The Long Brothers Milling Company is composed of E.E. and Lee Long, who operate an extensive mill near the Cloud county line, situated on the old town site of Brittsville, which was named for its founder, Judge Britt, on whose land the town was located. Brittsville was once a flourishing town and trading post, but the line of railroad missed the little hamlet about one and one-half miles to the westward and the town of Simpson, Mitchell county consequently sprung into existence. The old mill was erected in 1897, by Simpson, Shank & Long, and was operated by them until 1885, when Henry Long, father of the Long brothers, became sole proprietor and manager.

By the death of their father in 1900, Lee and E.E. Long became owners and partners in this paying enterprise. The present mill was erected in 1899, at a cost of about eleven thousand dollars. It is an imposing, three story frame structure, standing on the banks of the Solomon and embowered in the groves of that rich valley. The mill site is one an artist might revel in. The placid flow of the river, unbroken in its course, produces a dreamy and restful sensation until with a joyous bound it leaps merrily over the dam. The stately trees give a cool and welcome shade from the sultry suns of a summer day.

LONG BROTHERS' MILLS AND ONE OF THE FINEST WATER POWERS ON THE SOLOMON RIVER.

The mill has a capacity of one hundred barrels of flour daily and contains all the modern improvements and appliances to lighten labor and do perfect work. This is the only mill in the Solomon valley at the present writing (October, 1901) that has the full sifter system. The leading brand of flour made at this mill is "The Eclipse," and a finer quality was never made into toothsome, wholesome bread, biscuits and cakes, the pride of the housekeeper who need never worry over the result of her baking and brew. Much of their product is sold to exporters. This is one of the best water powers on the Solomon river, with an absolutely tight dam. Their capacity for grain is sixty tons and they have the only plant in the county where corn is received in the ear and reduced from this state to fine meal. J.S. Brown, a man of extended experience, is the miller. Mr. Brown has spent many of the days and nights of his fifty-two years perfecting himself in the knowledge and details of his profession and his thirty years of successful management in this occupation attest his having accomplished what he intended. He has been in their employ more than two years.

The Longs own and operate a magnificent farm of four hundred acres, and in connection with their agricultural and milling pursuits they feed great droves of cattle and hogs during corn years. They also raise wheat extensively and have had some fine returns in this industry. These enterprising men have an irrigating plant that furnishes 20,000 gallons of water per hour, propelled by a water wheel and distributed through pipes to various parts of the estate.

Their father, the late Henry Long, was a native of North Carolina and when a young man emigrated to Missouri, thence to California, in 1849 - the gold seeker's year, and subsequently, via the Isthmus of Panama to South America, later returning to Missouri, where he married Sallie Long, who survives him and lives in the home of her sons. This worthy couple became the parents of eleven children, five of whom are living and are all residents of Cloud county. The daughters are, Myrtle, on her first year in the Manhattan Agricultural College; Rena, graduated from the Emporia State Normal and entered upon a career of teaching school, but on account of ill health was compelled to abandon that vocation; Retta, the youngest daughter is the wife of Ira Foote.

The brothers, Lee and E.E. Long came with their parents from Missouri to Kansas before they had reached the years of maturity, were reared on the farm their father bought of Judge Britt, in 1881, received a common school education and began their career as employees in the mill they now own, then operated by Simpson, Shank & Long. E.E. Long was married in 1899, to Miss Anna Conner, an accomplished and gracious woman, a daughter of Patrick Conner, an old settler of Ottawa county, Kansas.

The Longs have made for themselves a competency that brings to them all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life; among them is a commodious and pleasant home situated opposite the mill site, The brothers differ in politics; E.E. is a Jeffersonian Democrat, while Lee is an ardent Republican. The mother lives with her sons and watches the growth of their business enterprises with true motherly ambition and pride. These prosperous young men are held in high public favor and esteem, having earned a well deserved success in their undertakings. "Upward and onward" is their motto. They are citizens of whom any community may justly be proud in all the bearings of business and social life.