USA > Ohio > Sketches and statistics of Cincinnati in 1859 > Part 29
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· Within the past year, the manufacturers of this city have per- fected a cheap and expeditious process for the complete and economical purification and bleaching of the oil, which yields an
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312
MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.
article in appearance not inferior to the best samples of fresh olive oil, possessing very superior qualities for burning, and with the ad- vantage of never becoming rancid. Specimens of this oil can be seen in this city, which have been exposed in open vessels to light and air for eighteen months, which are now perfectly sweet and. odorless -- qualities not to be met with in any other oil that exists. This refined oil also has the advantage of resisting cold to a won- derful degree, remaining limpid at 30º Fahrenheit, and quite fluid at 20°, hardening only at 8 and 10º.
The principal manufactories of this crude oil are at St. Louis, where there is a mill capable of turning out three thousand gallons per weck ; and at New Orleans, a mill pressing weekly four thou- sand gallons.
The process of manufacture, after the seed is hulled, is almost identical with that of linseed oil, and need not be described ; and the cake produced is said to be fully equal to that of linseed, which is always in demand in the great commercial centres, for the feed- ing of stock, milch cows, etc.
The extent of this manufacture need only be limited by the de- mand, for the production of seed is estimated at two millions of tons annually-each ton of which will yield one barrel, or forty gallons of oil, making in the aggregate eighty million gallons oil per annum ! This is a prodigious amount, especially when we re- flect that scarcely two hundred thousand gallons per annum are made, the remainder of the seed being thrown away, or used for manure on the poorer cotton lands.
From this data, it will be seen that the future of this trade prom- ises enormous results, and that the invention of a good and cheap refining process, such as exists here, is likely to prove of im- mense value to the cotton planters of the south, and of lasting ben- efit to the world at large, by giving a permanent value to a great staple product, which has hitherto been regarded, beyond a certain amount, as worse than valueless.
Individuels refine three hundred to four hundred gallons per day, although they are but in the infancy of the business; value of annual product, one hundred thousand dollars.
Let us now briefly contemplate the extent to which this manu- facture must operate on the two prime necessities of the commnu- nity-food and light. Although the production of the seed will ever be confined to the south, it can hardly be doubted that its
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313
MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.
manufacture into oil and cake will be carried on principally, if not entirely, in a region like ours, where machinery and skill are occu- pied in working out the highest as well as most economical results, and where at the same time, besides being a great central distribu- ting point, facilities of communication and transportation exist in the highest degree.
Without speculating what share of the value of this product, in both its manufacturing and mercantile aspect, shall be created here, it may be worth while to exhibit some calculations of that value itself.
The recent cotton crop has reached, it appears, to three millions three hundred thousand bales of five hundred lbs. each, or eight hundred and twenty-five thousand tons. As the seed is well known to form five sevenths of the whole cotton crop, as respects weight, we have then two millions tons of seed as result. From this de- duct for oil, seed and waste one fifth, and there remains sixteen millions tons of oil cake, which, at twenty-five dollars per ton, its very lowest value in competition with other food for horses, cattle, hogs or sheep, at average rates, and the value of that cake reaches forty millions dollars. Add to this sixty millions dollars, as the value of eighty millions gallons oil, and we have an aggregate of one hundred millions dollars, more than one half of the value of the entire cotton crop, even at the present high price of that great staple. What our Cincinnati hullers and oil mills will thus do for the south, may be more fully comprehended by the fact that this entire and increasing product will be gathered from what has here- tofore been thrown into the Mississippi as of no value, or merely been used for manure.
Oil, Linseed .- Three mills, which employ fifty-three hands, and manufacture a value of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars . raw material, 75 per cent.
Paints .- There are three establishments here, which manufac- ture white lead, dry and in oil, litharge, red lead, colored paints, whiting, putty, etc., to the value of four hundred and eighteen thousand dollars. They employ one hundred and eighty-five hands; raw material, 70 per cent.
Wm. Wood & Co., Spring street, between Court and Hunt streets, manufacture white lead, dry and in oil, red lead, litharge, colored paints, castor oil, boiled linseed oil, clarified linseed oil, putty, whiting, cider vinegar, etc., to the value of one hundred and
314
MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.
sixty thousand dollars. They import their chalk direct from England.
