USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Fall River > Centennial history of Fall River, Mass. : comprising a record of its corporate progress from 1656 to 1876, with sketches of its manufacturing industries, local and general characteristics, valuable statistical tables, etc. > Part 17
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At the first meeting of organization, Augustus Chace was chosen presi- dent, and Joseph A. Baker treasurer. The superintendent, George H. Hills, though probably the youngest man in the vocation in Fall River, has had an exceptionally thorough experience, having, with an early prepossession for cotton manufacture, perfectly acquainted himself with all the details of the industry by entering a mill while yet a boy, and successively working his way up to overseer in every department. This is a very unusual tuition, but it has given Mr. Hills a knowledge of cloth production in all its stages that cannot be too highly appreciated.
This mill contains 43,480 spindles and 1056 looms, producing 12,000,000 yards of print cloth out of 4500 bales of cotton. The company has a capital of $500,000, distributed among one hundred and ninety stockholders.
THE FLINT MILLS
was organized in February, 1872, with a capital of $500,000, which was increased to $600,000 in October of the same year. The act of incorporation bearing date February 28th, 1872, names John D. Flint, Stephen C. Wright- ington, Simcon Borden, and William H. Jennings, their associates and successors, as the new corporation. The number of original subscribers was about two hundred. John D. Flint was elected president, Stephen C. Wrightington treasurer, and J. D. Flint, Robert T. Davis, Stephen Davol, William H. Jennings, William T. Hall, Danicl McGowan, Gardner T. Dean, S. C. Wrightington, William Carroll, and Cornelius Hargraves, the board of direction. Mr. Wrightington resigned in March, and George H. Eddy was elected treasurer to fill the vacancy. The organization assumed the name of Flint Mills, in honor of its president, and the village which has since grown up in the vicinity of the mill, is known locally as " Flint Village." Land for a mill site and tenements was purchased on the upper part of the stream, near where it issues from the South Pond, and before frost was out of the ground operations were begun for the foundation of the mill. The
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Berlin City
FALL RIVER MASS
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mill is built of stone, in accordance with plans drawn by D. H. Dyer, archi- tect, and, unlike most of the cotton-mills in the city, is a wide mill, after the English style, being 300 feet long by 94 feet wide, instead of the usual width of 72 to 74 feet. It is five stories high, with a flat roof, and a finely propor- tioned tower in front. The machinery is mostly American, and arranged for the manufacture of print cloth 64 by 64. The mill commenced running in April, 1873, and manufactures 12,500,000 yards of print cloths per annum. It contains 45,360 spindles, 1008 looms, and employs 450 operatives, with a monthly pay-roll of $11,000. The machinery is driven by a double Corliss engine of 650 horse-power. Steam is supplied by five upright boilers of 170 horse-power each. Water is taken directly from the stream by a canal dug for the purpose. The mill is lighted by gas made from petroleum, and furnished by the Wampanoag Mills near by. The fire apparatus consists of two large force-pumps, stand-pipes, hydrants, sprinklers, and connections with the city water-works; also a large tank in the back tower. The company owns forty-two tenements, and about sixty-two acres of land. The present number of stockholders is two hundred and fifty.
THE BORDER CITY MILLS
is the project of George T. Hathaway, Esq., who, after consultation with Messrs. S. Angier Chace and Chester W. Greene, of Fall River, and James A. Hathaway, of Boston, solicited subscriptions to a corporation of one million dollars capital. The stock was taken by about one hundred and fifty subscribers.
The first meeting for organization was held April 29th, 1872, at which the following gentlemen were elected a board of direction : S. Angier Chace, Stephen Davol, Chester W. Greene, E. C. Kilburn, Charles P. Stickney, A. D. Easton, George T. Hathaway, John M. Dean, William E. Dunham, James E. Cunneen, Horatio N. Durfee. S. A. Chace was subsequently elected presi- dent, and George T. Hathaway treasurer. An act of incorporation was secured under date of June 3d, 1872, and the name of " Border City Mills" adopted -a name often applied to Fall River because of its proximity to the State of Rhode Island.
