USA > Indiana > Vigo County > History of Vigo county, Indiana, with biographical selections > Part 50
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Iron Industry .- Alexander Crawford, who died the present year at his home in New Castle, Penn., was one of the pioneers of the Wabash valley in the manufacture of iron. His sons, A. J. and James P. Crawford, are now the leading iron mongers of Indiana. Alexander Crawford, at the time of his death, was seventy-six years of age. He was president of the New Castle & Beaver Valley and the St. Louis, Salem & Little Rock Railroads, and general manager of the Nashville & Knoxville, in which latter he invested $2,000,- 000. He built a rolling-mill at New Castle in 1839, and founded the Wabash Iron Company at Terre Haute, Ind., now managed by his sons. He had extensive iron and coal interests, east and west. Four sons and a daughter survive him. The nail works were projected in 1867.
The iron and nail works of Turner, Glover & Co. were prom- ised the citizens to be in operation by February 1, 1868. It was the indomitable energy of George Turner, manager; Benjamin Wilhelm, machinist; William Crawford, master builder and Joseph A. Morgan, treasurer, that enabled the work to be completed at the promised time.
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HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
The institution was originally known as the Terre Haute Iron & Nail Works of Turner, Glover & Co. The stockholders were: George Turner, Joshua E. Glover, Joseph S. Glover, William Craw- ford, Benjamin Wilhelm and Jasper A. Morgan, all from Youngstown, Ohio. These gentlemen came here with their families and made this their home; capital stock, $120,000. The iron they used came from the blast furnace at Harmony, Clay county, and the coal from Sullivan county, it being preferred to Brazil coal. There were then six puddling furnaces, and these were only operated by daytime -- sixty men employed. The first day the mill started up was Feb- ruary 12, 1868.
Terre Haute Iron & Steel Company .- This was originally " The Nail Works," or the Terre Haute Iron Works of Turner, Glover & Co. It was sold to the latter company in September, 1889, and capitalized at $60,000, and was changed to the making of bar iron, of which the output is 15,000 to 20,000 tons annually. They are now better equipped than before for the making of nails, and con- template renewing that branch of their industry. This is the Crawford Rolling Mill, in the south part of the city. It is situated at the crossing of the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad and Thirteenth street, where they have eleven acres of ground and over three acres of buildings. During the twenty years the concern manufactured nails it put out 2,648,489 kegs. It now employs 235 men, and will increase the force in a short time to 450 men. Present officers: James P. Crawford, president; A. J. Crawford, vice-president and treasurer; Samuel L. Bridwell, secretary.
Wabash Iron Company was organized in 1872, and the prin- cipal incorporators were Alexander Crawford and his sons, A. J. and J. P., and two brothers of Alexander Crawford, J. A. and G. W. Crawford, and W. R. McKeen, D. W. Minshall, Frank Paddock and Alexander McGregor. Capital| stock, $80,000. It manu- factures merchant bar iron and small T rails for mines, lumber camps and mills,etc. The works were put in active operation in 1873, with a capacity of 5,000 tons annually, and gave employment to seventy-five men. It now has a capacity of 12,000 tons and employs a force of 225 men. It has spacious and ample buildings, in which are twenty puddling and other furnaces, three trains of rolls, six boilers and twelve powerful engines. The present officers of the company are A. J. Crawford, president; J. P. Crawford, sec- tary and treasurer. It has [six acres of ground, and about three acres under roof, with railroads on three sides-the Van and also the Big Four north and south, and the Evansville & Indianapolis on the west. These give the mills the amplest shipping facilities.
Vigo Iron!Company is situated on the Evansville & Terre Haute
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Railroad, 1421 Washington avenue ; was incorporated August 9, 1869; capital stock, $125,000, and is one of the only two concerns in Indiana engaged in the manufacture of pig iron. It occupies twenty acres in the extreme southeastern portion of the city, where is the furnace and all necessary buildings with a 250-horse-power engine and machinery. The products of this mill have always been recog- nized of superior excellence. Thirty-two skilled men are employed at the furnace and the output reaches 12,000 net tons of iron bar, and finds, its market in the northwest. The raw material is chiefly from Iron Mountain, but large quantities of superior kidney iron is obtained from the streams of Vigo county and the immediate vicinity. This important industry is the main feeder to the two iron mills above mentioned, and is in the same proprietary inter- ests. It is in the hands of Messrs. A. J. Crawford, president, and J. P. Crawford, secretary and treasurer.
