April 2006 - Thomas L. Kidney
The T. L. (THOMAS LEON) KIDNEY [Orvil, possibly from Canada] blast furnace and stove factory that had produced many popular items of steel and cast iron, centered its activity in 1880 in the production of steel plows using patterns acquired by T. L. KIDNEY from an early moulder and iron worker by the name of L. S. Sammons. This venture proved to be Deer River's largest and most successful industry. The plows became a popular agricultural implement of the time and were produced and shipped by the carload. Mr. KIDNEY was engaged in the process of plant expansion and reorganization when he met an untimely death at the age of 39 in an accident at the plant on Nov. 15, 1883. Production of the plows at Deer River was then undertaken by a firm composed of Dr. A. R. Gebbie amd Dr. H. D. Bingle, under management of the Sitt Bros., former KIDNEY moulders. L. C. Stitt later became proprietor of the business. In 1900 Gebbie and Wetmore purchased the plow plant and moved the machinery to Lowville, where production continued for several years at the Nevin & Wetmore iron works.