MANUFACTURING
The Atlantic Canning Factory enjoys the distinction of being the largest corn canning factory in the world, the product this year being estimated at five million cans of corn in addition to the 625,000 cans of peas already packed. The factory was built in 1877 by a company composed of J.A. McWAID, S.F. MARTIN, and R. D. WILKEN. It was a small and crude affair in the beginning, most of the work being done by hand. Gradually the ownership was acquired by J. A. McWAID and as the business developed new machinery was installed, until today practically all of the work, from the making of boxes to the labeling of the cans, is done automatically by machinery. The product finds its principal market in the west and orders are already booked for the Hawaiian and Phillipine islands. Last year the canning company purchased property at Fremont, Nebraska, for another factory, and that was operated this year with a pack of one million and a quarter of cans of corn. Mr. CUYKENDALL is the owner of the process which keeps the corn white after cooking and it is largely to this process that the wonderful success of the factory is due. The company employs scores of people during the canning season and and a number the year through, paying liberally for services rendered and furnishing a splendid market at remunerative prices for about four thousand acres of sweet corn. A cut of the buildings may be seen in the company's advertisement.
The Atlantic Bottling Works was among the earliest of Atlantic's manufacturing enterprises. They were established by F. A. SAXE, who operated them until his death, when the passed to his widow. Afterwards they were owned and operated by Chas. OSTRANDER, L. C. RICARD, A. F. BRANDT, and on the 21st of November, 1903, they passed into the hands of the present owner, John F. FUHLENDORF.
From the beginning it has been a successful business proposition and under the present ownership the trade has expanded until a ready sale is found for all the product the works can produce. Mr. FUHLENDORF gives it his personal attention and is a man of business tact and energy.
The Priebe-Simater Co. poultry house, in Atlantic, G. G. JECK, Manager, does not do a great deal of cackling, but it lays many a golden egg for Atlantic and the people whose poultry and eggs it buys. Time was in the history of this section, and not so many years ago, when the local dealer made the price in poultry and eggs, and $3.00 per dozen was the average price for chickens regardless of weight, but all that is changed, and the poultry and egg end of modern farming is now, in many instances, the best part of the 160 acres. Companies with millions of capital and having local agencies in all sections of the country, now fix the price and buy the chickens and eggs by the car load and train load, supplying all the city markets and paying out millions of dollars yearly to the poultry and egg growers. It is no uncommon thing for Mr. JECK to pay out $50,000.00 a month for eggs and poultry bought by his lieutenants in the territory over which he presides. Mr. JECK is a native of Illinois, having been born at Minona, October 5, 1875, and from 1893 he has been in the poultry business at different points. He came to Atlantic in 1899 and since then he has had entire charge of the buying and shipping of poultry, butter, and eggs in this territory for the above named company. He is a hustler and a royal good fellow and has hosts of friends throughout this section.
The Atlantic Mill and Elevator Co., whose advertisement appears elsewhere in this book is an institution of which Cass County is proud. It is compelled, because of the excellence of its product, to run night and day, and just now machinery is being installed which will give it a capacity of 150 barrels every twenty-four hours, or double its present capacity. It has also been found necessary to enlarge the buildings and one-third of the original space was added a short time ago. The special brands of flour made by this mill are the "Challenge," "Snow Ball" and "Defender." The Company,
J. A. CAMPBELL & Son, is composed of J. A. CAMPBELL and Clyde T. CAMPBELL, the former a builder and operator of mills for fifty years and accounted one of the best men in his line in the country. He is a resident of Lincoln, Neb., and a native of New York.
Clyde T. CAMPBELL, Manager, is an Iowan by birth, having first seen the light in Farmington, November 14, 1867. When 17 years old he went to Washington, Iowa, from there to Kansas and then to Lincoln. He learned the milling business with his father and in 1899 they came to Atlantic and built their mill, the old mill having burned. They believed good goods could be sold in paying quantities and the success they have had here has corroborated their faith.
Connected with the mill is
Grant CAMPBELL, in the capacity of purchasing agent and general outside and inside man.
The "CAMPBELL boys" are deservedly popular because of their quality and their interest in all matters of public worth. They belong to various fraternal organizations and practice the principles they teach.
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From:
Exposition Souvenir Album, published by Democrat Publishing Company, Atlantic, Iowa, 1904. Transcribed by Brenda Magee, July, 2012.
