USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 1 > Part 5
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THE COMMERCIAL TREND
The colonists soon found that their principal sources of wealth were to be found in the fish of the New England banks and the timber of the New England hillsides, both of which might trace their origins to the geographic factors which we have described above. Both of them exercised an influence on the development of New England, and in particular of Massachusetts, which has been felt to the present day.
The story is briefly this. Fish were abundant. There was a market for fish among the Catholic population of the West Indies and of the Mediterranean countries. Inasmuch as fish could be carried long distances only if they were salted, it was necessary to develop local supplies of salt or to import that ingredient. This gave rise to the establishment of local salt works under legislative bounties.
Ships were essential both in the catching and exporting of the fish. Splendid timber was at hand for shipbuilding. Bar- rels and hogsheads were the standard containers for every- thing from fish tu furs and even shoes, and both the cooper- age and shipbuilding industries required nails. Thus we have
35
FISHING AND WHALING
a picture of the interrelation of four important natural re- sources of Massachusetts developed in the fishing, shipbuild- ing, salt making and iron smelting industries, which together made possible the trade that was the foundation of great sub- sequent prosperity. Our next step is to examine in some detail the industries in which geographic influences were particularly felt.
FISHING AND WHALING 447379
The cod is justly a revered symbol of Massachusetts. In addition to the value of the fish as an article of commerce, they were used locally both as a common food and, after the Indian custom, as an agricultural fertilizer.
A significant result of the geological history of Massachu- setts is the broad continental shelf extending from Long Is- land to the Grand Banks. Southward over this flows the cold Labrador current from the Arctic, through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, around Newfoundland and along the New Eng- land coast ; providing thus an extensive area of cool and shal- low ocean which is most attractive to fish. Of all varieties the cod were the most abundant and the most valuable. They were taken in great numbers from the very earliest days, and are to this day the basis of an important industry.
Whaling was a later development. It was first concerned with the right or fin whales which frequented the shallow waters along the coast and occasionally ran aground or were cast ashore. The blubber and bone were of such value that local legislation early deprived the finder of a stranded whale of an exclusive right to it, and made such whales a kind of community property.
The acquisition of anything so valuable could hardly be left to chance and acts of God in the shape of storms sufficient to drive the whales aground, and the development of boat- whaling was the next logical step. Some towns kept regular watchers on duty after this became a common practice, and every citizen was expected as a matter of course to take an occasional glance seaward and to alarm the village if he saw whales. Then rowers would man the open boats and set out in pursuit, their purpose being to approach their prey as quietly as possible and throw in one or more harpoons before
36
THE GEOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND
the great fish began its attempts to escape. Nantucket was the center of this risky business, which reached its height there in 1726 and was carried on until about 1760. Indeed, Nantucket men were so proficient in boat-whaling that their methods were widely copied elsewhere, and experts among them were em- ployed to instruct less experienced whalers, notably about the mouth of the St. Lawrence.
Deep-sea whaling, as distinguished from the enterprise car- ried on with open boats, opened a new field in 1712 when a Nantucket whaler, driven rather farther out to sea than usual, chanced to capture one of the Cachalot or sperm whales. These produced an oil superior to that obtained from the right whale, and excellent candles were made from the spermaceti.
As boat whaling declined, deep-sea whaling grew in impor- tance. In the beginning vessels of about 30 tons made cruises of six weeks. As time went on, larger ships were employed
and the voyages were longer. The merchant ship-owners operated their own plants for the refining of the blubber and spermaceti which were brought to the home port; and it was well understood that the ship's master would not be cordially welcomed if he returned with less than a cargo. This natur- ally led to still longer voyages.
By 1830, the American whaling fleet had in large part re- covered from the losses of the War of 1812 and for the first time its tonnage surpassed that employed in the coal and mack- erel fisheries. A two-year voyage became the standard prac- tice and the favorite whaling grounds were in the South Paci- fic, where Massachusetts whalemen had hazardous adventures of the first rank, maintained the splendid sea-faring traditions of their home, and bred the best of material for the navy of the young republic.
