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Show I One of Ogden's Many Industries By BRIANT S. YOUNG The Becker Brewing & Malting Co.'s Plant Hi Few people in Ogden realize what a vast change has been taking H place in the plant of the Becker Brewing & Malting Company, and H what a thriving industry this company has been building up on the Hi banks of the Ogden river in that city. From a bagatelle industry em- Hl ploying from four to five men, it has steadily grown in the past H twelve years until to-day it furnishes regular employment in Ogden Hi for over thirty families. From a capacity of 2,500 barrels per annum, H its output has increased until now it is producing over 50,000 annually. Hj Formerly it covered less than half an acre of ground, whereas to-day Main Plant, Becker Brewery. H it is spread out until it covers more than ten acres. In the beginning Hi it used less than 5,000 bushels of barley per year, and has expanded H( . until now it is using over 1,500,000 pounds, all of which is grown by Hjj and purchased from Utah farmers, and is said to be the best barley HI grown in the world. H When it started it consumed less than fifteen cars of coal every H year, whereas now it is consuming more than seventy-five cars. From a H consumption of less than 4,000 pounds of hops per annum, it has grown until now it consumes more than 50,000 pounds. 1 This industry was started by J. S. Becker, G. L. Becker and A. E. H Becker, who were the original directors of the company, and ever H since its organization in 1890 have retained their positions in those H capacities. Mr. J. S. Becker is a native of Germany, but was one of the early settlers in Minnesota, where he organized and for many years H conducted a brewery under the style of Becker & Shellhas. In 1892 H he moved to Ogden to take up his work with the present Becker Brewing and Malting Company's business. His two sons, G. L. H Becker and A. E. Becker, are natives of Minnesota, the former having H moved to Ogdcr early in 1890, when he instituted the present brewery. H He is a graduate of the public school system, as well as the Lambert University of Minnesota, and was for a number of years manager of H the Becker & Shellhas brewery at Winona, and since coming to Utah H in 1890, has been the president and general manager of the Becker Brewing & Malting Company, which company owes its wonderful suc- rps.i tn hU nmlivwlpfl ami utitit Jti'tT fffntts, H When Mr. Becker first came to Ogden he found the Ogden con- H t-umers prejudiced against the home product of beer, and perhaps H justly so, for the reason that up to that time most of it had been of a H very poor quality. Nearly all the beer then consumed in this city was H shipped in from eastern cities, and he early resolved that he would H spare no expense and no pains to produce a beer of extra fine quality H and purity, and if possible better than that produced and shipped in H from the eastern states. How well he has succeeded in his resolution H can best be judged from the consumption of the beer produced by his H plant here at home. Practically all retailers in this city are at present Hj using the Becker beer in preference to any eastern brand, and the Hi physicians of Ogden prescribe it in preference to any other brand, H knowing it to be absolutely pure and free from all deleterious preserva- H ttves, whereas it is known to be a fact that beer cannot be shipped so H, far as Utah from the eastern breweries without containing prcserva- Hj tives to keep the beer from spoiling, which preservatives destroy the HI healthful qualities of the beer and arc frequently injurious. Since the HI establishment of this brewery and the production of such an excellent H quality of beer, thousands of dollars have been retained in the city which heretofore were distributed throughout the East. Of course H all this money that has been retained at home has helped to employ H the laboring people of this city, which probably is the reason why the laboring class of Ogden are emphatically in- favor of this brewery's product as against any other. Not only has this company's efforts resulted in holding money of the Ogden consumers at home, but the patronage has been widened out into Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Nevada, to which states carloads of Ogden beer are shipped, and as a result thousands of dollars come into Ogden from those states. The production of such an extra quality of beer has resulted in such growth of the company's business that they found it impossible to meet the demands upon their brewery as it had existed up to about a year ago, notwithstanding that continuous and constant improvements improve-ments have been going on ever since its establishment. At that time . it became imperative that a strictly modern and up-to-date plant, as l well as one with a capacity of several times the capacity of the old brewery, should be built. The directors determined to take this step, and in order that the very best plant obtainable should be built, one of the foremost brewers' architects in the United States, Mr. Louis Lehle of Chicago, was sent for. He is everywhere considered as an authority upon brewery architecture, archi-tecture, having made a specialty of that subject and built probably more breweries throughout the world than any other living architect. Mr. Lehle came to Ogden, and after a thorough investigation, consuming con-suming over a week's time, returned to Chicago, where he drew the plans for the present plant. These new plans required that almost all of the buildings then standing should be torn down and rebuilt, as well as the replacing of the old machinery by new. The tearing down of these old buildings and the building of new, as well as the replacing of the old machinery by new without injury to the business and without with-out checking the production of