USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume I pt 2 > Part 37
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The first Sunday school connected with this church was organized in 1826 by Griffin Chamberlin. In this school William Renne, although only fourteen years old, was appointed by Mr. Chamberlin, who was his class leader, a teacher of a Sunday school class, among whose members were W. W. Carson, since mayor of Newburg, N. Y .; Dr. A. M. Smith,
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TOWN OF DALTON.
of Pittsfield ; David C. Smith, and Henry Chamberlin, of Dalton. In la- ter years Mr. Renne gave $50 to aid in founding the Sunday school library.
Dalton was made a station of the Methodist church in 1840, since which the following preachers have been located there : 1810, E. B. Hub- bard and Amos Osborn ; 1841, Alfred A. Farr ; 1842, P. B. Stover, Timo- thy Benedict ; 1843, Asa C. Hand ; 1844, Lemuel Stover ; 1845, William F. Hurd, Isaac Devoe, E. B. Hoff ; 1846, P. P. Stowell, J. F. Crowell ; 1847-8, Timothy Benedict : 1849-50, William Griffin ; 1851-2, John Bar- nard ; 1853, William P. Gray ; 1854, H. II. Smith ; 1855-6, Albinus John- son ; 1857-8, Egbert H. Foster; 1859-60, J. Phillips ; 1861-2, J. M. Ed- gerton ; 1863-6, B. O. Meeker : 1867-8, R. F. Wade: 1869, A. Heath ; 1870-1, HI. D. Kimball : 1872, Robert Fox; 1873-4, William J. Tilley ; 1875-7, E. A. Blanchard ; 1878-80, A. F. Bailey ; 1881-3, F. G. Rainey. Rev. Mr. Johnson died during his pastorate in Dalton.
There is a local tradition that a mission of the Catholic church was established at Dalton at about the same time with that at Pittsfield. but this must have originated in the memory of some temporary services performed by priests sent out from Springfield, to minister to the spirit- ual wants of members of their faith employed in the construction of the Western Railroad through the town in 1841-2. The mission at Pittsfield. which resulted in the building of St. Joseph's Church in 1843, was begun in 1841. and for many years included all Berkshire county.
Previous to 1861 Catholics in Dalton, if possible, made arrangements with their employers to be conveyed to Pittsfield on alternate Sundays, and many of those who could not effect this, women as well as men, showed the earnestness of their faith by walking several miles to church, and on days of special devotion even in inclement weather.
.As the Catholic population increased, Rev. Edward Purcell, who had become pastor of St. Joseph's Church in 1834, in 1861 recognized the ne- cessities of those under his spiritual jurisdiction in this locality, by estab- lishing a mission which was attended by himself and his associates at St. Joseph's Church until 1873, when it was attached to the church at Hinsdale.
Services were held in private houses and school houses until the building of the town hall in 1861.
Notwithstanding the services of the mission, a large portion of the Catholic population of Dalton continued to attend church at Pittsfield. until the winter of 1882-3, when St. Agnes Church was completed and consecrated. This is a wooden building of graceful architecture, and with an interior of exceptional beauty : the frescoing being especially admired. It has a seating capacity of 650, but the congregation numbers 848: The cost was $17,000. The Protestant gentlemen of the town showed their good will by liberal contributions. Crane Brothers gave $1,000, Carson & Brown presented the site, and Hon. Byron Weston donated a fine bell.
About 1840 a town hall was built, on the corner of what are now
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
North and Main streets. It was a wooden building, and was of a size sufficient for all the needs of the town at that time. The population of the town outgrew the capacity of this building, and in 1860 it was moved away and converted into dwellings. In that year the present town hall was erected, on the same site, at a cost of $8,000. It is also a wooden building, and on the ground floor are the selectmen's office, the library rooms, and a large school room. The second story is occupied by a public hall.
In 1852 R. A. L. Clark, Dr. Henry Frye, Thomas and William Car- son, S. M. Dean. Henry Curtis, Cyrus W. Cleveland, J. B. and Z. M. Crane, O. B. Hayes, Granville Weston, and Franklin Weston formed a voluntary association and contributed funds for the establishment of a library. They purchased 300 volumes, and placed them in a room in the town hall. The next year the town aided the association to the extent of $200. From time to time afterward the town made donations varying in amount, and gifts were received from individuals who recognized the ben- efits of the enterprise.
