USA > Ohio > Erie County > History of Erie County Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 46
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The buildings occupied in salting and packing cover two hundred feet in length by sixty-four in width. This firm gives employment to from twenty to sixty men. They use their own boats, and put up annually eight thousand packages of salt fish, besides freezing about one hundred and fifty tons. His trade extends to all parts of the United States, and is one of the most pros- perous firms in the city.
Siemon Schacht .- The business of which Mr. S. Schacht is sole proprietor was established in 1865 by the Schacht Brothers. The trade at that time was the usual wholesale business of frozen, fresh and salt fish for home consumption and distant cities. Schacht Brothers were succeeded by Schacht & Co., and these in turn were succeeded by Schacht & Fruechtnicht. On the retirement of Mr. Fruechtnicht in 1880, Mr. S. Schacht became the sole owner.
The building occupied by this firm is one hundred and eighty feet in length by twenty-five in width. The firm gives employment to fifteen men, and during the busy season often more. They send out four thousand pack- ages of fresh, six thousand of salt, and sixty or seventy tons of frozen fish an- nually. Their trade is mainly located in Ohio, Indiana and New York.
Hosmer & Co .- This well-known house was established in 1857 by Mr. Alvord, and was known as Alvord & Co. It is one of the oldest firms in the city, and has done a large business in fish, buying in Canada, and following the ordinary custom of salting, freezing and packing for distant markets. In 1887 the firm was changed to J. Hosmer and Co. Last year they did a busi- ness amounting to $45,000.
Paysen & Co., wholesale and retail dealers in fresh and smoked sturgeon, caviare, isinglass, and fish oil, was founded by F. Deuklefsen in 1878, and in 1881 became Paysen & Co. (the firm consisting of H. C. Paysen, Mort Man- gelsen and Jens Brickling), to be changed in 1883 to Paysen & Co. (H. C. Paysen and William Schoehemahn). The business employs from ten to fifteen hands, and their building is one hundred and sixty by sixty feet. Their busi-
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ness last year amounted to $20,000, and their caviare is sent to Germany and all principal parts of our own country.
Fruechtnicht & Nielsen are wholesale dealers in sturgeon, caviare, isinglass, etc., and were first established by Schacht & Fruechtnicht in 1866. Their warehouse is one hundred and eighty by twenty-five feet, and in it are em- ployed from fifteen to twenty-five hands. The general trade reaches not only to many parts of our own country, but quite an extensive trade has been opened with Germany. The firm was first known as Schacht Brothers, who were succeeded by Schacht & Co., and in 1881 by the present firm, Claus Fruechtnicht and Carl G. Nielsen, both natives of Germany. An average of fifteen thousand sturgeon are handled every year. For home consumption these are smoked, but for eastern markets they are frozen, as they are apt to get strong. From the bladders isinglass is made, and caviare from the eggs, while the offal is used for fish oil, thus utilizing those portions of the fish hith- erto considered most worthless, and bringing into good repute a coarse-grained fish that has always been cast out and despised.
Lay Brothers .- This firm was first established over twenty years ago by John Lay, and afterward, about the year 1880 or 1881, the present firm was formed. It occupies a two-story building, thirty-five by sixty feet in dimen- sions, and employs several boats and a working force of many men to carry on the business. They freeze three hundred tons annually and have a sale of five thousand half-barrels of salt fish, and the same amount of fresh fish. The amount of capital invested in nets, boats and appurtenances is twenty or twenty-five thousand dollars. They are also one of the seven dealers who are interested in the Sandusky Salt Fish and Steamboat Company.
Arend Bros .- In the year 1864 Casper Boigt founded a business in fresh and salt fish, and native wines. From the magnitude of its business it rose to a prominent position among the fish houses of Sandusky, and in 1885 passed into the hands of Arend Brothers.
The building is situated on Railroad street between Wayne and Columbus avenue, and has a first-class position. It is a fine substantial building sixty- six by one hundred and forty feet with ice houses and ample facilities for its business. The buildings have a capacity for one hundred and ten tons of frozen fish, and a large amount of salt fish. The annual trade at the present time amounts to two hundred tons of frozen, three thousand barrels of salt fish and three thousand barrels of fresh fish. Beside a large local trade this house car- ries on an extensive wholesale business all over the United States.
