USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Carver > History of the town of Carver, Massachusetts : historical review, 1637-1910 > Part 12
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The furnace building stood on the southerly side of the dam on the site on which the last build- ing was built in 1874. The plant was destroyed twice at least by fire, once about 1808 and again in 1872. A boarding house was conducted in con-
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HISTORY OF CARVER
nection with the foundry; also a building for housing the employees called the Lodging House. This latter building stood northerly from the fur- nace building on the north side of the dam.
The store in connection with the plant which stood near Furnace pond on the northerly side of the road was the centre of activities for there the moulders and farmers met for business and social purposes. The business interests were not con- fined to the management and its employees for it included many of the thrifty of this and surround- ing towns who carted coal and ore to Charlotte and opened ledger accounts with the company. Liquors were sold over the counter by the glass, gill or pint and charged on account. Farmers found their provisions at the store and received credit for ore, coal, lumber, hides, pork, etc. The more thrifty ones even deposited cash on account and received interest on unsettled balances. Thus the store of B. Ellis & Co. partook of the nature of a banking house, and in this institution local capi- talists found an opportunity for investment while the young firm found capital with which to con- duct its increasing trade before bank discounts be- came general accommodations of commercial life.
The second war with Great Britain gave Ellis his opportunity. Whether he shared the prevail- ing sentiment which was arrayed so bitterly against that conflict or not, he did not permit his political prejudice to interfere with his business instincts and he hastened to sign contracts with the general government which severely taxed his ability to fulfil. But by sub-contracting and ren-
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tal of other plants he emerged from the deal with a financial strength that placed him in the front ranks of New England manufacturers. The most important of the out-side plants pressed into ser- vice was the idle works up the Cranebrook which B. Ellis & Co. conducted through the rush under the superintendency of Col. Bartlett Murdock.
After the war was ended, and with a surplus of capital, the firm was in a position to extend its trade. It began to own its vessels through which ore was landed at Wareham, and an extensive teaming business flourished between the plant and the wharf. Vessel loads of ware were also sent up and down the coast from Bangor to New Orleans. The Maine trade thus established con- tinued through the various managements of the plant to the end of the career of Ellis Foundry Company.
Jesse Murdock inherited the sceptre from Ellis and during the last half of this management he was the guiding genius of the business. In 1860 the firm of Benj. Ellis & Co. was dissolved and the new firm of Matthias Ellis & Co. assumed control of the business. This new company was com- posed of Matthias Ellis, Joseph Ellis and Charles Threshie,* and under this management the busi-
*Charles Threshie was a native of Scotland who settled in New Orleans, where he engaged in the hardware trade with Joseph Ellis, who migrated to that city from Carver. When the Civil War broke out the partners sacrificed their business and hurried North through lack of sympathy with the Southern cause. Mr. Threshie continued as a leading spirit in the foundry management until his death in 1873.
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ness was continued until it was incorporated under the name of the Ellis Foundry Company in 1872. The corporation stock was owned by Gerard Tobey, Peleg McFarlin and Edward Avery. Peleg McFarlin was the treasurer and general manager of the corporation until its disso- lution in 1904.
The earliest products of the plant were hollow ware of a common assortment which included crane pats, long leg kettles, spiders and andirons. Tea kettles were made from the beginning and the plant was always regarded as a hollow ware centre. Up to 1860 tea kettles were made in four part flasks with a dry sand core when twelve was considered a day's work per man. At this date the two part flask, green sand core, came into use and the product of the day's labor was doubled. The manufacture of aluminum tea kettles and other aluminum ware began in 1885.
During the war of 1812-14 cannon balls and other missiles of war were turned out, and follow- ing the war the furnace kept pace with material changes. Franklin fire place frames, Dubois and Hathaway stoves were among the principal pro- ducts of this period. In the decade 1830 to 1840 the furnace was changed to a cupola furnace and charcoal was supplanted by anthracite.
With this change came also a change in the pro- ducts of the plant. Continental and Cape Cod cook stoves became popular sellers, followed closely by airtights, cabooses, coral and box stoves, and in the last days of the plant gas bur- ners and Arbutus Grand ranges.
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The manufacture of farmers boilers was start- ed about 1860, and these proved to be the most popular products of the foundry. They were shipped in large quantities to the Western and Pacific States and to European countries. Dur- ing the last half century of the operation of the plant there was a wide diversity in its products. This included all forms of hollow ware, both iron and aluminum, frames, grates, sinks, funnels, cauldrons, stable fixtures and miscellaneous job- bing.