Painters and Glaziers .- Ninety-four workshops, eight hundred and ten hands ; value of labor product, four hundred and fifty-six thousand five hundred dollars.
W. L. Davis, 72 west Third street, north side, between Walnut and Vine, house and sign painter. Sign painting neatly and promptly executed ; block letters made to order ; gilt lettering on glass ; wall paper sized and varnished : glazing, etc.
Paper .- Cincinnati having a large book and newspaper publish- - ing business, the manufacture of paper in and for this market, is correspondingly extensive. Seven mills in and adjacent to the city, supply book and news, and three others, wrapping paper, to . the value of six hundred and sixteen thousand dollars ; raw mate- rial, 45 per cent:
Nixon & Chatfield, Nos. 77 and 79 Walnut street, manufactu- rers and wholesale dealers in paper. Theirs, which is the only paper mill in Cincinnati, is on Bedinger street, east of Broadway. Here is manufactured a very substantial printing paper of fine tex- ture and fair color, made largely from straw, which, together with the cotton rags, is bleached by chloride of lime. In this es- tablishment, two hundred and twenty-five tons straw are annually consumed, and produce a first rate article of news printing paper, of which the Times and Enquirer prints afford specimens. They manufacture a value of sixty thousand dollars, and have the capa- city of doing 20 per cent. more. Expect shortly to produce book paper. Work twenty-eight hands ; raw material, 30 per cent. The paper is made under Martin Nixon's patent process.
This firm also owns and drives a mill at Clifton, Greene county, where they manufacture for this market, news, book, manilla and un- glazed colored paper of the finest quality.
Pattern Making .- Most of the pattern makers here are con- nected with founderies, but the business is carried on, also, for the purpose of getting out new designs for stoves and other ornamen- tal work, the patterns of which are sold in the market to the trade. Value of product, twenty-seven thousand dollars ; employ fifty hands.
Perfumery, Fancy Soap, ctc .- Twelve manufactories, many of which are on a small scale. They employ, as an average, seven-
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MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.
ty-five hands, and produce a value of one hundred and ninety thousand dollars; raw material, 40 per cent.
Photographs, Daguerreotypes, etc .- Forty-five artists, with sixty- eight assistants. Produce to the value of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; raw material, 60 per cent. 1
Our daguerreotypists stand high in the ranks of the art. Kellogg & Read exhibited in France and Italy, pictures in this line, taken in Cincinnati, that were recognized at a glance as American pro- ductions, and superior to anything of the kind on the continent of Europe.
Pickles, Preserves, Sauce .- Two establishments, twelve hands; value of product, thirty-five thousand dollars; raw material, 40 per cent.
Planes and Edge Tools. - One factory, employs twenty-five hands, and manufactures a value of thirty thousand dollars; raw material, 35 per cent.
Planing Machines .- Three establishments ; produce a value of `eighty thousand dollars ; thirty-two hands ; raw material, 30 per cent.
Plating, Silver .-- Besides silver plating, strictly so called, of which there are four shops, producing a value of twenty-five thou- sand dollars, there is an equal number of electro-platers, which increase these figures to thirty-five thousand dollars ; raw material, 40 per cent .; twenty hands.
Plumbers .- Of these there are twenty-four establishments, em- ploying two hundred and ten hands, with a product in value of four hundred and six thousand dollars.
Hugh M'Collum, No. 101 Sixth street, between Vine and Race, has put up the plumbing of the court house and of the new luna- tic asylum near Carthage. Employs a new principle in the con- struction of water closets, especially adapted to lunatic asylums and hydrants. Are such that they never freeze in winter. Man- ufactures a product of thirty thousand dollars, and employs fifteen hands. Keeps for sale iron and block tin pipes, and the greatest variety and largest stock of plumbing materials of any plumber in the west.
Pocket Books, etc .- Two factories, employ twenty hands, and manufacture pocket books, porte-monnaies, bankers' cases, jewelry cases, etc., to the value of forty thousand dollars ; raw material, 50 per cent.
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MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.