In 1842, Americans owned about three-quarters of the total whaling tonnage of the world. In 1848 it was estimated that over $70,000,000 were invested and about 70,000 persons were employed in the industry. An English authority, in 1849, stated that the United States had 596 whale ships of 190,000 tons manned by 18,000 seamen; while only 14 Brit- ish ships were engaged in the whale trade. The net income of American whalers in 1854 has been estimated at about $11,000,000.
37
SHIPBUILDING
The Massachusetts fishing industry has continued to be very important down to the present day, though it no longer enjoys the relative prominence that it once had, because new enterprises have overshadowed it. Whaling, however, went into a marked decline after the Civil War. Probably too much emphasis has been put upon the influence on this decline of petroleum, which was at that time beginning to gain repute as an inexpensive lubricant. That factor, along with the sup- planting of whalebone by spring steel, undoubtedly played a part; but it should not be overlooked that the overhead ex- pense of carrying on the industry had become excessively high, what with long voyages and the increasing scarcity of whales; and the growing variety of other employment which became available for the young men of the New England farms re- sulted in the deterioration of the crews.
SHIPBUILDING
The drowned sea coast with its numerous bays and tidal rivers, combined with the abundance of excellent ship timber, contributed materially to the genesis of one of New England's most significant industries. England as a maritime power had already begun to feel the scarcity of suitable timber for shipbuilding, and inspectors were being sent to the overseas possessions, there to reserve for the British navy with its mark of the broad arrow, the tall straight trees that were needed for masts.
In the New England colonies the very best material was abundant, and the inhabitants had the two great incentives of the fishing industry and the maintenance of commercial con- tact with transoceanic countries. Also, the individuals and organizations in England who had taken the greatest inter- est in furthering colonial development were those which had hopes of commercial prosperity in colonial trade. They were quick to see that the ships essential to their enterprise could be built to much better advantage in the colonies. In evidence of this appreciation the first letter of the Massachusetts Con- pany in England to the governor and council of the colony, gave notice of the sending out of six shipwrights.
The first product made in America by foreign hands was
38
THE GEOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND
a ship built by the colonists of Popham, Maine, in 1607. This was the thirty-ton Virginia. In Massachusetts, Governor Winthrop sponsored the launching of the Blessing of the Bay on the Mystic river at Medford in 1631.
The industry developed very rapidly and soon assumed such proportions that legislation was enacted to assure perform- ance of the work in a safe and efficient fashion. All ship- building was to be under the supervision of some properly authorized person. "If his advice is not heeded, then, upon complaint to the Governor or any other two magistrates, they shall appoint two of the most sufficient ship-carpenters of this jurisdiction, and shall give them authority to view every such ship and all work belonging thereto, and see that it be per- formed and carried on according to the rules of the art." Progress was such that, according to an estimate of the Gen- eral Court, some 200 vessels were owned in Massachusetts in 1665; and Edward Randolph reported in 1676 that 730 had been built in Massachusetts. Very naturally many of these were small because they were intended for local use in the coasting trade or fishing. Yet the general tendency was toward the construction of larger and still larger ships, which were so well and so cheaply built in New England yards that it became common to send a ship and cargo abroad and sell them both there.
When American builders had ventured to the construction of ships that were as large as the needs of the times required, they began to exercise ingenuity in design. Speed was of great importance to the owner of a valuable cargo both be- cause it shortened the time during which his capital was tied up in merchandise at sea, and also because it furnished a de- gree of security against capture by enemies or pirates. The success of the American designers who departed from Euro- pean practice and eventually developed the beautiful and widely famed clipper ships, brought them international fame and an international market for their vessels.
The American shipbuilding industry as carried on in New England was at its height in the years from 1831 to 1845. In the latter year the total registered tonnage of 762,838 in 1840 had been increased to 904,476. Merchantmen of a thou- sand tons had made their appearance; and after 1850 huge
39
SHIPS' RIGGING
clipper freight ships of 2500 to 4000 tons were put in service between Atlantic ports and California.