The last crew that operated this plant, and also the last crew to operate a foundry in Carver was composed of the following: Donald McFarlin, foreman; Carl Z. Southworth, melter; William and Joseph Hayden, assistant melters; Nelson F. Manter, carpenter, and the following moulders: Frederick Anderson, Z. W. Andrews, Albert F. Atwood, Samuel B. Briggs, Lemuel N. Crocker, E. Lloyd Griffith, Orlando P. Griffith, Orville K. Griffith, Charles Kelley, John B. McFarlin, Ed- ward Paro, John Piercon, Ephraim E. Stringer, Charles F. Washburn, George H. Westgate, Howard G. Westgate, Rufus S. Westgate and John A. Winberg.
Federal furnace was established in 1793 on the site of a saw mill. Long after this plant had been abandoned one of the survivors of the last crew that operated it was roaming under the decaying structure with a well known character of that locality hailed as Uncle Ben Wrightington. Uncle Ben was not versed in letters to the extent of being able to distinguish one figure from an-
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other, but when his companion asked him when the furnace was built he understood the nature of the question. "Come here," he replied in his characteristic style, and leading the way to the crumbling arch and brushing the dust from a huge rock that entered into its construction he pointed to the date chiseled out of the granite. For the first two decades of its history this plant was known only as the furnace but after it was operated for the manufacture of shot for the war of 1812-14 it acquired the name which comes down to us.
It is not probable that there was any settlement of importance in that region at that time. Uncle Ben resided on his old homestead to the south on the corner of Federal road and Mayflower road, attracted no doubt by the mill that had been operated on the stream, but with this exception the country was a wilderness until the furnace build- ing with its store, boarding house and one or two dwellings, gave rise to the thrifty little village in the woods. For several years beginning with 1808 a school was maintained in that vicinity.
The original partnership which established and operated the furnace was made up of veterans of the Revolutionary cause with Gen. Silvanus Lazell as the moving spirit. The General was a pioneer in the development of the iron trade and being im- pressed with the natural advantages of the lo- cality in 1793 he purchased of Capt. Joshua Eddy two-thirds of the water power, saw mill and other buildings with several acres of land and trans- ferred a one-half interest in his purchase to Gen.
EBEN D. SHAW
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FURNACES AND FOUNDRIES
Nathaniel Goodwin, John Reed, Dr. James Thatcher, Dr. Nathan Hayward and Friend White, all of Plymouth.
Reed transferred his interests to Goodwin in 1796; Lazell sold his claim in 1817 and Goodwin died in 1818. It is not probable that this first firm operated the plant more than ten years. It was idle when the second war with Great Britain broke out when it was rented for a limited time.
Benjamin Ellis who had signed contracts with the government leased this idle plant and put it in motion under the superintendency of Col. Bartlett Murdock. The war was unpopular and this management interested in the conflict in a busi- ness way found it advisable to employ a watch- man for protection against incendiaries. And this precaution was not altogether fruitless, for a would be incendiary was detected by the watch- man in the act of applying the torch but was pre- vented from accomplishing his purpose by a gun from the monitor. Imagination ran riot for a time but it was finally decided that the culprit was one well known sympathizer of the anti-war cause.
The plant was not destined to remain idle after the lease of Ben. Ellis & Co. expired. John Bent was a practical furnaceman who had served an apprenticeship at Popes Point, Charlotte and possibly another furnace from which he had been advanced to the position and style of skipper. This was but a degree below that of proprietor, and being squeezed out of Charlotte by the rising power of Ben. Ellis, the skipper saw in the idle works up the Cranebrook one more opportunity
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HISTORY OF CARVER
of gratifying his ambition to take the last degree in the iron trade. Hence in 1817, in company with Timothy Savery of Wareham, he came into posses- sion of the works and started them in operation under the firm name of Bent & Savery. The firm fell short of the desired end and in 1828 the plant was sold to a partnership composed of John W. Griffith, Seabury Murdock, Alvin Perkins, Caleb Wright, Stephen Wright, John Bumpus, Hervey Dunham, Henry Wrightington and Mar- stin Cobb. The purchase was not a profitable one and the new firm did not succeed in operating their works.
It is probably that the management of Bent and Savery ended the blast furnace regime and when the firm of ? ? ? ? ? ? and Holmes took the business for a brief time in 1830 a cupola was placed in front of the old arch which was discarded but not removed. The exact time this firm operated the plant is not evident but it had remained idle a year or more when the last firm started the wheel in 1837.
Ellis who had made his fortune in the iron trade had become interested in a young protege whom he had found in Plymouth and saw in the Federal furnace an opportunity, and he said to his young friend George P. Bowers, "why don't you and Joe Pratt hire the Federal furnace and go in busi- ness for yourselves ?" Although a sanguine youth the thought of getting so high at one step as to be the proprietor of a furnace had not bothered the boy's mind, and as for Pratt it transpired that he had no ambition to stoop so low. Pratt was a
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SCREENHOUSE OF FEDERAL CRANBERRY CO.