Pork and Beef Packing, Sugar Cured Hams, etc .- Pork is our great staple, and at no business point in the world does the article exist in greater perfection, either as regards quality, quantity or size. Hogs to the number of four hundred and ninety-eight thou- sand one hundred and sixty have been put up in a single season,. although the average for the last ten years does not exceed three hundred and eighty-five thousand. Last year's crop was a trifle over three hundred and sixty thousand. But the market here is greater than ever, much more than these deficiencies being received in hogs cut up in the vicinity.
There are as many as thirty-three pork packers on a large scale, besides several petty establishments. The number of hands em- ployed in the business averages, annually, two thousand four hun- dred and fifty, for the various departments.
The amount of beef put up, although inferior in quantity to that of pork, is large, and constantly on the increase. At no point in the United States is a finer article supplied to packers. Value of beef and pork packed and cured here, is six millions three hun- dred thousand dollars ; raw material, 85 per cent.
The following table of weights for hogs packed in Cincinnati and its vicinity, up to 1857, affords some idea of the size and con- dition of the hogs raised in the west.
Net weight. 2,031
Average.
710
52 hogs,
Net weight. 19,604 .104,000
Average. 377
5
“
3,200
- 640
320
325
7
5,040
720
657
200,355
305
22
8,866
403
-
-
50
18,750
375
1116
"
361,846
313
These averages, great as they are, have been last season largely surpassed, as follows :
Net weight. 6,732
619
107 hogs,
43,014
402
20
"
15,452
772
200
71,800
359
30
15,180
506
346
139,092
402
35
15,785
451
400
"
150,000
375
35
15,712
449
43
15,738
366
1227
488,505
398
Average.
Net weight. Average.
Il hogs,
These last ten lots, for extraordinary weight, taking quantity into account, have probably no equal, and the lot of twenty, sold by G.
.
3 hogs,
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MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.
& P. Bogen, and raised and fed for market in our own county, has certainly no parallel in the wide world.
Pottery Ware .-- Twelve shops, seventy hands; value of pro- duct, ninety thousand dollars ; raw material, 25 per cent.
Printing Ink .-- Two factories, employ ten hands, and manufac- ture a value of twenty thousand dollars.
Publishing, Book and Newspaper. - There are six large printing establishments, which issue largely for the periodical press. Of these are the Gazette office, corner Vine and Fourth streets ; E. Morgan & Sons, on the Miami canal ; the Methodist Book Concern, at the corner of Eighth and Main streets ; Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co., on Fourth, between Main and Walnut; and W. B. Smith & Co., on the corner of Walnut and Baker streets. Besides these, there are several establishments on a less important scale. All of whom, except W. B. Smith & Co., print books, newspapers, etc., to order. In addition to these, there are the various newspaper publishers, who print at their respective offices. The value of these book and newspaper publications is two millions six hundred and ten thousand and fifty dollars ; number of hands employed, twelve hundred and thirty ; raw material, 50 per cent.
The firm of Robert Clarke & Co., composed of Robert Clarke, R. D. Barney and J. W. Dale, purchased the law publishing and bookselling business of H. W. Derby & Co .- established in 1840- which, adding the senior partner's business as bookseller, stationer and importer, they now carry on at their beautiful and convenient store, No. 55 west Fourth street, between Walnut and Vine, in Carlisle's building. Their publications comprise the most impor- tant list of law reports and treatises in the west, as follows :
Kentucky State Reports, 54 vols. in 39.
Ohio Reports, 27 vols.
Nash's Digest of Ohio Reports, 1 vol.
McLean's U. S. Circuit Court Reports, 6 vols.
Johnson's N. Y. Chancery Reports, 7 vols. in 3.
Handy's Cincinnati Superior Court Reports, 1 vol.
Barton's Suit in Equity, 1 vol.
Holcombe's Equity Jurisprudence, 1 vol.
Gwynne on Sheriff's and Coroners, 1 vol.
Swan's Revised Statutes of Ohio, 1 vol.
. Swan's Treatise for Justices in Ohio, 1 vol.
McDonald's Treatise for Justices in Indiana, 1 vol.
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MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS
Nash's Pleading and Practice under the Codes of Ohio, Kansas and Nebraska, 1 vol.
Morehead's Kentucky Practice, 1 vol.
Gilman's Indiana and Illinois Digest, 1 vol.
Taylor's Manual of the Ohio School System, 1 vol.
