USA > Kentucky > Jefferson County > Louisville > The city of Louisville and a glimpse of Kentucky > Part 18
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Under an improved process, the burning of the natural cement rock is regulated by an artificial draught produced by a large fan. This insures a regular quality of "lime" (as the burned rock is called) and therefore a higher and more even grade of cement. A large force of men and a complete plant of machinery are constantly employed in quarrying the cement rock, of which large heds are found in the river at Louisville and in the country back of Jeffersonville, on the opposite side. The eight mills represented by the association have a much larger capacity than any demand which has yet been made upon them, which insures promptness in filling orders, and a sufficient stock always on hand to meet sudden calls for large quantities.
A large number of expert mechanics are employed in the manufacture of Louisville cement. The office of the WESTERN CEMENT ASSOCIATION is at the corner of Third and Main streets, Louisville, Ky. 95
Kentucky Mutual Security Bund Company.
THE KENTUCKY MUTUAL, SECURITY FUND COMPANY OF LOUISVILLE is one of the youngest life insurance companies in the State, but has already acquired a business of large proportions. It is a member of the Mutual Benefit Life Association of America, and was char- tered by the Kentucky Legislature February 4, 1884, having begun busi- ness in the fall of 1883 under the general charter. Its incorporators were W'in. B. Hoke, Robert J. Breckinridge, Charles S. Clark, W. T. McCarley, and Edward Badger. It is the only company chartered under the laws of Kentucky that creates a security fund, one of the great safeguards of life insurance, and a feature that gives this company a great advantage over other similar co-operative societies. That the plan is a popular one is shown by the fact that, though the company is still so young, it has written over $14,200,000 of insurance ; has paid in death losses over $165,000, and has accumulated a reserve fund of about $50,000, which is invested in interest-bearing bonds of the safest character. The company now has business in twenty-nine States and territories, over which it has a well- organized agency corps.
The company furnishes life insurance ou what is known as the "natural premium system," its rates being surprisingly low. That is to say, it insures at actual cost, according to age and the expectation of life. For the safe conduct of its business three distinct funds are provided. JUDGE W. B. HOKE. The first of these is the Expense Fund, for the maintenance of which each member of the company pays $3 a year on every $1,000 of insurance carried hy him. Out of this fund all the ex- penses of conducting the business are paid. The second is the Mortuary Fund, which can only be used to pay death losses. This fund is provided by a pro rata mortuary payment of members, according to their age and the amount of their insurance, limited to six payments per annum. The third is the Security Fund. This is limited to $1,000,000 and is created by the payment to the company of $10 for each $1,000 of insurance held. It really amounts to a deposit and is to be made only once during life, and can he made at such times and in such amounts as the insured may desire ; hut if not paid in full before death, fifty per cent. will be added to the balance then due and deducted from the face value of the certificate. This fund is deposited with the Louisville Safety Vault and Trust Company as Trustees, which holds the bonds in which it is invested, subject to the demands of the certificate holders. As soon as the fund reaches $250,000, or at the expiration of five years, the interest will be declared as a dividend, payable to members who have made their deposit to the fund five years previously, and will be placed to their credit to pay future dues and mortuary payments. The dividends are only paid to persistent members of the company, and thus it acts as a toutine fund as well as a protec- tion to members by providing against the failure of the company, either by the lapsing of members or any other possible canse. The Mortuary and Security Funds are, of course, inviolable. The officers of the company are required to make an annual report to the Insurance Commissioner of the State as to the condition of these two funds, the receipts and disbursements of the same, and the balance remaining on hand.
A strict medical examination is required, and only the best risks are accepted. On this subject L. C. Norman, In- surance Commissioner for Kentucky, says in his report on the KENTUCKY MUTUAL SECURITY FUND COMPANY : "The prosperous condition of the company is due to many causes, but the low average age of its members-less than forty years-and the careful and efficient medical supervision of its risks are among the most important. Too much credit can not, therefore, be given your accomplished Medical Supervisor, since his rejection of a large volume of business has materially assisted in securing and maintaining the present low death-rate of the company. I may say I found the office of the company in excellent condition, systematically arranged, and conducted in a neat and business-like manner." In all other respects the commissioner finds the affairs of the company regular and prosperous.