Terre Haute Car Manufacturing Company, for the manufacture of railroad cars, car wheels and machinery, was incorporated July 19, 1875, and grew out of the small shop and foundry built and operated some years by James Seath. It is a monument to the genius and energy of this man, who is now at the head of one of the most important industries in the State. In 1887 the works were burned to the ground, involving a loss of nearly $300,000, but were immediately rebuilt and upon a far better basis than before. The plant is located in the southeastern part of the city and covers an area of twenty-six acres, the buildings being chiefly one story in height and iron clad. Three miles of standard gauge track traverse the yards in every direction, and the shops are so arranged as to neces- sitate the least possible rehandling of the various parts of the cars until they meet at the erecting-shop, which has an area of 40,000 square feet, and has space for ten cars; the annual output being about 3,000 cars. Six hundred workmen are employed in the works and the output embraces every description of railroad cars except passenger cars, and a leading specialty is the manufacture of the Barr's patent process car wheels, of which about 8,000 are annually produced beyond what is required for their own uses. These wheels are made with a chilled iron rim, which is afterward ground true upon an emory wheel, rendering them particularly durable and desirable. The officers of the company are Messrs. James Seath, president; Lewis J. Cox, vice-president and treasurer; G. W. Gillespie, secretary, and R. L. Cox, superintendent.
Terre Haute Distillery, the largest concern of the kind in the world, has a working capactiy of 10,000 bushels of grain a day. This is equal to 50,000 gallons of spirits. The govern- ment tax on this wonderful output would be $40,000 a day. It
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would be an expert's work to count out each day this one item of expense. Four large engines and eighteen steam pumps are in operation when it is working. It requires a twelve-inch main to supply the needed water. There are not many water works that have a greater capacity than that required at this concern. The waste water leaving the buildings makes a small creek. This mammoth plant is located on the banks of the Wabash river, and is owned by the Terre Haute Distilling Company. It is little known that Terre Haute is one of the finest, if not the very best dis- tilling points in the United States. It has an inexhaustible supply of fine cold water, and the corn-producing country of the Wabash valley can not be surpassed anywhere, and is surrounded by the richest coal fields in the land. Spirits can be manufactured at this point for a little less than in any other place, Peoria, Ill., not excepted. In the year 1849, on the same grounds where now stands the mammoth establishment of the Terre Haute Distilling Com- pany, there stood the old McGregor House. The latter had a capacity of twenty-five bushels per day, producing seventy-five gallons of whisky. This, in those days, was called a large house. Forty years have gone by and we behold a distillery which has no
equal in the world. The mill, boiler house, distillery proper, cis- tern room, bonded warehouse, cooper shops, malt houses, corn cribs, pump houses, fermenting house, offices, stables and cattle barns and other buildings cover a space of twenty-nine and a half acres. On entering the premises we first see the immense corn cribs. Farmers bringing corn drive up an elevated roadway, and by an ingenious operation the whole load is dumped without un- hitching the horses or the use of a shovel. More than 1,000 loads of corn can be handled daily with the greatest ease. The ear corn is handled by machinery to a giant corn sheller. A large belt ele- vator takes the corn, cob, chaff and all ninety feet to the top of the storage elevator where each is separated. The cobs go through a suction fan and drop in front of the boilers to be used as fuel. The chaff goes through a simple conveyance to the chaff house and is used for cattle food. After the corn has been thus separated it is stored in the grain elevator, the latter having a capacity of 35,000 bushels. Following the raw material on its route we enter one of the most perfect mills in the country.