Stanton's Kentucky Code of Practice, 1 vol.
These alone represent a capital of $40,000.
Beside the above they have several other important works in press and preparation. They have no manufacturing establish- ment ; but have their books printed and bound by contract, as they require them. Beside their own publications, they have the only regular stock of law books in the city, embracing all the publica- tions of the eastern law houses, and all the State and Federal re- ports, digests, statutes, etc. Their own publications, especially the reports, which are used over the whole United States, give them peculiar advantages in the way of exchange, by which means they can furnish books of eastern houses at eastern prices.
The distinctive feature of their business, which makes their store the resort of literary men, lovers of fine books and bibliomaniacs, is the importing branch. Their shelves are kept supplied with not only the most important British works in all departments, as they are issued, but an unusual collection of standard, curious and rare old books, fine editions, elegantly printed and handsomely bound books. Their business connection in London is such that they can supply orders for foreign books, either recent or old, very fully and promptly, and we are glad to know that they have met with so much encouragement, that they now make up orders weekly, and receive returns in from six to ten weeks, according to the season.
They are special agents for the well known houses of Routledge, Warnes & Routledge, and J. Novello - music - London, and Blackie & Sons, Glasgow, whose list embraces very superior classes of works ; and also keep a regular supply of the publications of T. & T. Clark, and T. Nelson & Sons, Edinburgh, and H. Bailliere, London. They are also in regular receipt of the catalogues of over a hundred of the old book dealers of London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and the principal provincial cities of Great Britain, and Ireland, from which they import selections, thus affording rare opportunities of procuring old, curious, out-of-the-way books, as also music, coins and autographs.
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319
. MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.
They receive subscriptions for British and French periodicals. Their theological department is very complete, embracing Ameri- can and British works, both in and out of print, from the ponder- ous folios of the old divines, to a choice collection of the little vol- umes suitable for Sabbath school libraries.
The medical profession are indebted to this house for first sup- plying them with the latest and best of the British and French works pertaining to their profession, which, with all the standard American medical works, gives them an attractive stock in that department. Their scientific, mechanical, mathematical, classical and school departments include all the important works in the va- rious branches.
A peculiarity in their stationery business is their trade in steel pens and lead pencils. Of the former they have twelve excellent varieties, manufactured for them in Birmingham, England, bearing their imprint. Of the latter they have thirteen qualities, most of them each having four or more degrees of hardness. Those are manufactured expressly for them near Nuremberg, Germany; these also have their imprint stamped on them. The finer qualities are fully equal to the celebrated " Faber," as is testified by many of- the artists and drawing teachers of the city, by whom they have been used.
Applegate & Co., booksellers and publishers, 43 Main street. This is a long-established house, which carries on the publication of books with great spirit, and on an extensive scale. They pub- lish, probably, a greater number of large volumes than any other house in the trade -- such as Clarke's Commentary on the New Testaments, etc. Of this work they have issued forty thousand copies. The works of Dr. Thos. L. Dick, eighty thousand ; Plu- tarch's Lives, thirty thousand ; Spectator, fifteen thousand ; Rol- lin's Ancient History, seventy thousand ; Mosheim's Church His- tory, ten thousand ; Speeches and Writings of Hon. T. F. Mar- shall, ten thousand; Works of Lorenzo Dow, twenty thousand ; Dick's Theology, five thousand; Chain of Sacred Wonders, four thousand. In addition to these, large editions of various publica- tions of lesser size, one of which, Elements of the German Lan- guage, by Professor Soden, has reached its eighty-sixth edition. They publish largely for authors, not enumerated here, of our own region and age.
320
MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.
W. B. Smith & Co. This is our oldest Publishing house, hav- ing, with a slight modification of its firm, existed here for nearly twenty-five years as Booksellers and Stationers. Its enterprise and energy have always kept pace with the giant strides, to great- ness, of Cincinnati.
