Miami County, Indiana - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 12 of those read), 1914 (part 2 of 2)

Soon after natural gas was discovered in Jay and Delaware counties, the people of Miami county became interested in the effect to ascertain if gas existed in that part of the state. Articles of as.sociation for the Peru Natural Gas & Fuel Company were filed on October 25, 1886, setting foi'th that the company desired to be incorporated for a period of fifty years, with a capital stock of $5,0U0 and a board of directors consisting of James 0. Cole, Milton Shirk, Charles H. Brownell, R. H. Bouslog. Charles C. Emswiler, Louis Mcrgentheim and Louis B. Fulwiler. This company bored three wells. The first was in the northern part of the city of Pera, where the drill went to a depth of 905 feet and penetrated the Trenton limestone - the porous, gas-bearing rock - about thirty feet, but without finding gas. The second well was on the Jacob Miller farm, about a mile south of the city, where no better results were obtained, and the third well was on the Yonce farm, in Butler township. Here a

A few Peru people were not yet satisfied and a eompany composed of some of the optimistic, who believed that gas could be found, drilled a well upon the Hearss farm about two and a half miles north of tlie city. Here the drill went to a depth of 1.041 feet and penetrated the Treuton limestone about thirty-two feet. Four successive failures convinced the most sanguine that gas could not be found in the immediate vicinity of Peru and no further efforts were made.

The Xenia Gas and Pipe Line Company was incorporated on January 25, 1887, with a capital stock of ^50,000, divided into five thousand shares of ten dollars each. Among the stockholders were J. W. Coan, R. W. Smith. L. M. Reeves, J. S. Kelsey, John 0. Frame, B. F. Agness, J. W. Eward. Frank Macy, D. 0. C. Marine, James Hatfield, M. F. Tillman and O. P. Litzenberger. Sweeney & Company, of Kokomo, were employed to drill a well and went down 937 feet, or thirty-one feet into the Trenton limestone. Gas was struck soon after the drill entered the Trenton formation, but at the same time a strong vein of water was also struck, which had the effect of weakening the flow of gas. The fact was demonstrated, however, that gas existed in that part of the county and a second well was drilled, which yielded enough gas to supply the town for domestic purposes. The company drilled eight wells altogether, five of which were within the corporate limits of the town of Converse. Before the close of the year a few farmers living west of Converse formed a company and drilled a well to supply their homes with fuel. The Xenia (Converse) Real Estate Company drilled a well in 1889, which furnished enough gas to supply the electric light plant, the hoop works and the Peerless Glass Works; and the Garrison Brothers, a few years later, drilled a well to supply their grist mill.

The Amboy Gas and Oil Company was organized in April, 1887, and filed articles of a.ssociation with the county recorder on the 6th of May. Its capital stock was fixed at -$10,000 and the first board of directors was composed of J. Pearson, T. C. Overman, J. A. Baldwin, L. D. Lamm, A. A. Votaw, E. K. Friermood and W. H. Zimmerman. This company is credited with drilling the first successful gas well in the county. A Citizens' Gas Company was then organized as a mutual association, each member paying fifty dollars, which entitled him to the use of gas for domestic purposes as long as the supply lasted. This company struck one of the strongest wells in the Amboy field. In 1892 it was registering three hundred pounds natiiral rock pressure and was supplying forty families and two factories.

In the fall of 1887 the Citizens Gas and Pipe Line Company was organized at Peru with a capital stock of $100,000. The officers and directors of the company were as follows: J. O. Cole, president; R. A.

History Op .Mia.Mi County 281

Edwanls, vice-president; C. C. Emswiler, treasurer; R. H. Houslog, secretary and manager; the above oflScers and Milton Shirk, C. II. Brownell and Louis B. Fulwiler, directors. This company drilled its first well one mile south of Amboy, where a fair supply of gas was found. The second one was on the farm of David Ilaifley and proved to be a failure. Then a third well was drilled on the Abbott farm, south of Amboy, and turned out to be one of the l)est in the county. Several other wells were put down southeast of Amboy and Converse and when the company had three good wells the work of piping the gas to Peru was commenced. On October 21, 1888, the gas was turned into the mains. As the pressure in the first wells began to decrease the company went into Howard and Grant counties and leased lands, having about eight thousand acres at one time under lease. The first winter after gas was introduced in Peru the city was supplied by six wells, but a few years later, when the pressure fell off, twenty-four wells were brought into requisition to keep up the supply. In May, 1895, the plant of this company was sold to the Dietrich syndicate, which owned a number of gas works or natural gas plants in Indiana. K. II. Bouslog remained in charge of the plant at Peru as manager.

