The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1916-12-28
Caribou's New Industry.
manufacturing Sliced and Evaporated Pc.
tatoes. Ralph L. Pitcher, Belfast Boy
Is the Head of the COMPANY.

80 saAS AASdu VI Tie COMPANY.
CARIBOU. Dec. %, 1916. Manufactur.
ing shceo and evaporated potatoes is
coming TO be an important industry for
this section, and SO far as it is known
Caribou has the only plant of this kind in
the United States. Canadian interests
for some time have been engaged in this
making OF product which is similar hut
inferior, to this output of the r. l.. Pitch.
er's Cos plant, near the C. P. R. R sta.
ton in this town.
Ten years ago this company built the
present plant for the manufacturing of
starch, expecting to run a couple of
months each year. but today this plant
is in operation nearly the whole wear
around, working night and day for the
present and employing 135 men with a
weekly payroll of somewhere in the vi.
cinity of So, 500.
There are $4,000 pounds of starch and
1000 pounds of sliced and evaporated
potatoes turned out daily.
| The plant is not only making its own.
ers more prosperous, but is adding ma.
terially to the general prosperity OF
Caribou and Aroostook County. It is
giving steady employment to a large
crew of men, and is furnishing an outlet
/ for the second size potatoes, which are
being evaporated, and the "culls," which
are going into starch. In ordinary wears
potatoes for starch sell at about forty
cents barrel-this year, with this new
product being made and starch prices
up, the farmers are getting consider
ably more than double that price.
II is estimated that the Pitcher plant
will use more than half million bush.
els before the close of the season. Eight
hundred barrels day are being used,
and the company has more than $4,000
barrels in storage.
There is a ready demand for the evap,
Grated potatoes, which are used when it
is difficult to transport the others aN
when weight and bulk make a differ
ence. They are an excellent 'substitu.
ton for the regular article of diet, for
which Aroostook is so famous.
The process of manufacture is an in
teresting one. First the potatoes are
washed and then peeled in functional
machinery. which handles hundreds of
bushels day. From there they go into
a large tank and as they are removed,
men cut out the dark spots and other i'm.
projections; machinery slices them and
they are cooked in large watts under live
steam for some time. From there they
go to the racks in the drying chambers
where heat removes the last bit of mois-
ture an leaves product resembling the
ordinary potato chip. They are dried
twice before being taken out and packed
in bags for shipments.
With the starch factory operated ir
connection with the plant, considerable
economy is gained through the utilization
OF all waste, which goes into starch.
Another product of this plant is potato
flour, which is gaining in general use
The company is now installing large
machine for making natural" potato
flour that will have a capacity of severa
tons a day. This is designed after ;
German type of machine used for the
same purpose, and is said to be very sue
cessful. The product is used quite widely
by bakeries in large cities and the add
ton OF little of this flour to the ordinary
wheat product will cause bread TO retain
its moisture for day or two longer
thereby enabling it to pass inspection a
fresh bread
The growth and Importance of Car
| ibou's new industry has been due in
large extent to the energy and ability o
the man at the head Of the company. Mr.
Pitcher is one of those men whom Sc
cretary of a Chamber of Commerce woul
welcome with open arms. He is civ
wire,' Everything about him is RICH
up to the minute, from his electrical.
operated plant to his ideas.
He is making a success of his bushes
and his success is rejecting in goo
measure upon his town and upon tn
county in general, where the company
money is being distributed to secure tn
raw product for the plant.