HISTORY OF WOOD COUNTY



with modern heating, lighting and plumbing, making it one of the finest daylight
plants in the state. The lines of business include the well known Perfection
gal-
vanized steel stock and storage tanks, welded steel hauling-tanks, gasoline
and
oil storage tanks, pneumatic pressure tanks, stock tank heaters, feed cookers,
Perfection Keystone galvanized steel well casing and other related lines.
An
adequate-force of salesmen is regularly maintained on the road, besides which
a
rapidly growing business with jobbers is conducted, the distribution covering-
practically the entire Mississippi Valley. The present officers are: A. G.
Felker,,
president; D. L. Miller, vice president; L. H. Felker, secretary, and R.
T. Finucane,
treasurer.
   Blum Brothers Box Co. was incorporated Jan. 10, 1921, with Paul L. Blum
as,
president and treasurer, Peter Blum vice president, and John A. Blum secretary.
The business had been started by Paul L. and John A. Blum in 1911 and conducted
up to 1921 as a partnership concern. The factory turns out annually about
1,500,000 cheese boxes (in seven sizes) and about 400,000 butter tubs, which
are
handled direct from the factory to the consumer, a large part being delivered
by
auto truck and by team, and the -balance by rail. The business done amounts
annually to about $550,000. The company employs about 100 people and to
secure its material does its own logging. The plant is equipped with the
most
modern machinery and is electrically lighted. It consists of a boiler, engine,.
and machine shop, 30 by 60 feet; filing-room, 15 by 28; fuel room, 16 by
22; manu-
facturing room and dry kiln (two stories), 62 by 176; vat room, 16 by 18;
office
and warehouse, 50 by 100; garage 20 by 40; stable 24 by 40; and cut-off saw
shed,
12 by 30. The location is on West Ninth Street.
   The Sparr Cereal Co., now one of the leading industries of Marshfield,
was
built by the W. H. Upham Co. in 1884, as a part of their manufacturing interests.
Its plant and buildings were completely destroyed in the great fire which
visited
Marshfield in May, 1887, but the Upham people immediately rebuilt these,
and
operated it until November 1909, when it was sold to the C. J. Sparr Co.
It con-
tinued under the management of Mr. Sparr until February, 1921, when he retired
and a re-organization was effected, the new company being incorporated under
the same name, but with Louis A. Salter as general manager. In the spring
of
1922 Mr. Salter traded his interests in the company to H. C. Koenig, who
is now
at the head of the concern, Mr. Salter having subsequently removed to Fond
du Lac, Wis. The equipment consists of the milling plant, elevators, and
store-
houses; it has a daily capacity of 200 bbls. wheat flour, 100 bbls. rye flour,
100
bbls. corn products, and 75 tons of feed. Grains, all Western grown, are
milled
into wheat flour, sold mostly in Chicago; rye flour, the bulk of which moves
to
New York for export; and hominy and dairy rations, which find their chief
market
in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. They manufacture a total of 48 different
items,
chief of which is "Gold Bond" wheat flour, a product of high quality
and widely
known.
   The Lang & Scharmann Machine Works originated in 1891. George J; Lang-
in 1886 started to learn the trade of machinist in the shop of R. H. Howarth,
and
remained there three and a half years, when the shop burned down. Mr. Howarth
rebuilt it on a small scale and soon after Mr. Lang with Louis Christenson
bought
the business. A year later Mr. Christenson's interest was purchased by Otto



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