Last week we posted two stories by students in Emily Sohn’s “Adventures in Writing” class, written as if they were witnesses to the Gold Medal Flour mill explosion of 1878. Here are two more:
“A New Mill is Blooming Into the 20th Century!” by Ashley G.
and
“A New Mill” by Hannah S.
“A New Mill is Blooming Into the 20th Century!” by Ashley G.
May 2, 1881-The smell of burning bread filled the Twin Cities, with flames and smoke bursting in the air. The ground was shaking like an earthquake, as one of the most tragic explosions occurred in the Washburn mill. Now, on the fourth anniversary of the Washburn mill explosion, mill technology is finally entering a new era. Changes are saving the mill’s reputation.
“Mr. Washburn’s mill rised off the ground and hung twixt Heaven and Earth and disappeared into a crater of smoke and fire,” said a witness at the scene. At 7: 10pm on May 2, 1878, the Washburn mill in Minneapolis exploded in a huge burn of fire and flour. The Washburn Mill was the biggest mill in the world, so it was the biggest explosion to occur. The old mill was officially destroyed, so the cost to rebuild a mill will be huge. But, Washburn learned that installing dust collectors into the new creation would be the solution to a safer mill. It can also save many lives and hearts of the families of 18 men who died, even though he risks losing lots of money.
Washburn also improved the mill by adding in steel rollers to make the flour taste as good as the superlative level. His mill’s reputation has grown rather than decreased, as a surprise to lots of citizens, and now, more mills in other cities are using Washburn’s technique with dust collectors and steel rollers to get the best flour as well, as good as Superlative. The new and improved mill really did help not only Minneapolis, but also the rest of the United States.
However, one thing the other mills in the country didn’t have that Washburn did was money. That was important because grasshoppers had been eating one-third of the wheat in America. (At this time, 1,500,000 acres of land were used to grow wheat). Other areas couldn’t afford to buy wheat, but Washburn could, and that’s what made the Minneapolis mill stand out of the crowd. Washburn had money because after more a year, his insurance company finally agreed to give him a huge load of cash for the mill explosion. That saved the mill.
The explosion of Washburn’s mill was tragic, with flames igniting, smoke burning, and ground shaking. But if it had not been for the disaster, we would not have had the great flour and safety of mills in process right now. This has changed everything, and now we bring ourselves closer and closer into the 20st century. Hopefully by then, our world will be a new and improved place to live, and having a new mill is just one thing that gets us nearer to perfection.
“A New Mill” by Hannah S.
May 2nd 1881-C.C. Washburn starts to build his new mill. I watch as the workers plow the ground and lift enormous blocks to reshape the new mill. The sound is almost deafening. The workers give me ear muffs as I walk on to the premises. I can feel the hum of machines working with great care on the new mill. I can almost see the new shape of the mill. The men work rapidly with sweat beating down their faces. They are now installing a dust collector in the walls.
“The world is changing for mills” Washburn says ” Everything is more efficient and safer. To get a good reputation, you need good flour. To get good flour, you need steal rollers. To get steal rollers, you need money. That is what the world has learned. Mills around the world want to go from good to great to best. That’s why the revolutionizing of mills is so important.”
The dust collector looks like a giant filter. A wooden box soon covers the dust collector for a nicer appearance. Now, almost every mill in the United States has or is buying a dust collector. Mills are finally taking safety precautions. And now that a year has gone by after the burning of Washburn’s old mill, mills all around the world are getting revolutionized.
Washburn took a huge step in the risk of revolutionizing his mill. Instead of using the average stone cutter to make his flour, he got steel rollers. This has never been done before in the mill industry. At the national taste-testing, Washburn’s flour results were outstanding. He had three types of flour: good, great, and best. His good won the bronze medal. His great won the silver medal. And his best won the superlative medal.
All of the other mill industries were speechless. Soon almost every mill in the United States had steel rollers, and the stone cutters were getting thrown in the trash. Companies were rolling the stone cutters into the river, or just throwing them down a hill, and maybe leaving them in their own backyard.
Now that most of the mills had dust collectors and steel rollers, one thing they didn’t have that Washburn did was money. Grasshoppers started to invade the wheat fields. They destroyed more than one third of the country’s crop. Wheat prices started to go sky high. Luckily Washburn finally got the money he wanted form the insurance. Over the next month Washburn’s mill had the best reputation of all the mills. The wheat was back, and around 1.5 million acres of land were now used to grow wheat.
How did this come to be? As I stand here at his new mill, I know that the ruins of the old mill are still untouched. A night guard at that mill saw the explosion. “Mr. Washburn’s mill rose off the ground and hung twixt Heaven and Earth and disappeared into a creator of smoke and fire,” he said. There were six stories on that mill. After Washburn’s exploded, the Diamond and Excelsior mills exploded almost a couple seconds after. Across the street, the Galaxy, Pendant, and Zenith mills set fire to.
A night guard at the Galaxy said that he saw the Pendant night guard try to hose own the fire, but instead he got engulfed in flames and soon disappeared. The Galaxy night guard said that he jumped three stories and into the canal. On this sad night, 18 men died.
We all know about the burning of Washburn’s mill. Now, we can look at the world’s largest mill and see a new revolutionized type of milling coming out of this historic event.