The officers of the company are W. B. Hoke, President ; George W. Griffithis, Vice-President and Medical Super- visor ; B. H. Trabue, Secretary ; Professor J. R. Hodges, Adjustor ; W. T. McCarley, Superintendent of Agencies.
Judge William B. Hoke was one of the incorporators of the company and has been its President ever since its organization, by his bigh character and intelligence guaranteeing the probity of the company. He was born August 1, 1838, in Jefferson county. Kentucky, and was educated for the bar. He read law in the office of the late James Speed and graduated from the Law School of the University of Louisville in 1859, taking the first houors of his class. In 1866 he was elected County Judge, which office he has since continuously filled. He has been elected to the office six consec- ntive times and is now filling his sixth term. Judge Hoke has been highly honored by Masonic bodies and other secret and benevolent organizations.
Dr. George W. Griffiths has also been an officer of the company since its inception. He has long been a member of the Board of Aldermen of Lonisville, and is an ex-President of that hody. Mr. B. H. Trahue took a position in the office of the company in October, 1885. He was elected assistant secretary and a member of the Board of Directors in May, 1886. In April, 1887, he was made secretary. He is still a young man, baving graduated at the Kentucky Military Institute in 1881.
Mr. W. T. McCarley, one of the incorporators, and the superintendent of agencies since organization, is an experi- enced insurance man, having come here from Nashville to assist in organizing the company. 96
Chesapeake & Ohio Route.
7 'HE history of the progress of Louisville is contained, in a great measure, in the history of the lines of railway forming this route. Not only have new fields been opened to Louisville enterprises, but, in inaugurating competition between Louisville and the commercial centers of the South and South-west, and between Louisville and the Eastern cities, increased values have heen added to Louisville's commerce.
Recently the Newport News and Mississippi Valley Company was incorporated for the purpose of operating the CHESAPEAKE & OHIO LINES, the Eastern Division operating between Lexington, Ky., Rich- mond, Va., Newport News, Va., Norfolk, and Old Point Comfort; the Western Division operating between Louisville and Memphis. By a favorable alliance with the Old Dominion Steamship Company, a cheaper route between Louisville and New York than ever before eujoyed was established.
A transatlantic steamship line (known as the "Huntington Line ") is operated in connection with the Newport News and Mississippi Valley Company between Newport News aud Liverpool.
By traffic arrangement with the Virginia Midland Railway between Charlottesville, Va., and Washington, and with the Louisville & Nash- ville Railroad, between Louisville and Lexington, through trains, with Pullman buffet cars, are run daily between Louisville and Washington.
GENERAL JOHN ECHOLS. The line through the Virginias is celebrated for its beautiful scenery ; it is laid through the canons of New River, and penetrates the barriers of the Alleghany and Blue Ridge mountains. The scenery is varied in character, and it is difficult to pronounce one type more beautiful or interesting than the other ; the grandest of mountains, the most picturesque of mountain rivers, and the most beautiful valley landscapes being presented. All through the mountains of the Virginias are scattered health and pleasure resorts, the most prominent of the springs resorts are White Sulphur, Red Sulphur, Salt Sulphur, the old Sweet Chalybeate, the Warm, the Hot, the Healing, and Rock Bridge Alum. There are innumerable others of smaller dimensions, largely patronized by Virginians. The Hygeia Hotel at Old Point Comfort, and Hotel Warwick at Newport News, are visited at all seasons of the year by those who delight in the attractions of the sea-shore.
An immense freight traffic is carried on between Louisville and the East, the fast freight line being known as the "Kanawha Dispatch."
The Western Division, or as it is still familiarly known, the Chesapeake, Ohio & South-western, is of even greater importance to the local interests of Louisville than the Eastern Division, as it is nearer home. It has given to Louis- ville a fine article of fuel at a small cost for transportation ; the mines at McHenry and vicinity producing some of the best bituminous coal of the State. Produce of all kinds from the river counties is delivered in Louisville in large quan- tities daily, during the season.
