family line is traced far back into
colonial times and its members participated in
the conflicts which make up so much of the his-
tory of the colonies. Mr. Barber's early life was
that of the New England boy of the period —
divided between farm work and meager schooling
in the country schools of the vicinity. He had a
taste for business and when twenty-five years old
had saved enough to enable him to buy out the
largest general store in the village. For the next
ten years be conducted this store successfully but
he had ambitions for greater things and in 1855
determined to go west and establish himself anew.
He visited the Falls of St. Anthony and was im-
pressed by the certainty of the great future await-



336



A HALF CENTURY OF MINNEAPOLIS



ing the young villages, then struggling for exist-
encf I Ml either side of the Mississippi. Me
brought his family from Vermont and settling at
St. Anthony engaged in the real estate business.
The panic of 1.S57 unsettled realty values and for
a li;-»e Mr. Barber returned to mercantile life. At
this peiiod he look an active part in the affairs of
ll'.e young city and for eleven years in succession
was honored with election to the office of city
assessof. Meanwhile he had been a close ob-
server of the flour milling business and, in 1871,
believing that a great expansion of this industry
was at hand, purchased the Cataract mill, one of
the oldest erected at tlie Falls of St. Anthony.
He operated the Cataract mill with his son-in-
law, Mr. Gardner, nnlil the death of the latter,
when he associated in the business with him,
his son Edwin, under the firm name of D. R.
Barber & Son. This is the oldest flour business
in continuous activity at Minneapolis. The Bar-
'■cr Milling Company continues to operate the
I ataract Mill and through all its thirty-five years
i>i existence has been a leader in the improve-
ment of processes and progressive in every de-
partment of the business of flour manufacturing
and selling. Mr. Barber was a man of quiet and
reserved temperament, one who had the utmost
confidence of his friends and business associates,
a man conservative in his business dealings and
in all his relations in life, and one who left, in
the city in which he lived so many years, a record
which was absolutely without stain. He was
married in February, 1845, to Miss Ellen L. Bot-
tum, of Orwell, Vermont. They have had two
children — Julia and Edwin. The latter succeeded
his father in the management of the business.
which he has conducted along the same conserva-
tive though progressive lines laid out in the sev-
enties. Mr. Barber the senior, was frr years a
member of I'lymoutb Congregational Church. In
political faith he was a republican. tliouKh hi.liliiiti
principle above party.

CMRISTI.XN, George Henry, whose genius
contributed perhaps more than any other man's
to the development of milling in Minneapolis, is
a native of Alabama. His parents were John and
Susan Weeks Christian — the father a native of
Ireland but an .American from his early infancy.
The son was born at Wetumpka. Alabama, in 1830.
In his earliest years he developed a taste for
mathematics and was an apt student in all the
branches taught in the schools which he at-
tended. Interrupted in his education (to enter
business) Mr. Christian never lost this love for
study and Ihronghout his business career- and to
ihe present time has been a constant student and
a reader of wide range. He was first trained in
business methods in a counting house in New
N'ork, afterward became an employee of a Chi-
cago flour house for several years, and came to
Minneapolis in 1867 as a flour broker for eastern
jobbers. It was a period of some depression in
flour-milling but Mr. Christian formed a partner-



