Note: The Icon acquired a manuscript titled “A Brief History of Bluffton’s Industrial Developments.” This publication was prepared by the classes in Marketing and Small Business Administration from Bluffton College, under the director of Dr. Howard Raid. Publication date is May 1959. The Icon will publish one article at a time. We’ve updated some current addresses so viewers may identify locations mentioned. The manuscript was given to the Icon by the Ropp Triplett family.
Arkansas Venture 1913- 1924
Bluffton Hardwood Company 1924 - 1942
Around 1913, Ale Swinehart and Cal Balmer interested several local people to invest in a new saw business venture in Bluffton.
After procuring adequate funds from interested men in Bluffton, these two went to Gillette, Arkansas.
In Gillette they bought two tracts of land, one 2,400 acres and the other 400 acres.
“As one entered these swamp - like sections of wooded area,” relates Cal’s son, Jim. “You encountered about a 20-foot drop-off. Here the houses were built on pillars to keep them dry.”
A Mr. Beitman went along to run the steam engine, which they used to haul the logs to the mill. This operation lasted approximately 10 years and operations were succesfu1 enough to pay 6 percent dividends on the stock. This didn’t, however, prove to be what they had thought, and it was discontinued.
According to Jim, in 1924 his father, Cal Balmer, came back to Bluffton where he went into partnership with one of the Amstutz boys. Here they established the Bluffton Hardwood Co. where they did some custom sawing, manufactured slats to be used in the making of crates for the onion fields south of Ada and many parts for the Lima Boat Co.
Another item shipped out by the carload was the block from which the Spalding Co. turned out baseball bats.
This company was located where the Bluffton Turned Goods Co. formerly was located.
The partnership continued until 1932 when Jim went into partnership with his father. In 1935 Cal died. For about seven years then, the business continued before closing down as a result of man - power shortage during World War II.
References:
I. B. Beeshy,
Jim Baimer and
Albert Lugibill
Interviewer:
Marlin Gerber
