Important Concern.
The Planing Mill and Box Factory of the Crump Manufacturing Company, West Bay City.
Box Shooks Shipped to all Parts of the World-One Hundred Men Employed.
The public is not always aware of the immensity and importance of some of the city’s chief industries. It is often the case that they are looked at lightly and not until they are brought directly before the people by a newspaper do they begin to see the true status of the industry. For instance, there is the planing mill and box factory of the Crump Manufacturing Co. Few are aware of the actual amount of box material turned out by this factory. The average citizen, if asked to guess, would put the working force of the mill at 20 to 25 men; yet the actual number runs from 85 to 100. During the past year these men dressed 6,000,000 feet of lumber. It is not general y known that West Bay City has in its midst the only factory in the state which supplies box work of a fine quality, such as dovetailed and printed material. The company even ends box shooks to Europe. At the present time they are supplying the Wilson spice company, of Detroit, with one car of box shooks per day and two cars of printed coffee cabinets per week. This spice and effee company is the second largest mill in the United States. During the year of 1888 the firm put up 350,000 packs of roasted coffee.
The trade of the Crump Manufacturing Co. reaches as far west as the Missouri river, and its eastern and southern connections are doing an lucreased business. The work is assisted by improved machinery of the latest pattern and the hum of the great planing machines, eating up their thousands of feet daily, only convinces the spectator of the amount of work accomplished by the firm and the great importance of the manufactory to the city. The factory was moved from Simcoe, Ont, in October, 1881. In February, 1884, a partnership was organized under the firm name of the Crump Manufacturing company The firm is composed of S. G. Crump, of Pittsford, N. Y., president; Shelby C. Crump, treasurer; R. O. Crump, secretary, The business, under the management of the latter gentleman has prospered and the factory is one of the largest concerns in West Bay City. The plant is conveniently located in the Fourth ward and covers an area of 12 Lots.
