Helping Dad Bag his Flour

We moved from Ft. Maison, Iowa to Nauvoo, Illinois in 1947. Where our Father set up a Whole Wheat flour milling business.

His mills were of a new design, using carborundum stones set very close together. The result was fine whole wheat flour and a lot of air.

And something he hadn't planned on - inconsistent baking results. We baked a lot of bread, but much of it we have to give away to our neighbors.

Then he read, that an additive was added to flour to stabilize it. He did the same thing. and it worked for him too. Only a tiny bit was required and it is harmless to the people who eat these bakery products.

He advertised his flour as having no additives. I once asked him if the stabilizer was not an additive, but he got upset and said that it was not!

His children sacked his flour for him. He designed a special device that would bounce any sack of flour that was in it. We would shovel a scoop of flour into the bag, cover it with a paddle the size of the bag, and turn the thumper on while we pushed down on the paddle. Thump, thump, thump, the air was squeezed out!

Then another scoop of flour and the process was repeated. We got covered with flour, but that did not bother us. We also used a face mask, so we could breathe while working, I wish we had some photos of us back then.

His flour did not sell. Perhaps it would have if he had sold it to the little grocery stores that were common then, selling to each store individually. But he tried to sell to the larger stores, sitting his bags next to the other bags. But that made them look different, and that turned the buyers off.