ship with Gen. C. C. Washburn, of La Crosse,

Wisconsin, in i86y, and commenced the manufac-
ture of flour under the firm name of George H.
Christian & Co., in what was then known as the
"big mill," it being the largest in the United States,
but one. Minnesota's flour was then so little
known and liked that a favorite device with the
millers of that time was to brand their flour as
made at St. Louis, Missouri. Being by contact
with manufacturers of other states better posted in
the proper methods of milling Mr. Christian soon
made his product the leading article of the state
and W'hen, a year or two later, he became aware
of the superiority of French processes, he in-
troduced French machinery and with it what has
since been called "the new process," his flour and
that of other manufacturers of the state who
speedily took up his methods, became the favorite
bread flour of the country and distanced the best
St. Louis brands in reputation and price. Sub-
sequently, in reading foreign works on milling
he discovered that the Germans had made ad-
vances over the French in methods which better
suited the character of ^linnesota wheat and he
introduced German machinery which placed the
flour of Minneapolis still higher in the esteem of
the bread-maker. From that time to this these
revolutionary innovations have been retained and
no mill without them could now survive finan-
cially a year, while Minnesota wheat which
formerly was little esteemed is now recognized
as one of the most valuable varieties. During
these years of intense activity Mr. Christian de-
voted himself closely to business his only relaxa
tion being found in a trip to Europe to investi-
gate at first hand the processes in vogue in for-
eign mills. This journey had been devoted to
business exclusively. When, in 1875, lie retired
from business, selling his interests to his brothers,
J. A. and Llewellyn Christian, he made a pro-
longed tour of Europe — a means of recreation
and an opportunity for study which he has since
repeated several times. Upon returning to Min-
neapolis Mr. Christian engaged in various busi-
ness enterprises and some twenty years after
leavin.g milling returned to it for a brief period
as president of the Consolidated .Milling Com
pany of Minneapolis. When the properties of
this coiup.inv were purchased in the attempt to
lorni ;i thmr trust, he withdrew again from con-
nection with the flouring industry. .-Xmong his
other important interests has been the Hardwood
Mamifacturing Company, one of the large pro-
ducers of barrels and bags. Mr. Christian was
married soon after coming to Minneapolis to Miss
Leonora Hall, a daughter of S. P. Hall of this
city. They have for years been members of St.
Mark's F.piscopal Church and prominent in the
social life 111" tlie city.

I'..\KP, f.K. Edwin Roswell, son nf Daniel R.
and I'.llcii I.. r.;irber. was born in Benson, Rut-
land ciiiinty. Vermont, November 22, 1852. His
father was a merchant in Vermont, who, upon



H




/^, /C /3 c^l-



£/^



^



338



A HALF CENTURY OF MINNEAPOLIS



visiting the West in 1855, was impressed with the
large promise of the water power of the Falls of
St. Anthony and decided to locate in Minneapolis,
returning in 1856, with his family and engaging
in the real estate business and for a few years in
mercantile business on Hennepin and Washington
avenues, in 1871 purchasing the Cataract Mour-
ing Mills which he operated until his death in
1886. Edwin R. came to Minneapolis with his
parents in 1856 and passed his childhood in the
family homestead at Second avenue south and
Fourth street and has seen the city grow up fnmi
a small village of a few hundred people to a
metropolis of over 250,000 people. He used to
shoot partridges where the West Hotel now
stands and remembers when the site of the C. .\l.
& St. P. R. R. depot was an impassable bog. Mr.
Barber received his early education at the public
schools and attended the Slate University, but
did not graduate. He attended a business college
and had private instructors in modern languages
and gained practical business experience in the
office of Gardner. Pillsbury & Crocker in what
is now Mill "D" operated by the Washburn-Cros-
by Company, afterward going into the office of
Gardner & Barber in the Cataract Mills in 1871,
having now a record of thirty-six years practical
and successful experience in themilling business
and doing ctficiently wli.it was within his power
to aid in the ui)building of the cily. He has al-
ways been a republican, independent in choice
of candidate for election at municipal and county
elections, and has loyally contributed his share
in the purchase of the site of the old Chamber of
Conimerce. the Post Office site, the Minneapolis
Industrial F.xposition. the Young Men's Christian
Association building, Westminster Churcli and
other enterprises, and, with IJ. II. Dornian, was
influential in inducing the llfiincpiii county dele-
gation in the stale legislature to join Ramsey
county in building the Lake Street bridge, paying
the interest on the bonds in advance for three
years, Hennepin county at the time having in-
sufficient resources to take on any further interest
obligations. Mr. Barber is a member of the Min-
neapolis, the .Minikabda, the Lafayette, the .\lin-
nctonka and the .Xutonioliilf clubs, and has been
one since the clubs were organized. He is a
member of Westminster Presbyterian Church.
.Mr, Barber was married on October i, 187.^, to
llattie E. Sidle, eldest daughter of Henry G.
Sidle, of the h'irst National Bank, To them have
been born four children - Henry Sidle (1S77);
Nellie L. (1882, died Dec. 28. 18SS); Kalheriiie
Sidle fi8(;o). and Fdwin Koswell (1892).

