Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1856-08-23


We yesterday paid visit to the immense ma:
chine shop and foundry Of Messrs. Gates. Warner
Chalmers and Fraser, and though We expected Il
ma every thing upon mammoth scale. vet. "
must confess, we were hardly prepared to 'fnf
this establishment quite so great as q ramblt
through it proved it to be. Thanks to the kind
ness OF one OF the partners, we were enabled Il
inspect every department Of their immense bust.
ness, and witness the construction Of steam on.
the making of the drawings and models up to tn,
completion and even shipment Mr.. Warner hal
furnished US with some statistics of their shop.
and business, which will prove of much interest
as showing something Of what constitutes tn,
material wealth and reliable growth of our city
The shops, yards and sheds Of the Eagle Work,
cover an area Of one hundred and forty THOUSAND
feet square, equal to two entire blocks. They
occupy two brick buildings, three stories in heigh
Ione eighty-fou BY thirty-two feet, and tn
other seventy,two by thirty-two feet-and also {
dred and fifty feet. They also occupy three one
and half story wood buildings, one hundred ant
hfty feet in depth by sixty, fifty and forty fee
front, and two story wood building, forty b,
ninety-6ve feet. In addition to these they OCCUPY
three one story wood buildings, eighteen BY on
hundred and fifty feet.-This would give an ares
OF floors of over ffty-nine thousand feet square
In addition to these structures the company ar,
about erecting brick building, to be used fol
machine shops, seventy by seventy-eight feet, an,
three stories in height. The buildings are oc,u
pied for engine shops, iron and wood planin1
machines, iron and wood lathes, bolt and punch
ing machines: saw mills, blacksmith and carpen
ter shop, saw mill mandatory, car shops, boiler
shops, foundry, finishing and painting shop, &c
There are now employed in the different depart
ments of the Eagle Works, some four hundred
men. enough of themselves, with their families
to form a respectable sized village. ss.as
During the past three months sixty steam en-
gines and boilers have been completed and sold
and we noticed some fifteen to eighteen engine,
in process of construction, which are mostly or.
dered for saw mill purposes. These engines va
ried from six to sixty horse power, most of then
being from ten to twenty horse power. It is IN
necessary for US in this article, to say ought il
praise of the excellent quality If the engines pro
duced by this company.-They are known to ever,
region of country, east and west, north and south
which is at all tributary to Chicago, and hav,
given perfect satisfaction to all persons who have
tried them. They are we'll and compactly built
Of the best material, and carefully and accurately
finished.
One Of the most important branches Of the
business of this concern is the manufacture OF
box freight cars. From nine to ten box freigh,
cars are turned out every week, equal to som.
five hundred cars per year. The cars are consid-
cred among the very best manufactured in the
country. We noticed in the shops some eight O,
ten new cars, nearly ready for the Chicago, Bur.
lington and Quincy road. There are used in thi.
branch of the business eight thousand pounds Of
car wheels and axles daily, or about twelve hun.
dred tons yearly. The platform and box freight
cars are the only kinds made at these works. The
cars made there are in use on many of our western
roads, and have given excellent satisfaction.
During the present year the company have
commenced the manufacture of q new and i'm.
proved kind of patent circular saw portable saw
mill, which has already become great favorite
1t has been found to be both cheap, durable anG
easily operated. Their construction is exceeding.
ly simple, and they do the work required in tht
most economical manner. From the Prescott
Pierce county, Wisconsin Transcript, we append
q communication from one who has PRACTICAL,
tested the working of these mills:
o.. .s.ql TRlMBELLE, June 4th, 1856.
Mesrs Editors AS numbering constitutes &
considerable portion of the interests of this com
munity, and as every one about to engage in thu
business wishes to know what mill will manufac
ture the most lumber in the least time, and will
the least expense, take this opportunity of in
forming the public what sawed with one of P
W. Gates twelve horse power circular saw mills
belonging to Brocking, Hurt & Otis, of Trimbelle
Pierce county, Wisconsin, on Monday, the 2e
day of June, 1856, (although am interested
in the mill only SO far as wages are concerned.
We commenced at IL O'Clock, A. H., run til
6, stopped 45 minutes for breakfast and filing
then run till eight, when the packing blew out O
the steam chest and we were obliged to stop ant
pack. We then started, but the packing being
Of no use, we were obliged to blow of steam
and re-pack, which hindered US till 10. At II
we started with a good head of steam and rul
till IL, stopped 80 minutes for dinner, commenc
cd at IL IL, ran till 8, stopped Is minutes t.
| file and then ran till S, stopped As minutes fo
supper and filing and then ran till Is minutes I,
8, making in all the time of saving IL hours
and sawed IS round logs, from to IL feet il
length, and from IL to 80 inches in diameter
making Il, 43S feet of lumber, all of which wa
sawed into three-fourth and one inch stuff, ex
| cept logs which were sawed into siding.
| The above is true statement of the facts
they occurred, and would not be afraid to wa
ger sum, (if was betting man, that tn
mill can saw 10000 feet of lumber in IL hours
by selecting good logs and having the engin
| properly managed so as not to hinder from break
| downs. SILvRRTHoRN
| In addition to the above the writer, an oil,
hand at the saw mill business, has written lette
| to Messrs. Gates, Warner, Chalmers & Fraser
| in which he says: 6 They are undoubtedly th
best mill for general use that our country affords
and hope to see the day when they will com
into universal use." Large quantities of thes
| mills are now being manufactured, and Messrs
Gates & Co. are prepared to furnish them in an
quantity demanded.
| The following statement of the quantities o
| the principal material consumed nthese immens
works will doubtless appear large to many Der
sons, yet we can assure them that the quantitie
given are below rather. than above the actua
| amount used. Of hard wood lumber four thou
sand feet daily, or over two millions yearly o
| pine lumber twenty-five hundred feet daily. O
nearly eight hundred thousand feet per annum.-
Of pig iron seven tons are used daily, or over tw
| thousand tons per annum; of bar iron six thou
sand pounds are used daily, or nearly two mil
lions pounds per annum of boiler iron fou
thousand pounds are used daily, or over one mil
lion pounds per annum. One hundred tons O
coal is used monthly, or twelve hundred tons pc
annum. -.
A half day would be we'll spent in going owe
this establishment, and witnessing the construc
iton of the various machinery manufactured there
| and remembering that in l848 its business wa
| only $4,000 per annun,, while n 1856 it vii
| exceed rather than fall short of 81 ,OOO, OO0-th
visitor will find plenty of cause to wonder. lTh
great increase has been brought about BY stead
and well directed industry and enterprise, am
not BY mere good luck or happy speculations.-
The members of the firm are thorough and intel
ligent and business men, as well as skillful an
experienced mechanics, and with the energy an
perseverance, they possess, will long maintain til
front rank in mechanical enterprises in Chicago
We had almost forgotten to mention that "
saw model of a self acting rake for attachmen
to reapers, which promises to be one Of the bes
| things of the kind ever invented. It is now. be
ing attached to machine, for trial in the grail
| fields, and should it accomplish in practice al
that it promises, it will be one of the great nven
tions Of the day, and our friend Wright will b
obliged to look to his laurels. -