The Sandusky Steamboat and Fish Company .- This was incorporated in 1887 as a stock company with twenty thousand dollars stock on an equal basis There are seven firms interested, and the purpose was to hold the Canada trade for these houses. The following are the firms included in this syndicate or corporation : Adolf & Zollinger, Schacht & Co., Lay Brothers, Henry Lay &
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Co., Arend Brothers, Hosmer & Co., A. Stoll. These men put in an equal amount of capital and share in the profits equally. They have also pooled their united interests in a salt fish trust company to control the trade in salt fish also.
Hugo Ohly and August Gunther .- This firm have just established a house at the foot of Sycamore street for pickling fish. This industry promises to be as successful as have been everything connected with the fish trade of San- dusky.
Bear & Ruth have been for so many years connected with the mercantile life of this city, and more particularly with the fish trade, that a history of the business cannot well be written without giving their names a place, although they went out of the business last year. They did a large business for many years as Hosmer, Bear & Co., but in 1873 it passed into the hands of Bear & Ruth. This firm occupied a large two-story structure one hundred and eighty by thirty-three feet in dimensions, where the business steadily increased until they left it in 1887.
SANDUSKY ICE INTERESTS.
The present mammoth ice houses of Sandusky were almost unthought of twenty years ago, indeed the man who then dared to build even one of the largest of them might have expected to be set down at once as rash, if noth- ing worse.
The first to put up ice in any considerable quantities and to see with any degree of certainty the future of Sandusky's ice trade was, as far as we can ascertain from any accessible data, Mr. E. E. Upp, a life long resident here, and successor to his father's ice interests established as early as 1852, though he did not begin shipping until about 1858-9. The demand gradually in- creased from the latter date until in 1868, he, with Rush R. Sloane and W. V. Latham put up an ice house with a capacity of sixteen thousand tons. The move was regarded by many business men a very risky experiment, from the fact that the expense of storing was then comparatively heavy, and the market quite uncertain. The experiment however proved a marked success, and was the forerunner of the very extensive trade since established.
Mr. Upp soon after invented the switch for inclined runways, and in 1870 introduced the use of steam elevators, thus facilitating in a wonderful degree the process of putting in ice, and lessening the expense in a proportionate de- gree. He is president and manager of the Cincinnati Ice Company and is in- terested in the Sandusky and Cincinnati Ice Company, besides being a mem- ber of the firm of Upp & Walker, and associated with Henry Graefe and J. W. Smith in the firm of E. E. Upp & Co. These firms have a combined storing capacity of fifty thousand tons.
John McKelvey & Co. own ice houses covering over an acre of ground, and
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
have all the modern facilities for handling immense quantities of ice. Mr. Mc. Kelvey began active operations in ice about the year 1876 and has continued in it more or less actively since.
There are numerous other prominent men who have been and are cor- nected with the ice business in Sandusky in a considerable degree. At pres. :.: Wm. J. Affleck and Jno. Mackey, Arend Bros., Bear & Ruth, Gager & C. , Holland & Tebbut, Kerber & Son, Alexander Motry, Smith, Zimmerman . Schmidt, A. J. Stoll, E. E. Upp and Wagner & Co. are the principal name that occur to the writer, though there are many others of substantial businc., reputations whose names have been long familiar to the trade.
The ice business though very extensive, and quite profitable at times, subject to so many difficulties in the way of an uncertain market and lively competition between the many firms along the great lakes that fortunes ar: made and lost in it at times with a facility that would do justice to the modern stock exchange. When an open winter occurs those who have stored a lars- quantity the previous year reap a rich harvest during the following summer. but on the whole it seems most reasonable to conclude that the business is no: at present generally profitable except to the old and well established firms, or .. of which has a record of 850 car loads shipped over one railroad south in : single season.