IJL L;\ li.'MvRh.. William, engineer, agent
and treasurer of the St. Anthony h'alls Water
Power Company and the .Minneapolis .Mill Com-
pany, is the descendant of .a l-reiuli lliigueiiot



family that emigrated in 1652 from France to
Germany. He is an Austrian Iiy birth, being
born at Vienna on .^pril 15. 1849. the son of
Carl and Josephine de la Barre. He was raised
in the city of his birth and until he was twelve
years of age attended the Protestant schools of
that city. He then studied in the state schools
for a time anil in 1863 entered the Polytechnic
Academy, lie had been a student in that institu-
tion but two years when he was recruited into
the .'Vustrian Navy as a machinist and served a
term of ten months. He participated in the
naval battle of Lissa, on July 20, 1866. and while
in this service received his first mechanical ex-
perience and training. Recognizing the oppor-
tunities offered in the United States for advance-
ment, in October, 1866, he emigrated to this
country. He landed at New Y'ork, remained in
that city long enough to look over its possibili-
ties, then moved to Philadelphia where his me-
chanical genius and ability soon found him em-
ployment as a draughtsman and engineer, and in
these capacities he was connected with several
establishments. He finally accepted a position
with Morris Tasker and Company, engineers,
founders and builders, and was connected with
them about ten years, until he came to Minneap-
olis in 1878. For a couple of years he had the
Minnesota agency for a patented apparatus for
the prevention of dust explosions in flour mills
and was engaged in selling and erecting these in
the mills of this city. In this w.-iy he became
known to the Hour niillin.g fraternity and in 1880
entered the employ of Ex-Governor C. C. Wash-
burn as engineer and superintendent of his mills.
He held this position for eleven years, during
which time he erected the Washburn A and B
mills and made numerous utlier improveiueiits in
the construction ;ind operation of the plant. He
has had the management of the water-power
facilities of the Miiine.ipolis Mill Company since
J.inuary. 18X2. and when the consolidation of the
water jiowers on both sides of the Mississippi
River under the ownership of the Pillsbury-
Washburn h'lour .Mills Company was effected in
the fall of i8!-!y he was appointed engineer agent
and treasurer of both the St. .\nthony Falls Wa-
ter Power Company and the .Minneapolis Mill
Company. He li;is held these offices since that
time and besides discharging the regular duties
of his position has made extensive and valuable
improvemenls in the systems of water power at
the Falls of St. .Xnthony, had designed and super-
vised the construction of mills and elevators and
has done considerable general engineering work.
He was married in 1X70 lo .Miss Louise V. Merian
at Phil.-idelpliia and they have two children — Wil-
li.im Jr., born at Philadelphia in 1872. now a
practicing pliysician of this city, and a daughtei
born at Minneapolis in l88g.



340



A Half century of Minneapolis



CROCKER, George Washington, the Nestor
of the flour millers of Minneapolis, and a citizen
in every sense of the word, self-made, was born
in the town of Ilermon, Penobscot county,
Maine, in 1832, son of Asa and Matilda Crocker.
Hi.s father had a small farm and kept an inn on
the road to Hangor. When a small child he went
to live in tlie family of a neighboring farmer
where he remained ten years, working on the
farm, and attending the district school as he had
opportunity. .-\t the age of seventeen he went
to Providence, R. I., and was employed as a nurse
in Butler Hospital. A few years later, with his
tirother, he went West to the Pacific Coast by
way of Panama, walking across the Istlunus.
They did some placer mining in California with
good returns, and opened a general store in tlie
Merced Valley. After splendid success they re-
turned to the East, landing in New York and pro-
ceeding West to Minneapolis where they arrived
in 1855 and engaged in the real estate and loan
business. Shortly afterwards Mr. Crocker Iinut^lit
interest in a grist mill which had been litteil up
out of the old government saw and grist mill at
I he L'alls of St. Anthony, and engaged in that
business under the lirm name of Perkins &
Crocker. .Mr. Crocker was not bred to the mill-
ing business, but he went to work and mastered
the mysteries of the industry. In 1865 the .Arctic
Mill (stone), with a daily capacity of 300 barrels,
was built and operated by Rowlandson & Crocker.
In 1870 Mr. Crocker sold his interest in the .Arc-
tic Mill and bought an interest in tlie Minneapolis
Mill, which had been built by I'"razee, Murphy
& Co. This mill h:is been burned twice and re-
built each time witli improved machinery ami
larger capacity, producing the well known brand
of Crocker's Best, which has been ..n the market
continuously since. .Mr. Crocker has been identi-
fied in the following milling firms as a i)ractical
miller, manager and senior partner: Perkins,
I 'rocker & Tomlinson; Crocker, Tomlinson & Co.,
Gardner. Pillsbury & Crocker; Pillsbury, Crocker
^S: l-'isk, and Crocker, Fisk & Co. In i8(j3 the
.Minneapolis Mill was leased and afterwards sold
to Wasliburn-Crosby Co. Mr. Crocker was mar-
ried December 25th. 1862, to Sarah Perkins
.Moore. They had two sons, George Alliert. a re-
tail druggisl, who died in i(;o_' al the .lue of
thirty-three, and William C, who w;i> with his
father from 18S2 to 189,;, and for the past fourteen
years has been with the Wasbbi'rn-Crosby di.

