Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-03-12

out OK Inc west lDOl2u OdSS0s6.
While 80 engaged he saw speci-
men OF the root of the cOontie. and
realized that here, was a rich and
abundant source Of starch, ii only
. way could be found Of getting at
it. He went to work at finding
this way. The way proved much
longer and harder to ind than any
one would have believed possible.
There was an abundance of starch
in the coontie to be sure, but there
were also a great many other
things. The difficulty was to make
. starch free of all impurities on a
commercial scale. And Mr.. Hurst
took no chemists or engineers into
his confidence and formed no con-
nections Of any kind. His was the
cautious, secretive method of the
countryman. He intended to work
the thing out for himself and to be
sole owner when he succeeded. He
spent all of his own money and
borrowed all the money he could.
He invented machines that nobody
would try to make, and he made
them himself. He scored failure
after failure. But he had the crea-
tive mind and the singleness Of
purpose that goes with it. The
making of starch out of coontie
berries became the one object Of
his existence. Finally, after he
had worked more than twelve
years, and spent $4,000, mostly
borrowed, he had the satisfaction
of seeing a perfect yellow starch,
almost impalpably fine Of grain and
pronounced by government chem
lists as absolutely pure. He now
produces 100000 pounds day and
all of it is bought in advance at a
very good price by one of the great
biscuit companies. They use it in
certain products to which they
wish to impart special keeping
qualities. Mr.. Hurst expects soon
to take out a trade mark and to put
his product on the market in little
packages for household consump-
ton.
He seems to have no idea, how
ever, of capitalizing or expanding.
His factory is big implanted shed
out in the pine woods where the
coonties grow. He was found
working in 1t, stripped TO his un-
dershirt and busted all over with
the fine yellowish powder which is
his product. His only assistant
was a negro, who shoveled the
great tubers into the crusher which
initiates the process. A small
wood burning engine furnished the
power. and the rest of the process
consists of a mysterious series of
watts and things, elevated above the
floor in such a way that no casual
observer could see what was going
on within them.
Mr.. Hurst was perfectly willing
to talk about coonties. He walked
out into the woods and showed us
a specimen of the plant growing.
He had learned, he said. since he
began making his starch, that the
Seminole Indians used to make
starch Of the plant, and this was
one of their staple food supplies
during their long war with the
United States government. in which
they never surrendered as tribe.
Some of the old Florida crackers.
he says, also made starch out Of it
on a small scale. This was not
hard to do. 1t was the making of
machine process to handle the
root in bulk that was difficult. The
fact that the coontie root was a
source of starch mad been pretty
we'll forgotten when he took it up.
Everyone knew that the berry
would kill a turkey, but few seemed
aware that the root was food for
men. Mr.. Hurst takes great pride
and satisfaction in his conquest of
the coontie berry. He has made an
industry of his own. He has
known the joy Of the creator.
Whether you create a sonnet or an
empire or a new kind of starch. no
doubt the thrill is much the same,
and you rise equally high above the
level of merely productive men,
plodding in beaten paths.
Have you taken out patents on
your process?" we asked.
Mr.. Hurst smiled knowingly.
IF I took out a patent on it." he
replied. everybody would know
how to do it."