The several packers of note including brewers and wine men, put up abou: 300,000 tons of ice in the year, at an expense for help of not less than $60,- 000, or about twenty cents per ton. Employment is thus furnished for sever ... weeks, at a time of year when it is most valuable to them, to nearly 2,0%) men. The ice is taken from the bay not over half a mile from shore on an av - erage. With the small army of men cutting and fishing out the ice, horse scraping or planing the surface to remove roughness or dirt, and the tons of smooth, square blocks from six to sixteen inches thick, flying up the incline .! runways to the gable ends of over a score of great dark buildings, the scene is quite an inspiring one, and not unfraught with a certain amount of danger.
Hardly a season passed without a number of serious accidents, such as broken limbs, or immersions in the channels from which the ice has been taken The latter, though not apparently a very serious affair, might quite easily be- come so if the unfortunate victim should by some means, get in under the ice. instead of remaining in the channel. But the men, like all hardy cheerful Amer- ican and German laborers, go to their tasks with glad hearts, thankful for the opportunity to earn a few dollars in mid-winter, and caring little for the nec- essary exposure to secure an honest living.
Most of the ice dealers who do the extensive packing for outside markets are provided with facilities supplying the home trade. Subscription routes .... laid out in the early spring, and the clumsy covered wagons rumble their dany rounds throughout the season.
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THE CITY OF SANDUSKY.
GRAPE CULTURE AND . WINE MAKING.
These interests, when carried to any considerable extent, are necessarily so closely related, that it is deemed best to treat of them here under a general head, although grape raising in a very small way was begun on the islands in this vi- cinity some years before grapes were produced in such quantities that it became necessary to convert them into wine for want of an accessible and profitable market.
Mr. Charles Carpenter, of Kelley's Island is credited with being the first to foresee the great future in store for this uncommonly favored grape producing section. He came to the island in 1842, and noticing the few vines growing in gardens there, he was struck with the superiority of the fruit over that of the same varieties in the East. Mr. D. Kelley brought cuttings of Catawba and Isabella from Elyria in 1843, and setting them in his garden was much grati- fied at the result, as the Catawba, which ripens so imperfectly in inland places, matures to perfection here because of the protection afforded from frost by the waters of the lake.
In 1845 Mr. Carpenter began planting in limited quantities, on account of the scarcity of vines, but by 1850 he had increased his vineyard to an acre ; this was quite the most extensive vineyard to be found in this vicinity at that time. In the latter named year he pressed two small casks of wine (one each of Catawba and Isabella), which, when it was a year old, was pronounced by Cincinnatians the best wine they had ever tasted.
Planting in a small way soon became quite general, and a ready market was found for the fruit, at from ten to fifteen cents a pound, a price that would make millionaires in a few seasons of some of our present grape raisers who are making very comfortable incomes by selling their fruit at from one to three cents. Vineyards increased in size very gradually, there being considerable skepticism manifested with regard to a market when all should come into bear- ing. Mr. Carpenter when asked if he thought it safe to plant as much as a quar- ter of an acre, replied that almost any quantity could be sold as soon as gen- eral attention was attracted by the planting of large vineyards.
Phylloxera did not trouble the earlier grape growers as it does those of the present time ; and for some years there appeared to be nothing in the way of discouragements. So promising indeed was the outlook, that land which in 1845 could be purchased for fifteen dollars an acre, was sold within a few years at from five hundred to a thousand dollars an acre, usually paying good inter- est on the investment.
In 1854 Mr. Carpenter built a wine cellar 30 by 90 feet; but this was soon outgrown, and in 1859 he commenced one in a seam between lime rocks in his quarry ; he made the second cellar 36 by 123 feet, and covered it with a stone arch sixteen feet high. The Kelley's Island Wine Company was formed in
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1866; renting Mr. Carpenter's cellar for a few years, they found the business so profitable that they purchased it later on and created a main building 82 by 128 feet, and three stories in height. The present large cellars are crowded to their utmost capacity, and sale for the product is found in all the leading cities of the world.
Ten other establishments make wine in greater or less quantities, and it is estimated that six hundred thousand gallons are produced annually on this is !- and alone, while the grape interests have extended to adjacent islands and to the mainland surrounding. Thousands of acres of grapes grow in this vicinity, and the annual sales bring millions in money to our people.