1)1 HULI'.. luigene Kussell, one ol" the ymiiRer
men engaged in the grain bu>iness in AJinnea])
olis, was born in this city on June .7, 1878. His
maternal grandfather, \V, .s;, Judd. was one nf
the pioneer settlers of .Minne.ipolis and u,i>
connected with many of the important commer-
cial and public movements of the city. Russell
Dibble, father of Eugene R.. was also a resident
of this city f(jr many years, and died here in 1881.
His mother was l':ilen (Judd) Dibble. Mr. Dib-
ble has lived in Minneapolis all his life and re



ceived his education in the local public schools.
He graduated from the high school and then en-
tered the academic department of the University
of Minnesota. While in college .Mr. Dibble was
elected to the Chi Psi fraternity by the local
chapter. He graduated in June, 1900, with the
degree of Bachelor of Science, soon after entered
the Northwestern National Bank and was with
that institution for a short time. He resigned his
position to engage in the grain business, accept-
ing a position with the P. B. Alann Company.
Recognizing the extensive field which offered in
the various branches of the grain industry, Mr.
Dibble bought a membership in the Chamber of
Commerce in 1901, and two years later, in March,
1903, entered business for himself. He organized
the Dilible Grain & Elevator Company, retaining
the largest interest in the business and holding
the ofilices of president and treasurer. His opera-
tions have expanded rapidly and since that time
the E. R. Dibble Company has been formed of
which Mr. Dibble is also president and treasurer.
The Minnesota Flour Mill Company is another
of Mr. Dibble's business interests and he is the
chief executive ofiicer of that firm. Though still
a young man, Mr. Dibble has established a flour-
ishing business, and has an extensive trade
throughout the Northwest. Mr. Dibble has never
taken an active part in politics, nor sought to
hold office, but supports the principles of the re^
publican party. He is a member of the Mini
kahda, Lafayette and Automobile clubs. He was
married on September 12, lyoo, to Miss Ellen
Uriing Haight of New York, whose mother was
before her marriage a Miss Harper, a daughter of
the Harper family of whicli conies the members
of the well known firm of Harper Bros. Mr. and
Mrs. Dibble have two children, both daughters,
I'^llen Louise and Mary. The family attends the
St. P.iul's Episcopal Church.

GOODING. Will G., mana,ger of the W. J.
Jennison Company, millers, was born on Septem-
ber 5. 1862. in Olmstead county, Minnesota.
Mis f.itlur, .\. Gooding, was in the milling and
grain business for a long period and made his
home in Rochester for about forty years. The
son spent his boyhood at Rochester attending
the public selniols and entered the grain business
with liis fallier whci w.is at that time a member
of the lirni nf (',. W. \'an Dusen & Company.
Here he aei|uireil hi-, lirst experience in buying
and selling gr.iin ami in 1884 felt himself fitted to
engage in bn-iness fur himself which he did.
eslablishiuK in the gr.iin trade at Watertown,
.Suulli D.iki>ta. .\l)out twelve years ago he be-
came eiMinerled with the milling industry and
in hi> present eiiniiection .as manager and vice
president cif W J JeinuM n & Company has
entire chartje .if the eight hundred barrel capacity
mill nl th.it lirni ,it .\ppleton. Minnesota. Their
office is in the I'hnenix building in Minneapolis
where the primi|i.il business transactions of the
concern are conducted. iMr. Gooding is a mem-
ber of the Minneapolis Commercial Club.




L. 1'. HUUllAKD



342



A HALF CENTURY OF MINNEAPOLIS




cHAKi.Ks M. iiA[ti)i:Ni;i:ij(:ii.

