The establishment of the California Glass Insulator Company in Long Beach, California, came about through the successful culmination of a long search conducted by its founder, Robert P. Frist, for a good glass sand in southern California. On Mr. Frist's second visit to Long Beach he learned of the discovery of high-grade silica sand at Horseshoe Bend, which proved to be just what was needed. A contract was then secured from the American Glass Sand Company, which was mining the sand, guaranteeing the glass company a supply of at least five carloads of sand a day. The machinery, the patents of which Mr. Frist controlled, was immediately ordered, and work was started on the first of three proposed units.

The company's site consisted of ten acres, located in the northern part of the Long Beach harbor district, and was served by the Southern Pacific and Pacific Electric railroads. Within the fenced enclosure of three and one half acres devoted to the first unit, the contractor, Marcus Campbell, built a group of five buildings. These substantial buildings were occupied by the main manufacturing plant, the power house, store rooms, and the office.

Adjoining that three and one half acre tract on the east was a two and a half acre site which was purchased by the glass company, and the second unit of the three proposed units was built. This second unit was for blowing bottles, chimneys, carboys, jars and all sorts and sizes of vials.

The company had an option on four acres adjoining the first tract on the north, intending, in due time, after the first two units were operating steadily, to install equipment for the manufacture of window plate and reinforced wire glass.

Power was secured from the then new Southern California Edison plant. Wire connections were made on March 27, 1912, to the California Glass Insulator Company's motors, which were 250 horsepower each. The glass company also installed an auxiliary generating plant of its own, in case of an emergency.

The equipment of the plant included a complete foundry and machine shops, in which were made all the machinery needed in the manufacturing of glassware, such as molds, patterns, etc. Fuel oil was used in generating heat for melting the raw materials; a 100 horsepower compressor operated by motor was required to furnish pressure for the fuel oil, which was supplied by the California Oil Company, of which a large quantity was used. 

The main building of the first unit housed the "tank", which the layman would call a furnace, in which the raw materials -- sand, soda and hydrated lime -- were melted under a heat of 2400 to 3000 degrees. Arranged around the rear of the tank were the "shops", or insulator pressing machines, of which five were in operation in May of 1912, with provision for four more. Each shop required a crew of five men: one to draw the molten glass from the tank; one to cut off the exact quantity of glass required to make an insulator; another to remove the screw core; one to take the insulators from the molds; and the fifth to carry the insulators to the tempering furnace, or lehr. The chief skill required was in the handling of the molten glass by the "gatherer" who took it from the tank, and in knowing the amount of glass required to press one insulator. An ounce of glass more or less produced an imperfect insulator which must be thrown away, yet it was by the instinct of experience alone that the "presser" knew just how much glass he had to cut off into each mold with his shears to make a perfect insulator. 

From the presses the red hot insulators were hurried to the tempering lehrs, specially constructed brick ovens fifty-six feet long, through which the various batches traveled slowly from a temperature of 1100 degrees graduated to the temperature of the air. Twelve hours were required for proper tempering. If the insulators, after coming from the presses, were allowed to remain in the open air for ten minutes, they would fly into pieces.

Having successfully established the operation of its first unit, the company started construction of its second unit for manufacturing bottles, etc. The second unit required the construction of another building similar to the main structure of the first unit. The first bottle machine arrived on May 20, 1912. It had the capacity of 500 dozen bottles per eight hour day. The bottle products were to be sold only locally in California.

The manufacture of glassware was an industry commonly supposed to be one best adapted to conditions existing in the more mature industrial centers of the East at that time. Yet with the landing of the essential raw materials in southern California, and with the more favorable climatic conditions to be found in Long Beach, the third essential feature, that of experienced workmen, proved to be a problem with an easy solution. The California Glass Insulator Company, in May, 1912, was employing a force of nearly 50 men, most of whom knew nothing about glass making. Yet the workmen were daily gaining skill and were soon producing the full capacity of the plant -- about 15,000 insulators a day.

The Pacific Coast demand for insulators was estimated at 18,000,000 a year in 1912, representing about 7,200 tons of glass, used in the extension work of the telephone and telegraph companies, power transmission, electric transportation, etc. This annual consumption west of the Rockies had been shipped before this factory went into production by two eastern factories, one in Indiana and the other in New Jersey. The average freight rate from these two factories had been estimated at $8.05 per thousand insulators. This advantage in freight rates was alone a sufficient incentive to the men who started the California Glass Insulator Company, aside from the excellent prospects for fine export trade promised by the opening of the Panama Canal and the resulting stimulus to the development of trade with the Orient.