The starch in the corn is by a patent process separated from the bran and hearts of the corn, the absolutely pure starch only being used "for the production of spirits. The bran, hearts, etc., is used for cattle food. Experience has shown that by this way of purifying the grain before entering the distilling apparatus a much- improved spirit is obtained. £ The cooking of the meal is done in
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large iron kettles under high pressure. For malting and cooling the mash the vacuum process is used. No impurity whatever can enter the mash, the latter being conveyed in air-tight copper pipes to the fermenting room. The fermenting house is a separate building, a perfect model for the purpose. It contains twelve large fermenting vessels, each of which seems large enough to float a good-sized ship. The beer still has a capacity to separate the high wines from the fermented beer at the rate of 2,500 gallons per hour, and when separated produces a four-inch stream of high wines. The redistilling apparatus is immense, charging 36,000 gal- lons of high wines at a time. Three of these copper kettles have so large a diameter that a man with great ease could drive a two- horse team through them, buggy, horses, driver and all, without touching. The rectifying process is done by charcoal, sixty Sin- clair machines, which is one-third more than any other house in the United States uses, besides a large number of open leaches. The capacity of the rectifying department is larger and more perfect than any other distillery now in operation. Double rectification and redistillation is the mode of operation.
What experience and money can produce can be seen in this department. It is the most perfect and complete rectifying estab- lishment ever erected anywhere. The goods this firm produces are far superior to any in the market.
The Sandford Fork & Tool Company .- At this time, owing to a temporary financial difficulty, this splendid plant is closed. It is in the process of reorganizing, and it is expected that it will very soon be in operation upon a solid and permanent basis. It is situated on South Third street, and has easy access to the railroad and switches that give it fine shipping advantages. The building and machinery are new and elegant. It was built to completion in the early part of 1888, and work commenced.
This company is a consolidation of the shovel works of East Taunton, Mass., and the Sandford Tool Company of Cortland, N. Y., which was brought about after extended negotiations, to the credit of a few of our enterprising citizens. The old company was re- organized, and the capital increased from $100,000 to $150,000. Among the new stockholders may be mentioned Messrs. H. Hulman, D. W. Minshall, Josephus Collett, Willard Kidder, Anton Mayer and W. R. McKeen; Mr. Robert Nixon president of the company, The original capacity of the tool works being doubled, it became necessary for them to change their location in order to obtain better advantages for carrying on their western trade, and the inter-state commerce law made Terre Haute the most desirable place to locate, the saving to the company on a carload of freight as between
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Cortland and Terre Haute being more than $60 in favor at their new location. The buildings cover an area of 40,680 square feet, not including the yard area, but the ground under cover only will surprise many. The following shows the exact size of the different buildings: Forge room, 50x300 feet; boiler, engine and dry house, 40x50 feet; finishing house, 40x150 feet; machine shop, 25x72 feet; shearing house, 50x100 feet; handle house, 40x150 feet; warehouse, 40x122 feet.
The buildings were judiciously arranged on the lot, and occupy a very small space for their size.
In the spring of 1890 the company encountered financial distress and made an assignment, and the works are temporarily closed. It is understood that as soon as a reorganization can be effected it will resume on a secure basis and increased facilities.
The principal product is shovels, forks, and all manner of farm tools. The capacity of the shovel department alone is 150 dozen a day- the hoe and fork department but little inferior.
The motor of the plant, a 300-horse-power Corliss engine, is a model of beauty and strength combined. The machine shop where they are prepared to do all sorts of light and medium work is sup- plied with a 15-horse-power independent engine. The polishing room is supplied with 60 emery wheels, and the grinding room with 10 run of stones, each 6 feet in diameter and 1 foot thick, revolving with a velocity of 250 revolutions per minute. When in full operation it gave employment to 300 men.
Phoenix Foundry and Machine Works .- This institution is one of the oldest of its kind in this part of the State. On the ground covered by its buildings there were, in 1865, two separate indus- tries, owned by different individuals. In that year these two were united under the present name, and in 1879 were incorporated. From such small beginnings it has grown to its present proportions, and is now, after more than twenty years, the leading industry in its line in the Wabash valley.
Being located in the heart of the city, on all the street-car lines, it is midway between the Union depot and the post-office. The buildings, busy sights and sounds of this industry, attract the attention of every stranger who comes to Terre Haute. The plant consists of a block of ground bounded by Ninth, Eagle and Mul- berry streets and the yards and tracks of the Vandalia Railroad Company. It is nearly covered with substantial buildings, which furnish a floor space of more than 33,000 square feet, which is filled with machinery, the best of its kind for the purposes for which it is used. The yards and grounds are used for material, such as pig iron, coal, coke, scrap iron, which is constantly being
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received, and for manufactured articles which are made from this material, and are constantly changing. In the yards are also stored the machinery for foundry use, such as flasks, etc. There is also the boiler shop, around and in which one sees boilers of all kinds, in all stages of completion. Here one sees many second-hand boil- ers, which have been received in exchange for new work.