It has had a prosperous existence and it now has about 1, 200 volumes. It is opened weekly for the issue of these books, and many in the com- munity avail themselves of it.
The present officers of the association are : James Reed, president ; James B. Lawrence, vice-president ; A. G. Reed, secretary ; Albert David- son, treasurer ; Harvey Hill, auditor ; James B. Lawrence, librarian, and Harry Parker, assistant librarian.
It is contemplated to procure an act of incorporation making it a free town library, and to enlarge it.
DALTON WATER WORKS AND FIRE DISTRICT .*
The rapid growth of the town of Dalton during the ten years prior to 1883 led many of its citizens to think that something should be done to give the village a better supply of water. Every owner of a residence and every manufacturer could readily see that the few wells would not much longer supply the increasing demand on them. They were steadily becoming lower during summer, and some of them quite dry. The arti. ficial reservoirs or cisterns could not be kept filled, and the water they contained was impure and unhealthy. The rapid increase of dwellings, mills, and other buildings necessitated better facilities for protection against fire, which might at any time sweep away a large part of the vil- lage, with the inadequate means in existence for extinguishing conflagra- tions. These considerations led Lieut. Gov. Weston and some of the other leading and most enterprising citizens to examine and ascertain if a supply of pure water could be brought into the place. They climbed the hills in different parts of the town, and examined the fountain heads of the various brooks. They watched them through several dry seasons to ascertain which would be most likely to afford a permanent supply.
* By William B. Clark.
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They considered the places best adapted for a reservoir in view of their height and the requisite pressure of the water on the pipes. After con- sultation among the citizens it was.agreed that the two best streams for the purpose were the Egypt and the Cleveland Brooks. A chemical analysis was made of the water in these streams, and it was found that the water of the Egypt Brook was the most nearly pure, and as it af- forded an abundant supply, and the fall was ample it was determined to use it.
At a town meeting on the 25th of February, 1884, it was resolved to organize a fire district. A charter was granted by the Legislature April 7th. 1884, and on the 21st of the same month the town voted to accept it. The district embraces a territory along the Boston & Albany Railroad about a mile in width by two and one half miles in length.
The construction of the water works was commenced in the spring of 1884. and in the autumn of the same year water was introduced in the mains.
The dam and gate house were built by Dwyer Brothers, of Dalton. The reservoir, trenching, laying of pipes, etc., were done by the advice and under the personal supervision of the water commissioners.
The reservoir is two miles north from the village, and it has a capac- ity for 3,250,000 gallons. It is 255 feet higher than the bridge across the the Housatonic at the center of the village. thus giving a pressure that obviates all necessity for fire engines.
More than 14,000 feet of ten-inch pipe have been laid, and 22.000 feet of pipe of smaller sizes. Thirty-two hydrants have been set, and the district is provided with three hose carriages, each with 300 hundred feet of hose and the necessary attachments.
It is noteworthy that the estimated cost of these work was $50,000, and the actual cost only $46,614.47.
The officers of the fire district from the first have been : W. B. Clark, clerk ; John D. Carson, treasurer ; Z. Crane, jr., Byron Weston, Abel Kittredge, prudential committee ; C. Glennon, W. M. Crane, A. E. Cham- berlin, water commissioners.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
TOWN OF DALTON (concluded).
The Paper Manufacture .- Zenas Crane, the Pioneer Manufacturer .- The Second Mill and David Carson .- The Crane Mills and their Owners .- The Byron Weston Mills and the Weston Family .- The Weston Artesian Wells .- Woolen Manufacture in Dalton .- Other Manufactures .- D. H. Tower.
I N Dalton, as elsewhere, the opening of the nineteenth century was the beginning of a new era. Elsewhere it was marked by changes in political affairs, in modes of thought, and by the passing away of the old-the coming of the new-in many phases of life. In Dalton the change, scarcely perceptible at the time, consisted in the introduction into the town and the county of the paper manufacture, which has since brought fame and fortune to both. The pioneer in this work was Zenas Crane, the founder of a family of noted and successful paper manufac- turers.
