|
Coopers - the Lumber Business on the Frontier |
A.A. Grinnell's Lumber |
Once a farming community
was established, it was always necessary to have some form of
container in which to put the goods. The wooden barrel seemed to
foot the bill with most any commodity. So it was inevitable that
the cooper would arrive in Elba, especially with the vast amount
of business being done in the lumber trade here.
The cooper
"rived" (split) the staves from pine or oak blocks,
beveled and jointed them to fit together seamlessly, shaped the
bottom to fit the "chine" (groove left to receive the
bottom) and banded the whole affair together with hoop poles of
hickory or oak. It was not easy. It would take a journeyman
cooper several years to be able to make a barrel tight enough to
hold liquid and strong enough to be bounced about by a powerful
man.
Acquiring the Staples
business in May of 1902, A. A. Grinnell & Co. of Oakfield
began operations with gusto. The beading mill was started up with
400 cords of timber in stock. In March of 1903, they installed a
new 50-horse engine. It was noted in November that between their
two operations in Elba and Oakfield, they turned out 40,000
barrels for the season. But they still were unable to keep up
with the demand. Local farmers could not secure barrels for their
concerns until an order was filled for 9,000 barrels out of town.
Fourteen coopers were being employed and operations ran day and
night.
In December, a camp was set
up in East Oakfield to get timber out for the mill. An onsite
sawmill, 58 feet in length, was constructed and the number of men
employed went from 60 to 75, with sixteen teams hauling. By
January, 1904, ten acres were completely covered by logs. Work in
the camps was extremely hazardous. Numerous newspaper clippings
tell of severed fingers, broken ribs, injured backs, fractured
legs, etc. Constant business transactions occurred to secure more
timber lands. Camps developed throughout the swamps where the men
were quartered, having a cook provided at each camp.
In January 1910, Grinnell's
purchased the former Curtis lumber mill near the West Shore
Station. With extensive repairs and a new coat of paint, the
cooperage business was moved into that building.
[Previous Page] [Next
Page]
Navigational Map
|
Places to visit:
General Information: |
