The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-01-13
WACHTERS LAUNCH
new TYPE STORAGE
!. Main WAREHOUSE
Besides Merchandise Space on
Three Floors, Offices Are
Provided Patrons
BIG CITY BUSINESS ASSET
Company Has Grown From a
Transfer Line Operated
by One Man
BIG CITY BUSINESS ASSET

AVOVS V&A0V 10 WAA0O UA1C w 0VAktCI VOkxxe
bination Of draying, fuel, ice, storage
and farming has become.
From 60 to 100 men are employed
the year round and Is head Of horses
and 10 trucks are used by the COM
pany. There are times when the
Wachter activities furnish the only
sources Of seasonal employment to
the floating labor In the city, as now,
when the company is gathering its
annual ice harvest from the Missouri
river. for days and days more than q
score Of workers Will be saving the
frozen surface Of the river, hauling in
the blocks to the houses on the bot
toms and storing away the city's
chief GUNNER refrigeration.
The Wachter business is more than
just draying and storing goods In
warehouses.
The Fifth street warehouse build
ing, however, Is q monument rather
to the storage department Of the
business. In size, style and equip
ment, It typifies the big strides the
business has made since Charles q.
Wachter established it on q small
scale In the young city on the Mis-
souri, which had not yet outgrown its
river steamboating days.
Fine Fireproof Building
The new warehouse Is = fireproOf
brick ana concrete building Of three
stories height with $4,000 feet Of floor
space within the surface area Of 1884,
by 81 feet. It was designed by Van
Horn and Ritterbush and built by
John A. Larson, who starte6 oper.
ations In July and finished 1t last fall.
The common brick used in the struc-
ture came from ChaSka, Mimi, the
face brick from Perth Amboy, New
Jersey.
The floors consist Of the basement
and two superstructure stories. -Four
store or office apartments occupy the
front of the street level floor facing
Fifth street. -Four more office spaces
occupy the front Of the floor above.
Access Is conveniently provided by
commodius stAirways between the
floors. Back Of these office or store
divisions are the main rooms Of the
building, taking up the entire re-
,nainder Of the floors. The basement
is not divided at all. but Is in one
complete storage apartment.
The building Is equipped with =
large automatic safety elevator and
the weight Of the floors Is upheld by
massive pillars. The whole structure
is built to protect the stored mer-
chandise from fire peril and frost.
Heavy concrete floors provide durable
storage foundations. City heat helps
keep the building at proper temper
atures.
Alphabetically the front makes an
attractive appearance. with large
plate glass windows on the street
level floor, smaller windows permit
ting natural light access to the upper
floors, and at the very top Is . raised
letter metal sign, "Wachter Storage"
with the years 1885 and 1919 placed
at the top corners. s
viii Add l32 Feet More
With the building not yet actually
opened in full, the Wachter company
tound It had to add another portion,
Ind next spring this will be built, 1872
feet long. in the a Of the present
&main structure. This addition will
Be used By the Winston-N Newell COM
bauy for the storage Of supplies for
the independent Grocers alliance, for
Gvhich the winston Newell company
b the purchasing agency.
The character Of the building fol-
lows designs Of the Wachter brothers
to provide convenient storage TOR
firms who have to store merchandise
downtown, often Of . bulky type.
The offices In the front Of the build
ing will enable these firms to handle
their goods, both incoming and out
going. from the warehouse, transact
Ing the office end Of their activities
right there. The security provided
BY the fireproof construction enables
q saving to be made in insurance Of
the stored goods.
Other Buildings Used
With q business SO extensive as the
several departments Of the Wachter
activities create, it is natural that
the company should have q number
Of other buildings than the new ware.
house to operate. There are two prior.
WAACAaOOCCOe GNOos : 0ANN - ~ AASAAN
and Fifth streets, adjoining the
Northern Pacific tracks. The main
office has been located on Fifth
street near Broadway, but gradually
the company win shift from there to
the new warehouse, eventually to
manage Ill the business from that
location.
At the foot Of Fifth street are To-
Gated two large barns. where the
company's horses and feed are quar-
tered. Around these are icehouses
and hay stacks, sheds for wagons, and
also coal dumps. These buildings are
located on m area Of three fun city
blocks.
The company operates several hun.
dred acres Of farmland TO provide
feed and straw for It's outfit Of horses.
come Of this Is in the vicinity Of
the stables and ice houses, others -
southeast Of the city near Fort Lin
coin.
Charles q. Wachter Its Pioneer
Charles q. Wachter. as said. VA
tho pioneer Of the business. He wal
an expert sausage maker who caue
to this country from Stuttgart about
the time Bismarck wa founded and
he worked ct his trade In Philadel-
phia. His skill Is . sausage maker was
ii part due to his taste. He never
annexed or chewed, In order to retain
ttrat. and this enabled him to give the
proncr seasoning 70 the score Of types
IN which the Germans compound
a6a,saee. rs wieners, frankfurters,
landteegers, gooscltver. b~raunScnWcl-
ser. ealani, mettwurst ana 50 on.
After working at' the business 10
- 80
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