LEHI — By 1905, Lehi farmers were getting tired of hauling wheat to American Fork for milling — something they had been doing for 15 years since the Spring Creek Flour Mill went out of business.
But in June of that year came an announcement in the Lehi Banner: A group of businessmen and other shareholders, who each invested $20,000, were forming a co-op to build a "a new flour mill with modern pattern and equipment."
The chosen location for the mill was on East Main Street, on the sugar factory spur of the Union Pacific Railroad. The three-story building, as the Banner reported, would contain "four sets of double rollers, one washer, two purifiers, two reels, one cleaner, one dust roller, one gyrator, one separator and one bran duster."
It was state of the art for early 20th-century America, and the new mill turned out it first flour on April 2, 1906.
One hundred years later, the Lehi Roller Mills is still doing what it does best: turning out high-quality baking flour, says Sherman Robinson, current owner and manager of the plant.
Robinson's grandfather, George G. Robinson, purchased the mill in 1910, and it has been owned and operated by the Robinson family ever since.
"My great-grandfather was a millwright and miller in Delaware," explains Robinson. "He came to Utah to help set up some early mills. In those days, almost every town had a flour mill or a grist mill. His son — my grandfather, George — came with him, and he stayed to work at a mill in American Fork. Then he bought this mill."
You could say that milling is in the Robinson genes. "Somewhere in America, for the past 200 years, there have been mills operating under the Robinson name. But, if you go back over the ocean, my ancestors have all been flour millers since the 1500s," Robinson says.
It's a legacy to be proud of, but at the same time something of a burden, says Robinson. "I've just always known I had this work to do."
Lucky for him, he enjoys it. But, he admits, the past few years have had their challenges. Milling is changing in this country, he says. "There are now only about 200 flour mills left, and only 15 or 20 that are this small. A lot of the small ones have closed up. We've bucked that trend so far."
Lehi Roller Mills will be celebrating its centennial tomorrow with a free pancake breakfast and tours of the historic facility. The Department of Agriculture convinced him that it was something to celebrate, Robinson says. "My nature is just to do the work."
But he recognizes that it is a remarkable milestone, especially in this day and age — to have the mill still operating under the same family for all these generations is pretty rare. Plus, he adds, "we are still doing business with some of the third-generation wheat farmers, some of the same families that my grandfather worked with." They still buy 60 percent to 70 percent of their wheat locally, he says.
In addition, the mill has remained in its original location as the town of Lehi has grown up around it. "We're right in the downtown now." He had to laugh a few years ago when some representatives from the state highway department came by. "They were looking around out on the east side, and they were concerned that we had built too close to the road." Robinson had to point out that the mill was there long before the road.
With its twin towers advertising Turkey Red Flour and Peacock Flour, the mill is an easily recognized landmark for people passing by on I-15. Over the years, it has captured the attention of numerous artists. "I got a call from a guy in town a while back who had just gotten back from England. He was so excited, because he had seen a painting of the mill in one of the art galleries over there."
Robinson is aware of about eight paintings, including one by folk artist Eric Dowdle that has been made into a puzzle. There could be a lot more out there.
However, one of the mill's greatest brushes with fame came in 1984 when it served as the backdrop for "Footloose," starring Kevin Bacon and John Lithgow.
"That's been 22 years, but we still get calls from people who want to have their picture taken on the porch where Kevin Bacon packaged flour. I've been surprised how much impact that movie had. When it first came out, we had a full-time person on the phone answering questions," Robinson says.
Another neat part of the mill's story, says Robinson, are "the people who have worked here over the years. It has taken thousands of people to make it work. We've had a lot of doctors and lawyers and college professors who worked here while they were students at BYU or Utah Valley State College or even high school and have gone on to other things all over the country. We are their first memory of work, and they still feel a connection to us."
Lehi Roller Mills currently employs about 50 full-time workers. That swells to about a hundred around the Christmas holidays to take care of the demand for the mill's mixes.
That all got started because Robinson had a dentist friend who wanted something from the mill to give to his clients. "He kept bugging us, so almost as a joke, my wife took some Christmas material and sewed some bags, and we filled them full of 25 pounds of flour."
They were surprised at how quickly and impressively the idea caught on, but they soon realized that 25 pounds was too big, so they decided to try something smaller. "We came up with a pancake mix. Because of minimum requirements, we had to do 5,000 of them. I thought, 'What will we ever do with all these?' But we introduced them the first of November and by Thanksgiving they were all gone."
