cc  >> Well, good afternoon and  welcome to History Sandwiched  In.  Today we have an excellent  presentation, I'd like to  introduce our speakers.  Gary Hess, born and raised  in Madison, the grandson  of Frank J. Hess,  son of Joe Hess,  cousin to Jim Hess.  A board member of historic  Blooming Grove Historical  Society.  Gary's cooperage collection was  in a box in his basement for 35  years until he donated it to the  Dean House.  Now Jim Hess was also born and  raised in Madison, the grandson  again of Frank J. Hess,  son of Tony Hess, though,  and cousin to Gary Hess.  And Jim's cooperage was in  a wood chest in his basement  and now his collection  is at the Dean House as well.  Now, Frank J. Hess and Sons  Cooperage was the Wisconsin's  largest independent cooperage.  When it was closed in 1966  it was the last cooperage  in America that manufactured  white oak beer kegs.  Now Gary and Jim ask that you  save your questions until after  the presentation but right now  please welcome Gary and Jim  Hess. 

 [APPLAUSE]  >> Well, thank you.  My name is Gary Hess and I  live in Madison.  Before I go any further, I want  to introduce to everyone my  friend and first cousin,  Jim Hess of Madison.  Jim and I are grandsons and on  the screen is a 1947 photo of  our grandfather Frank J. Hess  who was born in southern  Bohemia.  Jim and I will answer all of  your questions after our  presentation.  At this time we would like to  thank Beth Lemke for giving us  this opportunity to give our  Frank J. Hess and Sons Cooperage  PowerPoint presentation to the  Wisconsin Historical Museum.  We are delighted to be here  today.  So far we have given  30 of these presentations,  every one is free.  Yours is number 31.  We do these presentations to  honor our grandfather and his  four surviving sons who built  their factory up to be  Wisconsin's largest independent  cooperage. 

 Another reason why we do these  presentations is in 1966 when  the factory closed it was the  last cooperage in America that  manufactured white oak beer kegs  for the breweries.  And this was the end of an  American industry.  And this was our grandfather's  factory which sat in Madison  on Schenk's Corners.  A little bit about your handouts  that you all have.  We'll be talking about your  handouts about a third of the  way through the presentation  and at the very end.  This is our grandfather right  here in a 1947 photo,  Frank J. Hess, Sr.  And he was a cooper and he was  born in southern Bohemia.  I was in Bohemia for 10 days in  May of 2007.  And while I was there I had fun  learning some of the Bohemian  language.  For example, good morning is... 

 [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]  Good afternoon is...  [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]  Good night is...  [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]  Hi, how are you is...  [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]  I am fine is...  [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]  Goodbye, have a nice day is...  [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]  Jim is going to help me here.  Jim is holding up a glass and  I'm holding up a bottle,  a beer bottle.  Beer is...  [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]  In America when we clang glasses  we say cheers.  But in Bohemia when they clang  glasses they say... 

 [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]  We'll do that one more time.  In Bohemia when they clang  glasses they say...  [SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE]  That's right.  Now Jim is now going to hold up  the pony keg because we're going  to identify parts of a barrel.  Everyone look at Jim.  The vertical wood parts are  called staves.  The top of the barrel is called  a top head.  And the bottom of the barrel  is called a bottom head.  And the barrel is held together  with four hoops.  And each hoop has two rivets on  it for a total of eight rivets. 

 And the hoop is held in place  by a hoop fastener.  And the widest stave is where  the bung-bushing is installed.  Today, you'll be looking at  1947, 1949 and 1954 and 1966  photos.  This is a 1947 photo right here  of our grandfather  Frank J. Hess, Sr.  Behind him are four stacks of  top heads and bottom heads.  At our grandfather's factory  they manufactured four different  sizes of barrels.  A full barrel held 41-gallons of  beer, wine or whiskey.  The popular one-half white oak  beer keg on the bottom here  held 15 and a half gallons and a  quarter barrel held half of that  and a pony keg  held four gallons.  On the floor here to the left is  a top head with a cooling coil  attached to it.  Thank you for inviting us today. 

 Our grandfather  Frank J. Hess, Sr.,  was born in -- Bohemia; a small  village 80 miles south of Prague  on April 10, 1870.  At age 14 he wanted to learn the  cooperage trade, a cooper makes  barrels or kegs, so he served a  three-year apprenticeship at the  Pilsner Brewery in Pilsen,  Bohemia.  After three years he was a  journeyman cooper.  He worked two years at a large  brewery in Vienna as a cooper.  At age 19 he immigrated to  America by ship and by train to  Chicago.  He worked at Chicago's Westside  Brewery as a cooper.  In Prairie du Chien he met and  married Anna --.  Both of Anna's parents,  Martin and Theresa,  were born in Bohemia.  In 1895 Frank and Anna's first  son James was born.  James died in 1920 of  tuberculosis. 

 In 1896 they moved  to Prairie du Chien.  Frank worked as a cooper,  manufacturing beer kegs for the  Heileman Brewery of La Crosse  and the Silversmith Brewery of  Prairie du Chien.  Their children, Josephine born  in 1898, in this photo  right here.  Now I'm going to remain silent  so some of you may want to read  this text.  Joe 1900, Charles 1902,  Tony 1903 and Frank, Jr.  or Foots 1906, were born.  Charles died in 1944 of  Hodgkin's disease.  This is a 1947 photo and I'm  going to identify the people  from left to right.  Here is my uncles Eddie, Tony,  our grandfather,  Joe and Frank, Jr., or Foots.  The reason this guy was called  Foots is, because of the four  surviving sons,  Foots had the largest feet. 

 [LAUGHTER]  So that's why he was called  Foots.  On Fridays when he would get his  pay check he would go across the  street to the Security State  Bank and he'd sign his check  Foots on the back and he'd get  his money.  [LAUGHTER]  True story.  Absolutely true story.  Then in 1904 Henry Fauerbach of  the Fauerbach Brewery in Madison  persuaded our grandfather,  Frank J. Hess, Sr.,  to move to Madison to start an  independent cooperage business.  From left to right here is Karl  Fauerbach, my grandfather, our  grandfather Frank J. Hess Sr.  and Don Hughsby by who was the  Fauerbach controller.  My good friend Peter Fauerbach  of Madison is a grandson of Karl  and Karl's uncle  was Henry Fauerbach.  Frank and Anna's last son Edward  was born in Madison in 1908.  The Frank J. Hess and Sons  coopers business address  was 1952 Atwood Avenue  at Schenk's Corners. 

