The Erection of the New Factory.
By A. O. Tait
WHEN our factory burned it found this Coast in a very abnormal condition because the great city of San Francisco had been destroyed only a short time before, and building materials and labor were being drawn there as by a whirlpool. This placed a grave problem before us as to how we would be able to rebuild speedily enough to meet the rapidly growing demands of our work. In this emergency, friends of the institution offered their services willingly, and at most reasonable wages. Brother M. K. Dymot, for instance, a young man with excellent skill and experience as a practical builder and architect, gave his time day and night for a dollar a day and his board. Other friends, too many to mention by name in the brief moments allotted for this service, worked with willing hands and strong arms so that this institution might be erected and the important work it represents go forward. It was one of the greatest pleasures of my life to work with a body of men that were so full of enthusiasm and earnest faithfulness in doing with their might what their hands had found to be done. Providence favored us in the securing of material, for we were able to contract with a firm right at the mill in the woods for all the lumber needed, and it was so near by that we had no serious delay in getting it on the ground as fast as required. The building is covered with iron inside and out, and the sheets are put on in such a way that each stud and rafter forms a complete fire wall, thus making a splendid fire protection. The bricks that were thrown out of the old walls were used as a foundation or groundwork under the floor, concrete being used to fill between them, and strips of wood, two by two, were imbedded in the top of this concrete, to which the flooring is nailed. This cuts off all chance for fire to sweep under the floor, and then it gives a solid foundation right on the floor itself for all machines, except the very heaviest presses. In this building, we kept in mind all the time that we were building a factory or workshop, and so we confined ourselves to essentials for the doing of the work that we have before us. The building is a plain, simple shop, but the mighty truths that the building is being dedicated to propagate are beyond description in their beauty. Let these truths stand out in all their brilliancy and power, but let the mere building where the printing is done remain in the shadows of simplicity.