The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1889-01-26
PECULIAR INDUSTRIES.
Some OF the Queer Things Made
in the State Of Maine.
aow Wooden Toothpicks and Thread spoola
Arc -Slloe-Pees by tho Bushel
Tho Making Of Leather Mcc-
casins on Largo Scale.

Vhero Is an industry Wnlcn gives employ.
nent to hundreds Of people in this section
Of tho State which owes its origin to a whit
tier, writes u Pittsburgh Dispatch CORE
spondent from Maine. This is the making
OF wooden toothpic1s. There is 4 factory i'll
this town which turns them out at tho rate
OF know not how many thousand per day,
ana there arc many similar factories in
number Of neighhoring villages. Aside
from the men and boys directly employed in
the production of these useful little articles
many others are benefited by the industry.
The farmer who owns the trees, the woods
man who chops them down and the teanlster
who hauls tho timber to the factory, each
comes in for share OF the money paid out
by the toothpick manufacturers.
! The wood sells for So to 4.50 per cord at the
factory, and as each factory takes from, 600
to 1850 cords per year quite respectable
amount is paid out Tor raw material alone.
The wood used is white birch and poplar,
aud must be straight grained and without
knots, so there is secessari]y good deal OF
waste. 1t is estimated that enough TOOTH
picks are made in Maine each year to load
freight train Of fifty cars. In round num-
bers the toothpiclls number 5000, 00o. 600, or
about seventy-seyen picks for each man,
woman and child In the United States. That
would scarcely be enough; but the tooth
pick consumers need not be- alarmed, fos
there are several factories devoted to thi9
industry outside Of Maine.
3! Tho inventor Of the wooden toothpick Is
etill living and still making toothpicks. He
was in South America when he mace the
first box, and ne got the idea from the ma
tlves, who seem also to have penchant for
whiting. We'll, he employed his leisure
time in whiting out a box of picks, which
no sent home to his WIFE, She gave q part
Of them to q hotel~kecpar, and his guests
liked them SO well that he ut once ordered
a large quantity. Tho man in South Amor
lea smiled when he got the letter, but at
once engaged number Of natives and set
them to whiting.
/! Next he returned 70 his native town in
Maine and went to inventing. In due time
he had machine that would make picks
about ten thousand times as fast as the
swiitest South American whittier, and
since 1850 he has been doing his best to sup
ply the world with toothpc1s. he has so
perfected his machine that one operative can
make fifteen Thousand plcks per minute
His business rivals are numerous and
toothplcks are cheap In spite OF the fact
that there is said to be a sort Of toothpick
trust controlling Che production.
Another peculiar industry which flourish
es III Western Maine is the making Of thread
spoola They are cut from smooth, white
birch timber, wood which works easily, by
various kinds Of improved machines There
are numerous mills throughout the lumber
bearing region where the birchis sawed into
strips about four feet long and from Quo to
two inches in width and thickness. These
strips then 60 TO the spool factories to be
rfa1 int Tho
; numerous, but, with one exception, not par
ticularly interesting. The method Of polish
ing the spools is novel ana original. A bar
(! rel is filed nearly full Of them and then rs.
volved by means Of machinery and betting
until tho spools are worn smooth by rub
bling one against another. Spool 1nanufact~
uring is the rnost important industry in sey~
eral CT the villages Of Oxford County and
will doubtless continue SC unit! the supply
Of white birch timber gives opt
| con remember the time when Yankee
shoe-makers cut their pegs themselves.
They would SAW off a white birch log, leav-
ing it smooth and even, then plow little fur
rows across it In two directions with an
instrument, which believe they called peg
cutter. Then enough Of the wood was sawed
off to make tho pegs the right length and
/ the block was split up into pegs by using a
knife. don's suppose any body nahes
/! pegs that way now. Ihey are cut by ma
chinery from white nivch md maple and
| New England supplies the whole country.
| Pegs are worth from IS to 95 cents bushel
| at the factories.
| Up in Bangor there is u Arm styling itself
':conpress company" and it's business is
! baling sawdusv. Sawdust, shsvings, etc,
are taken from the saw-mills and planning
mills in trar1-care to the compressing-min
, and there squeezed until converted into ar
almost impregnable mass. Large quanti-
tics are used by various manufacturers for
different purposes.
Turning from. the wooden products OF
this woody region will mention one dis
tinctivcly Yankee industry and then con-
clude this letter. The making Of leather
! moccasins is carried on in this State quite
extensively. Now, Maine he's not {, great
many Indians, but sha has thousands Of
lumbermcn, and eacn iumberman wears
moccaslns III winter.
The Indians, if they were all moccasin-
Makers couldn't begin TO supply the mar
ket, SO the noccasin factory takes hold and
is a sewed boot, made without sole leather,
the top and the bottom being of the same
piece. The leather is tanned by peculiar
process which makes it's color q yellowish
white. 1t Is soft and flexible and very easy
on the feet. Each pair Of boots is made
large enough to hold the owners feet and
TWO or three pairs of stockings, thus en-
abling the lumberman 10 defy snow and
cold. The moccasins are not Of deer skin,
but of leather made of tho hides OF cattle,