 This is a drawing that I made of  the Schenk's Corners area and  from bottom to top is Winnebago  Street, Atwood Avenue, the  railroad tracks, Main Street,  to the left is First Street,  to the right is Second Street.  This building right here was  built in 1894 and became the  Schenk's Department Store.  In the 1950s the same building  was the Schenk's Heigl  Department Store and  the Rennebohm Drug Store.  Currently it's the Schenk's  Heigl and the Anchor Bank.  For decades this building was a  Security State Bank and  currently it's the Chase Bank.  In 1966 there were eight  buildings along through here and  today there's only two buildings  there.  These two buildings are no  longer there, however, our  grandfather built both of those  buildings.  This is a the Hess house,  and this is where they lived.  And this is the Trophy Tavern  owned and operated by Joe,  of Madison.  These two buildings here are  their factory buildings, and  this is the west building, and  here's a little sawmill behind  the west building, and this is  the east building. 

 In the east building, which is  that one, and that's where the  setup room was and the steam  room and where new barrels are  made.  The west building, that one, is  where the finishing room was and  where all the repair work was  done.  In the finishing room is where  all four finishing hoops were  installed on all of the white  oak barrels and the bung-bushing  was installed into the widest  stave and it's also the building  where all the repair work was  done which is half of their  business.  In those years it was common to  have the house on the same  property as the factory and it  was also common to have the sons  work in the factory that their  father had built.  The rounds and squares up here.  The rounds are stacks of heading  pieces that were stored outside  for a year to season, and the  squares are staves stored  outside for a year to season.  This is a 1927 photo showing the  Schenk's Corners area.  Our grandfather built both of  these buildings.  This is the Hess house where  they lived.  And this is the Trophy Tavern  owned and operated by Joe,  of Madison. 

 During prohibition, which  started in 1920 and ended in  1933, business at our  grandfather's factory was slow  mostly manufacturing barrels for  the dairy industry.  So Foots and Eddie worked at the  Hess Grocery Market.  Eddie was the delivery boy.  This is the Hess Grocery Market.  And Foots is the one with his  hands on his hips.  And this is Eddie and he's the  younger brother and he's ready  to drive this vehicle away to  deliver all the groceries to all  the customers.  When prohibition ended in 1933  all four brothers worked at our  grandfather's cooperage factory  for the next 33 years.  This building here became  Larkin's Hardware in the  mid-1940s and remained Larkin's  Hardware for the next 25 years.  Now Jim is going to explain more  about the Schenk's Corners area  including what happened on  Friday nights on the front steps  of the Hess house.  >> Schenk's Corners when I was a  boy was a very popular shopping  area, very populated and busy. 

 The main shopping, of course,  was up town here around the  square and around the capitol.  And stores didn't stay open like  they do now.  On the square stores stayed open  until 9:00 o'clock on Monday  nights and Thursday nights.  But on Friday nights they stayed  open until 9:00 o'clock on  Schenk's Corners.  And my father and I would sit on  the front porch of the homestead  there in the middle and watch  the people go by doing their  banking and their shopping and  just having an all around good  time.  And on a hot summer day that's  what we did.  We didn't have air conditioning  or TV.  >> All right, thank you Jim.  Here's an early photo of a wagon  with 37 empty beer kegs on it  pulled by two horses.  And here you look at this horse  right here and you see a sign  which is hanging from the side  of this horse and this sign  reads Fauerbach. 

 We know that Peter's  grandfather's uncle Henry  persuaded our grandfather to  move to Madison to start an  independent cooperage business  in 1904.  It is likely that these beer  kegs were made at our  grandfather's cooperage factory  for Peter's grandfather's  brewery.  The building in the background  is still standing today.  It is at the corner of Blount  Street and the bike path.  This building, for over five  decades, was the home of the  International Harvester Company  of America.  It was built in 1898 with an  addition added on in 1910.  And this photo shows the  addition.  On January 17, 2008, this  building appeared in the  Wisconsin State Journal.  The current owner applied for a  spot on the National Register  for Historic Places which means  that this building will never be  torn down, it's in very good  condition.  This is very good news for all  historians. 

 Inside are offices so this  building can pay for itself.  And this is the Fauerbach  Brewery.  In addition to manufacturing and  repairing beer kegs for the  Fauerbach Brewery, they provided  barrels for the Hausmann Brewery  located, at the time, at the  corner of State and Gorham  streets.  And this is a Hausmann quarter  barrel that was manufactured at  our grandfather's factory for  the Hausmann Brewery.  The Breckheimer Brewery on Kings  Street, two blocks from the  square, and the Brunkow and  Mueller Brewery at Pheasant  Branch just outside of  Middleton.  Soon they were providing beer  kegs for the Potosi Brewery in  Potosi.  And here is an early photo of  the Potosi Brewery in Potosi and  if you look at this wagon pulled  by two horses and then look at  the wagon itself, you'll see a  name which reads Potosi.  Now Jim is going to tell you  more about the Potosi Brewery in  Potosi.  >> When I was going to school I  worked at the cooperage in the  summertime.  And one summer my father and my  uncles came to Potosi Brewery  and bought all their wooden beer  barrels, put them on a train  dock and shipped them back to  Madison to be repaired or made  into cooler kegs. 

 We also did this at the Mineral  Point Brewery and Superior  Brewery at that time.  You might say we were the first  recyclers.  But Potosi Brewery now is the  National Museum for Breweries,  and it's won out over Milwaukee  and St. Louis.  >> And we all know that  St. Louis is a large city.  We all know that Milwaukee is a  large city.  But Potosi, Wisconsin, the  population is between 700 and  800 people and they have the  national museum.  Stork Brewery in Slinger and the  Rhinelander Brewery, also they  provided beer kegs for breweries  in Portage, Baraboo, Sauk City,  Columbus, Jefferson, Watertown,  Wausau, Janesville, Duluth and  Monroe.  As business grew they shipped  barrels to breweries out of  state like the Star Brewery in  Sioux City, Iowa, the West End  Brewery in Utica, New York, and  the Hamm's Brewery in Baltimore,  Maryland.  All four surviving brothers,  Joe, Tony, Foots and Eddie,  worked with their father,  Frank J. Hess Sr., in Madison.  Josephine, the only daughter in  the family, was the secretary  and did all the bookwork for the  entire time the business  existed. 