The grape interests nearer Sandusky did not begin a general development until about 1860 or 1861, most dates being approximately fixed by those who depend on memory for their statements, at "about the commencement of the great Civil War." Grape planting on a large scale began, we may say, in Eric county at Kelley's (the only island within its borders), and on the mainland east of Sandusky, in what is known as the "big field." From these points it spread toward the west side of Sandusky, and in many other directions, but in no case extending back to any great distance from the water, which is the great climatic equalizer that makes grape culture a success.
The exact dates of many beginnings is not obtainable; but in cases where it can be had, the uniform rule of this writer has been to place industries in chronological order, rather than to try arranging them in alphabetical order, or with respect to their relative importance, concerning which opinions might dif- fer very widely, and still the difference of opinion be perfectly honest.
Before taking up the wine producing establishments, mention may be made of the Lake Erie Wine and Fruit Growers Association, established March 12. 1886, and officered as follows : President, W. V. Latham ; vice-president, Will- iam Altstaetter; secretary, I. F. Mack; treasurer, Otto Engels. The objects are to promote harmony among fruit and wine growers, prevent hostile legis- lation, and to improve the quality of fruits and wines, as well as to widen the market for such products.
Probably there is very little if any impure wine manufactured in this vicinity, but the practice of gallusizing wine, (putting water and sugar into the pure grape juice), is commended by consumers and dealers, though most agree that this is not in any sense adulterating, and that it improves the quality, (when not carried to excess), by reducing the acidity of the product. The general verdict is that wines from the sweeter varieties needs no reducing, and, that the first flow of Catawba, before the press has been applied, is quite sweet enough in the natural state. There is, then, no reason for believing that the wines of old Erie are in any sense impure, or inferior to those of any other portion of the coun- try, or the world. Aiming now to give a straightforward history of an impor- tant and growing industry, we will proceed with one who, as nearly as we can
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learn, is the oldest grape grower and manufacturer of wine in this vicinity after Mr. Carpenter already mentioned.
Thaddeus Lorch, a pioneer in the grape and wine production on the east side of Sandusky, purchased ten acres of land from Mr. John Upp about the year 1860, and has been engaged in grape raising on the original lot ever since, making several additions as the demand for wine increased. He is credited with having as many varieties of vines as any raiser in this section.
The cellars are located on the Huron road east of Hancock street, and have a capacity of from fifteen to twenty thousand gallons. Much of the work is performed by himself and family, and the wines produced are kept up to a high standard by his personal supervision. From twelve to twenty thousand gallons is about a fair estimate of his annual product, the quanity depending of course, to quite an extent, on the crop from year to year.
Sweet and dry Catawba, Delaware, Ives, etc., are produced more of late, but Mr. Lorch was in the business when Isabella wine was quite generally pro- duced. The latter grape was discarded on account of a tendency to mildew, and because of the rankness of the flavor as compared to Catawba and the finer varieties.
The wine of this establishment finds a market mostly in Ohio cities, although like his larger competitors the proprietor fills occasional orders from distant places.
Conrad Ernst. This establishment is an outgrowth of the wine business of A. Biemiller & Co., begun in 1869 by Vincent Kerber, A. Biemiller and C. Ernst, the present owner. Mr. Kerber and Mr. Ernst each had vineyards prior to their partnership. The former was one of the earliest grape growers on the mainland, having begun in 1860.
In 1873 Scott Sanford bought into the firm of Biemiller & Co., and Messrs. Kerber and Biemiller retired. Mr. Sanford retired in 1875, leaving Mr. Ernst the sole owner.
The business location was changed in 1875 to its present site, and the building now occupied was erected. The cellar is twenty-four by eighty feet, with a press room above. The capacity of this establishment is about 35,000 gallons of wine per year, which is shipped over a wide portion of our country. Two men are kept at work the year around, and during six weeks in the fall from ten to twelve men are employed.
Engels & Krudwig. In 1878 Messrs. H. and O. E. Engels, with R. P. Krudwig, established the business which now amounts to an average annual product of two hundred thousand gallons. The manufactory consists of a commodious stone storage building with a brick structure for the press, engine and machinery. The grounds, occupying the corner of Water and Wayne streets, are quite extensive, and afford facilities for the large business trans- acted.
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
The wine is kept in one hundred and thirty storage casks with an average capacity of eighteen hundred gallons each. The grapes are mainly raised in the vineyards of the proprietors, though considerable quantities are purchased from other grape raisers on the islands and mainland.