. Tile discovery of natural gas in Indiana brought a number of new manufacturing enterprises into the gas belt. Among those which located in Peru was the ]Miami Flint Glass Works, which began operation in October, 1889. The factory was located in the northeastern part of the city, near the tracks of the Wabash and Lake Erie & Western railroads. John J. Kreutzer was at the head of the concern, which was known as an "eight pot"' factory, and the product consisted of glass tumblers, bottles, etc. The works did a good business while the gas lasted, but when the supply of fuel failed the factory was closed.

Another manufacturing concern that was established in Peru during the natural gas era was the Standard Cabinet Manufacturing Company, which was incorporated in January, 1893, with a capital stock of $25,000 ; Jacob C. Theobold, president ; John G. Killinger, vice-president ; E.' G. Huber, secretary; John Knuchel, treasurer. A number of the stockholders of this company worked in the different departments. This factory did not close with the decline of gas, but is still doing a good business in the manufacture of small novelties in cabinet work, battery boxes for automobiles, etc. The cooperative feature has been discontinued and the company has been reorganized.

Nearly contemporary with the above is the Peru Electric iManufacturing Company, whicli has already been mentioned. It was organized in 1893, with a capital stock of $100,000. .J. O. Cole was president; C. II. lirowncll. vice-president; K. II. I'.nuslog, secretary, treasurer and manager. Besides these officers the directors were R. A. Edwards, W. B. McCliutie, L. Mergeiitheim and F. M. Talbot. The company secured the buildings formerly occupied by the Dow factory, which had beeu vacated a short time before by the Cai-bon and Glass Comjjany, of which the Peru Electric Company was virtually a reorganization, located north of the Wabash tracks on Tippecanoe street. In 1910 the company went into the hands of a receiver, when a controlling interest was bought by C. H. Brownell and it was reorganized in its present form. Its chief business is the manufacture of porcelain insulators, which are shipped to all parts of the United States and Canada, and some are exported through jobbers in electrical supplies. From sixty to one hundred people are employed, owing to the demand for the company's products.

In 1900 the Peru Steel Castings Company was incorporated, after a lively campaign to raise a bonus by the sale of lots, with Philip Matter, of Marion, as president. About three acres of ground were secured in the western part of Peru and fifteen buildings were erected before the works were opened or while they were in progress. The aim of the eomiiany was to manufacture traveling cranes for large manufacturing establishments, heavy castings for ship builders and railroad companies, pumps, generators, air compressors, etc. At one time over seven hundred men were employed and the factory was one of the largest ever established in Peru. The first casting was turned out in August, 1900, and for a few years the company .carried on an apparently successful business. Then the natural gas failed, a fire destroyed the plant and the works were closed, much to the regret of the Peruvians.

In the summer of 1901 the Home Telephone Company was organized with a capital stock of $30,000; Louis B. Fulwiler, president; Jerome Herff, vice-president; John E. Yarling, secretary and manager, and Joseph M. Bergman, treasurer. These officers and W. A. Huff constituted the board of directors. In May, 1902, an exchange was opened at No. 101/^ South Broadway. The company met with a ready patronage and when the plant was sold to the Central Union or Bell Telephone Company in August, 1912, it was operating about 3,000 telephones.

The Peru Canning Company was incorporated on ]\Iarch 30, 1905, with the following directors named in the articles of association : Pliny M. Crume, Joseph Bergman, R. H. Bouslog, R. A. Edwards, P. H. Roberts and Joseph Andres. In the organization of the board R. A. Edwards was elected president ; R. H. Bouslog, vice-president ; Pliny M. Crume, secretary ; P. H. Roberts, general manager ; Joseph Bergman, assistant genei'al manager. On April 6, 1905, the company ordered machinery capable of putting up 1,200,000 two-pound cans annually and a littK' later a site was selected iu Elmwood, oii the Lake Erie & Western tracks. The factory was ready for opening by the time the canning season came on and has been in operation ever since, employing from 250 to 300 people every year during the summer and fall months while the rush is on.

