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Pair made a fortune,
thanks to steelby
Delbert Trew | |
During
the 1860s iron makers in England developed the Bessemer converter, which
cut the cost of steel manufacturing drastically. American improvements on the
process made steel products more economical and plentiful than ever before. The
Industrial Age was on the horizon.
The 1890s introduced the process of
galvanizing, which placed a coat of zinc over steel, thus preventing rust.
This extended the life of the steel, made it easier to clean and gave birth to
metal water storage tanks, underground pipe, better tinware and barbed wire. Each
of these improvements made life in the rural areas much easier.
Another
process, developed in the 1880s, was patented by the Niedringhaus brothers recently
emigrated from Germany. Their invention allowed ordinary metal cookware to be
coated with a granitelike enamel coating called porcelain. The coating
sealed all porous areas of tin or cast-iron cookware allowing for easier cleaning,
made it more attractive and provided healthier foods.
A
tie to the Panhandle of Texas
by the Niedringhaus brothers is interesting. Their process made them millionaires
quickly, and as cattle and ranching was an attractive investment, they became
one of the largest livestock concerns in the West.
They leased the White
Deer Land and Cattle Company grasslands near Pampa
for years running 25,000 to 30,000 head of cattle.
When the White Deer
Land Co. began selling its choice farm land to settlers in 1892, the brothers
moved the entire herd to Montana, requiring all summer and the work of more than
100 cowboys driving 10 herds of 2,500 head of cattle each. This was also one of
the last large cattle drives from the Panhandle.
My favorite porcelain pan story comes from Onie Sims, formerly of Mobeetie.
After receiving yo-yos for Christmas one year, Onie and his cousin decided to
go on to bigger and better things by building a giant yo-yo. They could launch
their monster from a treehouse located near the back door of their home.
After
days of experimentation with various items they found nothing the right shape
and weight for the sides of the yo-yo. At wit's end, they remembered the two,
new, blue porcelain dish pans purchased by their mothers with hard-earned cream
and egg money a few weeks before.
The pans were stolen, holes drilled in
the center of the bottom, a bolt, washers and a pipe spacer added and the project
completed by winding a small rope around the axis. They climbed to their tree
house and with a little adjustment had the giant yo-yo performing beautifully.
By this time the demonstration had drawn a crowd consisting of papas and
mamas who stood watching the performance of the yo-yo climbing up and down the
rope.
When the yo-yo slowed down a bit the mothers realized the sides were
made from their new dishpans, all heck broke loose.
Onie claims to this
day, in spite of the lectures, hard spankings and general uproar resulting from
the dish pan theft, it was worth it to see the giant yo-yo rolling up and down
the rope.
© Delbert Trew
"It's All Trew" January 12, 2008 Column
E-mail: trewblue@centramedia.net.
Related Topics: Ranching
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