Iowa TV Schooltime: Landmarks in Iowa History- Lowell

it's TV school time woi TV in association with Iowa State Teachers College presents another program in the Iowa TV school time series landmarks in Iowa history today's topic lower your teacher is her make of Iowa State Teachers College hello boys and girls that's an odd thing to be drinking coffee out of isn't it it's a cold day here today in Lowell so I thought I'd bring my coffee with me but did you see what I use to bring it this is a jug you don't see many of these nowadays because most people carry their coffee and thermos bubbles or canteens or things of that sort but a little over a hundred years ago jugs like this were used for almost all liquids that is because jugs could be made easily and with local materials and so today we are visiting an old pottery see this building in the background that is the old Melcher pottery near lowell about two and a half miles east of law and Lowell is about 20 miles west of Burlington this is a typical jug of the kind made in this pottery back here you notice what we use for a stopper just a corncob that was another advantage of using jugs you didn't have to have screw caps just a corncob would do and since a corncob is tapered it would cut almost any kind of a jug well in the early days before glass was as common as it is today and before there were tin containers jars like this or jugs were made by the thousands for use in the homes and in the cities and in this pottery back here which was established in 1848 by David and Dennis Melchior two men who came from Germany and who knew how to make jugs in this pottery thousands of jugs were made from molasses and for vinegar there were milk pitchers made their sauerkraut jars pickle jars all kinds of things of that kind and because I think you would be interested in seeing how these jugs were made I've asked my good friend Don Finnegan who is a professor of ceramics at the Iowa State Teachers College to actually throw a jug for you now this machine that you see here is a potter's wheel of the kind that was used in this old Melcher pottery this is no longer used as a pottery now it's a grain storage barn and mr. Ingram who lives across the road over there uses this as a barn he has it full of corn and oats and hay and things of that sort there are no potter's wheels inside there so mr. Finnegan and I brought this potter's wheel from mr. Finnegan's laboratory on the campus of the Iowa State Teachers College in order to show you how a jug is thrown this is a potter's wheel of the kind that might have been used in the old Melcher pottery and the light is good outside here otherwise we would go inside if there were room which there isn't inside the old Melcher pottery because it's full of corn so what's this boys and girls I think you'll enjoy seeing how a pot is made I'm going to take off well would you start over now and show the boys and girls how you would start from the beginning side all right first of all what is the type of clay that you use here this is a clay from it's mined in Iowa there's several different clays that we use at the college something Fort Dodge in Sioux City it takes a special kind of fine textured clay does it well no any kind of mud do well is that's not quite right but it some clays of course are better than others and the important thing in making pottery here at mill sure was that they had a source of clay that was close at hand that was suitable to make the kind of jobs in pencil as a putter II would usually be established at a point where there was a lot of natural play that could be mine conveniently and wouldn't have to be carried too far and usually because the McClay they used they wanted to fire bacon to very high temperatures they there were some clays that would work just for brick and it wouldn't work for making jugs now how can you see this boys and girls you notice there's a turntable there and down below there is a fly if we hold that mr. Finnigan is kicking and as he kicks this heavy wheel down below it makes the wheel up on top turn are all pottery wheels kicked like this mr. Finnegan well most all of them that have been used in the past have been basically at this type or else had a lever that you operated but I mean are there any modern wheels that are controlled by a motor so you don't do that kicking ya wheel just like this can be fitted with a motor that saves you the exercise I suppose you can control the speed a little better if you kick it to my foot well this with a very heavy wheel that we have here it just keeps going without any further kicking it'll roll pretty well by itself all right yeah I'll just get the clear ready to sock it right down here in the Senate and it has to be in the exact center that it well it helps to start out with it pretty close in the center now get the ball right in the center there's a put water on here that lubricates it so it'll slide through my finger really gets you messed up to the other yeah buts no money it's good clean play that's right good clean now that's where I want it to go very fast so that I can get it in soon you put pressure on the sides nor who will pull it up is that it that's like squeezing a balloon push it in and down and the clay just sort of rises