 This is a 1954 photo which  appears on the bottom of all  your handouts.  From left to right, in this 1954  photo, are my uncle Foots and he  is holding a top head with a  cooling coil attached to it.  And here's Eddie and he's  holding a top head with a  cooling coil attached to it.  And here's Joe and Tony and  here's our grandfather.  As I go along, you'll notice  that both buildings have wooden  floors with overhead shafts and  pulleys and leather belts coming  down through all the machinery.  And very last and very important  in this photo is this stack of  female cattail leaves.  Jim Hess is now holding  vertically a stack of female  cattail leaves that we brought  along to this presentation.  These cattail leaves shown here  on the photo and what Jim held  up were very important in the  manufacture and assembly of all  white oak barrels at our  grandfather's factory.  We'll be talking about where  they were used and why they were  used about halfway through the  presentation.  This is a 1947 photo showing our  grandfather and his four sons. 

 On the floor here is a one-half  white oak beer keg completely  assembled, and on top is  a one-half white oak beer keg  partially assembled showing  a cooling coil  attached to the top head.  These cooling coils were  installed into all of the  one-half white oak beer kegs  and then they were shipped to  breweries on the east coast of  the United States.  And at those breweries they  would fill this barrel full of  beer and send them to all the  taverns and saloons.  And at that point, the tavern  operator would install his beer  tapper on top of the barrel, in  this area right here, and then  he would pump air into the  barrel so the beer would not go  flat and he would pump cold  water into this aluminum tube,  cold water would go around these  coils and come up the other  tube.  Typically they were anywhere  from one to three dozen of these  filled one-half white oak beer  kegs in the back rooms of all  the taverns.  All those barrels have beer in  them and all the cooling coils  have cold water in them to keep  the beer cold for all the  customers when they walk in the  door.  This man's name is Tony.  That's Jim's dad.  And he's holding a top head with  a cooling coil attached to it.  This man's name is Joe. 

 That's my dad and he's holding a  cooper's hammer.  These next four photos--  Jim is now showing you  the cooper's hammer.  These next four photos I took  myself in 1962 and here I am  standing in the middle of the  Security State Bank and I am  facing east and what you're  looking at is a side view  of both buildings.  This is actually the west  building and you can see dozens  and dozens of hoops piled up  here is and this is the location  of the sawmill.  As you can see the east building  is taller than the west  building.  In between both buildings is an  alley.  This is the east building and  that's where the setup room was,  the steam room and where new  barrels were made.  In the west building, which is  that one, to the right, is the  finishing room was and where all  the repair work was done.  In the finishing room, in this  building to right, is where all  four finishing hoops were  installed on all the white oak  barrels and the bung-bushing was  installed into the widest stave.  It's also where all of the  repair work was done which was  half of their business. 

 This photo shows heading pieces  stored outside for a year to  season and here's some more  hoops, dozens and dozens of  hoops, stored outside.  And now Jim is going to explain  to you the significance of this  ladder.  >> Well, this looks like a  ladder but it's not a ladder  used vertically, it's a ladder  used horizontally.  And you put the right hand of  the ladder in the door of the  finishing room and the left hand  on the barrel.  And you can see the left hand  has -- so that you can put  another ladder attached to it on  the barrel and into the train  car and then those ladders would  be fixed so you can roll the  barrel from the finishing room  into the train car  or vice versa.  >> All right, thank you.  >> We'll see an example of this  later on.  >> Yes, we will.  And here is a photo showing the  round piles and these are  heading pieces.  And Jim is now going to show you  a heading piece. 

 And the square piles are staves.  Now Jim is going to show you a  straight stave.  There we are, straight stave.  This is our grandfather in this  1954 photo.  The Hess coopers business was  the largest independent  cooperage in Wisconsin.  In 1966 when the Frank J. Hess  and Sons Coopers closed, it  was the last operating cooperage  manufacturing white oak beer  kegs in the nation.  As I mentioned, this is a 1954  photo and here's our grandfather  working away in a factory that  he created way back in 1904 and  here he is 84 years old still  working away in his factory.  What he's doing here is removing  cattail leaves.  From the tops and bottoms are  these brand new one-half white  oak beer kegs and he's got a  knife in his hand.  On the floor is residue of  cattail leaves on the floor. 

 Jim is now holding up a short  piece of a female cattail leaf.  Here's our grandfather again and  he's operating this cooper's  lathe.  And the one-half white oak beer  keg is actually right here and  is rotating in this direction.  Over here there's a plane with a  curved bottom to it and as you  can see, it is removing  white oak chips.  This plane goes back and forth  like so, while the barrel is  rotating.  It's hooked to a hook and goes  back and forth on this bar.  Right here, to the right, is a  white tube and this is belt  dressing that used to be used on  the belts to prevent them from  squeaking and slipping.  And right here is a draw knife.  Jim is now holding up a draw  knife because this is my uncle  Foots and he's using this draw  knife to modify this stave.  And once it's modified then he's  going to assemble it into the  barrel and send it back to the  brewery where it came from. 

 Both buildings were heated by  free-standing stoves and the  fuel was scrap white oak.  And here's another draw knife  right here.  However, right here is a  spokeshave.  And Jim is now holding up a  spokeshave.  This is my dad and he's using  the spokeshave to repair a  quarter barrel for the Huber  Brewery in Monroe.  How do I know this barrel is for  the Huber Brewery in Monroe?  Well, we'll look at this quarter  barrel again and then we'll  focus in on the name on the top  of the barrel and the name reads  Monroe.  So that barrel, once repaired,  is going to go back to the Huber  Brewery in Monroe.  Now Jim is going to explain to  everyone what Joseph Huber did  every Thursday.  >> After we got done working for  four days making beer barrels  we were pretty tired  by Thursday afternoon.  Friday was usually  a clean-up day. 

