My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM L. TAYLOR.
William L. Taylor, president of The Taylor Grain Company, of Topeka, whose portrait accompanies this sketch, is one of the enterprising and progressive men who have been attracted to this section of the United States because of its apparent wide field of business opportunity. Mr. Taylor came to Topeka on April 15, 1902, from Columbus, Ohio, where, although still a young man, he had been identified with important grain interests.

Milling, in these modern days, is a marvelous industry. From the earliest times the grinding of grain has gone on and there still remain a few benighted sections where it is carried on under the most primitive conditions. In the early settlement of Kansas, one of the most important considerations was the possible building of a mill, and many a populous city of the present day grew up around the old water-wheel mill. Man’s ingenuity has made wonderful changes and improvements in all kinds of machinery and methods and probably no industry has benefitted more than that of milling. Topeka, the great mill city, is the home of one of the finest mills ever constructed in any part of the world, one where perfection of plan and equipment has resulted in a plant second to none in capacity. Reference is made to the Gyrator Mills in North Topeka, dedicated on January 24, 1905, originally owned by The Taylor Grain Company, but now owned and operated by The Gyrator Milling Company. The establishment of this plant at Topeka and the successful completion of all that was proposed at the beginning are due to the energy and ability of William L. Taylor, president of The Taylor Grain Company and vice-president of The Gyrator Milling Company.

Coming here in 1902 Mr. Taylor was able, in two years, to see the wide field offered for the enterprise he had under consideration. When he announced that it was his intention to build here the largest, finest and most complete mill in the world, the milling journals made the fact known all over the country and he was soon visited by a representative of Wolf & Company, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, who manufacture the “Gyrator” line of machinery. After considering their claim as well as others, Mr. Taylor made the agreement with this company that he would construct his mill after their latest improved plans and specifications and they were to install the most improved milling machinery manufactured. The guarantee was given that the mill would produce a better grade of flour, at a less cost for manufacturing, than any other mill made.

The mill proper, a view of which is shown on another page of this work, is five and a half stories high, made of pressed brick laid in cement throughout and the walls are 26 inches thick above the second story. The first and second floors are of white maple, the third, fourth and fifth of long leaf yellow pine, quarter-sawed. On each floor there is a stand-pipe with fire hose attached ready for use, two barrels of water and two hand fire-grenades. Speaking-tubes run to the office from all floors and electric light is furnished all over the building, provided by the company’s own motor. The walls, ceilings and posts are all painted a pure white with a fire-proof composition and every bearing of the machinery is self-oiling. A brief description of the manner of treating the wheat, which comes to the consumer so thoroughly milled yet retaining all the sustaining qualities of the grain, must be interesting to every reader of this work who depends for sustenance upon the “staff of life.”

In 1903 Mr. Taylor purchased what was known as the Capital Elevator at Topeka and changed its name to Elevator A. It has a capacity of 300,000 bushels. The wheat is brought from this elevator through an underground tunnel to the bottom of the mill, having been put in fine condition previously. It is then elevated to the top and put on a special milling separator, which is composed of four Wolf gyrators, in four compartments, each compartment having five sieves, making 20 to each gyrator. These remove more thoroughly than by any other system every foreign seed such as cockle, rye or cheat. From here the grain is elevated to a special scouring machine where every grain has its coat thoroughly scoured and the little fine fuzz, only to be detected by the use of a glass, is removed. From here the wheat is dropped into a basin where it receives a light soaking in water which causes it to swell and loosen the bran. It is then elevated into what is called a brush machine which cleans out the little crevice in every grain of wheat so that when it strikes the rolls it is absolutely clean and nothing remains but the sustaining berry and its coat of bran.

This wonderful mill has made provision for the rapid handling of the grain and has numberless improved machines found in no other plant. On the first floor are five packers, three for flour and two for feed; by the side of each packer is a platform scales, on which every package is weighed as handled. The flour elevators and chutes are all tin-lined, this precaution precluding a possibility of bugs or weevil. On the second floor are found 21 rolls, 9 by 30 inch double stands, which grind the wheat, taking the place of the stones used in former days. On the fourth floor are found four dust collectors, six middling purifiers, one brush machine and one scourer. On the fifth are located six centrifugal reels, one bran duster, one shorts duster, one “Imperial” rolling screen, one separator, two tubular dust collectors, one cyclone dust collector and the four mammoth gyrators, which bolt the flour, separating the bran, shorts, etc. This mill has a 1,200-barrel capacity. A specialty is made of two brands, “Perfection” and “Invincible.”

In 1904 The Taylor Grain Company was incorporated as a stock company with these officers: William L. Taylor, president; Charles E. French, secretary and treasurer; and Edward A. Austin and M. A. Taylor, directors. A very recent organization was The Gyrator Milling Company with these officers: W. H. Davis, president; William L. Taylor, vice-president; Charles E. French, secretary; J. B. B. Betts, treasurer and C. K. Holliday, director. This company leased the new mill of The Taylor Grain Company and will do a milling and flour business, both domestic and foreign, but the elevator and grain business will be carried on by The Taylor Grain Company.

The Taylor Grain Company has established branch agencies throughout Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio and ships thousands of cars of grain annually to the East. Mr. Taylor is credited with being one of the best posted men on grain freight rates in the United States and can name the rate to every place without any reference to the tariff book. He has gathered around him a force of able, experienced grain men, all of whom have had business experience, although none have reached middle life. Among these special mention should be made of A. W. Long, the capable superintendent, who has had much milling experience in Virginia, in the Northwest and in Kansas. Formerly he was one of the stockholders of the Manhattan Milling Company, at Manhattan, Kansas, and retired from that company to become one of the stockholders in The Taylor Grain Company. It was largely upon his advice that the celebrated “Gyrator” machinery was installed here. Charles E. French, secretary of the company, came originally to Topeka from Farmer City, Illinois, and became traveling representative of what was then W. L. Taylor & Company, and in this capacity he became known to almost every shipper in Kansas, Nebraska, Indian Territory and Oklahoma. The auditor of the company, R. B. Nelson, was a school teacher in Iowa and then a bookkeeper for one of the largest grain firms in that State and subsequently manager of the Wheeler Grain & Coal Company of Laurens, Iowa. He next accepted a position as chief clerk and then chief accountant with one of Pittsburgh steel companies. Upon the incorporation of The Taylor Grain Company, Mr. Taylor made him auditor and chief accountant, a position for which he is qualified by long experience, added to natural ability in this line. The company has representatives at all the leading shipping ports and their manager at Galveston, Texas, has been appointed Belgian consul at that point.