Forging a Milling Empire
Sperry Mill quickly became profitable. Two years after opening, Sperry added two grinding stones, a new engine, and boiler that increased production to a 150 barrels a day by 1856. With a staff of eighteen men, Sperry quickly gained a reputation for the quality of their barley and flour. They promoted their signature flour product, “drifted snow,” for its purity and quality, the result of a “new process” the company pioneered.
Due to the demand for flour in the delta and the success of Sperry’s business model, production quickly outgrew the original mill. Sperry’s brother, Willard, bought into the business and they first expanded by purchasing the Franklin Mill in 1862 and renamed the business the Stockton City Mills. With Franklin Mill added, they once again increased production to 700 barrels of flour a day. The original Sperry wooden mill was abandoned in 1871 and the entire operation was moved to the Stockton City Mills. The annual production rate between 1867 and 1871 was 70,000 barrels of flour or 7,000 tons and 500 tons of barley.
In 1878 wheat was priced at $1.55 to $1.60 per ton according to quality. Sperry began a new process for grinding flour called the Granulated Process. The demand for this new process of flour became larger than the supply. Sperry flour was in great demand all over the world. A promotional article boasted, "The flour of her mills commanded a premium in New York, and facilities were made to give her the control of the flour market."[1]
The company had two significant losses in the early 1880s. First, Austin Sperry died in 1881, but his brother, Willard, continued to run the business. The Stockton City Mills still prospered financially until April 2, 1882 when a fire ruined the entire mill and its machinery. The financial loss of the flour mill was between 120,000 to 150,000 dollars with the insurance only covering 90,000 dollars. After the fire, Sperry Co. leased a mill in Lodi and made contracts with other mills in the state so that orders could be filled without interruption.
Immediately after the fire, Willard Sperry decided to rebuild. The new mill was completed October 11, 1882. It employed fifty men and could produce 1,000 barrels a day. The new mill cost 200,000 dollars to build. The mill was named the "Crown Mills" and was ready to begin operations in February 1883.
The Crown Mills was the largest all rolls mill on the Pacific Coast. The mill ran from 6 p.m. Sunday till 6 p.m. Saturday. The mill employed sixty men. It consumed 40,000 bushels of wheat per week. A new engine was installed with 700 horsepower by Tatum and Bowen of San Francisco. By 1897 the mill employed seventy men and produced 360,000 barrels of flour annually.
The Sperry Flour Company became so successful that it was incorporated in 1884. Two years later Willard Sperry died and his sons continued the business. By 1890 production value was over $2,000,000 per year.
An addition of another flour mill helped them come out of the business slump. A Mr. Horace Davis owned the Golden Gate Mills in Stockton. Mr. Davis decided to move and set up another flour mill in Martinez. He sold the Golden Gate to Sperry for 100,000 dollars. With the Crown and the Golden Gate Mills, Sperry could produce up to 5,000 barrels of flour per day.
In 1873 the farmers of San Joaquin Valley had organized the Farmers Union. Its function was the storage and handling of grain. In August 1890 it because a corporation. That same year it was decided to build a union mill In January 1892 the Union mills began operation with a capital stock of $500,000. The business failed and in 1894 was sold to Sperry Incorporated. The mill produced 1,500 barrels of nour daily but could produce 5,000 barrels. I t was seven stories high and was 15 q x 85 feel. A 150 x 100 two-story warehouse adjoined the mill. By 1896 the Union Mills were producing 3,000 barrels of flour daily. Stockton was becoming known as the "Manufacturing city of the Pacific."