 So every Thursday afternoon the  Huber Brewery truck would stop  and drop off a case of Huber  beer and everything stopped at  that point.  [LAUGHTER]  >> That's a true story.  And here's some cooper's tools  of the trade.  Above the shelf is some saws and  here are four round planes that  used to be used on the tops and  bottoms of all the barrels.  Now Jim is going to demonstrate  that.  There we go.  And below the shelf is another  saw here, and here are different  shapes and lengths of draw  knives.  One there and there and there  and there and there, one there  and one over there.  These draw knives are different  shapes, designs, some have two  handles, some one handle.  And here's a square and here's a  divider. 

 On top of the shelf is another  stack of female cattail leaves.  In 1966 when the Frank J. Hess  and Sons Coopers closed it  was the last operating coopers  manufacturing white oak beer  kegs in the nation.  This is a 1966 photo and this is  the very last brand new  one-half barrel that was made  at our grandfather's factory.  This barrel turned out to be a  wine keg and is still in Madison  today.  And here's a 1954 photo taken in  the east building, and here's  our grandfather working away  with all four of his sons.  Another example of the wooden  floors and overhead with  the pulleys and leather belts  coming down with all the  machinery.  This photo shows the machinery  that cut the staves at a proper  length, width and thickness.  And here's Jim's dad and here's  my dad.  And now Jim is now going to show  you a straight stave.  Very good. 

 This is a truss hoop driver  operated by my uncle Eddie.  This truss hoop driver is this  large machine right here which  has these black arms on it and  there's one over here and some  more over there.  The one-half white oak beer keg  is actually sitting in the  center here and it has four  truss hoops attached to it.  One, two, three and four.  And these truss hoops were only  used during the manufacturing  process.  And these fingers will pull each  down really tight and I'll  explain that a little bit more  in detail later.  Another view of the truss hoop  driver is this view right here,  followed by Foots and Tony, and  here's some more truss hoops and  here's another stack of female  cattail leaves.  I have three remaining cousins,  Toby and Jimmy Hess of Madison  who are sons of Tony, and we  have with us today Jimmy.  And Mary Hess of Brookfield who  is the daughter of Charles.  The Hess Cooperage used only  white oak logs to manufacture  barrels. 

 Wisconsin white oak, which was  plentiful and of good quality  otherwise, is not suitable for  use as staves because it is too  brittle and cannot be bent  without breaking.  But it can be used to make the  headings where bending is not  necessary.  White oak more supple logs for  the staves were shipped at the  Hess Brewery from sawmills in  Missouri and Arkansas.  We have three photos of the  logging process, and here's our  grandfather right here with his  four sons and as you can see,  there's a large white oak log  here with a chainsaw they're  going to make a slice here and  another slice there and those  pieces are going to taken over  to their sawmill.  Behind in the background are  stacks of heading pieces and  stacks of staves.  All of the white oak logs were  delivered to our grandfather's  factory by railroad and by  truck.  Another one of my favorite  photos is this one.  As you can see, this is a large  diameter white oak log.  And three of the sons are  pictured here.  With a chainsaw they're going to  slice the log here and slice the  log here. 

 Then they're going to tip this  piece on end so it looks like  that.  Then they take steel wedges and  they place these steel wedges  all along through here and all  along through here and they hit  these steel wedges with  sledgehammers until this large  log splits into four equal  pieces which looks like that.  And Jim is showing you the steel  wedges right now.  From the point that this is a  quarter of a log they go into  the sawmill and each quarter of  a log is sliced like this and  sliced like that and that  process is called quarter  sawing.  The Hess Cooperage had its own  sawmill which was located behind  the west building.  The white oak logs were roughly  quarter-sawed, which reduces  wood shrinkage by half as much,  into staves and heading pieces  then stored outside  for one year.  At any one time there were many  tall round stacks of heading  pieces and many tall square  stacks of staves.  After the stacks of oak that  were outside for a year they   were seasoned and ready to use.  We have four photos of the  sawmill and the sawmill is this  large structure here.  This is our grandfather. 

 This is Jim's dad.  And this is my dad, and here's a  quarter of a log.  And here's another quarter of a  log right here and a big saw  blade that's going to be  cutting this log.  Another view of the sawmill from  a little different angle shows  our grandfather and more quarter  of logs here in this area.  This photo shows a large  electric motor driving this  54-inch carbide tipped saw  blade.  And as you can see there's a  quarter of a log sitting on end  right here.  I'm showing that.  And this large saw blade is  currently cutting this, or  quarter-sawing, this log into  heading pieces and staves.  And you can see the saw dust  coming out here.  And here's our grandfather and  here's Jim's dad and he is  currently filling this wagon  with heading pieces. 

 And if you look closely you can  see that he's just released a  heading piece.  Jim is showing that right now.  And it's going to land in this  wagon.  Once this wagon is completely  filled then they're going to  wheel it up to this area right  here.  And here's our grandfather.  Now they're going to unload this  wagon, and they're going to make  this stack of heading pieces  this tall and they're going to  make this stack of heading  pieces this tall so that all  three stacks of heading pieces  were this tall.  All of this, this tall.  Now Jim is going to explain to  you how they made these heading  pieces this tall without the use  of forklift trucks and without  the use of ladders.  >> The heading stacks started  on the ground and there were  three circles, and outer circle,  a middle circle  and an inner circle.  They went around until it would  get so high and they couldn't  reach it anymore. 

 Then Eddie and Foots would go on  top of the stack and my dad and  Gary's dad would be down low and  this is how they got the heading  pieces to the top of the stack.  [LAUGHTER]  They threw them up.  When the stack got as high as it  did right there, and then he  climbed down the outside  by the ladder.  >> Now what would OSHA think in  1954 when this photo was taken,  when they see our uncles  climbing down like that?  Wouldn't they have a fit?  And here's another view of  heading pieces and staves stored  outside for a year to season.  All this white oak is gone  today.  This vehicle is gone today.  This building is gone today but  yes, you are correct, the  railroad tracks, they are still  there.  [LAUGHTER]  In the summer of 2005, I was  invited to the Forest Products  Laboratory in Madison.  While I was there we discussed  the Hess Cooperage and they gave  me two documents to take home  with me.  This document shows and  describes why white oak was used  to manufacture barrels. 

