Steam In Transition: A History of the Nichols and Shepard Company and the Port Huron Engine and Thresher Company
May/June 2001
Charles O. Olsen,
12595 Mt. Garfield, Ravenna, Michigan 49451
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Editor's note: We have excerpted from the
following paper that Charles Olsen wrote for a college course. The
accompanying photos are ones he sent for our readers'
enjoyment, but they are not part of the story. He writes, 'I
spent many weekends traveling to the cities of Battle Creek and
Port Huron perusing literature in the public libraries and reading
diaries of former employees and local historians. While at Port
Huron, I arranged an interview with Mr. Eugene A. Moak, whose
father had been a plant superintendent with the Port Huron Steam
Engine and Threshing Company. We also toured the remains of the
buildings where Mr. Moak operated an industrial supply house. I
believe the contents of the paper are historically accurate and can
provide readers with an enlightening account of the lives of all
employees from both companies. I hope everyone in engine land
enjoys the paper as much as I have had in my research and
writing.' Chuck
The Nichols and Shepard Company of Battle Creek opened for
business in 1848. The original owners and co-founders were John
Nichols and Charles H. Shepard, a transplant from upstate New York.
Operating a modern foundry works as well as a blacksmith shop, the
two mechanically inclined entrepreneurs had a fledgling enterprise
by 1850.1 In these earlier days custom work preceded
daily productions.
Charles Shepard wrote to his younger brother David, who was a
farmer in New York, to tell him of the success of Nichols' and
Shepard's business. David Shepard was experiencing some health
problems that prohibited him from continuing farm operations, and
he decided to relocate to Battle Creek in 1849. Charles Shepard
hoped to work the sharp mechanically minded David into the firm,
but David chose instead to seek his fortune and fame in the
California Gold Rush of 1849-1850.2
David Shepard did not find gold in California and returned to
Battle Creek at the urging of his brother. Charles then formally
introduced David to John Nichols, who promptly hit David with an
offer to design and construct agricultural machinery. David
accepted Nichols' proposition and in a bold stroke of genius
bought out his brother's interest in the company.3
Why Charles Shepard sold out in 1851 remains a mystery.
With Nichols holding down the production of various machinery
such as sawmills, Shepard began to design a threshing machine. In
1859 Edwin C. Nichols, son of John, joined the company. During
1861, Nichols and Shepard decided to enter one of their threshing
machines in the San Joaquin Valley Fair at Stockton, California. A
huge crowd turned out at the factory on the day Nichols and
Shepard's threshing machine was loaded on a rail car and hauled
westward. Several competitors exhibited quality machines at the
fair, but the premium award was given to Nichols and Shepard for
the flawless performance of their all wood threshing machine.
Shepard applied for a government patent on September 24, 1861, and
selected the name 'Vibrator ' for this particular model of
a threshing machine.4 Battle Creek had become home for
other competing companies in the threshing machine business: The
Upton and Brown Manufacturing Company (1851) and the Advance
Thresher Company (1881).5
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