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CITY OF DUBOIS Page 87
the saving of lumber by decreasing the quantity of saw-dust, as well
as decreasing the number of men employed (in this mill) from one
hundred to seventy-five. The engines are now supplied with a double
bell crank, made of 'crucible' steel by Herr Krupp, at Essen,
Germany, weighing about two tons, and costing $1,200. It is now one
of the most improved mills in the country, being fully abreast, if
not ahead, in the employment of the most approved and practical
machinery known. The `bill' mill—sometimes known as the little
mill—was built in 1879, and totally destroyed by fire in June; 1879.
It is 160 feet by 60 feet, employs two engines, one 160 horse-power,
and the other sixty- five horse-power. It manufactures bill timber,
boards, shingles, and box boards; capacity, per diem, 35,000 feet of
boards, 55,000 shingles, box boards 30,000. It employs sixty-five
men and boys, and runs the whole year round, having never stopped
longer than two weeks at a time for repairs. Daniel Gilbert is the
engineer, and Frank Patchel, foreman. "The box factory was built in
1881, size, 18o by 50 feet. It employs one 120 horse-power engine.
It manufactures shook for oil cases, tobacco cases, fruit cases,
siding and flooring. Capacity, five to six thousand oil cases per
diem (the oil cases are used for packing refined oil—in tin cans—for
shipment to Europe), and three hundred tobacco cases per diem;
employs about fifty men and boys, and runs the year round. In close
proximity and in connection with the box factory is a large
dry-house, Kerwin & Wolf's patent, containing four kilns, each sixty
feet long. These kilns receive the green lumber from the saw, and
dry it thoroughly in about three days. Frank W. Hetfield is its
present foreman.
"The hemlock mill was built in the spring of 1884 ;
size 128 by 4o feet. It employs one 100 horse-power engine, and
manufactures hemlock lumber, all sizes; also hard wood lumber.
Average capacity per day, 36,000 feet, board measure. It employs
twenty-one men. Ed. Benner, engineer; and G. W. Parker, foreman.
"The lumber yard is an immense affair, and contains, on an average,
twenty million feet of manufactured lumber—forty men are employed
all the year round—and is equipped with all the latest labor-saving
improvements; can ship bill timber over eighty feet long. Everything
manufactured in all the mills passes through this yard. There are
four mules employed on the trestle-tracks regularly, three extra
when all the mills are running at the same time, making seven in
all. John McGinnis is the efficient shipping 'boss'. The following
statement of the monthly shipment for 1886, in car loads, will
afford a better idea of the size of the lumber yard, and the immense
capacity of these mills.
It is doubtful if this aggregate was exceeded by any
single lumber dealer in the State, and probably not in the entire
country:
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