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The Smith Manufacturing Company of Chicago began operation
near the turn of the 20th Century. Ashley C. Smith, the son of Marvin
Smith, operated the company for a few years. More research is needed
to date to clarify who operated the company throughout its years of operation. According to C. H. Wendell, Smith began
manufacturing their engines under the name
Chicago Gasoline Engine Co.
Smith's offices in Chicago were located
at 55-59 N. Jefferson St. in 1903, 16-18 S. Clinton St. in 1904 and
158-164 E. Harrison St. in 1910. The 1907 catalog for the company offered an engine line called
"The Smith." The 1908 brochures offered engines with the more famous "Great
Western" line of equipment. This "Great Western" line included cream separators, manure
spreaders, manure carriers (sometimes called: litter carriers) and gas engines
ranging up from 1.5 to 10 horsepower. A few of Smith's early brochures included
pictures of what was described as "their factory", which actually appears to be Haish's factory in DeKalb.
Moreover Smith's factory photos are basically mirror images of Haish's facility
based on the their respective brochures. However, Smith's brochures never
seem to elude to the specific connection to Haish. Jacob Haish, in 1912, described in his equipment
catalog that he was the exclusive manufacturer of the "Great Western" line. It
is assumed that Jacob Haish Mfg Co. was the jobber for Smith and later for Rock
Island, but the legal business records to definitely prove this are not located.
The Rock Island Plow Co. of Rock Island, Illinois acquired the rights to the
"Great Western" line from Smith on October 1, 1911. However, by 1912 Rock
Island stop marketing the "Great Western" engine line and began offering Haish's
"Chanticleer" line. Rock Island later dropped the "Chanticleer" line and offered
the Alamo line. It is interesting to note that
Rock Island continued to
market the "Great Western" manure spreader at least into the early 1920s.
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