It was at first contemplated to erect a single mill of some 75,000 spin- dles, but the experience of the past seemed to indicate that such a number of spindles could be handled better in two mills than in one, and the final deci- sion was given for the erection of two mills, of about 35,000 spindles each. Thirty acres of land were purchased in the north part of the city, at a point known as Wilson's Cove, on the east bank of Taunton River, and immediate preparations were begun for the erection of the No. 1 Mill. The site chosen
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had admirable facilities for the transaction of business, a good depth of water on the west, where a wharf was casily constructed for the reception of build- ing material, coal, cotton, freight, ctc., while on the east was the Old Colony Railroad, from which a spur was built directly past the doors of the mills to the wharf, and by which cloth and supplies could be readily shipped north or south.
The mills are built of brick. The No. I Mill was located near the shore, and work begun on the foundation in June, 1872, from plans furnished by Josiah Brown, architect and civil engineer. It is 318 feet long, 73 fect wide, and five stories high, with an L for engine and boiler room. It was filled with machincry, mostly of American manufacture, and started up in June, 1873. The No. 2 Mill was located some distance east, quite near the rail- road. It was also built of brick, 329 feet long, 73 fcet wide, five stories high, with basement and L, and started up in March, 1874. The motive power of each mill is furnished by a double Corliss engine of 565 horse-power. The steam is generated in the No. I Mill by four upright boilers, while the No. 2 is provided with twenty-four cylinder boilers. Water is drawn from wells dug on the premises. Both mills are lighted by gas furnished by the Fall River Gas Company. The No. 1 Mill contains 35,632 spindles and 880 looms, and the No. 2 Mill, 36,512 spindles and 880 looms. They consume about nine thousand bales of cotton annually, in the production of 20,500,000 yards of print cloths 64 by 64. Each mill is provided with two large force- pumps, together with sprinklers in each room, as well as stand-pipes and hydrants connected with the city water-works. The company owns twenty blocks, containing one hundred and fifty-eight tenements. James E. Cunneen has been superintendent of the mills since the organization of the company. The present number of stockholders is three hundred and fifteen.
THE SAGAMORE MILLS.
The first meeting for the organization of the Sagamore Mills was held March 6th, 1872. The number of original subscribers to the capital stock, of $500,000, was one hundred and seven. An act of incorporation was soon after secured, and on the completion of the organization, L. L. Barnard was elected president, Francis B. Hood treasurer, and the following board of direc- tion : L. L. Barnard, F. B. Hood, Josiah C. Blaisdell, James W. Hartley, Charles McCreery, Jonathan I. Hilliard, Joseph Borden, William M. Almy, D. Hartwell Dyer, and Job T. Wilson. A tract of land on the borders of Taunton River, a little north of Slade's Ferry, was purchased, and work on the foundations of the mill begun in July, 1872. The mill is built of brick,
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from plans drawn by D. H. Dyer, architect, and is 320 feet long, 73 feet wide, and five stories high, with a flat roof, tower, and basement.
The machinery was started in July, 1873, and is about half American and half English. The engine is of 400 horse-power, the boilers (six sections of the Harrison boiler) of about 50 horse-power each. Water is supplied by wells dug on the premises. The mill is lighted by gas, fur- nished by the Fall River Gas Company. The fire apparatus consists of two steam pumps, stand-pipes, hydrants, sprinklers, and connections throughout with city water. The company owns thirty-five acres of land and forty-eight tenements. The mill contains 37,672 spindles and 900 looms, and works up annually 4000 bales of cotton into 10,500,000 yards of print cloths. It employs 425 operatives, with a monthly pay-roll of $10,000. The present number of stockholders is two hundred and sixty-eight.
THE SHOVE MILLS.
The first steps in the formation of the Shove Mills were taken by John P. Slade, Esq., and it was mainly through his instrumentality that the organi- zation was finally effected, a charter secured, and the project brought to a successful issue. During the early stages of the movement, he had frequent consultation with Messrs. Charles O. Shove, George A. Chace, and Joseph McCreery.
The first meeting of the subscribers, thirty-one in number, for the organization of the company, was held March 4th, 1872. The act of incor- poration is dated April 2d, 1872. The capital was fixed at $550,000, and the name of " Shove Mills" assumed as the corporate name, in honor of Charles O. Shove, a prominent cotton manufacturer of the city, and the first presi- dent of the new corporation. John P. Slade was elected treasurer, and the following board of direction: Charles O. Shove, Joseph McCreery, George A. Chace, Lloyd S. Earle, William Connell, Jr., Nathan Chace, Isaac W. Howland, Josiah C. Blaisdell, and John P. Slade.
Land for a mill site was purchased on the western shore of Laurel Lake, just within the line of boundary between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and further purchases beyond the boundary line were made for tenement blocks.