In 1819 the side-wheeler Savannah went under steam and sail power to Russia but steam power was long neglected in the years that followed; and even when it achieved general acceptance the fast sailing packets of the Massachusetts ship- yards gave the steamships serious competition. The record sail passage of the Atlantic was made by the Dreadnought which went from New York to Queenstown in 9 days and 17 hours; this is hardly equalled by any modern passenger steamers except a few pretentious liners.
The skill and splendid traditions of New England ship- wrights enabled the wooden sailing vessels to hold their own up to the period of the Civil War. By that time the New England yards had become so well established and had at- tracted to their respective communities such a body of skilled workmen, that they were able to maintain their eminence even after the shift was made to iron and steel and steam power. This, of course, was true only because the industry had gained such tremendous headway under the influence of great natural advantages; and it therefore seems fair to say that the great New England shipyards of modern times may credit their existence to the original factors of good harbors and abundant ship timber near the sea.
CORDAGE AND SAILCLOTH
Anybody knows that a ship cannot be operated without sails and rigging. Despite a prejudice in favor of imported canvas, repeated efforts were made to establish sailcloth fac- tories in this country to supply the requirements of the ship- building industry. Flax and hemp were cultivated in the val- leys of the Connecticut and the Merrimac, and in 1788 a sail- cloth factory was established in Boston. The 800-ton Massa- chusetts was supplied, about 1790, with sails and cordage made in Boston. There was some difficulty in securing competent labor, however, and even with the encouragement of various bounties this and a number of similar enterprises on a more modest scale were unsuccessful.
Hemp seems to have been planted at Salem in 1629 and
40
THE GEOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND
a rope walk was constructed in Boston the same year. Other manufactories of cordage were established in the colony, and although the industry has never been largely productive and profitable it was important ; and its development is to be traced to those factors which gave rise to the shipbuilding industry, to which it was a necessary adjunct.
IRON
England was becoming a producer of iron about the time of colonization, and was interested in exporting it. Iron is an extremely useful commodity, and in the colonial commun- ity it was needed for two principal purposes, namely the manu- facture of nails and of cooking utensils. The colonists found it possible, however, to get around the trouble and cost of im- porting this important essential, because they learned to de- velop the deposits of bog iron ore that were scattered through- out New England, where the glacial moraines had blocked the stream drainage.
It had been hoped from the beginning that iron might be produced in Massachusetts and an inquiry was put on foot as early as 1628 to ascertain whether iron works might be estab- lished in the colony. The first actual development came some years later at Saugus, and by 1648 cannon, shot, pots, and other hollow ware were being turned out in a total amount of about eight tons a week. Other forges and furnaces were established at Braintree, Taunton, Walpole and elsewhere.
The ore on which these industries were founded was ob- tained from the bottoms of the bogs and ponds which are so abundant in New England as a result of the deposition of glacial debris in the stream beds. A distinction seems to have been made between bog ore which contained so many impuri- ties in the form of sand, clay and vegetable matter that it yielded not more than 18 per cent of iron, and pond ore which was formed in clearer water and so yielded 20 to 30 per cent.
Men in boats used long-handled ladle-like shovels with which they spooned up the ore from the bottom of the pond. A man might collect as much as two tons a day, which he would row to the furnace on the shore of the pond, where it was smelted with charcoal. If running water was available, it
Courtesy of C. K. Bolton, descendant of Joseph Jenks THE JENKS POT, SUPPOSEDLY THE FIRST PRODUCT OF MASSACHUSETTS IRON
From the original in the Essex Institute, Salem
THE PICKERING FIREBACK, CAST IN MASSACHUSETTS, 1660
41
FOREST PRODUCTS
was possible to employ a water wheel connected with a pair of bellows to maintain a strong draft and hasten the fusion.