Zenas Crane was born May 9th, 1777. The home of his father, Ste- phen Crane, was in that part of Canton, Norfolk county, which lies very near the site, in the adjoining town of Milton, on which the first paper mill in Massachusetts was built, in 1730. The struggles and fortunes of the infant manufacturer were well fitted to interest, and even to excite. the imagination of an intelligent and quick-witted New England youth. Stephen Crane, jr., learned the art of paper making in the Milton mill, and established himself in the business at Newton. It does not appear that his younger brother, Zenas, received any definite instruction at Mil. ton in the "art and mystery" which became his life work, and that of his children and his children's children ; but it goes without saying that a bright lad could not have lived so near a peculiarly fascinating manu- facture in which his brother was at work without gaining a tolerably ac- curate notion of it.
Be that as it may, when the time came for him to choose his employ. ment for life, be repaired to his brother's mill. in Newton, where he learned the rudiments of paper making, and then went to Wordester, where he finished his business education in the mill of General Burbank,
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a severe and exacting, but very competent master, from whose instruc- tion he profited both in skill and discipline. Naturally of an independ- ent disposition, his first step, after this, was to seek a proper location on which to set up a paper mill for himself. This was a much simpler oper- ation than it would now be, in some respects, but a more difficult one in others. Some of the requisites for a proper location must exist as long as the laws of nature endure ; others depend upon the finctuations of population and trade, and the progress of invention. The requirements for paper manufacture, some of which have passed away forever, were in the year 1800 as we shall state them. There must be water power suffi- cient to drive the engine, but easily controllable. No such tremendous power as is now used at Holyoke and other great falls could then be man- aged ; and even now it is no more effective, to say the least, for the best work, than that on a smaller stream. The purest water, in abundance, for cleansing the rags and preparing the pulp, was absolutely indispensa- ble for making the best class of paper. Cheap land in the midst of a region which would supply food at low rates, and also afford a market for a considerable portion of the product of the mill, was a prime requisite.
Much of this is now changed. The home markets, although they supply more material and take more of the manufactured goods than ever before, have become comparatively of small consequence. Most of the rags used in the large manufactories of Berkshire are now brought from the ends of the earth-often from the slums of London, New York. and Constantinople ; and even from the catacombs of Egypt, where they have shrouded mummies for 3,000 years. Their paper is sent to the great markets of the world. Each mill can now select its specialty, and per- fect itself in the machinery and skill needful, always sure that some- where in the wide world there will be a market for the best goods which it can make.
Unfortunately for the early manufacturers, the reverse of this con- tinued to be true long after the year 1800. For years after that date each little mill gathered its rags from a small circuit immediately around it- self, and depended largely upon the same region as a market for its goods. So far as it had the skill and means it made all the different grades of writing, printing, and wrapping paper, as the local market for the moment seemed to demand. The proprietors were compelled to turn their hands to anything which would bring present pay, however much frequent changes hindered general progress.
It was with a fair knowledge of this and other difficulties which lay in his path that young Zenas Crane mounted his horse at Worcester in the summer of 1799, and rode westward in search of a site upon which to build his mill and his fortunes. At Springfield he found the paper mill founded by Eleazer Wright, probably prior to 1787, and afterward made famous by David Ames & Sons. Beyond that there was no mill of this class until the Hudson River was reached ; none southward above Southern Con-
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
necticut, nor on the north except in Central Vermont. Nearly in the center of this large region, unoccupied by any of his craft, Mr. Crane found a site in which were combined all the requisites which could be de- sired for his purpose. It was not far from the center of the town of Dal- ton and of Berkshire county. Here, in a narrow romantic gorge or glen, was a waterfall upon the east branch of the Housatonic River, which has since been made a power of far greater capacity than Zenas Crane ever expected to demand of it. This, however, was at that time of compara- tively small consideration. Waterfalls were abundant in those days, and not costly.
There was another point, and the most essential one, in which this location and all others in Dalton are unrivaled. The whole eastern slope of the Dalton valley, as well as most of its bottom and much of its other surroundings, is geologically a purely silicions formation out of which gush innumerable springs, as free from any injurious mineral combination as natural water ever is. The most eminent chemists, after analysis as strict as it is possible for them to make, pronounce the water, even in its mountain lakelets and in the streamlets which dash down its mountain side, as near an approach to chemically pure distilled water as nature ever gives us. The adjoining town of Pittsfield now prides itself upon receiving its water supply from these crystal hills instead of drinking from its own iron and lime impregnated wells.