No active steps towards building the mill were taken until the fall of 1873, when a foundation only was put in. Work was resumed in the spring of 1874, and the building carried forward to completion, and filled with machinery. The mill is a handsome granite structure, 339 feet long, 74 feet wide, and five stories high, with a basement, a flat roof, and a large square tower running up at the centre. The machinery is mostly American, and
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commenced running in April, 1875. The engine is a Harris-Corliss, of 500 horse-power. Steam is generated in twenty-four cylinder boilers, and abund- ance of water is furnished by the neighboring lakc. The mill contains 37,504 spindles and 960 looms, and manufactures 11,500,000 yards of 64 by 64 print cloths per annum. Four hundred and twenty-five operatives are employed, with a monthly pay-roll of $11,000. The mill is heated by steam, and lightcd by gas made from petroleum and manufactured on the premiscs. The com- pany has provided ample protection against fire, by two force-pumps, stand- pipes and hydrants, front and rear, and sprinklers within the mill. Fire- escapes are placed on the ends and at other convenient places about the mill, thus affording, with the tower, rapid and safe means of exit in any sudden emergency. The company owns forty-cight tenements and one hundred and twenty-two acres of land. The number of stockholders is one hundred.
THE BARNARD MANUFACTURING COMPANY
was projected in October, 1873, by L. L. Barnard, Stephen Davol, W. H. Jennings, and N. B. Borden. At the meeting of organization, on the 14th of that month, Mr. Barnard was chosen president, N. B. Borden treasurer and corporation clerk, and L. L. Barnard, Stephen Davol, W. H. Jennings, A. D. Easton, R. T. Davis, Simeon Borden, J. M. Aldrich, N. B. Borden, A. B. Chace, A. S. Covel, John Campbell, Cornelius Hargraves, and W. H. Gifford directors. A site was secured for the erection of a mill in the eastern part of the city, on the Quequechan River, and in convenient proximity to the New Bedford Railroad, which was then in contemplation.
On the 20th of October foundations were commenced for the engine and boiler houses and continued seven weeks, until suspended by the approach of unfavorable weather. During the ensuing winter the plans for factory and machine equipment were carefully perfected and the machinery con- tracted for. On the 2d of April, 1874, work was resumed, William R. Hus- ton, of Providence, taking the contract for building the mill structures.
The mill was not entirely wound up and all the machinery in operation before April 7th, 1875, though weaving on a partial scale commenced on the 9th of January. The longer period, however, was but one year exactly from the day upon which the contractor commenced his building operations. The mill has a capacity of 28,400 spindles, with 768 looms, producing 9,000,000 yards of print cloth annually, and working up 3500 bales of cotton. The mill structure is of granite, presenting a fine appearance, and possessed of the amplest and most improved safeguards against fire. The capital of $350,000 is owned by sixty-nine stockholders.
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Fall River Bleachery
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THE FALL RIVER BLEACHERY.
Up to that extraordinary year in the progress of Fall River (1872) the cloth production of the city had lacked one important element of a business perfect in all its stages-the immediate neighborhood of a bleachery. During the remarkable industrial development of that twelvemonth, however, atten- tion was naturally drawn to an enterprise so obviously essential to local busi- ness. Among those who took particular interest in the establishment of bleaching works was happily one exceptionally suited to fashion and conduct a project of the kind-Mr. Spencer Borden. Mr. Borden, the eldest son of Jefferson Borden, one of the two conspicuous original promoters of local progress surviving, had enjoyed advantages for acquainting himself with the technical and scientific branches of manufacture of an exceptional character, having, after two years' tuition in the dye and color department of the Ameri- can Print Works, spent a like period in Europe, inspecting the advanced systems of Manchester and Mulhouse, and studying applied chemistry and other arts used in cloth production, both at Paris and London.
Early in 1872, Mr. Borden prepared a carefully digested and elaborated scheme for a bleach works, and first submitted it to the owners of the great Wamsutta Mills in New Bedford. It was not only cordially received by them, but when, by their then agent, Mr. Thomas Bennett, Jr., laid before other local capitalists, very favorably entertained by them likewise. Large manufacturers in Rhode Island, and every mill in Fall River that bleached or was likely to bleach its cottons, also welcomed Mr. Borden's suggestion, and every thing seemed to indicate the time had come when this important adjunct of large cotton-manufacturing interests should be called into existence.