up and then I come up here work it back down it gets the clay finally worked in shape ready to start working into the joke you're breathing pretty hard mr. Finnegan is this hard work oh if you kick this very often you get you get kind of used to it I should imagine you develop real muscles at this kind of work well I mean a fairly good-sized boy clay here takes it considerably more to work with them Smallville well I told the boys and girls that jugs were made in this general way and the old Melcher pottery how many jugs do you suppose one man could make in the course of a day well if I make several hundred they would several hundred sure they would probably specialize on one kind of shape but they're going to work with a be a jug or crock mm-hmm storage jar and then they just set up with a lot of balls of clay all the thing we get ready to go and just keep carrying them out until they've exhausted their clay I'm glad to see that this jug is going to have an empty center yes I'm afraid for a minute there is just gonna be a solid jug that you couldn't carry anything in of course it's only the hole in the jug that's really useful that's the important part of the jug yeah I have a hole down in there and no just squeezing and drawing the clay up so it'll look eventually somewhat like this judge we have over here that's right No and here's waiting to see the wall huh this is all done with the fingers our tools used for this purpose at all I mean can you use something besides your fingers on this you don't need very many just your fingers pretty well why is that but you can feel the yeah you can the play better you can feel a lot better than if you get some kind of tool because this is very important that you were able to feel the thickness of the wall and the kind of shape that you're making nice yeah I'm gonna make you can see for sure I'm making a joke with her I'm bringing it in at the top here now do you have a mental picture of how this is going to look when you get it finished or is this just left to chance pretty largely oh yeah pretty well an idea what you're going to to make because if we were going to make a bowl or something like that we'd have to start working on clay out more or less into that shape although you can change it somewhat as you go along what are you doing with the sponge there it's moving out the finger marks not almost I just get up the sponge here to bring water up and lubricate the surface of it now that I can bring this top yeah the sound hasn't gone dead on your TV set boys and girls I'm so interested in what's going on here that I'm just forgetting to ask mr. Finnegan questions the important thing is seeing how this is done not listening to me talk but if you have any questions just speak up boys and girls yeah at the beauty now is this the kind of a jug that will have a handle on it yeah we'll eventually put a handle oh you're good just finish this neck up here corncob outfit I don't think you're kind of a small corncob but of course we can get a small here very nice shape Oh as far as the old putters were concerned the Pioneer putters the ones who used to work in this old mill sure pottery do you suppose they had quite a bit of variety in the shapes of jugs or were they pretty much standardized all about the same size in the same shape well I think they they made them in order to fit a certain capacity might be a gallon or a quart or whatever unit of measurement rather than that I think they they pretty well worked on a shape until they thought they had it the way they wanted and they just went ahead and made them all along shaped like pretty well this thing now what are you doing they're out well we're trimming this down there at the bottom and removing that clay so that as soon as this dries this plaster wheel that we have here will release from the clay and it'll be all finished on the bottom I don't do any more than just sponge it are you leaving those ridges that your fingers left those down now those will pretty well remain in because bill Potter's that used to work here would throw them with their fingers and wouldn't and in most cases they'd leave the surface you see right here just the way they made it instead of trying to smooth it up give a hand made now what do you do about the handle aren't you going to well we get ready it's not a shape if you put a handle on it well we'll set it aside a little bit and let it let it stiffen up Oh meantime where we can make a handle here I used to make these handles is to get a lump of clay like this and start pulling it into a shape like a handle the way that usually do this they'd make off Oh many many jugs like this and then I got tired of doing that they'd make a bunch of handles to fit then a coffee breaks they they had a handle break well the point is though that this can't be done immediately I mean you'd have to let this body of the jug set that's right because it dry out a little although it looks like it's stiff on here actually the clay is very soft and it could easily be pushed out of shape no now we just take this handle and let it come down like this it'll just take the shape and we can just cut it off here and stick it right to it so it's different up a bit oh I see and we can set that aside to dry a