The resulting iron was impure and brittle but exceedingly fluid, a quality which commended it in the casting of hollow ware. Many large kettles were utilized in the distillation of West Indian molasses and the boiling of New England maple sap, as well as in the ordinary business of the household.
Impurities might be eliminated in some degree by forging or rolling, and the bar iron thus formed had a somewhat higher tensile strength. One of the commonest forms of bar iron was the nail rod, used in the fireside manufacture of nails. Even children were employed in the slitting of the rods and the beating out into nail heads of the prongs thus formed. Domestic iron was especially welcome in this household indus- try because nails made from imported rods were always ex- pensive.
It was only the tremendous importance of certain forms of iron in the necessary construction of the time that made pos- sible the economic use of these inferior ores. Despite the waste and expense which their employment involved the prod- uct was much less costly than that imported from England. The local enterprises were completely eclipsed, however, as soon as the extensive and rich deposits were uncovered in the interior of the continent. Thus waned one of the most valuable of what might be called the makeshift industries of New England.
FOREST PRODUCTS
In addition to the group of resources and industries that were connected with the business of catching and selling fish, a few other natural commodities played a significant part in the early history of Massachusetts. Although this colony tended more strongly than any of the others to utilize its tim- ber in the building of ships, a great quantity of its forest products, including white and red pine and hardwoods, were exported mainly for use in England.
White pine has been more widely used than any of the im- portant timber trees of the eastern part of the continent. Easily worked and not over-disposed to decay, it was used for everything from furniture and paneling to the construction
42
THE GEOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND
of buildings and ships. Of the trees of the New England for- est, the spruce species ranked next to pine in versatility. Hemlocks were not very valuable for lumber; but from hem- lock bark and that of the chestnut-oak was derived the tannin that was long considered indispensable in the preparation of leather.
The nut-bearing trees of this region, oaks, walnuts and chestnuts were never as important as similar European trees, in their contribution to the food supply of the people. This seems in part to have been due, at least in the case of the oak, to the fact that the American nuts were more bitter and less suited for food than those of transatlantic lands. Chestnuts have always been a common country delicacy. Among the cabinet woods, the black walnuts contributed the finest native product because of their susceptibility to beautiful finish. This is the most costly North American timber.
Hickory, fine-grained and tough, lent itself to the making of wagons, carriages and agricultural implements. Ash was almost as serviceable, and the elm, somewhat coarser in char- acter was similarly utilized. Ash wood was open to the ob- jection that it became brittle after a time, and could not be relied upon like hickory and oak for long service.
Other products of the forest in common use, though of minor commercial value, included sassafras bark which was among the exports returned to England in the ships which brought over the early colonists; witch hazel which also, ac- cording to Indian teachings, possessed medicinal worth ; sumac, used to make the common red dye; and shrubs of less gen- eral employment.
MINERAL RESOURCES
Building stone is the only economically important mineral resource of Massachusetts, but of this it possesses an inex- haustible supply. For two centuries wood was the chief ma- terial in which the domestic architecture of the community sought expression. True, a few brick buildings date from very early times, such as the Cradock mansion in Medford; but the oft repeated statement that this and similar buildings of the period were built with brick imported from England in ballast, seems to lack confirmation.
43
MANUFACTURES
To the young colony of Massachusetts, stone seemed the only material of proper dignity for the construction of pub- lic buildings. A committee sent to examine granite exposures near Braintree reported that enough stone could be quarried there to erect a house for the governor and as many as three other buildings; the resources so exceeded their expectations that quarrying has been going on there ever since. From Braintree came granite for the first notable building of Amer- ican stone-King's Chapel, built in Boston in 1749-1754. Quarries were opened at Quincy in 1825 to supply stone for the Bunker Hill Monument. After 1840 Massachusetts sup- plied granite blocks to lay the cobblestone pavements of Bos- ton, New York and Philadelphia.