In 1799 the peculiar qualities of different waters had attracted little general attention ; but it is certain that Zenas Crane did not forget so important an element in his calculations, for he needed to go but five miles further west to find, in Pittsfield, equally good water power, in a location a little more convenient to his markets, and in a community then just awakening to the home value of manufacturing enterprise, and eager to aid any reasonable project in that direction ; but the water there was loaded with deleterious substances, fatal to paper making.
But.even in other respects the locality was favorable to his venture. Dalton had then a population of 950, more than half living within its present limits ; the county of Berkshire had 34,000, while a prosperous section of Hampshire lay nearer to Dalton than to Springfield. Outside the State the nearest rival mills were at Hartford, Troy, and Bennington. It might well have been expected that a region indicated by these limits, especially as it had two newspapers, would furnish material for and ab- sorb the product of a one vat paper mill, leaving but little to seek in a wider market by way of Albany.
The cost of living in Dalton was small, and workmen had few temp- tations to extraordinary expenditures, except in the many taverns, the seductions of which indeed were sufficiently potent.
Such was the location which, in the summer of 1799, Zenas Crane se- lected for the first paper mill in Massachusetts, west of the Connecticut River ; a section in which some of the best paper in the world is now made, and more in one hour than one of the early mills could supply in
IT
Z enas Grasse
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TOWN OF DALTON.
a year. The mill, however, was not actually built until the spring of 1801, as appears from the following curious advertisement in the Pitts- field Sun of February 8th in that year :
" AMERICANS!
" Encourage your own Manufactories, and they will Improve ..
" Ladies, save your RAGS.
"As the subscribers have it in contemplation to erect a PAPER MILL in Dal- ton, the ensuing spring; and the business being very beneficial to the community at large, they flatter themselves that they shall meet with due encouragement. And that every woman, who has the good of her country and the interests of her own family at heart, will patronize them by saving her rags, and sending them to their Manufactory, or to the nearest Storekeeper, for which the Subscribers will give a generous Price.
" HENRY WISWELL, " ZENAS CRANE, " JOHN WILLARD.
1
" Worcester, Feb. Sth, 1801."
In the interval Mr Crane was probably engaged in securing means or partners in his work. Of the partners who signed the advertisement only one, however, finally took part in the enterprise, John Willard giv- ing place to Daniel Gilbert.
The site belonged to Martin Chamberlin, who seems to have been a cautious man, for he was so doubtful of the practicability or of the per- severance of the young projectors, that he would give only an oral per- mission "to build and try," with the promise of a sale " when the thing should be done." The deed was given December 25th, 1801, and con- veyed to Henry Wiswell, Zenas Crane, and Daniel Gilbert, fourteen acres - one hundred and forty-nine rods of land, together with a paper mill and appendages thereon standing, for the consideration of $194; a fair price for the land and water privilege as values then were.
"The thing had been done." The building erected was a one vat mill, its main part being two stories high, the upper being used as a dry- ing loft. It had a daily capacity of twenty "posts." A post was a hun- dred and twenty-five sheets of paper ; the size in this case being folio for printing paper and foolscap for writing. By weight the daily product varied from 100 to 125 pounds.
The skilled workmen employed were an engineer at $3 per week, a vat man and coucher at $3.50 each. One additional workman and two girls at seventy-five cents each per week, and a lay boy at sixty cents, all boarded. were also required. What Mr. Crane received as superintend- ent and general manager we do not know, but a few years later his part- ners allowed him $9 a week.
The prospecting journey of Zenas Crane, in 1799, was almost exactly coincident with the experiments in France and Scotland which led to the invention of the Fourdrinier machine and the introduction of chloride of
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
lime in bleaching ; but it was several years before those improvements were perfected and generally adopted ; many before they began to be adopted in America. . In the meantime paper was made by the old hand process, and what bleaching the rags got was before they became rags. The quality of the paper depended much upon the care with which the rags were sorted, and in hasty work this was little enough, as the varie- gated tints of old newspaper files abundantly attest. Dyed rags could not be used at all, except in making wrapping paper. Those dyed with indigo were, however, treasured up to make tobacco wrappers ; the dealers re- jecting all paper made from others and dyed in the making. They prob- ably fancied that it affected the flavor of their goods.
