Foust & His Sea Plane, Hughesville Pa

In September of 1931, C.L. Foust of Hughesville built a seaplane. 

He  built the seaplane on Beaver Dam in Hughesville, over 2-3 years time. "The motor develops 60 horse power and is made of the parts of automobiles."  Foust planned to take the plane to Lake Makoma where he owned a cabin.

Seaplanes became popular in the United States around 1911, after Glen Curtiss developed land-plane equipped with a central float and sponsons for buoyancy.

"By the late 1930s, seaplanes were among the largest and fastest aircraft in the world. The ability to stop at coastal stations to refuel made flying boats a relatively safe and dependable means of long-distance transportation. Flying boats such as Pan American Airways’ Boeing 314 “Clipper” planes represented the peak of luxury transatlantic flight." 

After World War II, seaplanes declined in popularity as more and more airports were built across the nation.

Clarence Levi Foust, born in 1900 in Lycoming County.  He opened a garage and built trailers in Hughesville.  In 1940, he expanded to making wooden propellers.  He invented a 5th wheel design for wagons, which is still used today.  Foust's son in law wrote that he was Hughesville's Most Important Forgotten Man, and described his achievements.

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"Hughesville's Most Important Forgotten Man " 
As written by Rev. Samuel P. Reed 

History has not done justice to the memory or given the credit due to one of it's what should be the most famous Hughesville resident ever to have lived in the borough. Considering his accomplishments. He has a long list of inventions and activities that have left a lasting imprint on the area as well as the entire trucking world. He had the name of Clarence Levi Foust better known by his peers as "Dad". 

His story started out with his father being shot and killed in a hunting accident seven months before he was born. He was the tenth child of the family. Born in June of 1900 in the area north and east of Picture Rocks known as The Bowling Green and was severely injured as a small child in a fall down the cellar steps striking his back on a large rock at the foot of the steps. He was to carry a large lump on his back all his life. A small man with large determined spirit. He went to work after he had finished 4th. Grade in schooling. This terminated his formal schooling but did not dwarf or stop his mental ability. 

His first factory work was with the Ladder factory in Picture Rocks learning to scale lumber and other jobs a small boy could do. His older brothers have to be given a lot of credit along with his mother for keeping the family together without a father. 

Several of his brothers served in the army during WW1.In 1918 He married Blanche Shaffer from Cogan Station . After he had started a small shop building electric car batteries and repairing bicycles at the corner of Main & Academy streets Hughesville.

Foust Garage, Hughesville

 Along with his oldest brother Leroy Elmer Foust(Enoch), they purchased the land where the Bob McCormick Ford dealership now is on Main st. They built the building and sold Pierce-Arrow, Dodge brothers trucks, and Chrysler cars along with gas and a service department. An apartment was built in the top section along with parts storage. Dad his wife Blanche and his brother Enoch lived in the apartment when his daughter Doris was born in May1927. 

While in the McCormick building Dad made a trip to Saint Louis to look at the manufacture of house trailers. After returning home he built the first trailers to be built east of the Mississippi river. His styling was so good many small house trailers built today look a lot like his 1930 models. 

About the time of the trailer business becoming successful one of his brothers Harry a farmer in the Turbotville area was having trouble getting his wagons in to unload them at the silo because of the highway being built closer to the barn. He asked Dad if there wasn't some way the wagons could be turned shorter and maneuvered better. This became a challenge for Dad. He worked all winter and came up with what was to be known as the "Fifth-wheel". He built 3 complete wagons with his new fifth-wheel design and his brother used them with great satisfaction. A Mr. Baumink a lumberman in Sullivan County saw the wagons and asked Dad to build log hauling trailers for his use in the woods which he did. 

The manufacture of these machines took up too much space for the car garage so the Foust brothers purchased the old Chair factory building on Cemetery street and continued to manufacture house-trailers and material moving trailers. Meantime Freuhauf of Sunbury offered to buy Dad's patient rights to the fifth wheel design. Thy offered to pay a royalty or he could have $500.00 cash. He chose the cash offer and sold the rights to them. The rest is history every tractor trailer in the country uses the fifth-wheel with very little change from the farm wagons original design. 

Foust Propeller, on display at the East Lycoming Historical Society

During the ww2 time Dad was awarded a government contract to build wood airplane propellers for the war effort. Dad had had experience in airplanes as he built and flew an all metal airplane powered with a Ford Model "A"engine. He also built a plane with pontoons to be able to land on water. He rented the Lycoming County fairground land to use as an airport. He was the third pilot to be have a pilot license in Pa..Dad received a personal letter signed by the President of the United States "Franklin D. Roosevelt" along with the "E" wartime award for the excellence in the propeller manufacture. 

Today when we go to the Lycoming County fair we can see some of his handy work in the evergreen bushes growing on the infield of the race track. They are his design. In latter years he produced many useful items that are used in homes all over. One very useful one is a light weight window opener to release stuck windows with little effort. Clarence died in 1969 but he left the world a lot better place through his inventions and his ability to make our lives better. 

A grateful son-in law. 

Rev. Samuel P. Reed 

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FOUST TRAILERS

Foust Trailer Company, Hughesville PA

Today this is Buck's Lumber

1937

"While in the McCormick building Dad made a trip to Saint Louis to look at the manufacture of house trailers. After returning home he built the first trailers to be built east of the Mississippi river. His styling was so good many small house trailers built today look a lot like his 1930 models."

