James W Sherwood

• American

James W Sherwood was born in 1871 in Anoka, Minnesota. He attended school in Minneapolis when his family moved there. He moved west to Montana as a representative and branch manager in Helena, Butte, and Anaconda for the Royal Milling Co. During the 1890s, the Montana plains were increasingly developed for large scale wheat production following the opening of the Great Northern Railway between Minneapolis and Seattle. Flour mills followed close behind, and so did Sherwood. In 1905, he became manager of the Royal Milling Co. and Kalispell Flour Mills Co. in Great Falls. Fourteen years later, in 1919, he was the manager of the Rocky Mountain Elevator Co, the Royal Milling Co and Kalispell Flour Mills Co. He was appointed president of the Montana Companies for General Mills in 1928, when General Mills formed. He retired the following year, but remained a major stock holder and a director for the rest of his life. - NRHP