The Canning Industry at South Lebanon. 1900

The Canning Industry at South Lebanon. 1900

The busy season is now on at South Lebanon. Four canneries are now in operation in or near that thriving village and if anyone expects to find idle people there about he is mistaken, for everybody is busy, very busy. A Star representative recently visited these canneries, excepting Mr. J. M. Hayner’s, time not permitting us to go out that far from the village. Two canneries owned by the Snooks are in the village, and the one owned by W. D. Hufford is just below town on the Kings Road. At each of these places we found the managers very busy but quite willing to explain the workings of their machinery and to talk of their business in general. The cannery known as Snook Bros., in the old soap works, is perhaps the largest of the three we visited and employs about 100 hands, and would employ more if they could be got. Mr. Snook informed us that his original purchase of 600,000 cans would be too small and 150,000 more would soon be in. Here they are shipped continually; the bulk of the output going to Cincinnati, although a great deal goes to other places. Mr. Snook was personally in charge of the cannery and took pride in showing us through the works. The Hufford cannery is a new concern in a brand-new building. Here, too, the owner, Mr. Hufford, was in charge. Everything is new in the machinery is of the very latest. The buildings are large and roomy. Mr. Hufford cans corn raised on his own land exclusively and has about 200 acres yet to can. These four concerns employ altogether nearly 400 people, about one fourth that number being girls and women. The process of canning, from the time the husks are removed until the labels are placed on the can, is very interesting but we cannot describe it in this article. We may say, however, that the corn and cans are kept perfectly clean throughout all the process. The farmers contract for raising the corn early in the spring and deliver it to the cannery in the husk. For it they receive six dollars per ton, a price that brings them from $20-$30 per acre for the crop-a very good thing for the farmers. These four canneries have a daily output of about 125,000 two pound cans, and as they run about 30 days, one can readily see that the canning industry is South Lebanon is no small business. Few realize its importance.