 And I'm going to read out loud  from the middle of this  paragraph all the way to the end  and you can follow along if you  like.  White oak.  Hardwood pores are usually  plugged with tylosis which tend  to make the wood impenetrable  by liquids.  Consequently, most white oaks  are suitable for tight  cooperage.  Many hardwood pores of chestnut,  oak, lack tylosis.  White oak is heavy averaging  somewhat greater in weight than  red oak wood.  The hardwood has good decay  resistance.  White oaks are usually cut into  lumber, railroad cross ties,  cooperage, mine timbers,  fence posts, veneer,  fuel wood and many other  products.  High quality white oak is  especially sought for tight  cooperage.  Live oak is considerably heavier  and stronger than the other oaks  and it was formally used for  extensively for ship timbers. 

 An important use of white oak is  for planking and bent parts of  ships and boats.  Hardwood is often specified  because of its decay resistance.  White oak is also used for  finisher, flooring, pallets,  agriculture implements, railroad  cars, truck floors, furniture,  doors and millwork.  This is a second document that  they gave me and this document  shows exactly what quarter  sawing is.  And here we have the end view of  a large white oak log with rings  in here and these rings are  precisely what they are, they  are growth rings of the tree.  And we all know that one ring  represents one year's growth of  the tree.  Over to the left is a perfect  example of an end view of a  heading piece.  Now Jim is going to hold up  the end view of a heading piece  and Jim is going to be pointing  to vertical lines on the end of  his heading piece and I'm doing  the same thing with my laser.  These vertical lines are the  growth rings of the tree.  And to me that's a dead give  away whenever I see the growth  rings vertically that's a dead  give away that the lumber has  been quarter sawed. 

 Another dead give away that Jim  is going to show you now are the  white looking marks, those are  called rays.  And also to me whenever I see  rays, Jim is pointed it to you  now, another dead give away  for me when I see rays is that  lumber has also been quarter  sawed.  The next time you're at your  local lumber yard, on the top  here look at the end of their  lumber which looks like this,  however this is quarter sawing.  40-barrels or kegs  was considered one order.  In the east building where the  setup room was staves were then  cut to the proper length and  thickness and angle jointed on  the sides so they would fit  properly when laid up  in barrels.  My father Joe started two weeks  before the order began sorting  the jointed staves for width on  the layout bench.  When the staves filled the bench  between two set points, enough  wood is complete for one barrel.  My father Joe did this until  there were 40 individual piles  of staves.  This is a drawing that I made of  a one-half size layout bench  which starts at this corner,  on the left, on the top.  And goes down to here and over  to here, back up to there to the  right and over to the beginning. 

 That is a one-half sized layout  bench.  The vertical lines are the  staves.  Jim Hess is now going to be  holding up both straight staves  because my dad would take the  widest stave and he would place  it in the center because that's  where the bung-bushing would go  and then he would place narrower  staves in this area right here  and then also narrower staves  over to the right.  And I have purposely omitted  this last space where this  narrow stave would be placed  because my dad would have to  make three or four, five  attempts to find a narrow stave  that would perfectly fit in that  spot.  Why was that so important?  Well, when we all went to high  school we learned that pi times  diameter equals circumference.  In this case, from this arrow to  this arrow is the circumference.  And when these staves are placed  vertically to form a circle or  to form a shape of a barrel,  then the diameter is created  which means that that barrel  would then hold 15 and a half  gallons of beer, wine or  whiskey.  Our grandfather learned that  during his apprenticeship in  Bohemia.  Then enough staves for five  barrels were placed on a  platform and a large hood was  lowered over them.  Steam was turned on  for 90 minutes. 

 After being steamed for  90 minutes the hood was raised  and the hot staves were carried  to a table alongside the stave  bender.  I have two photos of the  steaming process.  Here is my dad.  And here's Jim's dad.  And here are 12 rows of staves.  And here's a platform.  So they would place 12 rows of  staves on this platform.  Then they would lower a hood,  which is hanging from the  ceiling, and lower this hood  all the way down to this point  on the bottom.  Then they would turn the valve  on, let steam go inside for  90 minutes, and then they would  turn the steam off 90 minutes  later and raise the hood to the  ceiling and take these 12 rows  over to the stave bender.  And this is Eddie and here's  Foots and here's 12 more rows of  staves. 

 These 12 rows is enough  for four barrels.  Now in this 1949 photo, you're  looking at this stave right  here.  An end view of this stave with  the angle on them.  Now Jim is going show you the  end view of the widest stave  because this stave is probably  going to be where the  bung-bushing is installed, and  Jim is now showing you that.  Then the powerful stave bender  that Foots was running flexes  and bends the hot supple stave  so that a span iron or hook can  be quickly placed over both ends  of the bent stave to hold it in  correct curvature.  We have two photos of the stave  bender.  The second photo is better than  the first photo, however this is  a stave bender right here, and  here's a straight stave and  here's some bent staves and some  span irons and another bent  stave right here.  This is a very good photo of the  stave bender in this area right  here, to the right.  One day my father came home from  work and he told me we bought a  brand new stave bender.  And this is the machine. 

 This machine would collapse like  it is now and go straight and  collapse and go straight again.  It would complete a cycle about  every five seconds.  So Foots, when the stave bender  was straight, would place the  stave, which is in this area  right here, on the stave bender  and then the stave bender would  collapse which would bend the  stave.  Then he would place this hook or  span iron on both ends of the  stave to hold it in correct  curvature.  Now Jim Hess is now going to  demonstrate exactly how the  stave bender operated.  >> Hot stave, span iron, bend.  Hot stave, span iron, bend.  Hot stave, span iron, bend.  You can see that Eddie  is handing him a span iron  and taking a bent stave.  And Foots is bending the stave  exactly like I just showed you. 

 I did the job that Eddie's doing  one summer and they gave me hell  because I didn't do it fast  enough.  [LAUGHTER]  >> Now Tony, with a setup hoop  in his left hand, places curved  staves inside the hoop as they  come from the bender.  Both hands and one foot brace  and hold the staves until the  barrel is completely formed.  Then the setup hoop is driven  down and a barrel is turned over  and a setup hoop is hammered  into place.  Next the span irons are knocked  out and the staves are tapped  into alignment.  Everyone watch Jim Hess now  as I explain this.  To the left and to the right is  Jim's dad.  And this is Tony and he's  starting to assemble a barrel  using both hands and one foot.  And here is the hoop with two  staves.  And Jim is doing the same thing  that his dad did. 

