Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1917-03-15
RANDOM RECOLLECT|ONS,
Continued from First Page.

its water supply for the boilers. A
dam was built across the creek,
which created quite a reservoir. In
the winter time it also made a nice
place for skating, and in summer
time the boys sailed their boats
there. Fred Mahr fell into this
pond one day while crossing this
dam, and got thorough wetting.
He was promptly rescued" by
some of his companions, and there
after he called them his "life pre-
servers. When this mill was built,
and by whom, l can not say, but it
was there as far back as my mem
ory runs. The first owners the
writer can remember were the
Witzler brothers, Peter and Will
lam. In the late sixties they sold
the mill to Samuel F. Ryder, who
owned and operated it for num-
ber of years and then disposed of it
to the firm of Hiram Wiltse & Son,
who | think owned it up to the time
it was abandoned and dismantled as
a saw mill owing to a scarcity of
logs to keep it running as paying
Investment. Frank Sampson was
for number of years yard fore
man at this mill, and superintended
the hosting of the logs into the mill
and the delivery of the finished
product. The output was nearly all
taken by the local market, only a
small quantity being shipped. In
the rear of the mill was large
yard several acres in extent, and il
the good old days this yard woula
generally be filled up in the winter
and early spring with enough logs
to keep the mill running all sum.
mer. Oak, elm and cottonwood
: were the principal timbers used
here.
The wooden bowl factory was
built about 1865, by Frederick Res
tai, who, after running it a few
mouths, formed a partnership witt
his brother-in-law, Mr.. Engelber,
Schellinger. This firm operated the
plant for about three years, and il
1868 it was purchased by w. j
DenniSon, who came to this place
from Cleveland, and who owned
: and operated it until it was closed
and dismantled on account of the
scarcity of raw material
The factory was located OH Indi.
: ana avenue on the banks of Crooked
: Creek, in the hollow, short dist
ance west of the old Jail building
, The product was wooden bowls o.
. all sizes, from trose of a few inches
I in diameter to the large ones useC
D for bread mixing, and which wer,
so popular for that purpose for I
number of years. The timber useC
in their manufacture was cotton
wood, sometimes called "WooC
County Pine The cottonwood
r logs were cut into butts from "a tt
% or 30 inches in length, then spill
} in half. Each half, or block, wa!
: fastened to shaft, which when th,
| machine was started, revolved very
r rapidly. A sort of a curved knife
was then pressed against this rap
, idly revolving block, and the frs
: performance resulted in producing
a curious looking object with the
shape of a large bowl on the inside
and the shape of the half of shor'
, piece of a saw-log on the outside
These "bowls," or "vats," o,
whatever you may choose to cal
them, were largely used for water
1 ing troughs for cattle, and for mix
: ing food for poultry. The secont
performance of the machine result
q ed in a perfect bowl, the larges
I size that could be made from th'
4 piece of timber used. The oftenel
: the knife was applied to the block
Z. the more bowls We're produced, eacl
I one being a little smaller than thu
G preceding one. until at last there
was nothing left of the once large
block except a little stub of few
inches across. The bowls were theI
placed in large drying warehouse
r to season. They were then PLACED
in the sand-papering machine, thor
oughly smoothed and finished, ther
packed in nests, and were ready
for shipment.
The late Ben Zingg and Jacol
Keller were the only ones the writer
ever knew as the operators of these
? wooden bowl cutters" or turn
q ers." The finished product wa'
shipped to all parts of the United
States, a great portion of it going
to the southern states. My dear ole
friend, Chris. Finkbeiner, was OF
the road" for the bowl factory fol