The reputation of the Phoenix is enviable, as its widely-extended and extending business attests. Its friends are those for whom the establishment has done work, and they are legion. They live in parts of western Indiana and eastern Illinois, and the Phoenix has never lost a customer for whom it has done work of any kind. The management have always prided themselves on this-a pardonable vanity. They do all sorts of work and make all kinds of machinery.
They make a specialty of architectural iron work, house fronts, etc., and point with pride to the numerous fronts of business houses which they have designed and erected, notably that of the McKeen building at Main and Seventh streets. Anyone who looks at the new court-house will see their handiwork in the cast-iron part of the roof and dome, the windows and cresting.
Vandalia Railroad Shops .-- This is a great hive of industry that commenced but a small affair and has grown with the growth of the Van system until it is one of the most important industries of Terre Haute. The road between Indianapolis and Terre Haute was completed in 1852, and immediately the work of erecting shops was commenced, these being finished in the following year. The total cost of construction was about $15,000, and the buildings put up form, in fact, part of the present shops. They consisted of an engine house, machine shop, and carpenter shop, and the total number of men employed was not over forty. The road then had an equipment of only seven engines and the outfit of freight and passenger cars was so small that it required but this small force to do all the work of overhauling and repairing. The only business done by the company was between Terre Haute and Indianapolis, and all the repairing was easily handled here. Mr. C. R. Peddle was master mechanic and master of motive power, from the start, and continued in that position for thirty years. No particular addition was made to the shops until 1869, when the present round- house was built for the accommodation of the increased equipment of engines, and the old engine-house was transformed into what is now the erecting department. A large car shed was also built, and altogether these improvements amounted to many thousand dollars. Gradually all the departments were enlarged and new additions built, until the shops reached the present proportions. Paint shops, tin shops, boiler department, large planing-mill and an enlarged blacksmith shop were among the improvements.
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HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
New Foundry .-- In July, 1890, Mr. F. H. McElfresh, formerly at the head of the Phoenix foundry, purchased a plat of ground at the corner of Ohio and Canal streets, and designs putting up an extensive foundry. It is expected that this will be an important addition to the city. No time is fixed for completing the building.
In 1882 Mr. Peddle accepted the position of purchasing agent and Mr. Cleaver was given the position of master mechanic under Mr. Prescott as master of locomotive power. Under the manage- ment of Mr. Cleaver the work has been systematized and divided up, until, at present, every department works with almost clockwork regularity. Under Mr. Peddle the shops were gradually raised to the excellent condition in which they were found when Mr. Cleaver was appointed, and the work of improvement was enabled to go on without any interruption. At present the shops cover an area of about eight acres, and the entire value of the buildings is estimated at $200,000, although that amount would not place them in their present condition. From time to time the tools belonging to the company were replaced by various new improvements, among them an immense wheel lathe costing $5,000, and a steam hammer costing $3,000. The larger amount of tools are owned by the em- ployes, but as those tools belonging to the company became worn out or broken they were replaced by new ones, until now the shops are among the best equipped in the country. The number of men em- ployed, exclusive of engineers and firemen, and employed in the shops alone, is 393, distributed as follows: Machine shop, 45; car- penters in planing-mills, freight-car house, passenger-car house, caboose shop and carpenter shop, 140; paint shop, 20; tin shop, 5; yardmen and laborers, 22; boiler shop, 34; blacksmith shop, 33; brass foundry 3; pattern shop, 3; erecting department, 32, and round-house, 57. The total pay-roll is $27,000 per month. The pay-roll of the engineers and firemen is $17,000 per month. The shops have facilities for making freight cars, passenger coaches, baggage cars, cabooses, and engines, with the exception of making the iron castings and wheels. The castings are furnished by the Phoenix Foundry and Machine Shops, of this city, and the wheels are supplied by the Terre Haute Car Works, Indianapolis Car Works, and Fort Wayne foundries. The car works in this city furnish 200 wheels a month, and they are as good as any which the company uses. A general idea of the amount of work done can be gained from the statement that four-fifths of the work of the road is done here. The equipment of engines is now 107 engines, the Terre Haute & Indianapolis owning 47, Terre Haute & Louisville, 16, and the St. Louis & Terre Haute, 44.
