Snider, Elias Webber Bingeman

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Andrew Thomson, “SNIDER, ELIAS WEBER BINGEMAN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 15, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/snider_elias_weber_bingeman_15E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Miller, manufacturer, and politician; b. 19 June 1842 in Waterloo, Upper Canada, third son of Elias Snider and Hannah Bingeman; m. first 19 April 1864 Nancy Weber (d. 1912) in Preston (Cambridge), Upper Canada, and they had seven sons and four daughters (one son died in infancy); m. secondly 1915 Helen Shoemaker; d. 15 Oct. 1921 in Kitchener, Ont.
    • E. W. B. Snider left public school at the age of 12 to work on the family farm, but he shared his father’s interest in milling and in 1860 began a two-year apprenticeship at the family’s flour operation in German Mills (Kitchener). On its completion he became the manager of the mill and in 1864 he made an arrangement with his father to run it on a “shares” basis, which would allow him a measure of the profits. The Sniders expanded their holdings in 1868 to include a small mill at Berlin (Kitchener), but in 1871 Elias Jr set out on his own, purchasing a mill in St Jacobs. There he became the first Canadian to introduce roller milling to the industry. On the advice of John Braun (Brown), a former employee, he purchased a roller system from the Hoerde company of Vienna in 1875. This Walzenstuhle process replaced millstones with a slower but more efficient system of small rollers. The resulting product, which Snider called Walzen flour, represented a dramatic improvement in quality over traditionally milled flour and Snider was able to sell it widely, not only in Ontario but also in eastern Canada, the northeastern United States, and Britain. In 1876 he acquired a second mill, in New Dundee, where he also installed rollers. By the mid 1880s this operation and his Pioneer Roller Flouring Mill in St Jacobs were together producing 250 barrels a day.
    • The roller milling system was an early example of Snider’s fascination with new technology and commercial opportunity. In 1884 he was attracted to the foundry business and purchased a works in Waterloo from Jacob Bricker, which he operated with Bricker’s son Levi. Four years later the business was incorporated as the Waterloo Manufacturing Company Limited, with Snider and Absalom Merner, another foundry owner, as the major partners. This firm, of which Snider was president, would become famous for the manufacture of agricultural implements. The company expanded Jacob Bricker’s line of threshers and retained his Champion trade mark. It also began to make steam traction engines under the Lion Brand trade name.
    • Snider is best known for his role in the introduction of public electricity to Ontario. An early convert to the benefits of electricity, in 1894 he had installed a generator at his mill in St Jacobs which also provided power to homes in the town. In 1900 he joined with Daniel Bechtel Detweiler and Joseph Bingeman to form a company to generate power for mines north of Lake Superior. The Michipicoten Falls Power Company Limited was an early success and convinced Snider of the importance of hydroelectric power for industry. In February 1902 he called upon business and community leaders in the area around Berlin to meet and discuss the most effective way to ensure that power generated at Niagara Falls would be made available to businesses and homes in the province. A subsequent meeting in June struck a committee, chaired by Snider, to consider the matter. Snider and Detweiler, the publicist, researcher, and jack-of-all-trades for the venture, spoke to many municipal and business leaders as well as to the Niagara power companies.
  • Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=7892
  • Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18318446/elias-weber_bingeman-snider