# M. Rumely Co. *Company recorded as buying the Northwest Thresher Company and shutting it down by 1913.* M. Rumely Co. appears in the Minnesota record as the last owner of the Northwest Thresher Company. That company was the reorganized successor of [[Seymour, Sabin & Co.]], a thresher manufacturer that worked under prison-labor contracts at the state prison in [[Stillwater]], [[Minnesota]].[^1] A trade-press history states that M. Rumely Co. bought the company and shut it down by 1913. The project's at-issue record dates the purchase to October 1912.[^1] The entry rests on two sources: the Farm Collector company history and a Minnesota Historical Society research guide on the Stillwater prison.[^1][^2] The record assembled for this entry contains no court filing, statute or agency document naming M. Rumely Co. It does not establish why the company bought the firm or why it closed it.[^1] ## Who - M. Rumely Co. is named as the buyer of the Northwest Thresher Company, which it shut down by 1913.[^1] ## What - The firm M. Rumely Co. acquired descended from Seymour, Sabin & Co. According to the trade-press history, that company first contracted for prison labor at Stillwater in 1866.[^1] - After a collapse in 1884, the firm was reorganized as Minnesota Thresher Mfg. Co. It became Northwest Thresher Co. in July 1901.[^1] - M. Rumely Co.'s purchase ended the line. The history states that the buyer shut the company down by 1913.[^1] ## When - 1866: Seymour, Sabin & Co. first contracts for prison labor at Stillwater.[^1] - 1883: the project's at-issue record states the company recorded sales of "one engine, zero separators and one horse power."[^1] - 1884: collapse and reorganization as Minnesota Thresher Mfg. Co.[^1] - August 1888: the firm is producing machines and engines with convict labor (see *How many*).[^1] - November 1889: a new prison-labor contract.[^1] - July 1901: reorganized as Northwest Thresher Co.[^1] - October 1912: purchase by M. Rumely Co., as dated in the project's at-issue record.[^1] - By 1913: the company is shut down.[^1] ## Where - Stillwater, Minnesota. The predecessor firms operated with prison labor at the state prison there.[^1][^2] ## How - The predecessor firms' output depended on labor contracted from the state prison. The trade-press history records contracts in 1866 and November 1889. It states that the first contract was obtained "through Sabin's influence."[^1] ## How many - By August 1888, according to the trade-press history, the firm was producing 900 machines and 450 engines with convict labor.[^1] - For 1883, the project's at-issue record gives recorded sales of one engine, no separators and one horse power.[^1] - The record carries no figures for workers, output or dollars during M. Rumely Co.'s ownership.[^1] ## In the at-issue record The company appears in one at-issue pair, AI-Washington-057. The pair belongs to the project's Washington package, in the section *The Referral Architecture & the County That Got the Prison Edition*.[^2] It places the shutdown by 1913 "one year before the boom closed and the prison moved out of Stillwater proper."[^1][^2] The pair uses the Minnesota Historical Society guide as its anchor for the date of the prison's relocation.[^2] It records the sequence of the two events. The record does not establish a causal link between them.[^1][^2] ## Notes [^1]: Farm Collector, *Northwest Thresher Company Began with Minnesota Prison Labor* (trade press; undated in the record) — supports Seymour, Sabin & Co.'s 1866 prison-labor contract at Stillwater, the August 1888 output with convict labor, the November 1889 contract, the 1884 collapse and reorganization as Minnesota Thresher Mfg. Co., the July 1901 Northwest Thresher Co. reorganization, and M. Rumely Co.'s purchase and shutdown by 1913. It is also the trade source listed for the at-issue record's 1883 sales figure and October 1912 date. https://www.farmcollector.com/company-history/northwest-thresher-company-began-with-minnesota-prison-labor/ [^2]: Minnesota Historical Society Library, *Stillwater* (prison research guide, LibGuides) — the anchor source in at-issue record AI-Washington-057 for the date of the prison's move out of Stillwater proper. https://libguides.mnhs.org/prison/stillwater