Terre Haute Stone Works Company .- In the material of stone
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HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
Terre Haute is, in some respects, as it is in regard to block coal. The supply is not within the immediate limits of the county, yet it is so contiguous as to make this city the natural headquarters and distributing point. One of the finest building stone in the world is the Indiana Oolitic or "Bedford " stone. The Terre Haute Stone Works Company now have customers from New York City to the Rocky Mountains. Prof. Collett, State geologist of Indiana, in Vol. XI of Reports, says:
"The Oolitic limestone (of Monroe and other counties) average over ninety-nine per cent carbonate of lime; a degree of purity scarcely excelled in the world. It was adopted, after a long and careful investigation, in competition with the most favored stones in the nation as the handsomest and best material for the new state- house. A similar conclusion was arrived at by authorities charged with important public structures in this and other States throughout the Union.
"It is used for the court-house, post-office, residences and churches of Indianapolis, and the best court-houses in this and ad- joining States. It is also used for the Cotton Exchange at New Orleans, the custom-house at Louisville, the most exposed parts of the new city hall, and water tables of Lincoln park, Chicago, and many of the expensive structures of St. Louis.
" The stone comes soft from the quarry, and is easily sawed, but, being tough, it can be carved with facility and rapidity into any desired forms. Its rich gray color, close uniform texture, and facil- ity for working, and its assured strength and durability, make it extremely desirable for permanent engineering works.
" The stone may be confidently recommended for the erection of permanent structures."
For many of the finest buildings in New York City, notably the Vanderbilt mansion, the stone quarries of the east were passed by and the Oolitic stone selected as being superior to any other to be found in the country.
The fame of the Terre Haute Stone Works Company's quarries is already widespread, and Wichita (in a State which claims to have fine building stone), Kansas City, Des Moines, Iowa, and other western cities, draw largely from these quarries for their supply of building stone. The recognized superiority of the stone from these quarries is the more strongly emphasized when the fact is borne in mind that the freight rates on stone to Wichita are 34 cents per hundred.
Wabash Manufacturing Company, on North Sixth street, was organized in 1886, and occupies the four stories and basement of Nos. 19-21. It manufactures overalls, trousers, shirts, etc., and is
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one of the most prosperous industrial institutions of Terre Haute; George Probst, superintendent.
Wood Work .- Messrs. Clift, Williams & Co. established them- selves in the present business in 1860, although the firm name at that time was Clift & Williams, which in 1880 was changed to Clift, Williams & Co. The main building of their planing-mills is 60x96 feet in dimensions, and contains three floors; the warehouse and office building is 40x70 feet, with two floors; and the whole amount of ground covered is about 150x260 feet. July 10, 1884, their buildings were entirely destroyed by fire, upon which they were rebuilt with brick, new machinery being used throughout, and they have now one of the handsomest and most convenient structures in the city. These gentlemen employ from seventy to one hundred men, and they claim witli justifiable pride that their house is one of the largest and most comprehensive in all its departments in the State, and one which manufactures every- thing pertaining to building material. The latest improved and best machinery and tools are used in all departments: The variety of their products is found in sash, doors, blinds, moldings, cornices, newels, stair work, lattice work, brackets, shelving and counters, lath, shingles, etc.
The Metallic Wheel Company .- This plant is located on the southeast corner of Cherry and Eighth streets, and covering a quar- ter of a block, was put up in 1887. The entire façade is sur- mounted with wheels. It commenced operations with a capacity of 100,000 a year. The inventor of this wheel, Mr. Alexander Mess- mer, a designer and manufacturer of fine furniture in the east, was met in Chicago by Mr. Horatio Keyes, of the Keyes Manufact- uring Company, where he was exhibiting the metallic wheel, and was persuaded to come to Terre Haute. Mr. Louis Duenweg, one of the leading citizens, and a capitalist, saw the merits of the me- tallic wheel, and at once formed a company for the manufacture of the wheels. All kinds of metallic wheels, baby carriages, tricycles and bicycles, gold, silver and nickel plating, as well as reed and rattan furniture; employs from 150 to 200 men.
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