the plant, was a matter which required no little skill and experience. It has been done most successfully under the direct superintendence of Mr. Conrad Bohn, an architect and builder of very wide experience, covering a period of more than forty years of building government buildings, forts, academies, public schools, public buildings and private dwellings throughout New York, Wisconsin and Minnesota. By reason of this wide experience and knowledge, Mr. Bohn has been enabled to carry on this work to a successful suc-cessful conclusion in such a manner that no damage has been done to the business and not a single day has been lost in the manufacturing of its product. The malt-house was rebuilt, doubling the floor space, a new wash-house, two new three-story cellars of 5,000 barrels capacity, ca-pacity, a new brew-house 40x30 feet, five stories high, all strictly modem and up-to-date, constructed of stone, iron frame work, brick and cement at a cost of upwards of $100,000.00. The machinery contracts were let to two Chicago firms to supply strictly new and modern brewery machinery at a contract of upwards cf $15,000.00, so that to-day the plant presents a very imposing ap- Ice Making Machines, Becker Brewery. pearancc and is one of the most perfectly equipped breweries between St. Louis and San Francisco. The buildings can be seen from any portion of Ogden City, and would be a credit to any town of three jk times its size. It is without exception the largest and handsomest manufacturing plant in the state of Utah, no expense having been spared to make it so. The brew-house is designed on what is known as a tower or gravity system, by means of which it becomes necessary to handle the beer but once by force, which is done by pumping the same to the highest point and then allowing it to flow the balance of the way by gravity. The malt-house is also built upon the same plan, the grain being elevated to the top and running down of its own weight through the cleaning reel, the mill, the scale hopper and to the mash tub. The brewery has its own water-works system, the water being . stored in a 300-barrcl tank on a tower eighty feet high, built specially 1 for that purpose; has its own electric light system ; the largest double-acting double-acting ice machines in the state, a modern ice plant of twenty-five tons daily capacity, and is the only brewery in Utah owning its own railroad rail-road track, the same being a spur from the Oregon Short Line Railroad Rail-road and running to the door of the brewery in such a manner that ' everything coming into the plant in the way of supplies and everything every-thing going out in the way of products is handled, from the plant directly to the cars or from the cars directly to the plant. A stable of more than eighteen horses is an adjunct to he brewery, and these horses are kept in constant use supplying beer to retailers within the city. The brewery operates its own bottling department, a modern three-story building of brick and stone, 110x60 feet, with the very iatcst machinery, including a government pipe line, through which the beer is drawn direct from the brewery vaults into the bottles, under government supervision. Incidentally it might be said to witness the operation of this bottling department, as well as the entire plant, would be an excellent lesson to any person in cleanliness. Seventy-two hundred quart bottles per day are bottled by the brewcryj the bottles being first cleansed and sterilized in tanks and are then filled under Lack-pressure in such a manner that it is impossible for the beer to be exposed to the air. All the water used in the brewery is distilled and filtered and then the beer itself after being manufactured is again filtered, in order to make its purity doubly sure, before it is bottled or kegged. This is done by forcing it through eighteen inches of wood pulp by means of electric pressure pumps. Every brewery is examined bacteriologically by. the American Brewing Academy of Chicago before one quart is sold to consumers, a portion of the product being especially expressed to this academy for that purpose. The reports upon this- examination are filed in the office of the company and are open to the public inspection at any time. The Becker Brewing & Malting Company take great pride in producing an absolutely pure product, and this work is carried on under the immediate supervision and direction of A. E. Becker, the general superintendent and brew-master. Mr. Becker is a graduate of the American Brewery Academy of Chicago, which by the way is one of the foremost schools for brewers in the United States, and in order that he may himself be up to date, as well as keep his product strictly first class and up-to-date, he takes a special course with this academy every few years. He was for three years in the employ of the Becker & .Shellhas brewery of Minnesota as brew-master, and for three years was assistant superintendent of the Conrad Seipp Brewing Company of Chicago, and therefore is enabled to give his company the benefit of a very wide experience. ' , BIG IMPLEMENT HOUSE ENTERTAINS CONFERENCE VISITORS. Of all the attractions the city holds out- to its visitors at Conference Confer-ence times, none arc more interesting than the displays arranged at the t J establishment of the Consolidated Wagon and Machine Co. Halted at the sign "Big Front Door,!' the visitor, needs no invitation. invita-tion. The general attractiveness of the place bids him enter, and his attention is at once engaged by a series of water pumps in action, being driven by the power of a gasoline engine installed near the entrance en-trance of the main building at 138-150 South State Street. A number of late improved hand pumps are also set about the place and attached to tanks in the basement for demonstration purposes. Another interesting inter-esting demonstration