The business of cracker baking in New York was introduced about 1825, when Ephraim Treadwell founded the establish ment which is now conducting its operations under the name of Treadwell & Harris. Dur ing the next 25 years several other firms en tered the same business, but, although some of them attained considerable distinction in their time, all have now passed out of ex istence. Among them were the firms of Rob ert Spier, Erastus Titus, John T. Wilson, C. T. Goodwin, J. Parr and J. Bruen.
It was in 1850 that Garrett B. and Edwin O. Brinckerhoff started their business on Madi son street, New York. In 1857 they removed to Elizabeth street, where the Brinekerhoff branch of the consolidated company is still located. About 1860 Belcher & Larrabee established their bakery at Albany, N. Y., and in 1871 the firm name was changed to that of E. J. Larrabee & Company. In 1870 John Holmes, an English man, entered the services of this house, and he remained with this firm until 1877, when he entered into a partnership agreement with G. H. Coutts, under the firm name of Holmes & Coutts, opening a house which soon won both fame and fortune by its production of goods that were unlike any that had heretofore been made by American bakers. In fact, their success was so great that, a few years later, J. R. Van derveer and D. M. Holmes erected another factory in New York, in which they also pro duced a high grade of goods that soon brought them more than national recognition.
It is, of course, impossible, within the limits of so brief a review, to present anything like an adequate list of the many bakeries that sprang into existence in every part of the country as soon as the success of the New England and New York bakers had become generally known. To tell the story of the cracker industry, how ever, it is imperative that a few of the most important of- these establishments should be mentioned, among them being the firms of Hetfield & Ducker, of Brooldyn; Walter G. Wilson and A. J. Medler & Coirpany, of Phila delphia; James Beatty, J. D. Mason and J. R. Skillman, of Baltimore; Haste & Harris, of Detroit, Mich.; the Margaret Bakery of New Orleans, La.; C. L. Woodman, D. F. Bremner and the Dake Bakery of Chicago; Garneau, Dozier & Company, later Dozier & Weyl, of Saint Louis, Mo., and S. S. Marvin & Company, of Pittsburgh, Pa.
The interval between 1840 and 1865 rep resents the most important period in the his tory of the cracker industry, for it was dur ing this time that the mechanical processes employed in the making of these goods un derwent a development that was as remark able as it was rapid. Prior to 1840, the use of machinery in the cracker-making business was practically unknown. Even at that late
date, the dough was still worked up and put into the oven one piece at a time, all being done by hand. As the demand for crackers continued to increase, however, so slow a proc ess was a serious drawback to the progress of the industry, and it was to improve these condi tions that a machine was finally invented which took the dough, after it had been prepared by hand, and rolled it into a thin sheet which, as it passed over a sort of endless belt, or apron, was cut into the required shapes by a stamp which rose and fell automatically. This inven tion, as manufactured, was crude enough, and yet, so far as its principle was concerned, it was very similar, except in the matter of size and capacity, to the most improved cracker making machines of the present day.
Great as the demand for this kind of food had become, the discovery of gold in 1849 gave additional stimulus to the trade, for, among all the articles of food that were known at that time, not one was more suited to the purposes of the pioneer and the gold-hunter than the ordinary cracker. If this demand was to be met, therefore, it was necessary that a more rapid process should be devised, so, to cope with this emergency, the manufacturers began to turn the machines, which had formerly been turned by hand, first by horse' ower, and, finally, by steam power. By these means the capacity of the various plants was increased sufficiently to meet all requirements until the War of the Rebellion, in 1861, gave the second great impetus to the industry, for no sooner had war been declared than the demand for the cracker, then known as "hard bread," began to increase to such an extent that it was absolutely impossible for the manu facturers to keep pace with their orders. Crackers were needed, however, both for the army and for the navy, and it was to meet this imperative demand for food that the mechanical reel oven was invented. This contrivance, which practically revolutionized the cracker trade, consisted of an arrangement of long iron pans, which revolved, one over the other, with an action not dissimilar to that of the Ferris wheel. The pans, which were located in the large oven-chamber, were capable of handling so large a product that the capacity of a single oven was increased from six bar rels to 25 or 30 barrels of flour a day, and practically the only change that has been made in this method of baking is in the gradual in crease of the size of the reds, some of those that are used at this time having a daily ca pacity as great as 50, or even more, barrels of BOUT per oven.