 To the right and the barrel is  it completely formed.  And here's the one-half  white oak beer keg with the  setup hoop on top and you can  see there's some span irons  or hooks still in place here.  And here's another example of  Jim's dad assembling this  one-half white oak beer keg.  And as you can see he's wearing  gloves, the staves are hot.  And here's a curved stave with a  span iron attached to it.  Notice that span iron is still  attached to that stave.  Jim is now holding up a bent  stave and the span iron and  notice that the stave is shorter  than what the span iron is and  we're going to explain why that  is in just a few moments.  And here is Tony again and he's  installing the second setup hoop  into place on this one-half  white oak beer keg using a  cooper's punch and a cooper's  hammer.  And Jim is now going to show you  and demonstrate using a cooper's  punch and a cooper's hammer.  Very good. 

 Now Eddie, using the powerful  truss hoop driver, removes the  setup hoops one at a time.  Then four temporary truss hoops  are driven into place and a new  barrel is roughly but tightly  formed.  This is Eddie and he's operating  this truss hoop driver which has  these long black arms on it.  And there's one over here and  some more over there.  The one-half white oak beer keg  is setting in the center there.  And here's a truss hoop there,  one, two, three and four.  These truss hoops were only used  during the manufacturing process  of all barrels.  These arms would grab this hoop  and pull it down tight and then  they would move out and go down  and grab this hoop and pull it  down tight.  The barrel is reversed so that  that truss hoop and that truss  hoop could be pulled down tight,  as well.  These truss hoops were only used  during the manufacturing  process. 

 There were three different types  that were used.  The first type was called the  setup hoop and the second type  was called a truss hoop.  And the third type was called a  finishing hoop.  And here is another view of the  truss hoop driver followed by  Foots and Tony and here's some  more truss hoops and right here  is another stack of female  cattail leaves.  Now my father Joe uses a  machine, which has a rapidly  rotating cutting head in it.  This is my dad Joe.  The machine is this large  machine right here.  This flat belt here would rotate  the barrel slowly in this  direction.  This is the barrel, the end view  of the barrel, slowly in this  direction.  This flat belt would rotate the  cutter, which is inside the  barrel and this cutter is  rotating in the opposite  direction and rapidly. 

 And here's the inside of the  barrel.  Now everyone watch Jim Hess  as I read this.  The new barrel rotates slowly  while the rapidly rotating  cutting head machines four cuts  to one-half of the barrel.  The first cut trims the top ends  of the staves.  And second cut bevels the inside  edge at the top of the barrel.  The third cut smoothes the  inside of the barrel, while the  fourth cut creates the groove  into which the head will be  fitted.  And Jim is pointing to the  groove.  Then the barrel is reversed and  the same procedure is done to  the other half.  The machine has a cam in it  so that each barrel is cut to  the same dimensions.  Now Jim is going to hold up the  bent stave with the span iron or  hook connected to it. 

 And notice that the stave is  shorter than what the span iron  is and that is because the stave  that Jim is holding has come out  of a barrel that has already  gone through the machine and  had both ends machined.  So that's why that's shorter.  And here's another view  of the machine from a little  different angle.  Now Foots using a cooper's lathe  shaves the outside of the barrel  removing weather stains from its  being seasoned outside in the  open air.  And this is Foots and here's a  one-half white oak beer keg  rotating in this direction.  And you can see this plane with  a curved bottom to it and it's  removing white oak chips going  back and forth removing  old looking wood until the wood  looks new again.  The heading pieces are fitted  together with wood pegs,  actually steel pegs.  The steel is now square, the  head is now square.  My father Joe places a square  head into the head circling  machine.  This machine intensely cuts the  head a half inch out of round. 

 The larger dimension being  perpendicular to the wood grain.  We have three photos of the head  circling machine.  And here is the head being cut  a half inch out of round, the  cutter is actually behind it.  And here are some heads right  here.  This top head is going to be  installed into a one-half  white oak beer keg.  The reason I know, to me it's a  dead give away, I see this hole  right here and this hole right  here, which are only found  on one-half white oak beer kegs  because that's where the cooling  coils were attached.  This photo here shows a square  head.  And it's being cut a half inch  out of round, here's the head  right here, and it's being cut  by this cutter.  And this piece will fall to the  floor and that piece will fall  to the floor and here's my dad,  he's picked up one piece from  the floor and he's holding it up  for the photo.  And it shows this head being cut  a half inch out of round by this  cutter which is in this area  right here. 

 Now Jim is going to hold up the  round head and he's going to  hold the wood grain so it is  horizontal.  Okay, now typically wood would  compress at a greater rate  vertically than horizontally.  So that's why all the heads were  cut a half inch larger in  diameter vertically to  compensate for the compression  of the wood.  That's great.  Also in the head circle machine  there's a cam so that every head  is cut to the same dimensions.  All of the oak chips in the  setup room were swept into a bin  which was located in the  basement next to the boiler.  They were then shoveled into the  boiler for fuel.  Most of the cooper's machines  were operated by electric motor,  overhead shafts, pulleys,  clutches and long flat wide  leather belts.  The new barrel is partially  disassembled on one end only  and the bottom head is fitted in  with cattail leaves which I will  explain in a minute.  A setup hoop is hammered on. 

 Here's my dad in this 1966 photo  and he has removed this top  truss hoop and now he's going to  install some cattail leaves into  the groove of the top of the  barrel, the bottom of the barrel  and then install the bottom  head.  Tony is about ready to remove  this truss hoop then he will  take some cattail leaves here  and install a layer of cattail  leaves in the groove here and  then install the bottom head.  The barrel is reversed,  disassembled on the top end and  a top head with a cooling coil  is fitted in with cattail leaves  and a setup hoop is hammered on.  So here's Foots and as you can  see he has removed this truss  hoop and that truss hoop and  he's going to install this head  with a cooling coil attached to  it inside the barrel, but first  he's going to install a layer of  cattail leaves in the groove at  the top of the barrel.  And as you can see in this 1947  photo, it shows the cooling coil  attached to the top head.  Here is the paragraph all about  cattail leaves.  New barrels were always  assembled with cattail leaves.  I would go to the marsh with my  father and Jim would go to the  marsh with his father and uncles  in the pickup truck to bring  back loads of cattail leaves.  The marsh was located where the  Dane County Coliseum is now.  At the cooper's shop they were  stored in the attic to dry out. 