is that of a hay stacker and loader, which is all there but the hay. Throughout this department arc arrayed every imaginable im-aginable piece of agricultural machinery and implement designed for the tilling of the .soil or harvesting and handling of the crop. In an adjoining section of the same, spacious building all styles of vehicles are displayed, and across the street at 151 South State t-tret, is the automobile department, where the Buick, Franklin, "Silent "Sil-ent Northern" and Columbus Electric cars are exhibited. In pursuance of the custom adopted by all the implement and M 1 vehicle houses on this street, the establishment will close Saturday 4k afternoon, to the probable disappointment of many Conference visi-'lors, visi-'lors, but on Monday morning the place with the "Big Front Door" will again be thiown open and the ever-evident hospitality extended. The genial W. A. Overbeck, formerly connected with the Western Moline Plow Company, has taken a position as auditor with the Consolidated Con-solidated Wagon & Machine Company, where he will undoubtedly prove a valuable acquisition to the present force. Deer Mistur Editur: Easter is cummin, but the only good thing I kin see about Easter this year is thct it is purty ncer the end uv the winter an' they is a lot ttv fellers sayin' thct bizness is goin' to be better after the fust uv the spring. I hope they no what they air talkin' about, it's lookin' purty dum blew to me. I hcv bin expectin' to hcer thct yurc paper hed Lusted up, but it shows up rcglar cvrv Satcrday mornin' an' I alius feel good after I read it, fur a little while coz you don't say nuthin about j hard times, but keep sayin' that every thing's cummin out alrite und thct UTAH is the only state to live in. I heve found out that their is a hole lot of difference in people. isterday there wuz a travclin' man hear an' when he cum in I was lcelin' purty good, I hed jest ben readin' your paper. He cum in a kinder quiet like an' set his grip down easy an' looked like he was jest gcttin' home from a funeral. He shuk hands like he wus tired an sez, "Well don't it beet HELL? I wusn't thinkin' bout the panic an' I sez, "What's the trubblc?" "Trubblc," he says, "Why bizness is gone to the divel, I hain't sold enuf stuff in a weak to pay my board. The fact is I ain't ttyin to sell ennything. I'm just collcctin' what I kin. I want to tell you this thing hcz just commenst, yurc goin' to sec the dummcdest time the next three months you ever went thru. Sum uv thes fellers in the banks is tellin' you it'l all be over in a few weeks, but you listen to me, they won't be nuthin' doin' till after the next President's 'lectcd, an' mebbe not then. The factories arc turnin' off I their men an' a lot uv um is talkin' of callin' in their -travelers. I'm lookin' to be called in to OGDEN most enny time. The farmers hain't buyin' nuthin," sez he, "an I don't blaime dcelcrs a dum bit for not buyin' fcr the' couldn't sell the goods cf they did buy them." Then he i sot there a while an' got up kinder slow an sez, "Air you goin' to need ennything fcr summer shipment?" I said I guessed their wouldn't be nuthin' doin' but ef there wus I cud order in the spring. That feller give, me the blews offul. This mornin' I vus scttin' i by the stoav wondcrin' when the end uv the wurld wus comin' an' hair all the munny had gone to when a drummer cum in thet Jim an' me ustcr buy sum goods frum. He hedn't bin hear fur a long time. He cum huslin' in whistlin' a i tune and he sez, "HELLO, ol man, what's the matter; , got the s rumatiz?" I scd their wusn't nuthin' particular the matter-only everything every-thing wus gone to the bad, no bizness, no munny, and ino prospect uv ! enny for sum time, an' I sposed fore that time I'd be out ur bizness. Well the feller jest leaned back an' laffed an' laffed like it wuz the best joke he ever hecrd. He sez "wy I hain't heerd uv enny pannic. Thair lies bin a little scare an' the banks got cold feet an! shut down on payin' out currency fer a little while, but there loosenin' up now." He sed he wus doin' bizness jest the same as ever an 'thet his factory j wus workin' fourteen hours a day. Well the. feller staid an' talked to me fur an hour an' give me a good sccgar an' dum ma ef I didn't give him a order for 'bout half a car uv goods to be shipped in Mae. I don't no what I'll do with 'em, but it jest shows the .difference in fellers. Hopin' for better times an' my best wishes fcr. the employes of the TRUTH I am, Yours resp., HEZ. GROUTCH. Spain's population' has . increased by only 3,000,000 inthe past forty-five years. A Frenchman can secure a divorce from his wife ifshe goes on the stage without his consent. In France the doctor's claim on the estatcofi.a deceased- patient has precedence of all others. The number of leaves on a large, sixty. 'foot: high oak-tree has been counted, and found to exceed. 6,000,000. An eating-house, made entirely! of compressed papeni'has been erected in Hamburg. The dining room is large enough to' accommodate accommo-date 150 persons. Telegraph wires will last for forty years near, the sea-shbre, but in the manufacturing districts the same, wircs will last only ten years, and sometimes less. The dolphin is a weatherwise fish. During a-fierce gale or storm at sea the mariner knows that the end is near if he cantsec'.a.dolphin sporting on the high waves. The result of tests carried out in the German rarmy proves that sixty-eight pounds is the outside weight the average soldiencan carry cn a day's march without injuring his heart. . " See D. W. James for Plumbing, Steam land Gas Fitting, Steam and Hot Water Contractor. Estimates on wall kindsofPlumbing gladly given. We give you honest figures. 'Both, phones" 379. 67 East First South St. Salt Lake City, Utah. . This paper is on sale at.all bookstores;-. news-stands'. and trains, at 5 cents per copy. |