Cook trailer for carnival workers, made by Foust

Foust Trailer parked in front of the School, Hughesville

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FOUST PROPELLERS

1940

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FIFTH WHEEL DESIGN

"About the time of the trailer business becoming successful one of his brothers Harry a farmer in the Turbotville area was having trouble getting his wagons in to unload them at the silo because of the highway being built closer to the barn. He asked Dad if there wasn't some way the wagons could be turned shorter and maneuvered better. This became a challenge for Dad. He worked all winter and came up with what was to be known as the "Fifth-wheel". He built 3 complete wagons with his new fifth-wheel design and his brother used them with great satisfaction. A Mr. Baumink a lumberman in Sullivan County saw the wagons and asked Dad to build log hauling trailers for his use in the woods which he did. "

"Meantime Freuhauf of Sunbury offered to buy Dad's patient rights to the fifth wheel design. Thy offered to pay a royalty or he could have $500.00 cash. He chose the cash offer and sold the rights to them. The rest is history every tractor trailer in the country uses the fifth-wheel with very little change from the farm wagons original design. "

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FOUST DELIVERY TRUCKS

C.A. Reed truck made by Foust

Kelco Beer & Ale Truck, made by Foust

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FOUST LOCOMOTIVE

"Dad" Foust made a locomotive for the Williamsport 40-8 Club to use in Parades.

At the Lycoming Fair Grounds.

The 40 & 8 Club, Williamsport

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MORE FOUST PLANES

1932

At the Lycoming County Fairground

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September 23rd 1931

March 1937

Keefer Station Covered Bridge

Keefers Station Covered Bridge

Located in Snydertown, Northumberland County Pa

It is a 109-foot-long (33 m), Burr Truss bridge, crossing Shamokin Creek.

The bridge was constructed in 1888 by George W. Keefer, at a cost of $882.  It was restored in 1986. 

Keefers Station Covered Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979

Vandals kicked the siding off the bridge in 1990.

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George Frederick Keefer 1863-1941

Theodore Burr lived for a time in Northumberland County while overseeing the construction of a pair of bridges connecting Northumberland and Sunbury.

Armour Tannery, Williamsport Pa

 
Armour Leather Co, 500 Arch St Williamsport PA

Today, Brodart, the building was built in 1919, " J.K. Mosser Tannery, a plant of the Armour Leather Company, located in Newberry"

Tanning, or hide tanning, is the process of treating skins and hides of animals to produce leather. A tannery is the place where the skins are processed.

Trimming and washing room in the tannery

"By 1880, Pennsylvania had 890 tanneries, with many located in Tioga County. These tanneries primarily produced sole leather and coarser leathers used in factory belts and harnesses. They were strategically located near the region’s rich forests, as the industry relied on the bark of oak and hemlock trees for tannin, a crucial ingredient in the tanning process" - from the Lumber Heritage website

Hides in the Mosser Tannery

J.K Mosser established his tannery in 1876; by the time his plant in Newberry reached its full capacity, it covered 14 acres and had an annual output of more than 100,000 finished hides. It had 365 vats and more than 275 employees.

A "tanner pusher" at the Mosser Tannery.  These trains ran on tacks 24 inches wide, less than half the size of standard tracks.  They moved railcars that transported hides from the tannery. 

Machine in the Mosser Tannery

In 1914 the company was acquired by the Armour Leather Company and operated until the mid-1960s. It became the world’s largest cut sole factory.

From the Williamsport Sun, June 1919:

"Recommendations have just been drawn up by the J.K. Mosser Tannery, a plant of the Armour Leather Company, located in Newberry, which calls for the erection of a new six-story manufacturing building on Arch Street, for the purpose of expanding the cutting business of the local company.

When the new department is in operation it is expected that the workforce at the factory will triple.

According to present plans, the new structure will be built of reinforced concrete, with brick facings and up-to-date and modern in every detail. Plans call for 35,000 feet of floor space. The building will have frontage of 150 feet on Arch Street, 302 feet in depth and 196 feet in the rear, where the new structure will adjoin the present property.

The building will be erected on property that the company has owned for some time and also includes the recent purchase of a 50-foot lot on Arch Street secured from James Davison. Arrangements are now being made to move the dwellings on Arch Street that now stand on the site for the new building, to other locations. Realizing the need for housing facilities the company has taken this step instead of tearing the dwellings down."

The J.K. Mosser Tannery encompassed 58 buildings on 2,300 acres, with 1,200 feet on West third street and 1,600 feet along the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad tracks.  The operation was half tanning, and half manufacturing.

In July of 1933, the Alex Brothers, a subsidiary of Armour Leather, manufactured a belt 86 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 5/8ths of an inch thick.  The belt was made from 285 hides put together with special cement, and weighed more than 2,000 lbs. 

Ted Mullett, in his memoir recalling his time playing in the original Little League, wrote: "I was born in 1930 and lived with my parents in a rental house on Newberry Street. Eddie Younken lived a black away on Apple Street and we both attended Webster School. However, in 1938 my dad was promoted to superintendent of the Armour Leather factory so we moved into one of the company houses opposite the tannery on West Third Street, and I transferred to Lincoln School." 

Newberry station was later used for the Blue and White Diner.

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In April of 2025, Charlie Hughes gave a presentation on the tannery operation at the Sullivan County History Buff Breakfast.  I have 6 pages of notes to add to this post, but for now, here's a facebook photo album of all the photos and scans of Charlies Drawings.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=ValleyGirlViews&set=a.1220286353431695

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1958 article on the Tannery Waste