HIS LIFE AND WORK 



came to him and proposed the building of a 

 Reaper factory, Ogden was as quick as a flash 

 to see its value to Chicago. 'You are the man 

 we want," said he to McCormick. "I '11 give 

 you $25,000 for a half interest, and we '11 start 

 to build the factory at once." 



This partnership helped McCormick greatly. 

 It gave him at once capital, credit, prestige, 

 and a factory. It enabled him to escape from 

 the tyranny of small anxieties. It set him free 

 from contract-breaking manufacturers, who 

 looked upon the making of Reapers merely as 

 business, and not, as McCormick did, as a mis- 

 sion. He now had his chance to manufacture 

 on a large scale; and he immediately made 

 plans to sell 500 Reapers for the harvest of 1848. 

 He built the largest factory in Chicago, on the 

 spot where John Kinzie had built the first 

 house in 1804, and thus once for all was solved 

 the problem of where ancj how his Reapers 

 should be made. 



For two years it was one of the sights of 

 Chicago to see McCormick and Ogden walking 

 together to their factory. They were both tall, 



[77] 