Late in the year 1905, R. II. Houslog and R. A. Edwards, who owned some land just northeast of the city on the Chili pike, conceived the idea of platting their lands into lots and selling them, using the proceeds of the early sales to improve the streets and secure the location of new factories. A. N. Dukes, who also owned a tract of land adjoining, joined in the movement and the result was the Oakdale addition to Peru. The plat of the addition, showing 1,058 lots, was filed on January 27, 1906, by the Oakdale Improvement Company, of which R. A. Edwards was president and F. il. Druram, secretary. Then began a campaign for the sale of lots by the Peru Commercial Club. A sales committee, with Arthur L. Hodurtha as chairman, was appointed and the addition was widely advertised. The campaign lasted for several weeks, during which timr aliout 700 of the lots were contracted for on the installment plan, and over 500 sales were actually consummated by the payment of installments.

Among the factories brought to the city through this movement were the Mallmann Addograph Company, the Keudallville Furniture Company, the Parkhurst Elevator ^Manufacturing Company, the iModel Gas Engine Works, the Looth Furniture Company, Fox Brothers underwear factory and the Chute & Butler piano factory.

The Mallmann Addograph Company, which manufactured adding machines, ran for about two years, when it encountered financial difficulties and wound np its affairs. The liuildings then stood idle for awhile. l)ut are now occupied by a basket factory operated by Moeck & Redmon, the latter of whom was formerly interested in the Iloosier Basket Works of Denver, which closed when the bank in that town failed in 1901.

The Keudallville Furniture Company has been succeeded by the Peru Chair Company, which makes a specialty of Morris chairs and employs about 50 or 60 skilled workmen.

The Parkhurst works were taken over by the Otis Elevator Company and operated until some time in 1912, when the factory at Peru was closed. The buildings were then occupied for a while by the Brown Commercial Car Company, manufacturers of motor trucks, but this company is now in the hands of W. B. McClintic as receiver.

Its wares have been exhibited at various automobile shows in differeut parts of the country and have l)een favorably eomniented on by trade journals. It employs about 300 men.

The Booth Furniture Company manufactures a general line of household furniture and employs about 12.') people in all departments; the Fox Brothers JIanufaeturing Company makes all kinds of ladies' muslin underwear and according to the last report of the state bureau of inspection employed seven men and 68 women ; the Chute & Butler Company employ about 70 people, nearly all skilled mechanics, in the manufacture of their pianos and the instruments turned out at their factory compare favorably with those of the best piano factories in the country.

Some time after the Oakdale addition had become an established fact, the Great Western Automoliile Works were established there, but without asking or receiving any bonus of any character. This company was started by local men with home capital. It manufactures passenger or tourist cars and has a capacity of about 300 vehicles a year. At the New York automobile show, January 5 to 10, 1914, the noiseless motors of the Great AVestern attracted a great deal of attention. The.se motors were fully demonstrated and explained by a representative of the Model Gas Engine Company, which constructed them, and by this means Peru was given considerable notoriety as a maiuifacturing city. The company employs about 50 people.

One of the recent factories in Peru is the Auto-Parts Manufacturing Company, which came to the city about the close of the year 1909. In the fall of that year a canvass for the neces,sar3' funds to secure the factory was begun and iij a comparatively short time reached a successful termination by tlie suliscription of the amount required. This concern is a branch of a similar institution located at Jamestown, New York. As soon as the l)Ouus was made up tiie buildings near- the Wabash and Lake Erie & Western tracks, near the head of Cass street, formerly used by the C. H. Brownell telephone booth works, were purchased and within a few weeks the new factory was installed and in working order. It manufactures axles, brakes, shaft gearing and various other devices for automol)iles and supplies a number of automobile factories with these parts.