 On the first floor dry cattail  leaves were inserted into the  groove between the head and the  staves and between the stave  joints where the joints  intersect the barrel head and  between the individual heading  pieces themselves.  This procedure is called  flagging.  Only the leaves of female  cattail leaves were used.  Cattail leaves were used as a  gasket to seal the barrel  against leakage when the wood  shrinks in an empty barrel.  When the keg is full of beer,  the cattail leaves actually  swell, preventing the barrel  from leaking.  Cattail leaves will never rot.  We have three photos of the  flagging process, however first,  our grandfather learned the  flagging process during his  apprenticeship in Bohemia and  brought all that knowledge back  to America.  At this time Jim is going to  show you the round head and he's  going to, Jim is going to show  you the round head and he's  going to point to the cattail  leaf which is still present in  this round head and this head  was manufactured over 40 years  ago at our grandfather's  factory.  Now Jim is going to show you the  stack of cattail leaves that we  brought along to the  demonstration today and there  are the cattail leaves.  Now everyone watch Jim  as I explain this. 

 On the floor are some cattail  leaves and this is Jim's dad  Tony and here's another cattail  leaf right here.  Now he's going to install a  layer of cattail leaves in this  groove.  Also he's going to install  cattail leaves in between each  stave joint.  Down to here and up to there and  down to there, all the way  around the bottom, all the way  around the barrel, on both ends.  And that procedure and called  flagging and our grandfather  learned this in Bohemia during  his apprenticeship.  This view is a closer up view  and it showed, on the left, this  long cattail with a hand on each  end and here's another long  cattail with a hand on each end.  So they're going to install this  cattail leaf as far as it will  go down to here, and then take a  second cattail leaf and go down  to here, and a third one, and  fourth one, and fifth one, and  sixth one, until this joint is  completely filled with cattail  leaves, and they will do that  all the way around the bottom,  all the way around the barrel  on both ends.  Once the barrel is completely  filled with cattail leaves then  the flagging process is  complete.  And you will see residue of the  cattail leaves on both ends of  the barrels which look like  this.  There's one there,  and one there, and there,  and there, and there, and there,  and there, and there, and there,  and here's another one. 

 Another view of the cattail  leaves being flagged, or the  barrels being flagged, is in  this photo.  And here's our quarter barrel  followed by four one-eighth  barrels which are laying on end,  laying down.  And can you see cattail leaves  here, and there, and there,  and there, and they have not  been cut off yet by a knife.  This is a 1947 photo and from  left to right is Joe, that's my  dad, Eddie, our grandfather,  Foots, Tony, that's Jim's dad,  all four of these sons  never finished high school.  And the reason they never  finished high school is because  they were loyal to their father,  they worked for their father  their entire working lives  manufacturing white oak barrels  at the Hess Cooperage in Madison  on Schenk's Corners.  Now Jim is going to explain to  you the significance of the  quarter barrel with  the five signatures on it.  >> This is one of the last  barrels manufactured by the  cooperage in 1966 and it was  given to the president of the  bank.  And it was in the bank's family  until this year, and the bank  family gave it to the Hess  family, and the Hess family  has donated it  to the Historical Society.  And it's on display  at the Dean House in Monona.  So what's really great about the  barrel is it's signed by Joe  Hess, Gary's dad; Tony Hess, my  dad; Foots and Eddie, the  youngest brother. 

 And on the side Josephine signed  it manager.  Now you can see the oldest  brother is at the top and the  youngest brother is at the  bottom.  Than just gives you some idea of  the respect they had for each  other.  >> That's correct, thank you  Jim.  Next the barrels were rolled  over a ladder to the finishing  room in the west building.  The bung-bushing was installed  into the widest stave and all  four permanent finishing hoops  were installed.  So here's my dad and he's  standing in the east building  and he's rolling these brand new  one-half white oak beer kegs  over this ladder to the  finishing room.  Now Jim is going to explain the  significance of this ladder.  >> I'll give you an example of  how the barrels were rolled  on the ladder.  Usually a barrel was never  picked up until it was being  stacked because it was just too  heavy to move around other than  rolling it. 

 >> And here is a view of Foots  installing four finishing hoops  to that barrel, and here's Tony  again operating this truss hoop  driver and you can see the  one-half white oak beer keg  sitting right here with all four  finishing hoops completely  installed.  Note all eight rivets are  perfectly in line.  Jim is now going to point to all  eight rivets in a barrel that we  brought to the presentation  today.  And here is a hoop and it has  one rivet installed and they're  punching a hole in it for a  second rivet and Tony is now  going to install the second  rivet into place in this hoop.  All the hoops were placed  through a hoop setter which  stretches the material so that  this diameter of the hoop is  larger than that diameter hoop  so that hoop would fit over a  barrel properly.  Here's my dad.  And he's going to drill a hole  into the widest stave of this  one half white oak beer keg.  How do I know this barrel is for  a one-half white oak beer keg?  To me, it's a dead give away,  because I see this hole right  here and I see this hole right  here and that's where the  cooling coils were installed and  that's only found on one-half  white oak beer kegs.  So here's my dad and he's  operating a drill press.  And he's got a drill bit on here  and he's going to drill a hole  into the widest stave. 

 Then he will take this drill bit  out and he will install  a bung driver.  And Jim is now holding a  bung-bushing with a largest hole  in it and this machine will  actually thread the bung-bushing  into the wood as far as it will  go because a bung-bushing has  threads on it.  The other bung-bushing with a  smaller hole in it gets attached  to the top of the barrel and the  top head.  At the breweries they would put  a cork into this hole and then  they would fill the barrel  through this hole.  And then they would put a cork  in this hole in the bung-bushing  large hole and ship it over to  the tavern.  At the tavern, it was the  taverns operator's  responsibility to install the  beer tapper on top and he would  turn it a quarter of a turn  until the beer tapper got tight  then he would wrap the handle  down which would force the cork  inside of the barrel, then he  would pump air into the barrel  so the beer would not go flat.  And then he would pump cold  water into this tube until the  cold water came out of that  tube.  Typically there anywhere from  one dozen to three dozen of  these one-half white oak beer  kegs stored in the back rooms of  all the taverns, all of them  filled with beer and all of them  having the cooling coils have  cold water in them for all of  the customers when they walk in  the door.  And here's that 1947 photo again  showing our grandfather and his  four sons.  Two of the sons were the clowns  of the family. 