In the early days of the American paper manufacture, from the time the bell-man with his cart went through the streets of Boston, in 1769, begging the ladies to save their rags and sell them to him to be made into paper at Milton, there was always more or less difficulty in obtaining them, until the great wholesale importation and trade was organized. This difficulty diminished. however, as the tin pedler in his rounds taught the New England housewives the thrift that lay in saving materials which they had been accustomed to consider worthless, but which they now found could be converted into paper more valuable than the "rag money " of many banks. But in Berkshire, at least, it was not the tin pedler, but the post rider who gave the first lessons in this now uni- versal frugality. In 1801 there were but seven post offices in Berkshire, and not a dozen within thirty miles of Dalton in any direction. These were in what were called post towns, and all the mail matter of the whole region was sent to them ; no provision being made by government for its further distribution. A system of post riders therefore sprang up, in- stituted either by the riders themselves, the publishers of newspapers, or other enterprising parties. They took the mail matter from the post of- fice, and, each on his own route, delivered it at the doors of those to whom it was addressed. They also did much of the work of the modern ex- press companies, in carrying parcels and as media for minor traffic. A large part of their business was done as agents for newspaper publishers. There was little money in circulation, either in the form of coin or bank notes. Barter was the ordinary mode of trade, supplemented by a sys- tem of reciprocal credits under which balances were, or were supposed to be, adjusted at stated intervals. The post rider, therefore, who at other seasons made his rounds on horseback, in winter brought out his sleigh to transport the produce in which he received his newspaper subscriptions and other dues. Of these, paper rags soon came to be a very bulky por- tion. The supply was, however, uncertain ; and a dearth of the best material often cramped the mills.
The early paper maker in Berkshire had still another difficulty to encounter. Even when there was a full supply of well sorted rags, much depended upon the skill and character of the workman-a very uncer- tain quantity. Paper mill workmen were much given in those days to
RESIDENCE OF JAMES B. CRANE, DALTON.
TOWN OF DALTON.
tramping. They came along, one by one, English, Scotch, sometimes American, seeking a job, which was given them if they were needed. If not. they got supper, lodging, and breakfast, for which they made such return as they could, if there was opportunity for any, and went on their way after receiving a dram of spirits ; for this was long before the begin- ning of the temperance reformation. If there was work for them they remained while it lasted, or until the spirit of restlessness took them away. There was great diversity in their skill, and also in their capacity for exercising it at different times. All this was, of course, troublesome and vexations to the early paper manufacturer, and was in strong con- tiast to the present system of trained workmen under competent over- seers.
Another source of much anxiety and frequent loss was the variable character of the markets, which it was more difficult to meet, as it took weeks to perform the work which the progress of invention now renders it possible to do in a few hours, while the market is much more stable than in the old times.
Under difficulties and disadvantages such as these, Zenas Crane con- ducted until 1807 the business of the mill, which, with its successors on the same site, has won a national reputation as the "Old Berkshire." In 1807 he sold his undivided third part to his partner, Henry Wiswell, the payment being secured by mortgage. Wiswell seems to have been a well skilled paper maker, but, like many other manufacturers of that day. was addicted to habits which impaired his business ability ; so that the affairs of the mill soon became involved, and it was sold under the mortgage or on execution. It then passed rapidly through several hands, but Wiswell's knowledge of the art seemed still to have kept him the principal manager. In September, 1812, the owners were David Camp- bell, an enterprising Pittsfield capitalist, and Daniel Boardman, a well- to-do Dalton farmer. They contracted with Wiswell for his services as foreman "at the rate of eight dollars a week for each and every week in which he is employed as foreman, and no more." They also agreed to keep the mill in good repair. Wiswell on his part agreed to so conduct the business that it should yield the proprietors " so much manufactured stock and other materials from time to time as will be equal, on a fair ap- praisement, to a clear net profit over and above the capital employed " of eighty dollars and thirty-three cents for each month. Under this con- tract the mill went on for some years with such success as to encourage further effort.
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