In the early part of 1910 the Peru Commercial Club collected statistics relating to the number of people employed in the manufacturing establishments of the city. Their investigation showed that in the leading factories 4,500 people were employed and the monthly pay roll amounted to a little over if;21 0.000. Since then there have been but few chanycs in the silualion. A few factories have increased their working force but otiurs lia\c iiiailc i'oriusi)Oii<liiig rc(liieti(>ns so that the nuiiiber of operatives and the amount of the monthly payroll remains ju-aetieally the saiiic. These figures did not include the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad shops, nor any of tlie factories that eniployed less than twenty-five people.

The last publisheii report of tile state bureau of inspection gives the following list of Peru factories, with the number of employes in each: Automatie Sealing Vault Company (concrete burial vaults), 6; Booth Furniture Company, 1(18; C. H. Brownell, 41; Canal Elevator Company, 10; Chesajieake & Ohio Railroad shops, 325; Chute & Butler Company, 67; Fox Brothers, 75; Great Western Automobile Company, 43; Hagenback & Wallace Shows, 500; Indiaiui Manufacturing Company, 367: Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company, 149; Model Gas Engine Company, 125; Moeck & Redmon Basket Company, 58; Otis Elevator Companj', 105; Peru Auto-Parts Company, 68; Peru Basket Company, 68; Peru Canning Company, 266; Peru Chair Company, 51; Peru Electric Company. Ti); Peru Gas Company, 13; Peru Ice and Cold Storage Company, 11 ; Standard Cabinet Manufacturing Company, 78; Wilkinson & Pomeroy (planing mill), 18; Wabash Railroad Company, 1,222. In adtlition to the above concerns the bureau also inspected and reported upon a number of other emplo.ving concerns and giving the niuuber of employees in each. Among them were two cigar factories, 16 employees; three coal and lumber companies, 38; three dry-goods and department stories, 70 ; two clothing stores, 22 ; six hotels and restaurants, 7S ; two laundries, 30; one transfer company, 11; five contractors and builders, 145; thi-ee bakeries, 35; and a number, of miscellaneous small conc(>rns thai employed in the aggregate about 100 more.

No history of tlie industi-ial and conunercial resources of the county would be complete wilhout some account of the discovery of oil at Peru in 1S!)7 and the cxcitenient which followed. When the gas well was sunk in the northern part of the cit.v in 1887 a snudi quantity of oil was found and the pi'ediction was then made that oil would some day be found in paying (|uanti1ics. But the prospectors .just then were looking for gas and no attcnlidn was paid to tiie small (|uantity of petroleum.

In the spring of 1897, when il was realized that the supply of natural gas would not last nuich longer, about one hundred citizens, headed by David H. Strouse, formed a tentative organization, known as the People's Oil Company, to bore for oil. The first well was bored on the B. E. "Wallace farm, just east of the Mississinewa river and proved to be a "dry hole." That well was paid for by each member of the company contributing ten dollars and the fund was exhausted in drilling the well. Then five-dollar subscriptions were taken to drill a well on a three-cornered tract of laud belonging to A. X. Dukes "just north of the end of Miami street and near the boulevard." Some of the old stockholders in the original arrangement did not contribute to the drilling of this well, but when oil was struck on July 19, 1897, they claimed to be members of the company and hurried to pay their five dollars each, in order to retain their membership in what looked like a winning game.

At noon on the day oil was first struck, there were 150 feet of oil in the tube and at two o'clock it had risen to a height of 400 feet. Next morning, when the first visitors an-ived at the oil well they found the oil flowing out at the top of the pipe, at the rate of about fifteen barrels per day. The next day the well was capped until tanks could be constructed to take care of the oil, which was pronounced by experts to be of fine (luality. The People's Company was then regularly incorporated and an assessment levied upon the stockholders for funds to jjurchase tanks and pumping machinery. A committee, consisting of David Strouse, A. T. Reed, A. L. Bodurtha, Charles A. Cole, Frank Bearss, Lewis Baker, George Rettig, James H. Fetter and Dr. E. H. Griswold, was appointed to take charge of the well with full power to care for and market the oil.

