Evaporator Near School

In 1881 J. W. Phillips owned and operated a fruit evaporator here, and later it was operated by Mr. Adams. Hundreds of bushels of apples were peeled, sliced, dried on wooden racks, and sprinkled with sulphur as a preservative, with wood-fired furnaces providing heat for drying. Nearly all of the work was done by hand, and it was hot, hard work. The finished products were shipped out in barrels by rail carloads. Fruit drying was very big business, and according to Goodspeed's 1889 History of Benton County, there was more than one evaporator located in Lowell.

Lowell, Arkansas · United States