Committees to secure a site were appointed, and visited every stream of importance in Fall River, Tiverton, Somerset, and as far off as the Bridge- water ponds, gauging and analyzing the water, and examining the water-shed and freighting facilities.
It was finally decided that the lower privilege of the so-called Sucker Brook, about two miles from the City Hall on Stafford road, near the Rhode Island line, was the most available situation.
The following reasons led to this decision : Upon gauging the stream in May, it was found there were 1250 cubic feet per minute flowing in this brook to the Watuppa Pond. At the time when the people of Fall River desired to introduce water into the city, Stafford Pond, the source of this brook, was found to be the purest water examined, or whose examination was recorded in any of the water reports of the country. This beautiful sheet of water, ' lying 225 feet above Mount Hope Bay, has no stream flowing into it, is fed
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FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
entirely by boiling springs at its bottom, and is so clear that fish swimming far beneath the surface can be plainly seen from above. Its only outlet is the Sucker Brook, which flows a mile and a half, falling 75 feet in the distance, to the site decided upon for the new industry. Again, coming from another vallcy to the cast of Stafford road, a very pure stream flowed into the same hollow land as the Sucker Brook. This, upon being traced to its source, was found to issue from a collection of about twenty springs situate on the so-called Newhall and Dickinson Farms.
Having decided upon this location for the bleachery, the lower twenty- five acres of the Israel Buffington or Howard Farm, including the site of the old batting-mill, run formerly by Mr. Buffington, on this brook, were bought by some of the more prominent promoters of the enterprise. To this were afterwards added the three acres on Newhall Farm, where the springs were situated, a strip ten feet wide connecting that with the first purchase, and, still later, about twenty-five acres of the farm of Isaac Cook : thus securing the whole valley lying along the Sucker Brook, and the brook itself, from the lower side of the Job Estes privilege nearly to Watuppa South Lake, with right to deepen the brook even to the lake.
The books of the company were then opened and the stock so quickly subscribed, that before a stone had been laid it was quoted at 110 in the market. Prominent among the subscribers were Messrs. Jefferson, Philip D. and Richard B. Borden, Stephen Davol, Frank Stevens, C. E. Lindsey, C. P. Stickney, George B. Durfee, Walter Paine (3d), of Fall River; Messrs. Thomas Bennett, Jr., William J. Rotch, Edward D. Mandell, Edward C. Jones, William W. Crapo, Charles L. Wood, Andrew G. Piercc, Joseph Arthur Beau- vais, Edward L. Baker, Jonathan Bourne, Jr., Charles L. Hawes, David B. Kempton, of New Bedford; Messrs. T. P. Sheperd & Co., John O. Water- man, George Bridge, and Arnold Peters, of Rhode Island; and Mr. Dempsey, of Lewiston, besides others.
A meeting of the stockholders being held, Jefferson Borden was chosen president, Spencer Borden, agent and treasurer, and Messrs. Thomas Ben- nett, Jr., Richard B. Borden, Bradford D. Davol, Crawford E. Lindsey, Philip D. Borden, George B. Durfee, and Charles P. Stickney, with the president and treasurer, directors of the corporation. Plans for the proposed bleachery were drawn by the agent and accepted by the directors, Mr. Walter J. Paine performing the architect's functions, the mason work being done by Slade W. Earle, and the carpentry and joinery by Obadiah Pierce.
It was decided to build of stone, and of this material enough fine granite was found on the premises to answer the requirements of construction.
A level having been determined for the ponds, which were to be raised,
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the site of the building was excavated thirteen feet below this point, to allow of this grand fall of water into the washing machines, and to fill the kiers and boilers without pumping.
Two entirely separate ponds, of five acres each, varying from eight to eleven feet in depth, were raised-one for the water of Stafford Lake, the other for that from the springs. The buildings were so placed that the front toward the west made the back wall of the Stafford-water dam, that toward the south the back of the spring-water dam, and these walls were built seven feet thick, and laid in cement to the top of the dam, which is thirty feet wide.
