The other chilled plows — the Bissell and Economist works

In the directory of 1883; their courses are not traced

Four plow companies: The Businesses record's Oliver entry notes, on the Tribune's account, that Oliver's was the first of what became four chilled-plow companies in South Bend. Two of the four stand in the entries around this one — Oliver itself, and the South Bend Chilled Plow Company above. Farr's 1883 directory names the other two, and they stand here at the size the directory gives them, which is all the record reached gives them. Under both of the directory's headings for the trade — Plow Manufacturers and Chilled Plows — and again under Foundries, the directory lists the Bissell Chilled Plow Works: "Bissell, T. M., Chilled Plow Co., w race near foot e Market," its foundry "w race between e Market and e Washington." And under the same headings it lists the Economist Chilled Plow Works, "w Division near city limits."

At directory size: Neither firm appears in Howard's manufactures chapter of 1907, and no founding, course, or closing for either was traced. They are what the Fort Wayne sweep taught this build to expect: real firms, present in the directory of their day, dead before the histories were written, and absent from every narrative since. The directory adds one more small maker of the same trade: its alphabetical list carries "Zellers, John P., plow point manufacturer."

Sources:

1. Farr's South Bend City Directory for 1883, Classified Business Directory — the Bissell and Economist listings under Plow Manufacturers, Chilled Plows, and Foundries, with their addresses; and the alphabetical list's entry for John P. Zellers, plow point manufacturer.
2. Businesses — the Oliver Chilled Plow Works entry, carrying the Tribune's count of four chilled-plow companies in the city, which this entry completes.