 That's this one, Foots and the  other one is Tony.  And guess what?  You are right, they're looking  at each other.  [LAUGHTER]  So for fun, and they had fun,  Foots would blow into one end  of a cooling coil with  one finger fluttering on the  other end to make it sound like  a trumpet.  So Footsy, shown here, would  blow into this hole and while he  was blowing he would flutter his  finger on the other side so it  would sound like a trumpet.  [MAKES TRUMPET SOUND]  And it would sound like that.  Tony could tap a hoop into place  with his punching hammer  creating a musical tune.  So here's Tony and he's using  his punch and hammer and he's  tapping this second setup hoop  into place.  What he's doing here is actually  walking around the barrel while  he's tapping the hoop into place  with his punching hammer.  Now Jim Hess is now going to  demonstrate the musical tune.  >> I can't do it, of course,  like he would do it  but it's something like this. 

 [HAMMERING IN RHYTHM]  But he would do it much faster  and he was actually putting the  hoop on.  [LAUGHTER]  >> And I saw all four sons  do this process, and Tony was  the best at it so that's why  we're using his photo.  Half of the Hess Cooperage  business was repairing barrels  or kegs.  A whole barrel holds 31-gallons  of beer, wine or whiskey.  The popular one-half barrel  holds 15 and a half gallons.  A quarter barrel  holds half of that.  Now a pony keg  holds four gallons.  The popular oak one-half beer  keg empty weighs 75-pounds.  An oak beer keg, if not abused,  will last 40 years.  The Hess Cooperage manufactured  beer, whiskey and wine barrels. 

 Wine barrels are planed inside  and the staves are thinner  than beer or whiskey barrels.  Whiskey barrels were charred on  the inside using oak wood chips  and alcohol which was set on  fire.  The Hess Cooperage did that.  Beer kegs were pitched on the  inside.  Pitch was extracted from the  resin of fir and pine trees,  and refined to take out all the  turpentine which also could  alter the taste of beer.  The breweries did the pitching  by heating the pitch with steam  heat.  Then the molten pitch was poured  into each barrel.  Next each barrel had to be  rolled and tilted from end  to end until the molten pitch  would thoroughly cover  the inside of the barrel.  In summary, wine, whiskey and  beer kegs were assembled using  female cattail leaves in all the  wood joints.  When wet, the cattail leaves  would swell which prevented the  barrel from leaking. 

 At the breweries  beer kegs were pitched.  The pitch was a liner that was  made from tree resin which was  safe for the human population.  The returned empty barrels were  thoroughly cleaned inside before  refilling them with beer.  This is the second floor of the  Dean House.  You've seen all of these photos  to the left here plus dozens and  dozens more and this is our  collection, part of our  collection, that's here today.  Jim and I keep our collection at  the Dean House because our  grandfather's factory sat on  Blooming Grove property on  Schenk's Corners and the Dean  House also sits on Blooming  Grove property, however  the Dean House is a museum.  The Dean House is an 1856 farm  house and it is located at the  corner of Dean Avenue and Monona  Drive on the golf course.  The Dean House is open to the  public every Monday morning at  8:30.  This is a work day.  The second Sunday afternoon  every month from 2:00 to 4:00. 

 This is open house for the  general public and seven  summer back porch concerts  on Thursday nights.  Okay, this is the end  of our presentation.  And I would like everyone  to look at their handouts,  they look exactly like this.  With a photo, 1954 photo  on the bottom.  There's three Web sites.  The top Web site is:  fauerbachbrewery.com,  you merely follow the simple  instructions to view 16 photos.  On page two you will see a photo  of Peter Fauerbach and I  holding up our favorite barrels.  Web site number 2, the center  one, is Wisconsinhistory.org  I worked for months and months  with the Wisconsin Historical  Society creating 25 photos on  their Web site.  This photo right here  is one of 25.  And you merely click on any  photo to read a description of  that photo. 

 The bottom Web site is  Yahoo.com, where you will find  ten Web sites of interesting  reading about the Hess Cooperage  if you would like to do that.  Following all of our  presentations we have noticed  that one of the most frequently  questions that we are asked is  how much did a barrel cost?  Well, a one-half white oak beer  keg cost $35 in 1954, brand new.  A bit of history here,  on October 28, 1918,  Bohemia became Czechoslovakia.  On January 1, 1993,  Czechoslovakia became  the Czech Republic  and Prague is the capital.  Prohibition started  on January 16, 1920.  On that date there were three  breweries in Madison.  Fauerbach, Hausmann and  Breckheimer.  Also on that date there were  dozens and dozens and hundreds  of cooperage factories in the  nation.  Prohibition ended  on April 7, 1933.  On that date there was only one  brewery left in Madison and that  was Fauerbach. 

 Also on that date way back in  1933, there were only five beer  cooperage factories left in the  nation, and our grandfather's  factory was one of five  way back in 1933.  In 1966 when the Hess Cooperage  closed it was the last cooperage  factory in America that  manufactured white oak beer kegs  for the breweries.  This was the end of an American  industry and this was our  grandfather's factory which was  located in Madison  on Schenk's Corners.  We are about ready to answer  all of your questions now.  But Jim and I have two questions  for you.  The first question is who knows  how many gallons are in a one  half barrel?  >> 15 and a half.  >> 15 and a half is correct.  And who knows what happens to  cattail leaves when they get  wet?  >> They expand.  >> They expand, that's correct.  >> Why just the females?  >> We're going to be answering  that. 

 You'll get the first question.  You get the first question.  When we answer your final  question, please approach Jim's  table and ask Jim to show you  the quarter barrel with the five  signatures on it.  Thank you.  [APPLAUSE]