Of less significance were the Connecticut valley brownstone which later came into repute as a decorative building material of great elegance in Boston and New York; and the slates which, in the limits of Massachusetts, have been used in con- struction of secondary importance and in the building of roads which speedily disintegrate to their original mud. Marble, in which Vermont holds the lead, has been quarried to some extent in the Berkshire district of Massachusetts, and soap- stone has also been taken from the area between the Connec- ticut and the Hudson.
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES
We have considered above in some detail the factors which impelled the colonists to go in for manufactures, along with their principal occupation of subsistence farming. They were factors which made it unprofitable to carry agriculture beyond the point where it would meet the local demand for food, and so in a sense we may say that manufacturing arose, not so much because it was attractive in itself, as because the only other possibility was unavailing. But even if we restrict our- selves to the fields in which geographic influence has been posi- tive rather than negative, we shall find that it was very widely felt.
The household textile manufactures were such as were carried on the world over in any community where flax could be raised or sheep could be kept; virtually every home was in-
44
THE GEOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND
dependent in the matter of its linen and woolen cloth, enough of which was early made to give concern to English mer- chants who would have preferred to have the colonists import their product. The utilization of the hides of cattle in the making of leather and the use of this leather in boots and shoes were furthered, as we have seen, by the abundance of oak and hemlock bark which contributed to the tanning proc- ess. A contribution of the versatile New England fisheries was oil that helped to soften the leather.
A much more striking geographic influence is observable in the establishment of those industries which first shifted manu- facturing from the fireside to the factory. At that time water power was an essential to the establishment of any industry in which power was to be used at all; and the swift New Eng- land streams were particularly serviceable because their flow- age, thanks to the abundance of the forest cover and the num- erous lakes and ponds created by glacial deposition, was sub- stantially uniform over a very large part of the year. Water power was used on a small scale by stream and tidal mills built in the early period of colonization, but the significant de- velopments in this field were subsequent to 1810.
The textile industries of New England have long enjoyed prominence, and it has been assumed that their growth was chiefly due to the climatic advantages of the region. These were influential, particularly at a time when atmospheric moisture was the only known way of preventing the accumu- lation of electricity in thread during the spinning process, a thing which caused the thread to break and resulted in fre- quent tie-ups in the mills. But we must also take account of the New England whaling industry, out of which had been ac- cumulated considerable fortunes that became available for the financing of new enterprises. The mills of New Bedford, built out of the profits of the sea, are a notable example.
The influence of water power on the economic develop- ment of colonial New England has sometimes been overem- phasized. Falls and rapids were serviceable in turning the wheels of a great number of small local establishments, mainly grist and fulling mills. The large industrial communities which have been built up by water power-notably Lowell, Lawrence and Holyoke-were founded after 1820. Lowell
45
TRADE
is a perfect example of a city whose site was determined by a single, all-important geographic consideration; the water power of the Merrimac was brought to the attention of capi- talists contemplating the erection of considerable cotton mills, and after investigation they negotiated in 1821 such pur- chases as would enable them to monopolize the falls.
It is worth mentioning that the most recent elevation of the continental mass in relation to the ocean, described in the early part of this chapter, is responsible for the "fall line" where the rivers of New England drop from the edge of the former peneplain to the new shore. In some places this is near the sea; elsewhere it is several miles inland. Everywhere it has helped to make accessible the power of falling water.
TRADE
The subject of commerce involves some knowledge of the resources previously considered. Self-reliant as the colonists were, they were never able to supply all of their requirements with domestic products. The only solution was to purchase abroad what either could not be made at all at home, or could in any event not be made in sufficient quantities.
As we have seen, the want of an agricultural basis of trade with the mother country meant that the purchases made there had to be accomplished by indirection. It is true that furs, lumber and ships were saleable in England, but a vastly greater volume of commerce was transacted by the system of double trading which gave rise to the triangular trade routes. New England fish were sold in the West Indies either for bills of exchange on London or for West Indian prod- ucts which were in demand in England, and these in turn were exchanged for the English manufactures required by the New England colonists.
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