Preston Milling Co. Carload flour sale at SLC United Grocery - 1920

 Preston Milling Company flour was once considered some of the best of the best in the Idaho-Utah region. Salt Lake City's venerable United Grocery touted a genuine "car load" sale in late  October1920.

Source: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61934602/preston-flour1/

United Grocery went into business on Salt Lake City's Main Street in 1887. By 1920,United was considered one of the city's top grocery stores. Source:

The Preston Milling Company car load flour sale was prominently featured in United's ad on Page 4 of the 72-page Sunday October 24, 1920, edition of the "Salt Lake Tribune."
Source: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61934728/preston-flour-2-full-united-ad/

"High Patent" flour was (and remains) considered as the finest possible quality obtainable.

See: https://bakerpedia.com/ingredients/patent-flour/

"Generous response is sure to follow" so "Be there EARLY as possible"
Can you imagine the crush of humanity that must have crowded up to the rail car?

This clip from a Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the rail siding (left circle) in proximity to  United Grocery's location (right circle). Source of Map: https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn08891_006/

We'll never know what type of a boxcar carried the flour from Preston to Salt Lake City.  The above box car was probably the type of car used in 1920.
Source of photo: http://www.lomita-rr.org/exhibits/?exhibit=boxcar

However, it could have been this "new & improved" type of box car.  This is an HO scale model.

Source: https://www.con-cor.com/shop/1880s-1930s-wooden-boxcar-union-pacific/
For more details on vintage boxcars see Page 14 here:

http://magazine.trainlife.com/rmj_1993_2/

United Grocery occupied at least two locations during its50-year-run in Salt Lake City. This photo appears to show a 269 S. Main address.  The business is said to have been located at 276 S. Main before settling into its final location.  Source of 1911 photo:
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s69w0swf

This appears to be the 322 S. Main St. address that United occupied for its final years of operation.
Source of 1929 photo: https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s61p092b

United Grocery went out of business in 1937 after 50 great years of service to Salt Lake City.

Source of article: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61937006/united-grocery-closes-1937/

As far as we can discern, this is 322 S. Main Street in Salt Lake City.

Today, the location appears to be on the south side of the heart of downtown Salt Lake City's burgeoning business district.  Some old buildings across Main Street house an eclectic assortment of boutique eateries.

Franklin County seat Preston, Idaho, has always been a thriving community. In 1920 Preston's population was over 3,200.  For a 127-page history of Preston up to 1960 see:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5843&context=etd

Source of photo: http://www.franklincountyhist.org/home.html

The Preston Milling Company was a Big Deal in the community. "The Preston Milling Company had a reputation of being among the best flour mills in the west with the very latest machinery. Trucks and the railroad took the Optimo brand of flour to markets down through Cache Valley and stores in Ogden and north to Pocatello. The mill was known to give a square deal to both the producers of grain and the consumers of their products, both flour and cereal. In 15 hours of time they could grind about 550 bushels of wheat and “carload after carload was being shipped throughout the west.”

For a full history of the mill see:
https://www.hjnews.com/preston/developing-town-preston-milling-site-still-serves-up-grain-today/article_2986eb97-cc19-5277-b572-58d91cc8b6b1.html

Sanborn Fire Map field staff were meticulous in describing the "innards" of any manufacturing plant.

They also typically described a plant's capacity and how the owners provided fire protection.

Source of map: https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01658_002/

The Preston Milling Company was located on the far south edge of town in the area of red circle.

Here's a view of that area today via Google Maps Streetview. Valley-Wide Home and Ranch main store is at left in this view.

Agriculture continues to be a mainstay of Preston and Franklin County culture and economy.
For a detailed look at Franklin County ag stats see: 
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/Online_Resources/County_Profiles/Idaho/cp16041.pdf

Wheat has always been a staple crop in Franklin County and it's good to see quite a few acres remain planted to this grain.

Part of the ultimate success and reputation of the Preston Milling Company came when Joshua Rallison purchased stock in the Preston Milling Company. His investment in the company motivated him to be creative in his encouragement to farmers to use the milling company for their grain and flour. In the fall of 1916 for the local fair the Preston Milling company offered a 98-pound sack of Optimo flour for the best bushel of Turkey Red Wheat entered at the fair. He noted that he was doing all in his power to get the farmers to grow the Turkey Red and then to show it so they would see how it compared with other wheats." (Quote from history of Preston Milling Co. cited above.) 

Interestingly, history repeats itself in Southeast Idaho. The Arcadia Company is urging farmers to plant their brand called "Good Wheat."  It's quite an intriguing story you can read about here:

https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/wheat-going-good-southeast-idaho-is-production-hub-of-wheat-brand-bred-for-health-benefits/article_ee296479-0218-545c-987c-1f774a4f51c5.html

See also:

https://arcadiabio.com/

Finally, for the truly curious--here's how Idaho's 2020 wheat crop turned out:

https://www.postregister.com/chronicle/news/idaho-wheat-crop-makes-up-ground-after-slow-start/article_84ca8630-7504-5223-b981-91631d2eb388.html