Well No. 2 was drilled by the People's Company before the end of August and came in with 150 barrels per day. Then the excitement began to be made manifest. Oil men from all over the country flocked to Peru, some of them to drill wells, but the majority of them to lease lands and hold them for speculation. Probably a score of oil companies were organized and incorporated within sixty days from the time the first oil was sti'uck. Hotels and restaurants were crowded with visitors to the new oil field and livery men reaped a rich harvest in taking prospectors to see land owners with a view to obtaining leases. Newspaper correspondents from many of the metropolitan dailies came and saw, and write glowing accounts of the Peru oil field, whicli added to the excitement and increased the number of prospectors.

Among the oil companies organized were the Peru Oil Company, with a capital stock of $200,000; C. H. Brownell, president; R. A. Edwards, vice-president ; R. H. Bouslog, secretary and treasurer.

The Miami Oil and Gas Company was incorporated on September 13, with seventy-five stockholders ; Michael Burke, president ; W. H. Zimmerman, vice-president ; Leroy Shauman, secretary and treasurer.

The Klondike Oil Company was oi-^aiuzed with C. S. Jaekson aa president; W. S. Lentz, vice-president; John O'Hara, secretary, V. S. Jackson, treasnrcr, and Joseph Rergnian, manager. The first wells drilled by thi.s eomjjany, which was purely a home institution, were on the Reilly laud cast of the old fair ground and along the Wabash river.

The .Mcrccr-Kicr Oil Company was composed of women, with Mrs. W. S. Mercer, president; Miss Ida Kier, secretary and treasurer; Mrs. Mattie fiercer, ^Irs. Avery Tudor and IMrs. Walter Emswiler as stockholders and directors. The iirst well was drilled on the Mercer property and later this company struck the largest well in the field on the Charters farm, flowing 800 barrels.

The Oil City Oil and Uas Company was officered by J. S. Lenhart, president ; Roscoc Kimple, vice-president ; P. M. Crume, secretary, and Andrew Wey, treasurer.

Judge J. T. Cox was president of the Indiana Oil Company; W. S. Mortin, of Montpelier, was vice-president; W. B. McCliutic, secretary, arrd W. H. Zinnnerman, treasurer.

The Valley Oil Company was first organized by A. T. Reed, A. L. Bodurtha, Harry and David Strouse. These men leased land and did the first " wildeatting, " but drilled only one well.

The Equality Oil Companj^ was organized for the purpose of drilling wells on some vacant lots on Eighth street. John Skinner was president of the company ; P. H. Watkins, vice-president ; John Spnrgeon, secretary; Harry Young, treasurer.

Then there were the Farmers' Oil Company, in which the Tillets were conspicuous, the Eureka Oil Company, the Trenton Rock Oil, Gas and Alineral Company, tlu' Home Oil and Gas Company, the United States Oil Company, the Funke Oil Company, the Runyan Company, the Cover Company and several others. Three large oil supplj' stores were opened in Peru and did a thriving business.

On September 10, 1897, there were three producing wells - two of the People's and one of the Runyan Company - that yielded a little over 500 barrels daily. The Runyan well was on the outlot of James M. Brow-n, just east of Grant street, and its daily outflow was about 235 barrels. At that time several companies were drilling in the immediate vicinity and on the loth there were more than twenty-five derricks within sight of the first well. The People's Company then had three wells in action, producing 700 barrels daily. Oil was the universal topic of conversation. Nearly every owner of a lot adjacent to the oil field was anxious to have a well drilled on liis premises. Several injuuetioii suits were filed to prevent the drilling of wells too close to others, or to enjoin the owner of a well from shooting it to increase the flow at the expense of near-by -wells, but most of these suits came to naught. By the middle of November the field contained 160 wells, of which 137 were producers, and the daily output was over 5,000 barrels. A month later it was estimated that ninety per cent of the oil produced in Indiana came from the Peru field.

At the opening of the year 1898 there were 230 wells, the average cost of which was about .$1,200. Hence, more than .'1;275,000 had been expended in the quest for oil. A majority of the wells were producers, but in a number of instances the .supply of oil obtained did not pay the cost of drilling the well. During the year 1898 a large number of town lot wells were drilled, the average production of such w( lis being less than eight barrels per day. From the first there was considerable .speculation as to whether the Peru oil field was really a field or just a pocket. Some believed that the supply was inexhaustible and proceeded on that theory to make their oil investments and conduct their operations. Others, who held to the pocket theory, proceeded with more caution and in the end these were the ones who catne out of the oil excitement with more money than when they started in. By the spring of 1899 none of the wells was producing as much oil as at first and it became apparent that the field was really a pocket, although a large one. In 1899, according to the report of the state geologist, only four wells were drilled, while on the other hand thirtyseven that had been producing oil grew so weak that they were abandoned. That was the beginning of the end. Gradually the pressure diminished until the expense of pumping the oil became so great that the business was unprofitable and the people turned their attention to other lines of business as bringing better results.