They are now, and have been for years past, the most important publishing house in the United States, in their line-that of edu- cational books in their various departments. Theirs is known as the Eclectic Series of School Books; and as the common schools. are the glory of the whole land, so this Series is the efficient en- gine of the common schools, for diffusing popular knowledge through the entire West, at least. From the Allegheny mountains to the Pacific coast, and from the Gulf of Florida to the great Nor- thern Lakes, these school books are in general use, having been prepared for publication as the mature experience of some of the most distinguished instructors of the age. This Series, under suc- cessive revisals and improvements throughout its use for the past twenty-five years, now embraces what may be termed the great standard educational lessons for primary and common schools, as well as higher seminaries of learning-forming manuals of instruc- tion for every class of pupils.
There is no higher evidence of their merit, than the great fact, that two millions of these volumes are published annually, afford- ing class books to five hundred thousand pupils, or more than two- thirds of the whole number under educational influence or instruc- tion west of the Alleghanies.
There can be no doubt, they are justly entitled to the liberal favor with which they are regarded; for the most scrupulous care has been exercised in their selection, and no expense or labor spared in improving and perfecting them; while it has been a lead- ing object, and one worthy of all commendation, so to economize the cost of manufacture, by adopting all the improvements of labor- saving steam machinery, as to furnish them to schools at the lowest prices admissible.
Messrs. Smith & Co. have always, and persistently refused to add to their list of Educational Works, only so far as they could procure those of the highest value, in their moral tone and intel- lectual influence.
Under the widely extending and rapidly increasing business of this firm, during late years, they have been obliged to seek more
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MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.
facilities, to meet the wants in this line, of the community. They have accordingly constructed three spacious and commodious build- ings on Walnut and Baker streets, whose close contiguity to each other, renders them efficient means of carrying on every depart- ment of their business to the best advantage. One of these, and the principal one, faces on both the streets referred to. The main exterior is of iron, gothic style of architecture, and presents a mas- sive and solid front. The building is one hundred feet long, and five stories high above ground. The first story is the business room. Above and below, the books are carefully stored, and clerks and porters are constantly employed in packing them for for- warding and shipment.
The second building is in the rear of, and connects with, the first, through arched passage ways, closed by double sets of iron doors. It fronts on the south side of Baker street, and is thirty-two by eighty-four feet, and six stories high. The lower story is level with Third street, from which it is accessible by a private alley, and through which are received the enormous quantities of printing paper used by the establishment. This paper is forwarded on a steam railway through this building, and, by a subterranean pas- sage under Baker street, to the printing-house. The upper stories of this second building are occupied entirely by the bindery. In one room neatly-dressed, intelligent females are engaged in folding the sheets-in another, arranging them in proper order-and in another, stitching and sewing them, with the aid of machinery. From their hands, the half-finished volumes pass to the binder, who completes the work ; and then, steam forwards the finished books to the store-rooms.
1
The third building is on the north side of Baker street, and is connected by a subterranean tunnel with the other buildings. To the left of this tunnel, beneath the street, fire-proof vaults have been excavated, walled up and arched over by solid masonry, in which the valuable stereotype plates of the firm are deposited, and where they are secure from accident and injury.
The north building is forty, by ninety feet, and six stories high, with an apparatus in the centre of the stairway, for hoisting or lowering, by steam power, the contents of one story as it may be needed in others. The steam engine and wetting machinery oc- cupy the cellar, or front story; the entire floor of the second story is filled with power presses, which are driven by steam, and can
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MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.
throw off seven hundred and fifty impressions, each, per hour. These are arranged in perfect order, standing side by side, and forming lines, which extend down the long rooms, where, from morning till night, day after day, and month after month, they toil unweariedly on, multiplying the means of instruction and intelli. gence to thousands upon thousands of the children of the land.
Order, system, and perfect execution of duty prevail here, as in all other portions of the establishment. Above the printing rooms is another branch of the bindery.
These buildings are models in their way. The visitor is deeply impressed with the cleanliness and order witnessed in every de- partment, and the quiet air that prevails throughout. The proprie- tors have spared no expense in providing every convenience and comfort for the operatives. To the female departinents are attached neat and pleasant dressing-rooms, rendered every way convenient and set apart for their use exclusively.
The best plans have been consulted as to light and ventilation, so essential to health, and the rooms are remarkably pleasant and cheerful. The buildings are fire-proof, and are heated throughout by steam, conveyed through iron pipes to every room of the estab- lishment, rendering the different departments uniformly warm and comfortable, for the great number of persons to which the house gives employment.
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