Fairmount's Future; King City Glass Works mentioned

FAIRMOUNT'S FAIR FUTURE

A TOWN THAT STARTED LATE TO

UTILIZE NATURAL GAS

Now Taking Advantage of It Rapidly —

Nearly One Thousand Men

Employed in Her Factories —

Electric Lights, Etc.

Fairmount has been slow to seize and utilize the advantages of natural gas, but t0-day she has big gas wells and is ready to drill as many more as may be needed for her growing population and new industries. Fairmount is a Quaker community, and en­joys all the thrift and educational and moral advantages which that would imply. There is a flourishing academy in the town under the control of that sect, and there is there in not a saloon in the place.

Some time ago a man opened a saloon in Fairmount, but no sooner did the good citizens learn the truth than they gathered in a body, loaded the saloon-keeper's wares on a dray, put the owner himself on top of the load and hauled the entire outfit to the railway statation [sic] station. With the first train the man and his property were shipped to Marion, whence they came. The saloon-keeper, it seems, did not fully grasp the temper of the people, even then, for a day or two later he brought his goods back and announced that he was not to be scared by any such pro­ceedings as he had been subjected to. A night or two later this bold individual was surprised, to receive a call from some twenty men in a body. His surprise was not lessened by the fact that the visitors were masked. His emotion turned to dismay when, without a word, the visitors proceeded to empty every drop of his liquors on the floor. The saloon man decided to give up the idea of conducting a saloon in Fairmount after that. He said he didn’t care to associate with the class of people with whom he was compelled to come in contact in that town.

Though Fairmount has but recently en­tered the field as a candidate for the loca­tion of manufactories, she has already met with encouraging success.

The Fairmount glass-works represent an investment of $30,000, their product being bottles. They give employment to about 120 persons and the weekly amount of wages paid is near $1,000.

The Big Four window glass-works give employment to 100 people and the capacity of the plant is to be enlarged at once, enough to make 150 persons necessary to keep it in full operation. The pay-roll, which now amounts to $1,200 a week, will then be about $1,800 a week. In this factory nearly $40,000 is invested.

The Fairmount Canning Company has an investment of about $10,000 and gives em­ployment to seventy-five hands. It pays about $450 a week in wages.

The Fairmount brick-works require the services of twenty-five men to whom is paid weekly wages amounting to about $200. Six thousand dollars or more is invested in the concern.

The Enterprise furniture-works is one of the older industries of the place. Its weekly wages amount to about $200, paid to some twenty-five workmen. Probably $35,000 is invested in the business.

Thirty thousand dollars is invested in the Dillon Glass Glass Company's works. One hun­dred and twenty-five hands are employed, and the weekly pay-roll is about $1,100. The concern manufactures jars and bottles.

LaRue's planing-mill and Excelsior fact­ory is a thriving, industry, which requires the services of twenty-five men, to whom is paid in wages every week some $250. The capital in the mills is about $12,000.

The Fairmount foundry and machine-shops stand for an investment of probably $7,000, and give employment to fifteen men. The combined wages are about $150 a week.

The King City glass-works manufacture specialties in glass such as electrical apparatus, etc. About $400 a week is paid in wages to the sixty persons employed by this concern. The factory represents an investment of $15,000 or more.

Pearson & Co.'s stave-works give employment to fifteen men. and pay out $150 a week in wages.

The Fairmount chair-works is the latest industry to locate in Fairmount. It is not yet in operation, but the company is under contract to give employment to at least two hundred persons. Its pay-roll will not be far from $1,800 a week.

In addition to the industries specified there are in Fairmount two saw mills, two elevators and two flouring mills, all together giving employment to thirty men who receive fully $250 a week in wages. These establishments have invested in them not less than $25,000.

A summing up shows that Fairmount has industries in which are invested about $240,000. These furnish employment to 815 persons, and pay out in wages every week about $7,150.

A concerted effort is now being made to interest additional manufacturing capital in the town, and those who are best informed, are sanguine that an era of prosperity unprecedented in the community is dawning. Among those engaged in this movement are O. W. Lamport, ex-superintendent of the Michigan division of the Big Four road; E. A. Peck, until lately general superintendent of the Big Four, and Joseph Ramsey, gen­eral manager of the Big Four. There is much talk of a new east and west railroad through the gas field with terminal at Red Key or Muncie on the east and Kokomo or Peru on the west. Fairmount people are confident that if the road is built it can not miss their town. A surveying corps in the interest of the projected road is now in the field. There seems to be an undivided sentiment that a railroad piercing the gas field from east to west is a necessity of the near future, and that when built it will prove to be a profitable venture. It would open a large territory of gas country not now near enough to any railroad to make it attractive to manufacturers.

Fairmount, like nearly all the other thriv­ing towns in the gas field, has its own news­papers. There are two of them in this case.

The News is a Republican weekly, edited by J. Stivers. Its mechanical make-up is handsome and neat, and it is a popular and successful paper. It was for years the only paper in the town.

The Times was started by Edward A. Morgan about four years ago. It takes no active part in politics, but is a sprightly, enterprising paper, devoted to the inter­ests of Fairmount and the southern part of Grant county. The instant success of the Times tn this conservative community has won much praise for Mr. Morgan’s management.

Active preparations are on foot to keep the town abreast of the advancement which its industries and population are making. The Town Council has decided to pave sev­eral streets with brick next spring, and an electric light plant will be built at the same time. Water-works, too, have been decided upon and will probably be erected next summer. In 1880 Fairmount had a population; according to the census, of 565. In 1890 this had grown to 1,464. To-day the number of children in the public schools is seven hundred, and it is asserted that with that number as a basis for computation it can be shown that the population is not less than 2,500. The people confidently expect a population of four thousand by the end of another year.