seeking help iding paddle

[bcstones]

Found this wooden paddle recently. It's made from a single piece of wood with a logo burned into the blade. So far all I can find out is that the maker is "long, long, long out of business"
don't know if the 'attachment' made it, so I'll describe it:
it's an arrow/spear-head with "J.T.Cole brand, Walmead Industries Inc., Texarkana Ark. Tex." inside that.
Anyone out there know about the maker or business. I'm restoring the paddle, it's beautiful.
Thanks,
FAC

 

[Feathers]

Found this wooden paddle recently. It's made from a single piece of wood with a logo burned into the blade. So far all I can find out is that the maker is "long, long, long out of business"
don't know if the 'attachment' made it, so I'll describe it:
it's an arrow/spear-head with "J.T.Cole brand, Walmead Industries Inc., Texarkana Ark. Tex." inside that.
Anyone out there know about the maker or business. I'm restoring the paddle, it's beautiful.
Thanks,
FAC

I just acquired a J.T. Cole Brand paddle and am trying to find any information on it that I can. The only thing that I can come up is this very old and lonely thread. Anyone have any knowledge of the folks that made these paddles?

 

[Feathers]

Almost 10 years, 966 views and no reply. I'll take it that there aren't that many out there then.

 

[Michael Grace]

A quick web search reveals that Walmead Industries was incorporated on March 19, 1956 at P.O. Box 1918, Texarkana, TX 75504-1918. It's principle is/was listed as Jan Crouch at Box 1872, 1008 Whitaker St., Texarkana, TX 75504. Currently, Walmead Industries is listed as "No Standing; Franchise Responsibility Ended". From Google Maps Streetview, there is a substantial commercial building at that address in a mixed commercial/residential area, but it's currently registered as operated by Southwest Printers.

So they apparently started in 1956 and they existed at least into the mid-90s in some form. They were still making wood products as late as 1966, because the U.S. Forest Service Research Note SO-36 from that year includes Walmead Industries as a "miscellaneous plant" in its list of primary wood-using plants of east Texas. However, later technical reports indicate that the company was making plant-derived chemicals (for example methylsalicylate and orange oil) later in their existence. Maybe still paddles/oars too; maybe not.

I also found reference to a set of J.T. Cole Brand oars (with oarlocks) by Walmead industries Inc., Texarcana, being offered for sale in 2015 but nothing else like this.

It's not much but hope this is of value to you,
Michael

 

[Feathers]

A quick web search reveals that Walmead Industries was incorporated on March 19, 1956 at P.O. Box 1918, Texarkana, TX 75504-1918. It's principle is/was listed as Jan Crouch at Box 1872, 1008 Whitaker St., Texarkana, TX 75504. Currently, Walmead Industries is listed as "No Standing; Franchise Responsibility Ended". From Google Maps Streetview, there is a substantial commercial building at that address in a mixed commercial/residential area, but it's currently registered as operated by Southwest Printers.

So they apparently started in 1956 and they existed at least into the mid-90s in some form. They were still making wood products as late as 1966, because the U.S. Forest Service Research Note SO-36 from that year includes Walmead Industries as a "miscellaneous plant" in its list of primary wood-using plants of east Texas. However, later technical reports indicate that the company was making plant-derived chemicals (for example methylsalicylate and orange oil) later in their existence. Maybe still paddles/oars too; maybe not.

I also found reference to a set of J.T. Cole Brand oars (with oarlocks) by Walmead industries Inc., Texarcana, being offered for sale in 2015 but nothing else like this.

It's not much but hope this is of value to you,
Michael

Thanks for the reply. It seems obvious but I never searched "Walmead industries" but kept trying "J.T. Cole Brand". So I appreciate your response. That seems right too by looking at the paddle- I would have guessed it to be from somewhere in the 1960's or so. I've been collecting a few old paddles and they look great hanging on the walls of our cabin. This one is one of my favorites so far.

Thanks again,

Tim

 

[Nancy Long]

Tim,
I just found your post and can add some info about the paddle you found. Walmead Industries was formed by Pearson Walsh and Dan Meadows, my dad, in Texarkana, Texas. The contact person of record, Jan Crouch, is Pearson's daughter. My dad's day job was General Manager of Humco Laboratories. Pearson was his boss. A family history I compiled in 2004 contains this little bit of Walmead history.

"Walmead was formed as a distributor for Humco products to sell to non-wholesale drug companies. The name was extracted from WALsh and MEADows. The J.T. Cole Division made and sold oars, paddles and handles. It was named after J.T. Cole, a friend and neighbor who had owned the paddle factory.

Dan was proud of the paddles being produced and would often compare them to competitors’ paddles, explaining why a paddle fashioned from a single piece of lumber was superior to one that had been made from pieces of wood which had been glued together.

One Saturday afternoon during the 1960s, Dan was ripping logs down into rough lumber boards – the first step in the process. One of the logs was kicked back by the saw and struck Dan in the head. He was working alone at the time, but managed to make his way into the office and call Helen (my mom) for assistance. After a trip to the hospital for stitches, he told the family that had he fallen in the opposite direction, he would have landed on the actively turning saw blade and been killed."

I have several 24" paddles he made as novelties. Hope this message finds you and answers some of your questions.

 

[Rob Stevens]

I would appreciate if you would post photos of the 24" paddles, as I have been making mini paddles lately. Those show are laser burned with the WCHA logo. The image appears crisper on the black cherry one than the spruce one.

 

[pklonowski]

"The image appears crisper on the black cherry one than the spruce one." I had a similar issue laser etching logos on white oak & ash vs hard maple, several years ago. I think this has to do with the more even grain structure of the cherry, vs the spruce. The less dense areas of the spruce burn faster than the more dense areas, thus the less crisp areas. With the more even grain structure, the cherry & maple don't show this effect.

 

[Nancy Long]

Rob, Here's the photo of one of my dad's small paddles. I didn't measure it until today. It's actually 18" long by 4.5" wide. He didn't brand the small ones with the G.T. Cole logo.