HARDWOOD RECORD 



67 



is mauufai'tiuvd aud assorted with tlio 

 greatest accuracy. In addition to lumber, 

 the company produces a eousiderable quan- 

 tity of dimension stock which is sold to tho 

 furniture and kindred trades. 



The officers of this company' are W. W. 

 Mitchell, president; F. J. tobbs, vice presi- 

 dent :ind treasurer; .\. W. Newark, secre- 

 tary. 



CUMMER MANUFACTURING COM- 

 PANY. 



tu 1S94 the Cununer Manufacturinj; Com- 

 |ian3' began in a small way to make Cummer 

 patent folding crates for fruit and veg- 

 etables, and the following year added the 

 ••Humpty Dumpty" egg carriers. 



[ts goods have steadily grown in favor 

 with growers and shippers of fruit and prod- 

 uce since they were first put upon the mar- 

 ket. This year 1,000,000 crates have been 

 furnished the onion growers alone. 



The plant is well equipped with special 

 and up-to-date machinery and appliances, is 

 steam heated and electric lighted; power is 

 furnished by a 2.50-horse-power Corliss en- 

 gine. Steady eni|iloyinout is given to about 



acid niTc kuipwii as Williams Brothers Com 

 pany. Pour years later the capital was in- 

 .•reased to $75,000, and Clarence F. Williams. 

 sou of George F. Williams, and Mark L. 

 VVilliatus, son of Walter S. Williams, Bruce 

 (ti-een and Henry M. Billings were taken 

 into the enterprise. Since that time the cap 

 ital stock of the company has largely in- 

 creased through accumulated earnings which 

 have been left in the business. 



.^t Cadillac the company has an up-to-date 

 sawmill, a last and ten-pin block factory, 

 numerous and spacious sheds and kilns for 

 the seasoning of their product, and an ex 

 tensive lumber .vard. At Manton is main 

 tained practically a duplicate of the Cad- 

 illac plant, save that no lumber is manufac 

 tared there. The interesting feature of the 

 operation, outside the manufacture <if hard 

 woods and hemlock lumber, is the last-block 

 and ten-pin department. This is conceded to 

 he the largest institution of the kind iu the 

 United States. The plant at Manton covers 

 five acres and has a storage capacity of 

 1,.500,000 last-blocks. The Cadillac plant 

 covers about seven acres and can accom- 

 inodate about -J.noo.OOO last-blocks. The pic 



in the world. It is transported from the 

 woods by rail and logging sleighs to the 

 eompany's two plants, ami under the care- 

 ful and improved processes evolved by years 

 of experience in this line, is made into per- 

 fect last-blocks. These blocks are made 

 from select logs, cross-grained and defective 

 lines being cut into lumber. After being 

 turned into the various shapes shown in 

 one of the engravings, they are stored for 

 at least a year in air-drying sheds of spe- 

 cial construction, and afterwards placed in 

 steam-heated dry-kilns where they remain 

 for three or four months longer. The en- 

 tire seasoning of these blocks is done in 

 such a manner as to render the vitality and 

 ■itreiigth of the timber unimpaired and leave 

 the llocks entirely free from cheeks. This 

 system of drying, which has proven very 

 successful, is also the result of long years 

 of careful study and has cost many thou- 

 sands of dollars for experimentation. 



Incident to the manufacture of maple 

 last-blocks, the company produces a consid- 

 erable quantity of basswood blocks whicli 

 are used for fillers in shoe samples in show 

 windows; anil for the sample cases of trav- 



-1 H Fl;/. 



MK.\D1N'G FACTUKY CADILLAC JIANUFACTURING COMI'ANV. 

 SHOWINfi CONCRETE KILNS T'NDRR CON STRI'CTION. 



PILE (II- 



iii;aiiin(; bolts, plant Cadillac manupai TritiN(; 



COMPANY. 



eighty men. H. H, Cuinmer is presiileiit and 

 manager. 



The members of the Cummer Manufactur- 

 ing Company have a second plant, practical- 

 ly a duplicate of the Cadillac factory, at 

 Paris, Texas. The accompanying pictures 

 show not only the Cadillac institution but 

 also specimens of the fruit and vegetable 

 crates both open and collapsed, as well as 

 one of the patent egg carPiers. 



WILLIAMS BROTHERS COMPANY. 



In the front ranks of the large industries 

 of Cadillac and vicinity, is Williams Broth- 

 ers Company, engaged in the manufacture 

 of lumber and last blocks at Cadillac and 

 at Manton, twelve miles north. The history 

 of this old established and highly reputable 

 concern is an interesting one, and well worth 

 representation in this trade exposition of 

 Cadillac. 



George F. Williams first established the 

 business iu 1883 at Manton, and later took 

 into partnership Walter S. Williams, form- 

 ing the firm of Williams Brothers. In 1897, 

 when the enterprise had grown extensively, 

 they took in Albert E. Williams, another 

 brother, and William A. Hall, a nephew, in- 

 -•orporated with a capita] stock of $3?),000 



lures ai-cnnipauyiug this article show some 

 thing of the extent of this enterprise and 

 one depicts the variety of blocks manufac- 

 tured for lasts, ten-pins, etc. 



The members of this company are all 

 active and practical in their different lines 

 of work. The three Williams Brothers and 

 Mr. Hall are the last-block experts. This is 

 their distinct specialty, and the house has 

 the reputation among users of producing 

 the best that are made. The combined ca- 

 pacity of the two last-block plants is about 

 1.5,000 per day. These plants are run at 

 their full capacity six or eight months of 

 the .year, during the fall, winter and early 

 spring. During the late spring and summer 

 months they are comparatively idle, running 

 only sufficient to keep up steam in the dry 

 kilns. It requires a whole .year's time to 

 dry last-blocks and thus it is that at all 

 times the company has a year's stock in 

 process of seasoning, stored in their great 

 sheds and kilns. 



The company now owns maple timber 

 enough in the vicinity of the plants to run 

 at their present capacity and supply their 

 regular trade for fully ten years. This 

 maple timber is located in Wexford and 

 Missaukee counties, which contain the best 



elmg shoe salesmen. As is well known, this 

 territory furnishes a superior quality of 

 basswood, very desirable for this work, be- 

 ing clear, light and tough. In addition to 

 this immense number of last-blocks turned 

 out by the Williams Brothers Company, the 

 concern makes large quantities of ten-pins 

 and duck and candle-pin-blocks for bowling- 

 alleys, which are seasoned by the same 

 process. 



The capacity of the Cadillac plant is from 

 L'.j.OOO to 30,000 feet of hardwood, or -iOfiOO 

 feet of hemlock lumber per day. The lum- 

 ber yards are well filled with stock carefully 

 graded, and piled in the best possible man- 

 ner. The home office of Williams Brothers 

 • 'ompany is located at Manton, where the 

 manager and head sf the concern, George F. 

 Williams, resides. From forty to fifty m«u 

 are employed at the Manton plant, and ab«nt 

 seventy-five at the Cadillac institution. The 

 several woods camps operated by the c»m- 

 pany employ at ditferent seasoirs of the year 

 from 100 to 200 men. 



THE CADILLAC MANUFACTJJRING 

 COMPANY. 



Under the title of the Cadillac Manufac- 

 turing Company. -Tohn P. Wilcox and Chas. 