The CHESAPEAKE & OHIO ROUTE is through Paducah, Fulton, Rives, Paducah Junction, and Covington, Tenn., to Memphis. At Fulton the Illinois Central road is crossed, giving a line to Cairo and the North, and several important cities of the South. The Mobile and Ohio is crossed at Rives, and adds to the number of Southern cities placed within the range of Louisville trade. The Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis road is crossed at Paducah Junction, giving a line to Hickman, Ky. L'pon the completion, this fall, of the new river road, which will join the Chesapeake, Ohio & South- western at West Point, the distance to Owensboro will be very much shortened. The lumber interest in West Tennessee is assuming vast proportions, and much Louisville capital has been invested in that section. At Memphis the line con- nects with roads for Little Rock and principal points in Arkansas and Texas; also, with the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas Railroad, which runs through the Mississippi Valley to Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. The Western Division is laid with heavy steel rails, and the track is stone-ballasted from one end to the other. Double daily trains run between Louisville and Memphis, equipped with the finest Pullman buffet and combination chair and sleeping-cars.
There has never been anything speculative in Mr. Huntington's property. All of his railroad interests represent an investment, not at the mercy of Wall street or any other demoralizing clique of speculators. In Louisville alone, he has invested a vast fortune in improvements. The elevated "Short Route," which extends along the river front from one end of the city to the other, is a remarkably fine piece of work, and should be the pride of Louisville. The new Union Passenger Station, at Seventh street and the river, will be, upon its completion, one of the finest and most com- plete stations in the West. In fact, it will not be excelled anywhere in the United States. Such structures can not but advance the interests of Louisville.
Mr. C. P. Huntington is President of the Newport News and Mississippi Valley Company ; General Wm. C. Wick- ham, Secoud Vice-President, whose office is at Richmond, Va., operates the Eastern Division, and General John Echols, Third Vice-President, whose office is in Louisville, operates the Western Division, Mr. John Muir is General Traffic Manager, and Mr. H. W. Fuller, General Passenger Agent of the entire line. Mr. B. F. Mitchell, General Freight Agent of the Western Division, has an office in Louisville, but as the General Freight Agent of the Eastern Division is located in Richmond, Mr. J. W. Wheeler, Agent of the Kanawha Dispatch in Louisville, looks after the freight interests of the Eastern Division here,
97
Quartermaster's Department, U. S. A.,
MAJOR-GEN'L RUFUS SAXTON.
0 NE of the most interesting of the public institutions in the neigh- borhood of Louisville is the JEFFERSONVILLE DEPOT OF THE QUARTERMASTER'S DEPARTMENT OF THE U. S. A. This is the general supply Depot of the Army, being the place from which the bulk of "clothing aud equipage," as the official phrase is, and "quarter- master's stores " are shipped to every military post in the country. Half a million gallons of illuminating oil, for instance, are sent out from here to the various posts. The last advertisement for bids calls for 80,000 pounds of mule shoes; 250,000 pounds of horse shoes ; 40,000 pounds of horse shoe nails; 23,500 pounds of rope ; 50,000 pounds of white lead; 100,000 pounds of iron ; 100,000 tire bolts ; 10,000 feet of rubber hose; 10,000 files, etc. No doubt Jeffersonville was selected as the point for the collection and shipment of all the numerous articles in consequence of the central position occupied by the Falls Cities, which are easily within reach of raw and manufactured materials. Auother consideratiou that must have had great weight iu locating this depot is the admirable advantages afforded here for shipping goods to the North, South, East, or West. The presence of this institution is of great advantage to Louisville, whose manufacturers and merchants obtain many large contracts for government supplies, they being right at the door at which the goods are to be delivered and thus enjoying a certain advantage over bidders from a distance.
The building is located just back of Jeffersonville, Ind. It is a long quadrangular structure, 800 feet square, inclosing a court or lawn of about eighteen acres which is covered with a fine sward and dotted with trees and beds of flowers. The storage capacity of the building itself is 2,700,000 cubic feet. The original cost of the structure, which is of brick, was $150,000, the city of Jeffersonville donating the grouud. The building was erected in the years 1871-74, when General Grant was President of the United States; W. W. Belknap, Secretary of War; W. T. Sherman, General of the Army ; and M. C. Meigs, Quartermaster-General. General Meigs drew the plaus for the building. In the center of the enclosed square is an office building surmounted by a high tower. The boiler and engine rooms are also in this central structure, for the entire depot is heated by steam.