Outside of the city of Peru there are or have been but few manufacturing establishments. About 1869 E. S. Lee built a planing mill and stave factory at Converse and later added machinery for making tow from flax, but the mill was burned in 1874 and never rebuilt. Another stave factory was started in that town by A. B. Fisher in 1870. It was removed to Union City a few years later. John Coyle established a tow and flax mill at Converse about the same time he opened his mill at Peru. When he was succeeded by Lehman, Rosenthal & Kraus the Converse mill was operated by the new firm for a few years, when the mai/liiiiiT.v was taken to PiTii. The tloiir mill a1 t 'oiixiTse was built hy \Vri<iht i-t ^Ii-Kei'ly in 1868. It was ivljuilt and greatly enlarged hy Draper, Long & Harger in 1882. When gas was discovered in 1887 a number of new faetories were located at Converse. Among them were the Iloosier Canning Company, the ^lalleable .St(>el Works, the Peerless Glass Works, the Converse Carriage Company, a large pressed brick works, a vise factory and a factory for the manufacture of gas fixtures, but all were discontinued or removed elsewhere wlii'U the sujiply of gas gave out.

On May 2, 1876. the Mexico Manufacturing Company was incor- [)orated with a capital stock of $10,000 and the following officers: Daniel Griswdld, president ; C. II. Kline, secretary ; J. L. Wilson, treasurer. These officers, with Benjamin Graft and Joseph Brewer, constituted the board of ilirectors. The company was organized for the purpose of ' making all kinds of furniture, including church furniture and bank lixtures. A good building was erected on the bank of the Eel river, in the northern part of town, and equipped with the best machinery known in that day and business was commenced under favorable conditions. Traveling salesmen extended the business of the company over a large field, but after several years the company found itself handicajjped by a lack of ade(iuate shipping facilities and confronted with other adverse conditions and the factory was discontinued.

In 1910 J. H. Thompson, proprietor of the roller mills at Mexico, engaged C. H. Black to build a new dam across the Eel river to furnish water power to the mill and other entei'prises, such as the light and power plant. This dam withstood the great flood of 1913 without the slightest injury. It is built of reinforced concrete and is said to be one of the best dams in the state. After this dam was completed it was found that the power furnished was sufficient to supply other factories and in 1912 the Mexico Woolen Mills were incorporated with Charles H. Black as president; Webster Edwards, vice-president; Leroy Graft, secretary ; George D. Wilson, treasurer, and these officers with John Kramer form the board of directors. The better part of the machinery in the old woolen liiills at Peru was purchased and taken to Mexico, and on April 28, 1913, ground was broken on the west bank of the Eel river near the dam for a concrete building 60 by 150 feet, cast upon the site, the first building of the kind in Miami county. Quoting from a statement issued by the company, these mills will make a "specialty of fancy yarns, blankets, automobile robes and any novelty the trade demands; the eciuipment is the best in its line and the prospects of the company are most excellent."

machine shop in "Wasliington township, on the Strawtown pike, for the manufacture of an improved picket wire fence, fence machines, and to do a general repair business. This factory is not now in existence. Henry ilosely located in the same neighborhood and started a hydraulic eider mill and .icily factory and in the early '90s added a large sorghum mill to his equipment.

The principal manufacturing industries in the towns of Amlioy, Bunker Hill and Maey have been saw and tlour mills, brick and tile factories. A brewery was built in South Peru by George Rettig before the Civil war. Later it passed into the hands of Omer Cole and was conducted by him for many years. Its e(iuipmeut was equal to that of any brewery in the state and it is said the quality of its beer was unexcelled. After the passage of the local oj^tion law so many of the counties in Indiana "went dry" that the brewery was closed.