little we'll add that just a little while all right well while we're waiting for that to dry boys and girls I think perhaps you might be interested in knowing just where Lowell is this where you can find this old Melcher pottery now of course if you happen to go there you won't always find mr. Finnigan sitting in front of it making a jug the days of jug making at the old Melcher pottery are gone not a jug has been made in this old building for over 50 years for about 50 years this was a very thriving pottery and about 25 people worked here every day turning out thousands and thousands of jugs but as glass became cheaper and as tin containers became popular jugs were not so much in demand and about 50 years ago the the old pottery closed its doors and the building is now used as a barn let me show you where Lowell is look at the map of Iowa here a minute I told you a moment ago that law is about 20 miles west of Burlington here is Burlington on the Mississippi River and Lowell is - about 20 miles northwest more West than north and it's located on the skunk River at one time this river was called the Chicago River but there is a Chicago River in Illinois so they didn't want to get it mixed up with that so it's called a skunk River now and that means the same as Chicago River I mean Chicago and skunks are the same in Indian there is law now that dotted line that goes through law over here to the Des Moines River is the old agency Road the oldest road in Iowa which was established in 1841 and it was the road between Burlington which was the territorial capital and agency agency City as it was called then this was the Sac and Fox Indian agency and a representative of the government General Joseph Street was stationed here and he ironed out all difficulties and disagreements between the white settlers and the Indians well this road you see is not straight it's followed a ridge but it passed right through law here is Mount Pleasant a little bit further northwest and here is agency which is just on the other side of the river and about nine miles from or tumblr well there is law if you go down on 218 through a Mount Pleasant to Keokuk down here you will come to a little gravel road about 12 miles south Mount Pleasant and you turn east on the gravel road and you come after a little while to low let me show you some pictures of Lowell Lowell is just a little town only about 80 people live there but on the Main Street which was originally the old agency ruled there is this marker this marker says agency roll oldest Road in Iowa established 1841 by the territorial legislature of Iowa marker erected in 1930 by the get-together Women's federated Club of Lowell Iowa and this little lady who is sitting here having her picture taken is Vicky Lynn Thames she was very gracious about sitting down there while I took her picture last summer notice how she has her toes pointed down she's going to be a model someday you know what you point your toes down like that that is to keep defeat from staring us in the face that was a router wasn't it well this is Vicky Lynn Thames and this is the agency Road marker there is another stone which has historic significance this stands near the river near the Scott River flows right back here and you can see up from the bridge that crosses the river this French Burr millstone marks the site of the first flower mill built in 1838 across the river was the first corn and sawmill built in 1837 built and operated by James C Cottle and Hyrum C Smith and placed by the James Harlan chapter of the DAR in 1930 that is a French burner millstone and this came across the Atlantic Ocean and was used originally as ballast in the old sailing ships and then after the shipping up to America the stolen was made into a millstone and was used over a hundred years ago here is a picture of the skunk river see it isn't very wide and this is all that remains of the dam that was used for these early mills there is part of the old flour mill that used to stand over there on the skunk river and they come again to the old mill sure pottery this is a different view than you see in the background and here you can see that part of the building has been torn down there was a gable that extended out this way a sort of an L and you see this was on the second floor if anybody walked out of this door an hour to be a pretty long step to the ground but that is that is nailed shut but this was the old Melcher pottery and this part of the building still stands and it'll probably be there another hundred years because this is all built of stone and now here in the road is where we are today well now I wonder if mr. Finnegan has been able to put the handle on ready mr. Finnegan oh not ready very good let's see what happens in putting on a handle there's a SEP alright enough you're late yes stiffened up it might be a little too stiff I will just cut this off well what if it is too stiff we'll let that spoil all that you said it there you can you paste it on or something you might have a little difficulty getting it to stick here where it's thick that's a little softer let a little bit of trouble down here if this were little softer we could just take this in that we have here and just bend it right around which would be even