The number of men employed is, ordinarily, seventy-five, but occasionally as many as 700 sewing women are engaged there. The cost of keeping the buildings in order is from $3,000 to $4,000 a year, but the funds disbursed here annually range from $500,000 to $1,000,000.
The depot at Jeffersonville was the direct outgrowth of the civil war. Louisville would have been the central point for the distribution of stores during the progress of that strife but for the fact that the river was in the rear of it, instead of in front. Consequently, Jeffersonville was chosen, the town even then having good railroad facilities, besides the river. Consequently, here were located branches of the Quartermaster, Commissary, Ordnance, and Hospital departments, which gave life to the place. A Government hospital was located there during the war, while the United States also had barracks, warehouses, army stables, blacksmith shops, and bakeries there. All of this resulted in the establishment of a government depot.
This important institution is under the command of Brevet Major-General Rufus Saxton, Assistant Quartermaster- General, U. S. A., who succeeded General Ekin on July 30, 1883, when the latter was retired from service because he had reached the age of sixty-four years.
General Saxton was born in Massachusetts, and was appointed a cadet in the United States Military Academy, where he graduated in 1849, when he was made a Brevet Second Lieutenant of the Third Artillery. He served in the Florida Indian War in 1849 and 1850.
INTERIOR VIEW OF THE QUARTERMASTER'S DEPOT.
98
JeffersonVille, Indiana.
After serving in Texas, he was the Chief Quartermaster of the Northern Pacific Railroad Exploration. He conducted au exploring expedition from the mouth of the Columbia River across the continent, through a region of country never before traversed by white men. For this achieve- ment he received the congratulations aud praise of Governor Stevens, of Washington Territory, chief of the expedition. It is somewhat remark- able that in blazing his way, withont guides, through the unknown wilderness, the young officer marked out almost the exact line that has since been followed by the Northern Pacific road. The undertaking was considered a most dangerous one, as the party was small and the territory was infested hy hostile Indians. When the explorers started on their hazardous journey there were many people who predicted that they would never be seen again.
In 1855 he was promoted to be First Lientenant of the Fourth Artil- lery, aud in 1859 was on Coast Survey duty. In 1859 and 1860 he was Assistant lustructor of Artillery Tactics at the United States Military Academy. At the breaking out of the war he was promoted to a cap- taincy. He was appointed Colonel of Missouri Volunteers, afterward being appointed Colonel of the 22d Massachusetts Volunteers, neither of which positions he was permitted to accept, the Quartermaster-Geu- eral being uuwilling to dispeuse with his services iu his department. In 1861 he was Chief Quartermaster for General McClellan in his West MAJOR ADDISON BARRETT. Virginia campaign and hecame Chief Quartermaster of General T. W. Sherman's expeditionary corps to Port Royal, S. C., and of the Department of the Sonth. He had entire charge in New York of the organization of the transportation for this expedition and was warmly congratulated by General Meigs on his success. The fleet sent out was one of the largest pnt afloat during the war.
During the early part of the war he was several times offered high rauk in the volunteer service. In 1862 he was appointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers in the Army of the Potomac. He was Military Governor of the
BIRDSEYE VIEW OF THE QUARTERMASTER'S DEPOT.
Department of the Sonth, being charged with the recruiting of colored troops. He was in command of Morris' Island and of the bombardment of Charleston. In 1865 he was made Brevet Major-General of Volunteers, having charge of important undertakings in connection with the freedmen of the South. He was mustered out of the volunteer service in 1866, with the rank of Major in the regular army. In 1882 he was promoted to be Colonel and Assistaut Quarter- master-General.
The Military Storekeeper, who is second in command and who has charge of all property and of the shipping, is Major Addison Barrett, a, native of Massachusetts. He was a Sergeant in the general service, located first in the Adjutant-General's office in Washington in 1862. In April, 1863, he was discharged, and on December 21, 1864, was appointed Captain and Commissary of Subsistence. On September 24, 1865, he was brevetted Major in the volunteer service. In July, 1866, he was appointed Captain and Military Storekeeper in the regular army. Major Barrett's first assignment in the Quartermaster's Department was at Charleston, S. C., where he remained from 1867 to 1870. He was then transferred to San Francisco, where he remained two years, at the expiration of that time coming to Jeffersonville. He has served at the depot there for fourteen years. The perfect order and ship-shape air of the establishment are dne to Major Barrett, who really has the arduous duties of the place upon his shoulders. He has to keep all the details of the enormous business at his fingers' ends, and must know the quality of everything from a spool of thread to an ambulance.
