I. M. Yost

Isaac M. Yost, commonly I. M. Yost, or "Ike", was a miller and frontier industrialist who led the development of flour milling in the settlement of Hays City, Kansas. Even though he was the leading miller in Hays for decades, he was particularly remembered there for co-founding the short-lived United States Portland Cement Company and the associated townsite of Yocemento.

I. M. Yost
The Yocemento Cement Mill
Co-founded by I. M. Yost,
"the man who built Hays".
Born1848
Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania[1]
Died1944
California
Other namesIke
Occupationmiller
Spouse
Sallie T. Johnson
​
(m. 1871)​
[1]
ChildrenLin, Ed, Eda[2]

I. M. Yost was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania in 1848. In 1871, Yost married Sallie T. Johnson.[1] Sally was a cousin of William Cody (Buffalo Bill), who, just before his buffalo hunting fame, had co-founded a short-lived town, Rome, Kansas, a rival of Hays City. At the Centennial Exposition of 1876, Cody persuaded Yost to move to the then vacated Rome townsite and build a dam and flour mill there.[3] Although the dam was soon destroyed and the mill burned, Yost persevered, rebuilding in neighboring Hays City, and rebuilding again each time after 2 more fires. By 1910, he operated several mills in the railroad towns ranging of a distance of about 94 miles from Wilson to Hays to Collyer.[1][4]

Erasmus Haworth, the first state geologist of Kansas,[5] came to Ellis County in 1906, seeking to continue his study of western Kansas geology. For a local guide, he sought out the respected "Ike" Yost. Yost drove Haworth out to the Ellis County Hog Back, the local name for the limestone bluffs a few miles west of Fort Hays. Pooling their knowledge of geology and industry, the two partnered to found the successful but short-lived United States Portland Cement Company and the supporting town, Yocemento, at the base of the bluff. The company made a rapid start, but struggled and failed under intense competition with established cement manufactures in Denver and Missouri.[6]

With the company sold to the Denver competitor in 1916,[7] Yost moved to Kansas City, then to Denver. However, he remained a booster of the community.[8] He consulted in the WPA mapping project of Rome.[9]

In later years, Yost made his home with a son, Ed, in California, passing away at the age of 96.[6]

References
  1. "Historical Mt. Allen Cemetery". City of Hays.
  2. At Home in Ellis County 1867-1992. Vol. 1. Ellis County Historical Society. 1991. pp. 69, 151, 286.
  3. W.A. Hill. "Rome - Predecessor of Hays Founded by "Buffalo Bill" Cody". The William F. Cody Archive. pp. 12–13. Retrieved 2018-07-18. One of [Cody's] greatest contributions to Hays was when he got I. M. Yost to locate here.
  4. "I.M. Yost Milling Company paperweight". Kansas Memory. Retrieved March 5, 2019. Yost's company also eventually had elevators in Victoria, Toulon, Ellis, Ogallah and Collyer. In October of 1907 they also assumed operation of the Wilson Mill, ...
  5. Rex C. Buchanan. "'To bring together, correlate, and preserve'--a history of the Kansas Geological Survey, 1864-1989". Retrieved 2019-01-30. I might have learned that Erasmus Haworth had been the first state geologist and director of the present Geological Survey and that he had mapped the structure on which lies the most productive oil field in Kansas, the El Dorado of Butler County.
  6. "Yocemento Once Held Great Promise But Idea Of Founders Born Too Soon". The Hays Daily News. Hays, Kansas: 12. 1959-05-24.
  7. "Sell Cement Plant". The Wilson World. Wilson, Ellsworth County, Kansas. XXXIX. 1916-03-30. Retrieved 2018-08-11. The cement is known the world over has been recognized and is as near the standard of the Portland cement of England …
  8. "Yost Who Built Hays Sends Hays Word of Encouragement [after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ]". Hays Daily News. 1929-11-11. I. M. Yost for many years was a leading business man not only of Hays …
  9. H. R. Pollock. "Blueprint of Rome, Kansas". The William F. Cody Archive. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
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