Et cetera : History of Benton County Iowa; Vol. I

History of Benton County Iowa; Vol. I

Great Expectations Not Realized

   Vinton participated in the great expectations of wealth to be realized from the industrial utilization of the pearl products obtained from the fresh-water mussels of Iowa. S. S. Clark organized a company to establish a factory at that point in 1898, planning to put in operation the largest plant in the state, capable of turning out 3,000 gross of finished buttons daily. The factory was built, although not on as large as a basis as originally contemplated. It was not fairly installed until July of 1904; the business having been incorporated as the Vinton Pearl Button Factory in the previous April. In September 1906, the enterprise was abandoned, so far as Vinton was concerned, and moved to Amsterdam, New York.

World's Largest Corn-Canning Factory

   The largest manufacturing enterprise in Benton County, and the leading plant of its kind in the world, is the Iowa Canning Company which puts upon the market an average of eight million cans of corn per year. It was organized in 1892 by W. C. Ellis, Frank G. Ray and H. B. Kelley, as the Kelly Canning Company. The raw material is grown on a thousand acres of land near Vinton, and the company has branches at La Porte City, Garrison and Shellsburg, these being founded soon after the reorganization of the company under its present name in 1895. Dr. C. C. Griffin is now president; W. C. Ellis, vice president; George Knox treasurer, and Frank G. Ray, secretary.

   The Vinton plant was the first factory for the canning of corn west of the Mississippi river, and it is mainly responsible for the growth and development of the canning industry in Iowa, most of the plants being practically outgrowths of this one. The product of the factories controlled by the company is distributed throughout the middle and western states, little being shipped east of the Mississippi. Besides the factory, the Vinton plant contains fine and well managed ware-rooms, this being an important feature of the enterprise, and in the canning process the most modern and best improved machinery is used. This venture has been most successful from a financial standpoint, and has been managed in a most business-like manner. The company owns three fine farms and rents other land, amounting, as stated, to about one thousand acres in cultivation. The building site and other necessary space requires some fifteen hundred acres more. A regular force is employed throughout the year and during the active canning season some two hundred to two hundred and fifty are kept busy. Thus, the enterprise is of importance from an industrial point of view. The management of the institution is such as to inspire confidence, and the business is constantly growing in proportions. Most of the men connected with the business are also interested in other financial enterprises and are men of influence and prominence in the community.