General Saxton's chief clerk is Captain Edwin W. Hewitt, who has been in the military service for twenty-five years. Mr. T. E. Longden is the chief clerk to Major Barrett, and has been employed in various positions in the Quartermaster's Department for more than fourteen years. 99
Long & Brother Manufacturing Company.
7 THE LONG & BROTHER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, makers of chairs, and of Vienna bent-wood furniture, has a capital stock ot $100,000, of which $60,000 are paid up. The officers are Charles R. Long, President ; Frank A. Cannou, Vice-President ; D. B. McMullen, Secretary and Treasurer ; J. F. Jaworek, Superintendent. The late E. D. Standiford was one of the directors. The others are W. R. Ray, John E. Norris, and Charles R. Loug.
This company has recently undertaken an enterprise that will greatly add to the importance of Louisville as a furniture manufacturing place. It is the making of the Vienna bent-wood furniture, chiefly chairs, which for several years have been imported into America, and which have been cheaply imitated to some extent in this country. But before going into the subject of making this admirable class of furniture, a brief outline of the history of the Long Chair Factory may be given in the history of its founder.
Mr. Long is a type of that euergetic race of people which derives its descent from what is called the Scotch-Irish, who did so much towards settling this country. Isaac Long, his grandfather, came to Kentucky from Pennsylvania in the last century. He made bis home in what is now Fayette county, where Wm. C. Long, the father of the sub- ject of this sketch, was born. His maternal grandfather, Charles Ellis, CHARLES R. LONG. was a native of Culpeper county, Virginia, but removed to Kentucky early in the present century. He was a soldier in General Harrison's campaign against the Indians and took part in the fight at Tippecanoe. Charles R. Long was born in Shelby county, Ky., May 7, 1840. He inherited the hardy character, the strong will and energy of his pioneer ancestors, and his career has been the exercise of their traits in a new field of action, commerce and politics having been substituted for backwoods adventure aud Indian warfare. Mr. Long was raised on the farm until he eighteen years of age. He received a practical education in the country schools ; but it was his native energy rather thau auy acquired skill or culture that pushed bim ahead through life-a fact wherein he resembled most of the successful men of his generation and surroundings. He finished his school days at the high school in New Albany, Indiana. At twenty years of age he hecame a shipping clerk in a chair factory in New Albany, where he also married a daughter of Captain John R. Cannon.
In 1861 he located in business in Louisville, his older brother, Isaac N. Long, joining with bim in the manufacture nf chairs. Mr. Isaac N. Long died in March, 1879. The factory was orginally located on Market street between Preston and Jackson streets, where only twenty men were employed. From this small beginning has grown up the great busi- ness which now keeps from 150 to 300 men steadily engaged, besides machinery that will do the work of many hundred men. After the death of his brother, Mr. Long organized the stock company whose name forms the caption of this article.
The business was successfully conducted, and Long's chairs became known far and wide. Recently the company conceived the idea of making a specialty of the bent-wood furniture that has become so quickly popular. Some six months ago preparations looking to this end were commenced, and four months ago the company began to make this furniture, having secured the completest possible outfit of machinery and labor. Mr. J. F. Jaworek, a skilled workman of Vienna, was secured to superintend the shops and other efficient mechanics were engaged. The furniture made here is guaran- teed to equal, if not to surpass, that made in Vienna. This is the only factory in America where the wood is polished aud finished in the high style of that of European manufacture. Elsewhere in America the wood is varnished, but not polished. One great advantage that the company has over foreign competitors is found in the beech wood, which has a fine grain, is easily bent, and takes the highest possible polish. They have no such wood in Vienna. Many of the chairs made at this factory are polished like a highly-finished piano, and even the cheap grades are handsome, as well as durable. The company is able to equal the European article in style and finish and to undersell the foreign manufacturers.
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