Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/196

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COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES

were completed in one week. Finally one car a day became the capacity of the plant, M r. WowJin remarking that they "d id n ’t want to build more than one car a day.” But so well did matters progress that additions were nude to the machine shop, foundry, car and blacksmith shops, a planer double the size of the old one purchased, wooden tracks for handling the cars laid around the works, and two four-wheel cars were turned out in a day. B y this lime the firm o f Jackson & Woo<Jin had acquired extensive repute as car build­ ers, and soon increased contracts called for expansion. Another car shop, 24 by 80 feet, wa.s erected alongside the railroad “ under the hill," a forty-horsepower engine installed, and two box cars were made there each day. the repairing o f old cars being done at the old works. In 1 ^ 3 another addition was made to the car shop, increasing its capacity to six four-wheel cars and two box cars per day. Thus step by step the plant grew, until in the winter o f 1865-66 five or six clght-whccl coat cars fo r the [Philadelphia & E ric railroad were being built every day, and about 150 men employed. A critical period in the history of the town as well as the plant occurred when, on the morning o f M arch 17. 1866, the works were totally destroyed by fire. A consultation was held at the bank the follow ing day, at which many of the employees were present, and a ft­ er a thorough discus.sion of the matter the anxiously awaited decision was announced— that the plant would be rebuilt. Plans for the new buildings were at once prepared, ma­ chinery puFchas^, and out o f (he ashes arose a better and more modem manufacturing es­ tablishment. S o rapidly did the works grow a fte r this date that the necessary additions soon encroached on the farm lands o f M . W. Jackson, in the rear of the plant, and in 1869 the firm was employing 550 men. In March, 1S72. the Jackson & Woodin M anufacturing Company was organized, with C. R . Woodin, president; C. G . Jackson, vice president; G arrick M allery, treasu rer; M . W. Jackson and W . II. Woodin, executive com­ mittee. T he senior members of the firm then retired from active management of the affairs o f (he company to enjoy a well-earned period o f rest, leaving their sons to continue the work o f developing the plant. The first move o f expansion then made was the building of the "long switch," to connect the works with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western rail­ road. T his w as completed in 1872, and ran from the main line up a ninety-foot embank­

ment. with a grade o f 150 feet to the mile, to the rolling mill (then in process o f con­ struction). thence into the works. Previous to the building o f this switch the finished cars were drawn by horses through M arket street to Canal, down Canal, with a grade of 400 feet, to the railroad; a heavy toothed drag and a brake being used to prevent the cars sliding down the hill. In the Litter part of 1872 the rolling mill was completed, thus enabling the firm to make and shape their own iron work, which had previously been done outside, and fill orders for the general market. From year to year thereafter other additions were made, notable among them being the pipe works, fo r the casting o f gas and water pi(». C. R. Woodin retiring from the presidency in 1892, C. H. Zehnder was made president and general manager. Under his direction the company prospered greatly. In 1896 he ten­ dered his resignation and Frederick H. Eaton w as elected to succeed him. Upon the organization in 1899 of the .Ameri­ can C ar and Foundry Company Mr. ^ t o n w as nude first vice president of the corpo­ ration, and W. H . w oodin. son o f C. R . Woodin, was appointed district manager of the Berwick plant. On Ju n e 27. 19 0 1. the newly elected board o f directors met in N ew Y o rk and elected M r. Eaton to the presidency of the corporation, and W . H . Woodin as h is assistant. William F. Low ry, who had been with the Jackson & Woodin Company fo r many years, was made district manager, in charge of the plants in Berwick and Bloom s­ burg. M any interesting stories are told of the energy and versatility of the founders of the works. A t one time a Root blower w as broken, and the shipment of the part to the W'est fo r repair would have incurred expen ­ sive delay, owing lo slow freight methods, as the entire works depended on the o p era­ tion of the blower. So M r. W'oodin took the broken part to the factory himself, had it r e ­ paired, and learned there how lo keep it in rcfu ir afterward. T he old upright engine that supplanted the horses fo r power in the first car works wa.s used for a time to run a chop mill near E s p y; then E. A. Sncidman used it to run his m a­ chinery in a blacksmith shop at A lm cdia. N ext the engine served as power on a co al drcilgc fo r Hoffman & Custer, until 1 9 1 2. T hey then sold it to a junk dealer at Bloom s­ burg.