Fires were first started in the big furnace on March 21, 1912, followed by a ten day test period, which proved the equipment to be equal to the demands that were to be made upon it. Actual production started on April 1, 1912, and shipments of their products started a couple of days later. According to officers of the company, insulators were to be shipped to markets as far south as New Orleans, east to Kansas City, and north as far as Alaska and Canada, also to Mexico, the Philippines and Japan, where there was a great demand for glass insulators. An article in one of the Los Angeles papers of January, 1913, stated that the company had contracts for two full years of work and was operating day and night. The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company was said to be taking its entire day output, and the night production of the plant was reported going to the Chinese government. 

The officers of the California Glass Insulator Company in 1912 were: Arthur G. Munn, President; John G. Orth, Vice President; Robert P. Frist, General Manager; Stanley S. Stonaker, Secretary; and John Morris, Treasurer. Other names which were mentioned in connection with the company were Jules Kauffman, F. H. Fosdick, and William Schade, but no information was found concerning these men. 

The California Glass Insulator Company was incorporated with $300,000 capital stock.

Sometime in March of 1914, the California Glass Insulator Company closed down, for reasons unknown to me at this time. Then on April 16, 1914, following a complete reorganization of the controlling company, it was re-opened. The plant was taken over by a new company which was quietly formed, and was known as the California Glass Works. Behind the reorganization and the new company was a group of wealthy Canadians, who placed several thousand dollars at the command of the management.

Shortly after the new controlling company had been organized, a stock issue of 45,000 shares was subscribed by the directing board of the new owners. A small amount of stock was placed on the open market, about 5,000 shares.

The first meeting of the new board of directors resulted in the selection of L. Farmer, a Canadian capitalist and manufacturer, as president. A man by the name of Mr. Orcutt became general manager.

Officers of the new company, in a statement on the morning of April 18, 1914, announced that since the word of the re-opening of the plant had reached the glass trade, orders were coming in with every mail. It was also said that the demand far exceeded the output of the plant.

In mid-May, 1914, the management of the California Glass Works announced plans for improvement of an extensive and permanent nature. New larger furnaces were installed, that nearly tripled the then present capacity and enabled them to produce amber bottles and goods of a similar nature. 

According to management statements, three large contracts could be secured with the installation of the new apparatus, which would mean capacity business for the plant during the next year. The three large contracts were: Fifty two carloads of glass cans for the Beech Nut Packing Company, a carload to be shipped weekly for a year; a 3,000,000 annual insulator contract with a San Francisco firm; and the possibility of furnishing many carloads of amber ware to southern California brewers and bottlers. President Farmer stated that under the enlargement project the company would have a weekly payroll of nearly $1500.00, or $78,000 annually. In an article on July 7, 1914, it was stated that they had a monthly payroll of $4,000, with 65 employees, and they planned to install machinery to make flint ware and amber, and then business would be doubled. At that time business was limited only by facilities.

The same article stated that one carload of insulators had just been shipped to Pocatello, Idaho, another to Newport, Idaho, and another to San Antonio, Texas. A carload of insulators at that time sold for $600 to $750, according to the class of insulator. They had also just exported one carload to Manila, and were negotiating with parties in China and Honolulu. The Pacific Electric Railway Company, the Southern Pacific Rail Road Company, the Northwestern Pacific, the Santa Fe, the Pacific Light and Power Company, and the Southern California Edison Company were said to have purchased their entire supplies from California Glass Works.

On January 18 or 19, 1916, the Long Beach harbor district was completely flooded. According to a newspaper article, the office of the California Glass Works was caught by the swirling floods and whisked with terrific force against the railroad tracks. The company's yard was completely inundated, and the flood waters had encompassed all of the plants and dwellings in that district. 

An article dated January 20, 1916, stated that $15,000 was the estimated damage done to the buildings and premises of the California Glass Works. A stretch of ground 50 feet wide and running the length of the street frontage of the glass company was washed out to a depth of ten feet or more. The filling of that hole was estimated to cost $14,000 or more.

The office of the glass works was carried a distance of more than 100 feet from its original site. A foot and a half of mud and silt was washed on the floors of the machine shop, while the corrosion of the machinery also added to the damage.

As far as I know, the company never rebuilt.