NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/440846
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015 • NEBRASKAland 19 for wheat on its north side. The new machinery increased their daily flour production to 140 barrels (at the time a barrel equaled 196 pounds and was the standard measure unit of flour). Apparently a new era of mill success loomed ahead. Regardless of machinery, mills had to be kept running to make a profit. The prosperity of a water-powered mill depended on the operator's ability to keep the water source in harness. Year after year, high rises of the Elkhorn River brought Gallaway and Lambert heavy expenditures to maintain brush dams, settled flumes and flood damage to the levees that were necessary to enclose the mill pond. Unfortunately, weeks of labor and hundreds of dollars of expensive repairs could be washed out in a day. During periods when the mill was shut down, Neligh merchants noted a decline in business. Two months after the mill's flume washed out in October 1881, the local paper noted, "Stoppage of the mill has had a depressing effect on the business of Neligh." For many farmers, with no mill to visit, there was no reason to come into town. W. C. Gallaway was an ambitious businessman and sought other opportunities. In addition to building lumber yards in Neligh and Ewing, he also owned elevators and mills in Elgin and Oakdale. In 1891 he added a mansard-type roof to create a third story on the Neligh Mill to hold more sifting machinery. But for Gallaway, the road ahead was rocky. The next year Lambert left the firm, and Gallaway bought out his holdings. However, it soon became evident he was financially over-extended, and one by one his other businesses were disposed of. The hard times of the 1890s took its toll on the Neligh Mill's fortunes. In 1894 Gallaway sold the mill to Henry Griffith, who apparently had no experience in operating a roller mill business; three years later the mill was sold at a sheriff's sale. It was purchased by Gallaway's two sons, which essentially returned control of the mill, for a brief time, back to their father. In December 1898 the mill was again put in the sheriff's hands. Several days later it was reported that Stephen F. Gilman of Davenport, Iowa, had bought the Neligh Mill. Gilman, a capitalist and successful mill proprietor who owned flour mills at Pierce and Valentine, intended to make Neligh Mill the central unit of his milling operation. Always boosting local business enterprise, the Neligh paper assured confidence in the new ownership, and reminded its readers: "The property has been in such [poor] condition, and the uncertainty hanging over it has been such, for some years, that it has not been so helpful in drawing trade." S. F. Gilman's purchase brought new prosperity and growth to a major component of the town's economy. To oversee the Neligh operation, Gilman brought in Joseph W. Spirk, his efficient manager of the Pierce Mill. Spirk quickly refurbished the mill, and built an additional warehouse and 10,000 bushel elevator for corn storage. Over the next 10 years he continued to improve the Neligh plant, constructing a permanent dam and improved flume, as well as installing a larger turbine. Building improvements included expanded warehouse and elevator storage. Under Gilman's ownership merchant sales and contract work dominated production, with the mill running 24 hours a day, six days a week. Large contracts were received from the Indian Department for flour and bran for reservation use. Military contracts sent Neligh flour and cornmeal to The mill complex, circa 1891. The main mill building, wooden elevators and office all survive today. NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, N418.9-4