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Chase County Kansas Historical Sketches
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THE ALFALFA MILLS
Chase County was a great alfalfa producing
county in the early part of this century, as at that
time very little wheat was raised here, and the
farmers depended on the cattle feeders and the
Kansas City market for the sale of their hay.
In 1909, three mills were built - Clements,
Saffordville, and Cottonwood Falls, for the purpose
of grinding hay for the market. This provided a good
outlet for the hay that could not be sold to feeders.
These mills operated only a few years, as floods
killed the alfalfa on the Cottonwood River farms,
and about this time wheat became a major crop.
They were closed and never opened again; later the
Clements mill burned.
The Kansas Flour Mills and Elevator Company
of Cottonwood Falls purchased the Cottonwood
Falls mill, which was located next to their elevator, using it as a storage room. It still is in use by
Vernon Scott who owns the elevator at this time.
In later years, a man by the name of Leblo
built dehydrating plants at Strong City and Elmdale. He bought the alfalfa, standing in the field,
and processed it in the plants. This lasted only a
few years and they were closed, and were used for
storage.
The latest is a pellet plant at Strong City,
operated by the Crofoot's. It opened only a few
months ago.
By: Wm. B. Selves, Sr., Cottonwood Falls, Ks.
Chase County Centennial, 1872 - 1972
by Lorna Marvin
Please submit your historical sketches.
Background and KSGenWeb logo were designed and are copyrighted by
Tom & Carolyn Ward
for the limited use of the KSGenWeb Project.
Permission is granted for use only on an official KSGenWeb page.
The USGenWeb Logo was designed by Linda Cole.
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