A twenty horse power engine furnishes the power for pressing and other purposes. The shipments of this firm extend over the entire United States. Nearly all the leading brands of native wines are produced. This establish- ment is the outgrowth of one started by Jacob Engels, who began the impor- tation of wines to Sandusky about the year 1850, and commenced grape grow- ing here in 1860, on a ten acre tract east of the town.
Adam Bauer, Still Wines. Factory on Decatur street, near Monroe, a frame building thirty by sixty feet. Mr. Bauer commenced the grape and wine business in 1861, and has been connected with it ever since, some seasons pro- ducing about eight or nine thousand gallons of wine which is mostly sold in the State of Ohio. Mr. Bauer is a German by birth, but is a very old resident, having come to this city in 1844. He was one of the first men to purchase a part of the Upp property and plant it with grapes, and still has the same vineyard with several acres added. The direct management of his work at the cellars is in the hands of his son, the father spending most of his time at the vineyard.
William H. Mills commenced raising grapes in 1861, planting eighty-two acres on his farm of three hundred acres, in the west end of the city at that time. The first wine from this vineyard was pressed in 1865, since which time he has produced an average of 15,000 gallons per year. French makes of champagne are a specialty with Mr. Mills, and more of an effort is made to produce an excellent quality than to produce a great quantity of wine. The original vineyard has been reduced somewhat of late, but more vines are to be planted in the near future. A cellar, thirty by one hundred and sixty-five feet, with eighteen feet walls, and an arch fifteen feet in height, constitutes the storing capacity of the establishment.
The date of Mr. Mills's first planting will show that he was one of the pio- neers in grape culture on the mainland in this vicinity, and his familiarity with the products of the vine is evident to all who have heard him talk on the subject.
His wines were awarded high honors at the Centennial Exposition, where the superiority of Lake Erie wines over those of the Pacific slope was very clearly demonstrated. He remembers when the so-called Greek wines were sold at $3.50 per bottle, but considers their quality quite inferior to those of local vintage now selling at one-fifth the price.
Catawba and Delaware grapes are the varieties mostly pressed at this es- tablishment. About two years is taken in preparing the wine for the mar- ket, and a second fermentation is obtained in the process of manufacture.
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THE CITY OF SANDUSKY.
This second fermentation, he says, can only be produced when pure juice is used.
E. L. Steuk, manufacturer of dry wines, but making a specialty of Cataw- ba, is located at the corner of the West Market Square and Decatur street. This business was started in 1863 by Win. Steuk, father of the present owner. Mr. Steuk conducted the business under his own name up to 1874, when he associated E. L. Steuk with himself under the firm name of Wm. Steuk & Son. In 1876 the father died and left his part of the business to his wife, who acted as a silent partner up to 1882, when the present owner purchased her interest and has retained the entire management since. He makes from eight- een to twenty thousand gallons a year, exclusively dry or unsweetened wines, which he sells throughout Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and to some ex- tent in New York State.
Like many other producers Mr. Steuk does much of his own work, and gives his personal attention to the conditions and methods, so nearly alike in many cases, but after all, depending for their results, very largely on the tact and judgment of the individual who carries them out. The building is of wood, and is about forty by sixty feet, two stories high, and has a large cellar in the lime rock which underlies the city.
George Daniel. Wine cellars located at the corner of Adams and Law- rence streets. The business was begun by the present proprietor in 1865, and has been continued since in a greater or less degree. Mr. Daniel manu- factures from six to eight thousand gallons per year of Catawba, Ives Seed- ling and Virginia Seedling wines, the last named variety being bottled by him. His sales are made to the retailers in different towns in Ohio. Little help is employed except in the pressing season. The cellars are twenty-eight by thirty, and eighteen by thirty respectively, with a storage room fourteen by eighteen. Mr. Daniel was appointed postmaster at Sandusky, by President Cleveland, in 1887.
John G. Dorn, grower of grapes and manufacturer of all varieties of native wines, both dry and sweet, is located at No. 418 to 424 Water street, in a stone building sixty by one hundred and ten feet and three and one-half stories high.
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