HARDENBERGH, Cli:irk-s .Morgan, presi-
dent of the National Milling Cimipany and one
of the oldest of the leading manufacturers of
Minneapolis, is a native of N'evv I'runswick, New-
Jersey. He was horn on January 4. iS,;.^. .Mr.
Hardenhergh's education was obtained in the
schools of his native town and at Trinity College
at Hartford, Connecticut. .After leaving college,
Mr, llardenbergh entered tlie ship-huilding busi-
ness, but after a few years determined to go west
and arrived in .Minneaptdis in 1862. He at once
eiitereil the manufacture of iron work in connec-
tion wi'.h VVm. II. Lee under the firm name of
Lcc & llardenbergh. .Xl first their i>lant was nn
the cast side but in 1865 llicy deciiKd lo i.r'i>s llu-
river and erected extensive buildings on the site
now occupied by the Crown Roller Hour mill.
The new establishment was named the .Minne-
.sota Iron Works and the business was continued
under .Mr. Hardenl)ergh"s management imtil 1879
when it was sold to O. \. Pray & Company. The
old buildings were then torn down to make way
for the Crown mill. .Mr, Hardenliergh left the
iron business to become a member of tlie firm of
Christian Bros. & Company and to take special
charge of the construction and operation of the
new flour mill. The firm was composed of J. A.
Christian, L. Christian. C. M. llardenbergh and
C. E. French. Mr. llardenbergh continued as
part owner and operator of the Crown mill until



1891 when the business was sold to the North-
western Consolidated Milling Company. In the
following year Mr. Hardenbergh organized the
National Milling Company of which he is still
the president and which operates the Dakota Mill.
His son. Fred E. Hardenbergh. is associated with
him as treasurer and secretary of the corpora-
tion. I'rom his earliest residence in Minneapolis.
.Mr. Hardenbergh has taken an active interest in
the affairs of the city and though a life long re-
publican has never sought office although upon
the consolidation of the cities of Minneapolis and
.St. .\nthony in 1872 he was named as one of the
first board of aldermen and in the following year
was reelected to the city council as member from
the Seventh Ward. He has long been a member
of the Masonic order and was one of the found-
ers of St. Marks Episcopal Church in 1868. For
many years during his long connection with St.
.Marks church he has held official positions there
as vestryman or warden, .Mr. Hardenbergh was
married in 1859, to Miss Mary Lee of Hartford,
Connecticut, daughter of Wm. T. Lee who after-
wards came to Minneapolis and built a residence
on the present site of the Syndicate Block. They
have had ten children of whom six are now liv-
ing—Mrs. W. P. Hallowell, Fred E. Harden-
bergh, Ernest L. Hardenbergh, Mrs. J. W. Jones,
Elsie Hardenbergh and Clarence 'M. Harden
Iiergh.

OUNWOODY, William Hood, now one of tlie
last of the pioneer millers of Minneapolis to
remain 111 active business, is of Scottish ancestry.
His father, grandfather and great-grandfather
were f.irmers who successively followed agricul-
ture in the same portion of Chester county,
Pennsylvania. His father was James Dunwoody:
his mother Hannah Hood, the daughter of Wil-
liam Hood whose ancestors came into Penn-
sylvania when Penn founded his colony, .\fter a
period of schooling in Philadelphia, he, at the
age of eighteen, entered the store of an uncle in
Philadelphi;! and commenced what proved to be
the liusine.-s of liis life. His uncle was a grain
merchant. .After a few years, Mr. Dunwoody
began for himself as the senior member of Dun-
woody & Robertson. Ten years of practical e.x-
])eriencc in the flour and grain markets of Phila-
<K-lphi,-i llitnl him for wide operations in the west.
Me came tip .Minneapolis in i86g and very soon
afterward embarked in the milling business. Mill-
ing here was then in the old style — actively oper-
ated during the low freights eastward in summer,
and very moderately during the high freights by
r.iil ill winter.

Ill 1875 .Mr. Duiiwoiidy devised and was in-
strumenl.-il in organizing the Millers' .Association,
formed to equalize the distribution of wdieat be-
tween the mills, at a time when the capacity for
grinding was greater than the supply of wheat.
Its work was most important in the development
of early day milling in Minneapolis. It continued
until the extension of railroads and settlement





^-^x3




344



A HALF CENTURY OF MINNEAPOLIS



i



of the prairies northwest of Minneapolis led to
the production of a greater supply of wheat. It
was thc.i found necessary to find a new market
for an increased output of flour and in 1877 Mr.
Dunwoody. at the instigation of Governor Wash-
l)urn. made a trip to Great Britain, where he re-
mained eight months in his efforts to introduce
tlour manufactured in Minneapolis. Failing to
interest other Minneapolis millers, who declared
it could not he accomplished. Governor Wash-