Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-02-19
ROLLER SKATING.
The Rise and Fall of the Pastime-Ths
Fortunes Made During the Craze.

Fortunes Made During the Craze.
The great, empty, barn-like struct.
ures-the skating rinks-which last
season were alive with thousands OF
busy skaters, are very quiet now.
Here and there in the city a be
found one that is making an effort to
keep open, but the attendance is very
poor and the attractions that last year
would have brought out thousands are
bringing but few to the Kinks this sea-
o n The ..craze" is over. 1t was a
very profitable one for the manufacture
ers of roller skates and the owners OF
Kinks last year. There were Kinks in
this city that made thousands of dol.
lars. Last year Frank Hall, the pro.
prietor of the Olympian Rink, in Phila'
delphia, and who owned q factory TO,
making roller skates, sold one hundred
thousand pairs of skates. This year he
has sold none and has closed his fac.
tory. Mr.. Hall says that, though the
.scraze'' is over, it is a mistake to think
that roller skating as an amusement is
to die out. When the ~''craze" has en-
tirely subsidized roller skating will be
reduced to the limits of a pastimc upon
which legitimate business ventures
may be made.
Nothing connected with the s'craze"
is more curious than the n in
which it affected the trade in lockwood,
maple and hemlock. The lockwood
was found to be the best material from
which to manufacture the rollers. In
consequence, last year that wood
jumped up from 1926 a ton to $40, and
one firm, by a fortunate purchase just
before the market took an upward turn,
made $17, 900 in less than two weeks.
The market was stripped almost bare
OF lockwood for a time. and thousands
and thousands of tons were made
up into rollers in u few months.
lockwood is selling now at $l8 a
ton, and the price is still going down.
So enormous did the proportions
of the infatuation for roller-skating
become chat companies with hum
dreds of thousands of dollars as capital
were formed for the purpose of con.
structing Kinks in small cities all over
the conntry. These Kinks were built
for the most part of hemlock, and SO
extensive were the operations that this
lumber, Notwithstanding the immense
supply, made advances until the market
at one time showed that it's value had
been increased at least rs per cent. by
the large operations of the construction
companies. Since 1884 the price Of
hemlock has fallen off 80 per cent. be-
cause the building Of the Kinks had to
be stopped. One of these construction
companiesi in ten months divided profits
of $500, 900. The plan of the managers
was to build a rink in a promising
locality, IL it a few weeks, and then
sell it out to local SPECTATORS. Maple
was found to be the best wood with
which to construct the rink floors, and
this lumber jumped up to $50 and $55
a thousand feet.
1t is an interesting fact that the
"roller-skating craze" would have come
long ago but for, the patent. For seven
teen years after the skate was patented
not a skate was sold, and vet the
patentee in that time made So 5000, 600.
Eben Plimpton was the lucky fellow
who first conceived the idea of the
roller, and he made all the roller skates
used during the years his patent ran,
and rented them out to skating-rink
managers. He always made the con-
tracts read that he should receive ten
per cent. Of the admission receipts and
all the money for the rental of the
skates. OF course, roller skating did
not flourish under these circumstances,
bat the amusement was popular enough
to keep small Kinks in large cities, and
Mr.. Plimpton made money. AS soon
as the patent expired and skates could
be made by any one the ':craze''
started, and started in Richmond, Ind.
A citizen of that place started the
manufacture Of roller skates in a little
wood-shed. The skates became popular,
and he enlarged his shops until he had
a factory of over four hundred feet in
length and one in which many work.
men are employed. He has made a
round million of dollars in the business.
-PtWSJu2aR Chronicle.