Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-11-06
Wooden Collins.
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Wooden COftinS.
The business Of manufacturing
wooden collins has fully kept pace with
the advances in other departments of
woodworking. Years ago every poigh-
borhood and village had it's local un~
dertaker, who kept Il small stock, Of
coffin stuff, and made collins for bis
| customers when ordered. As q gener-
III rule in this country tho best collins
were made of ,blackrwalnut, finished on
the outside simply with bees&ax and q
hot sadiron. The cheapest coffin was
made of pine, poplar, and other light
wood, with flat tops, .apd merely stained
black. An gndertakeg who could make
d neat walnut coffin with a raised lid
was considered ...'boss" workman.
During the war the demand for .cof-
fins PLACED the business of their manu-
facture. in the hands Of contractors,
who. erected factories, tand equipped
them with special machinery. Ihe bus
mess was. found so profitable that the
factories were not only continued after
the war, but, greatly enlarged, and their
numbers, have constantly. ~ineressed
since There. are in the United States
about forty. coffin, %factories, located
principally westi Of the Alleghenies
where suitable lumber is moro plentt-
tnl and cheaper than in the east. The
largest concern is located. in Cincin-
natl, and another at St. Louis which
has a flooring space of $1,000 square
feet and employs one. hundred men,
besides severak women, who are en-
Ployed in makiKg burial clothes and
shrouds,ia business that is of recent
date and which is rapidly growing. :.
. The coffin, manufacturers of the Uni
ted States are Hbanded,; together under
the name of the National Burial ASSOC.
citation. i, They meet f6ur times a year
in different cities. and probably they
can control the pricetof their products
better than any other similer organiza-
tion.4 A few years ago there was quite
D rage for metallic bupial cases, but Of
late the preference is'for wooden cof-
fins. A considerable number of Amer.
lean collins are shipped aboard, mostly
to England, South. Africa, Cuba, and
the South African States. Those.made
for export are the nknock-down'' style,
and are put together at their places Of
destination, except those shipped to
England. They are made of white oak,
perfectly air-tight, tongued and grpoved,
and the lid fitted with a rubber Hange.
Walnut is mostly used for the best
class cofinsstaus:sSnfe very finely pol
ished ones are made of sweet-gum.
When finished up finely if resembles
cherry somewhat, and is called ''satin
walnut" Poplar is used to q greater
extent in the business than any other
wood. 1t is cheap, easily worked, and
adapted to the requirement of the bus
mess. - ~
Neither the kind of wood of which a
coffin is made nor IT'S probable durabill
ity affects its price to much extent. for
the pritSndepends upon the style of fin
ish, and ranges from 81 or SO up to tho
full extent of the customers, ability to
pay. Mueh'of the wealth and labor OF
the country is annually buried in tho
soil through a fashion that calls for
ridiculopsly expensive funerals. An
impression prevails that the coffin bus
ihess is free from the fluctuations that
affect other lines, but it is erroneous.
Like all others. it is good when times
are good, and dull when times are hard.
Neither does it receive a boom when
cholera. yellow fever or other epidem-
iicssdpl5revail, as might natnatafly be ex-
pectsd. The demand ffoir: "cRildren,s
cottins is greater in the summer. but
the seasons have very little EFFECT upon
the demand for adults collins. During
hard times when money is scarce, the
trade in high-priced collins falls off,
but, on the whole, business is governed
pretty much by the same rule as 9TH
ers. Tie coffin factories are among
the best and most reliable customers
the lumbsrrimen have, and use a yerv
considerable part Of the poplar cut Of
southern mills.-SoutAern Lum6e,'naan.