Workmen then went to the Newhall Farm, cleared and stoned the springs, and run-ways from them into a stone reservoir one hundred feet square, where they were all collected. Earthenware pipes twelve inches in diameter were laid thence to conduct this water one quarter of a mile to the spring-water pond already mentioned. Meanwhile other gangs of men, with hoes and shovels, cleaned all the mud and stumps out of this spring pond, wheeling every thing that could contaminate the water out upon firm land- a labor which cost above $4000. As a final precaution against defilement of the pure water needed in bleaching, brick filters were built in each pond, as follows : An arch, of four feet radius and sixteen to twenty feet long, was first laid in good hard body brick. Six inches outside of this another arch was started, and as it rose, charcoal of the size of robins' eggs carefully put into the space between the two arches. The ends were then built up solid, and all water that enters the pipes of the Fall River Bleachery, besides its perfect natural purity, is filtered through two courses of brick and six inches of fine gravel or charcoal. A sixteen-inch pipe supplies the boilers, kiers, and first six washing machines from the Stafford-water pond. A ten-inch pipe of spring water supplies the two final washers, the eight rinse boxes-a feature peculiar to this works and the Lewiston Bleachery, the invention of Mr. Dempsey, of Lewiston-the mangles, sprinklers, and water for the paper-collar combining, of which more later.
Not to go further into minute details, the bleachery was built with twelve kiers, or a capacity of twelve to thirteen tons per diem, all the other machinery being in the proportion necessary to take care of this amount of cloth, and including all that was late and desirable in bleaching and finishing machinery. Besides the experience acquired by the agent in his survey of European works and his scientific studies, the company was most fortunate in the acquisition, before the works started, of Mr. Michael Partington as superintendent-a man whose years of practical intimacy with the business and ability to manage men have been of immense advantage to the undertaking.
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The boilers are of Corliss' upright pattern, he being also builder of the engine. This is high-pressure, and with the exhaust steam the kicrs are boiled. The dry-sheds at this works arc the only oncs where cloth is never handled either in hanging or taking down, the whole being donc by machinery. They are also the only ones entirely independent of the weather a very important desideratum in a place where one of the first articles of faith with the management is that no satisfactory finish can be gotten upon any cloths but those dried by hanging in air.
The buildings are arranged so that the capacity of the works can be doubled-to twenty-four tons per dicm-without additional construction, excepting that of dry-sheds. Already the desire of the managers to please the public is appreciated, and no finish is more popular in market than that of the Fall River Bleachery.
In ten months from the time the axe was applied to the forest, stately buildings rose, ponds were made, and cloth put through the bleaching pro- cess. In three of the hardest years the business of the country ever labored under, meeting a panic the first year of its existence, the bleachery has made friends enough to more than fill the machinery it started with, and already kiers, boilers, and folding machines have to be added.
Not only so, but in this Centennial year a new industry has been added to their already large business. Having concluded that a bleachery was the place where paper-collar stock could be most advantageously handled, it was decided to add machinery for this purpose. Usually, goods have been sent to a bleachery brown, gone through the bleaching process, and, when starched and finished, packed in rolls of-say 1000 yards each. In this condition they are shipped to the "combiners," where they are united with paper, and the combined stock calendered until highly finished. The great advantage of doing this at a bleachery is the saving in extra packing and transportation of the white cloth to the combiners. Moreover, when the whole business is done under one roof, certain processes, usually applied before the bleached goods are shipped away, may be omitted without detriment to the quality of stock when combined.
The paper-collar stock finished by this bleachery has met with so good a reception in market, that the company is adding new and more complete machinery to that already in position, the entire paper-collar floor, when com- plete, being intended to produce 15,000 to 20,000 yards of yard-wide stock per diem. The new machinery is also intended to combine cloth as wide as & to §, which will be of immense advantage to the manufacturer of paper collars and cuffs, allowing him to get a greater number of the strips from which these articles are cut, with only the edge waste incident to all yard-wide muslin.
Atlantic Publishing & Engraving
Hade School, Fall River. Has.
FALL RIVER:
ITS
EDUCATIONAL, RELIGIOUS, MUNICIPAL, AND FINANCIAL FEATURES.
Sº O far as the mental and moral elevation of their work people is concerned, the manufacturers of Fall River have spared neither cost nor effort, fully realizing the value to their individual interests, as well as to the social economy of their city, of an intelligent and hopeful community of operatives. In every direction this desire of the promoters of the local industry has shown itself. The apartments of the Christian Association are nightly filled with the mill-workers, both male and female, and the same assertion is true of other reading-rooms, opened by benevolent enterprise in less central districts. In some of the companies the list of stockholders includes quite a respectable proportion of operatives, and the policy of secur- ing such an interest among the workers is earnestly pursued.
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