Washburne, Charles W.

From Lane Co Oregon

With the coming of the railroad, Springfield’s industrial activity turned around. In 1890 Charles W. Washburne, a Junction City banker, purchased the flour mill from William Pengra and set about enlarging the mill and refitting it with new high-speed machinery that increased flour production to 150 barrels a day. Washburne put his son, Byron A. Washburne, in charge of the operation which became extremely successful in producing a brand of flour called “Snowball XXX” (Clarke 1983:35-41).