Today, the mill offers a variety of mixes, not only for pancakes but also for muffins, bread, cookies, brownies and more. That retail business has been one of the things that has helped the mill survive, says Robinson.
The majority of the mill's flour, however, goes to larger corporate and bakery clients.
"In 1952, my father sold Pete Harmon his first bag of flour for his Kentucky Fried Chicken. KFC still buys flour from us." They also sell flour to Sarah Lee, Interstate Brands, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and a lot of local bakeries. "A lot of people eat a lot of our product and are not aware of it," Robinson says. About 50 percent to 60 percent of the flour goes out of state.
Each day about 100,000 pounds of flour are produced in the mill. That seems like a lot, until you realize that "the typical mill in this country puts out about a million pounds a day. That's the difference in scale."
He is also quick to point out that while the mill may be 100 years old on the outside, the inside has been changed and upgraded several times over the years to where they have state-of-the-art equipment. While the basic process remains the same, "we have better quality control. It's safer. We can grind more in the same space. The technology hasn't changed; it's just more sophisticated."
At one time rollers were the newest thing, as opposed to stone-grinding. So that's where the name came from. "We've thought about changing the name to Lehi Flour Mills, but it seems too obvious," jokes Robinson.
Some things change; some things don't. Over any hundred-year period, that's always the case. As the Lehi Roller Mills reaches this milestone, Robinson is looking both back and forward. He and his wife have five daughters and a son, and they are all involved in the mill. So, he says, there's a good chance the next generation will take over and move on.
"We're trying to find solid ways to take us another hundred years. We'd like to be around."
Why the Turkey?
A frequent question at the Lehi Roller Mills is: What do turkeys have to do with wheat?
People see the big Turkey Red Wheat sign, and "they ask if we're feeding turkeys," says Sherman Robinson, owner and operator of the mill.
Turkey Red Wheat comes from wheat that was brought to this country by a group of Mennonites who came from Turkey, he explains. "It became very popular. It's what made America into a wheat-producing country." It was planted in the fall and then grew in the spring.
"Today, it's sometimes called hard red winter wheat, but it's still the primary wheat we use." The gluten and protein content, as well as the flavor, make it ideal for baking, he says.
The history of wheat
In Greek mythology, the gift of wheat is attributed to Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. The Romans thought it was their goddess Ceres (where the name cereal comes from) who brought wheat to the world. The Egyptians believed that the goddess Isis found wheat growing wild in Phoenicia. The Chinese also believed wheat was a gift of divine origin.
While its origins remain mysterious, archaeologists have found grains of wheat preserved in Stone Age dwelling in England, prehistoric lake dwellings in Switzerland and the tombs of the pharaohs in Egypt. It has been found in ruins in Turkey that date back to 4000 B.C., and researchers have discovered evidence that it may have been cultivated in China as early as 3000 B.C.
Scientists estimate that it was actually being used as a food source as early as 10,000 B.C.
It probably came to the New World with Columbus, but it was not until the 17th century that colonists in Massachusetts and Virginia began wide-scale production.
Source: Lehi Roller Mills
How wheat becomes flour
Here's how the process works:
"Milling is all about reduction and separation," says Sherman Robinson, owner and operator of Lehi Roller Mills. It's about separating the usable parts from a kernel of raw wheat and turning them into viable products.
When raw wheat is delivered to Lehi Roller Mills, it is analyzed as to protein and moisture content to determine quality level.
Wheat begins its journey to the bakers through a series of separators, which remove dust, any metal and other unwanted particles.
Wheat is graded according to length in the indent cylinder, which further removes any impurities and foreign matter.
Clean wheat is weighed into units of 600 pounds and stored in bins until needed.
When its time comes, the wheat is sent to a tempering conveyor, where it is mixed with water and sent to bins where it will sit for a period of time while a curing process toughens the bran coat.
It then goes to the roller mills, where it begins the process of reduction to flour and other products.
A purifier furthers separates the flour by texture and weight.
Freshly ground wheat is then sifted in huge "shakers" that sort it into flour, wheat germ or bran. Some three streams of flour enter the sifter; 10 streams of various products are sifted out.
These products are then packaged as a house brand, custom label or special order.
The flour is stored in a 10,000-square-foot warehouse until it is shipped to its destination.
Source: Lehi Roller Mills
If you go
What: Lehi Roller Mills 100th birthday party, including pancake breakfast and tours of the facility
When: Saturday, 9 a.m.-noon
Where: 833 E. Main, Lehi
Cost: Free
Phone: 1-877-311-3566
E-mail: carma@desnews.com