The Town of Hespeler4

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Title:	The Town of Hespeler4
Document Type:	Original Document
Keywords:	Wm. Crooks, Geo. Guenther, Isaac Groh, Chas. Miller, John Groh, Jos. Zryd, Jeremiah Pickup, Jonathan Topham, Abram Glick, Thos. Tremble, Hespeler, village, historian, record, Robert W.S. MacKay, Messrs. H. Parsell, W.H. Breithaupt, Wm. W. Evans, Waterloo County Gazetteer, directory, Joseph Shantz, J.J. Ashworth, Alex W. Brodie, O. S. Eby, Thomas Arntfield, J.D. Ramsay, Jacob Hespeler, Michael Bergy, Bergy-town, W.A. Kribs, Abram C. Clemens, Cornelius Pannebaker, Joseph Oberholtzer, George Randall, Lewis Kribs, Archibald Brydon, Andrew B. Jardine, Canada Machinery Corporation, Hall-Zroyd Foundry Co. Limited, The Hespeler Furniture Co. Limited, The Stamped and Enamelled Ware Co., The Universal Lightning Rod Co., The Robt. Stewart Lumber Co. Ltd., The Hespeler Wood Specialty Co., Brown-Proud Rug Co., The Hugo Brix Slipper Mfg. Co., W. A. Coward, The Hespeler Toy Company, Adam Shaw, Conrad Nahrgang, David Rife, Charles Karch, Col. George Hespeler,
Author/Source:	Mayor D.N. Panabaker
Transcribed Text:	Continued from The Town of Hespeler3 In use was so slow that the operator after starting the log, had time to walk up town a half a mile or more to the hotel, for liquid refreshments and return before the cut was finished. The timbers of white-pine, taken out of this Obersholtzer mill when the woolen-mill buildings crowded it out of its place were used in the construction crowded it out of its place were used in the construction of the Lewis Kribs saw-mills which in 1865 were located close to the old public school site. When Mr. W. A. Kribs erected his present manufacturing buildings alongside the G.T.R. lines in 1902, these same old timbers were for the third time used and are at the time of writing, as sound as when first used in 1840. Following up the story of these pine timebers in their association with the late Lewis Kribs’ enterprises, his sawmill and saw-log year, near the old three-roomed stone school-house, were admirably located to afford a choice playground for the boys of my school days. Hoping about on the piles of logs had enough of the element of danger in it to make even more fascinating than the delight in talking in school hours, which was also, of course, somewhat a dangerous pastime, but rendered in our case less likely to result disastrously, owing to the almost constant friendly buzz of the old circular-saw across the street, ripping through the big logs and the smaller trimming saws and shingle-saws, which to a large extent neutralized the sound of “busy whispering circling round.” This was as welcome to the scholars as was the shade of the old silver poplars which encircled the school grounds, in which as country boys, we climbed about during the summer noon hours, after our tin dinner-pails had yielded up their contents of sandwiches and pie. The Kribs saw-mill was equipped throughout with machinery made by Messrs. Goldie & McCullough of Galt, and the saw-carriage was one of the first all-iron ones made in Canada. Mr. Kribs purchased the first all-iron planer manufactured by the Goldie & McCullough firm. The stave and heading making machinery in the Krib mill had been previously used by one Symington, whose coming to Canada from the United States and return thereto synchronized so closely with the dates of the opening and closing of the American Civil War, that it gave rise to the suspicion “that his mother had not raised her boy to be a soldier.” Symington started hs stave and heading factory in the old tannery building previously occupied by the late Robert Forbes, on Tannery St., opposite the present town-hall. It is said to have had two steam-boilers about thirty feet in length and two feet in diameter but containing no flues or 218 tubes. The engine was of an upright type probably brought in from the United States. When the war drums became silent across the border, the making of barrel materials lost its appeal, and the erstwhile dweller in this land of safety returned to his own country, having sold his machinery to Mr. Kribs who presently consolidated it with his saw-mill industry as already mentioned. Space will not permit us to detail all the activities of the late Lewis Kribs. He was born in Eramosa Township in 1829. His father Aaron Kribs was also a native of Canada, of “Pennsylvania Dutch” descent. When Mr. Kribs attained his majority he learned the trade of carpenter, and later in life engaged extensively in contracting and building. Among many very important contracts may be mentioned the building of Knox Church, Galt, erected in 1869-70, which work was done to a large extent under the supervision of Mr. Archibald Brydon, who learned his trade under Mr. Kribs. Mr. Brydon is at the time of writing residing in Toronto. Mr. Brydon was also associated with Mr. Kribs in the building of many important bridges in the County prior to the time of adopting iron or steel in these structures. The bridges at Freeport and at Bridgeport were among many others that might be mentioned for which Mr. Kribs had the contracts. In addition to the saw-mill, planning-mill and other similar enterprises, Mr. Kribs for a great many years was the proprietor of the Holm flour-mills, two miles north of Hespeler. Here he introduced the roller system, and completely modernized the plant, added to the building and added steam to the water-power previously used. He combined both the waters of the Speed and those from Puslinch Lake. A small saw-mill was also operated in conjunction with the Holm mills, the motive power for which derived from a 22 foot break water-wheel, driven b the stream from the lake. Mr. Wm. A. Kribs succeeded to the enterprises of his father in the year 1899 and moved to his present premises in 1902. Returning to the Randall-Farr enterprise, we must confine ourselves to a very brief survey of this industry. Their mills with equipment erected in 1864 are said to have involved an outlay of about one hundred thousand dollars. They were operated under the personal direction of a son-in-law of Mr. Jacob Hespeler, Mr. H.M. Farr, and his manager Mr. Charles Cliff, until about ten years later, when the company sought a location in the United States under more favorable trade conditions than then prevailed in Canada. 219 Continued on The Town of Hespeler5
Language:	English