SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI AND SURROUNDINGS • 1889


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(previous page) bottled beer has six hands in service, and reports a yearly business of $40,000 with the trade. A dozen hands are employed making and handling $16,000 worth of mineral and soda waters.

A single factory turns out mattresses to the extent of $10,000 a year.

Three plumbing establishments have $9,500 invested, employ 20 hands, and do a total yearly business of $60,000.

Four laundries employ 47 hands and $8,000 capital to do an aggregate yearly business of $34,000. Dr. D. L. Hardy, of the Troy Steam Laundry, a very capable and enterprising business man, says their trade has increased very rapidly since their opening in 1886, and is now extended well over Southwest Missouri and Arkansas. They have a large patronage from the leading hotels of the city and country, and, at the present rate of increase, the Troy laundry must double its capacity within a year.

Two large ICE FACTORIES, in the hands of competing companies, will have $80,000 invested in the finest ice plant in the Southwest, and by the time this Hand-book is well in circulation will be supplying the city and neighboring towns with the purest ice known to commerce.

The extensive new FOUNDRY AND CAR SHOPS, now completed and receiving its equipment, will very soon be running a full hundred skilled men in car work and every species of iron, steel and brass work demanded in the Southwest. It is a movement in the right direction, and can hardly fail of a fortunate issue for the city. POTTERY AND TILE WORKS have recently been started on the north side, for the manufacture of all kinds of pottery, drain tiles, fire-bricks, etc., etc., from the superior fire clays at Billings, a few miles west of the city.

Within and around the city, are half a dozen nurseries employing a large force of men, with a yearly out-put of no common magnitude.

A galvanized iron factory is doing good work and a very liberal amount of it, and there are scores of the smaller industries, such as smith and repair shops, small wagon and carriage shops, and other small mechanical works too numerous to mention, but all in some measure ministering to the prosperity of the city.

THE PEARSON CREEK LEAD AND ZINC MINES, located five miles east of the city, on Pearson Creek, are likely soon to become one of the strong factors in the sum of its prosperity. Recent developments made by THE PEARSON CREEK MINING AND SMELTING CO. on their valuable property in this locality, which has been successfully worked for some time, disclose a “cross run” of mineral, which proves beyond doubt that the rich deposits heretofore worked, are continuous and reliable for a large out-put of both lead and zinc. The explorations so far cover nearly half a mile, disclosing at all points, rich, well defined leads, in which great masses of high grade minerals, and the general direction and structure of the deposits, point conclusively to a concentration of mineral at the intersection of the runs, which from present indications promise developments quite as rich as those that have made fame and fortune at the great camps at Joplin, Galena and Webb City.

The company, which is composed mainly of enterprising Springfield men, has recently been chartered with a capital of $100,000, and under the direction of Mr. Stephen C. Johnston, an expert in practical mining, will add steam jigs, a new crusher and other machinery to their works, and while pushing new explorations, will greatly extend their mining operations. They have the Gulf road at the very margin of their works, and with the abundance of high grade mineral already uncovered, and still richer disclosures in immediate prospect, the Pearson Creek camp promises as well as any in all this mineral range, and it is now safe to predict that it will make fortunes for its owners and lively times for Springfield, Joplin, Webb City, Galena and Pittsburg have grown to commanding importance almost entirely from the lead and zinc industry, and it is plain to see that the development of the Pearson Creek mines to their maximum will be second to no other influence in the advancement of this city.

THE PINE LUMBER INDUSTRY along the line of the Gulf railroad in Douglas, Wright, Howell, Shannon, Carter and contiguous counties, is worthy of mention in this connection, among the more potent influences now contributing to the growth and wealth of the city. Scores of bright, new towns, which have recently grown up about the lumber mills along the main line and Current River branch of this new road, get the bulk of their supplies from Springfield, and otherwise contribute to its thrift. (next page)


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