better cut so long we can try and see how yeah and the the main form there is dry enough now so that it won't be pushed out of shape that's a nice you said a bongo drum now the early putters here at the old Melcher Padre than to think of using their jugs for bongo drums well I could play music jug music yes I suppose that's where that started here at the old Melcher pottery well maybe not here but a similar place would you see how it fits very nice anyway better in shape there we can take them down say we're ever gonna put it and just kind of rough this up a little bit so it'll stick better we can rough it up this yeah we can kind of moisten this and put a little what you call slip on it when clay is in the liquid form like as you call it slip for some reason I guess because look if it's on the floor and you step on that's about what will happen SLI pees look that's right that'll make the joints work a little bit better gun especially that we have this this clay it's a little bit stiffer than it would be the best time to add it on and here we'll just let the clay stiff enough we can push get it stuck together gonna wiggle it around to get it stuck but then we can take our end here and see if we can't get it one more slip yeah now mr. Finnegan what needs to be done before this jug is finished I suppose this has to be fired now that would be putting the kiln first he'll have to dry it out yes even like to dry out even though this is stiffer than when we started it it still has a lot of water in it in the old days they'd accept all the jugs and pots outside in the Sun yeah lighten the Sun because they were using a clay it had a lot of sand in and it would dry without cracking it dries it's put in a kiln then I've just dry real well they'll put it in a kill which was a law it looked like great big beehive with me maybe 30 40 feet high and they'd stacked it with thousands of these jugs and crocks pickle jars and life and then they start to fire and they would use either coal or wood whatever is available for their fuel I think you told me this is a sample of one that has been fired this has been fired once you can see it's it's harder no yet it's still porous if we put water in it they would just leak right through the way in in no time at all so this has to be fired again and glazed it's not to be Glade a second time well how is this blaze now what do you do to glaze it well the glaze the purpose the glaze is of course to make it waterproof so that you can put liquids and it's easy to wash be clean and alike and it can store and preserve pickles in your life no so they have to have a syrup it's on here that it's tight and the surface that it's easy to clean so they have to put a glaze and glaze you might think of as a mixture of glass and clay and this has been glass in the floor maybe of sandwich ground-up very very fine and then mixed together and made into a big slip just like a clay well just a thin thin clay just a thin clay with a lot of glass in it and then they have a big big bucket of it and we just take it right here and dip it down in you know into the the VAT they would weapon wherever would would touch the first it would be absorbed by the forest play and then let me pull it out there and beegley none has to be put there to get fired again because you see this it'll have to melt and that's right once once that surface melt then it'll be just as smooth as glass on the surface of it you can see here the shiny marks and it's changed quite a bit from the surface that we see on this no it not only has a shine but it's also waterproof now that's right inside and out inside now let's take a look at our other job over there that's a little different yeah now this is you can see they had two two kinds of glazes one this white glaze that we see on this part and this of course is quite traditional this combination of off the brown and the white and they get a white glaze they dip dip the party and down in this way down to here then they take the upside down and dip it into a brown blade and that brown glaze would be kind of like a clay that had a lot of iron in it you know that when iron rusts it turns a kind of a brown or and you know that's why this part is is this brown color which I'm sure everyone has seen jugs of this sort this part white mm-hmm very good well thank you dr. Finnigan most interesting wasn't it boys and girls oh let's see I think maybe we'll have time for one cartoon I want you to remember the time that these jugs were used see we don't use jugs much anymore or nowadays but this is the kind of a jug that mr. Finnegan for us there and the handle what kind of people use jugs like this well let me show you the Pioneer type use these jugs like this here are the glasses you see and here's the man with a beard pioneer type and the ears and the hair that's the jug head I mean the jug user of many many years ago next week we are going to Springbrook state park until then goodbye today your teacher has been her peak of Iowa State Teachers College landmarks in Iowa history is produced for Iowa TV school time by wy TV in association with Iowa State Teachers College TV school time is presented daily Monday through Friday at 1:30 p.m. by the Iowa joint committee for educational television