The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-02-28
MOVE WOOL MILL
UTAH TO BUTTE
RIG PLANT EXPECTED TO BE IN
ASPIRATION WITHIN A
FEW WEEKS
Will Manufacture Blankets, Under
wear, Sweaters and Stockings;
Will Help to Make Market for
Montana Grown Wool.

Wool now on the backs of sheep
wintering in the Big Hole basin and
other large areas of Montana range
will be transformed before next sum
mer passes into sweaters and under
garments in Butte. The $250,000
Montana Wooden Mills corporation,
which has absorbed the Utah Wooden
Mills company of Utah, will have in
operation by March 1 machinery now
in transit from Salt Lake City. Then
it will be possible to observe the in
teresting processes by which sheep
coverings are worked up for the COM
fort and adornment of human beings.
H. D.. Hanson, president of the
new corporation, which represents
one of the most important industrial
projects in the state in recent years,
as soon as the mills are
installed in the Pallas building, Da-
kota and Park streets, to throw 1t
open for public inspection.
This promises to be an interesting
event, for it will demonstrate how the
raw wool NAV be taken and in he
space of an hour turned out as a fin
ished sweater or undergarment. The
mills constitute a collection of ma
chimes which duplicate at dazzling
speed the skill and dexterity of the
women who, in pioneer times, knit
ted the stockings, socks and winter
apparel of their families.
These machines, some of them i'm
ported from Switzerland, are said to
be marvels of efficiency, and are
capable of turning a carload or more
of wool into finished garments every
day.
Floors Laid Out
Engineers of the new corporation
already have laid out the upper floor
of the factory building according to
plans designed to eliminate, all un-
necessary motion. 1t will be liter
ally possible to see raw wool go in at
one end of the mills, and come out
the other ready for the shelves of the
garment merchant.
Every process required in the pro-
duction of sweaters and underwear
will be carried through under one
roof. The machinery coming from
Salt Lake includes scourers, carders,
yarn winders and both hand and au-
tomato knitting machines.
Between forty and fifty hands will
be employed. These operatives will
include a number of girls and wom-
en-. The hand knitters will be oper-
ated by men, who also will be the
experts in charge of the automatic
knitters, which are capable of produr-
ing as much as three hand machines.
Montana Wool
Raw wool in ordinary manufacture
ing practice will require about five
hours from securing to the turning
out of the finished product, accord
ing to Mr.. Hanson, but the machines,
he said, are actually capable of per-
forming all the processes in an hour.
Wool stocks held in reserve since
last years shearing will furnish the
material for the initial operations of
the Butte knitting mills, but the clip
of the coming season, which comes
just after lambing, will be drawn on
for succeeding stocks.
Montana is third among the wool
states in production. This was one
of the factors which determined the
projectors to locate the knitting mills
in Butte. The organization of the
company followed some months of
negotiation shortly after the estab-
lishment in Butte of a retail branch
of the consolidated company of Utah.
This branch will be retained by the
Montana Knitting Mills, and will oc-
cupy the ground floor of the Pallas
building, on which a long time lease
has been obtained.
Officials Named
Mr.. Hanson was president OF the
Utah corporation, and was chosen
head of it's Montana successor when
the charter was obtained from Hell
ena. Tom Davis, former Rotary dis
trict governor, is vice-president, with
3. A. Buchi as secretary, and George
A. Robe treasurer. John ]. Caplis,
DR.. Keane and Mike Sheehan are
the directors.
All the machinery used in the Salt
Lake mill will be installed in the
mill in Butte and will be supplement
ed by several automatic machines of
the latest design, which we're recently
purchased in the east.
Only One in State
The knitting mill will be the only
one in Montana. It's market Will m
brace several northwestern states, as
we'll as the prairie provinces of Can
ada. Mr.. Hanson believes in highly
specialized manufacturing. He is con-
WINGED this is a requisite to success.
''Trying to cover the entire field"
bankrupts the over ambitious, he
says. Nevertheless, it is the inten-
ton of the Montana Knitting Mills
to include the manufacture of blan-
kets as soon as conditions warrant.
--O-
Cows for Western Montana
A total of CTS cattle, all of them
either high grade or pure bred, were