One of the things that reportedly made their firm successful was their study of foreign as well as domestic designs, with reports that the Towers went abroad to Europe in 1884–1885 to examine the latest designs in paper mills on that continent. Moreover, their firm placed a far greater emphasis on the surroundings of the sites at which their mills were constructed, rendering otherwise challenging terrain into the driving force of a mill's productivity. Among notable examples of this is the site of the Melchert & Cia Mill in Salto, São Paulo, Brazil. Designed and built in 1887 on the banks of the Tietê River, at the time of its construction it was regarded as a folly by locals, who mocked Melchert & Cia, its wealthy Brazilian backers, for "[the] insane idea of manufacturing paper in that country". Designed by the brothers Tower, it became the first industrial paper mill in South America and remains a functional site even today, producing large quantities of paper for currency.