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FURNACES AND FOUNDRIES
school teacher with a taste and ambition for litera- ture, who had conducted the little school on Indian Brook about four years and at that time he was under contract for a large school in a neighboring town.
Squire Ellis had full faith in the opportunity, and young Bowers was a plausible talker, and the possibilities of business advancements were painted in such glowing colors before the vision of the school master, and so persistent, that a literary career was demolished, a teaching con- tract annulled, one more son-in-law secured for Squire Ellis, and a new firm launched called Bowers & Pratt.
Through the interest of their benefactor the works were put in good condition and when the young associates met on the field with their force of employees everything appeared bran new. The owners seem to have been more interested in keeping up appearances than in earning divi- dends, for the firm was under contract to pay an annual rental of one hundred dollars and every cent of it was to be expended in repairs.
Bowers & Pratt soon yearned for a larger field. It seemed to them that their chances for advancement were penned in Plymouth woods. In confirmation of their judgment it must be seen that conditions had radically changed since the Federal furnace was founded. All of their raw materials must be imported and all of their pro- ducts exported. Bog ore, what there was left, laid useless in the neighboring swamps, coaling timber stood on the hills but it had no place in the new
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HISTORY OF CARVER
methods of operating iron works, and a larger centre with modern facilities for handling freight and workmen, seemed to be indispensable. In such a frame of mind the firm started its wheel in 1841, but the breaking of their dam in October of that year abruptly ended their enterprise on the Cranebrook. They decided not to repair the break, but moved their business to Roxbury where they established the Highland Foundry Co.
The furnace was originally, and for the greater part of its active operation, a hollow ware manu- factory. Pots, kettles, spiders, bake pans, and- irons, etc., formed the bulk of its output. Govern- ment supplies were made in 1812-14, and Bowers & Pratt commenced the manufacture of stoves.
In the last jolly days* of the old plant Bowers & Pratt lived there, unmarried, and proprietors
*The nature of the iron trade gave rise to a spirit of fun and repartee that has enriched our traditions, and there is unmistakable evidence that the employees of the furnaces were the best patrons of the taverns. Every moulder had a nickname and when a new man or boy entered the shop a christening was in order and many of the old furnacemen are known only by their sobriquet to the present generation. At a time when the employees of Charlotte who lived within hailing distance of the works raised pigs as a side line a custom developed of visiting each other after the day's work was done to compare pigs, and on these social calls the treat was an iron rule. Naturally this custom was abused by some who had no interest in the size of porkers, but who did have an interest in the treat. On one occasion a moulder known as Capt. Gurney, who had no pig, thus accosted a fellow workman whose sobriquet was Bug, after the day's work:
"Well Bug, guess I'll come down and see your pig tonight. Going to be at home, ain't you?"
"Don't make any difference whether I'm at home or not," retorted Bug, "you can come just the same. The pig will be there."'
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of the boarding house. Betsey Atwood and Hope Tillson were cooks; Ellis Shaw, carpenter; Zoath Wright and Joseph Bent, ware dressers; Skipper Edmund Bump, melter. Salmon Atwood headed the list of moulders making heavy andirons, and from the nature of his work doomed to take the last or cinder iron every day; John Bump, Lewis Pratt, Ephraim Pratt (killed in a California mine), Sylvanus Griffith (drowned in Boston har- bor), Lothrop Barrows, Isaac L. Dunham, George Cobb, James Wright, Harrison Shaw and Chan- dler Robbins.
In 1819, a temporary plant was established at Slug pond near Wankinco. This was conducted by Ben. Ellis & Co. under the superintendency of Lewis Pratt, only during the Winter months until 1824. The probable object of this plant was to utilize the ore from the Wankinco swamps, and as cinder iron was carted to the works from Char- lotte the works may have been a pig manufactory. It is known that only the coarsest of moulding was done there, and during this period Ellis & Co. supplied raw iron to plants in Wareham and Taunton.
The Pratt & Ward furnace was built by Col. Benjamin Ward and Lewis Pratt in 1824. Estab- lished on the dam and water privilege now used as a reservoir by South Meadow Cranberry Co. The firm dissolved in 1827.
The first furnace in Wenham was built by Lewis Pratt near Wenham brook in 1827. The products of the plant at that time were fireplace iron ware, wagon wheel boxes, andirons, stoves, and cast-
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HISTORY OF CARVER
ings for Plymouth merchants. Charcoal furnace changed to anthracite in 1834. Foundry was kept in operation until it was burned in 1840.
In 1841 Lewis Pratt and son (Lewis) bought the Pratt & Ward buildings, water privilege, etc., moved the cupola and flasks from Wenham, and began the operation of this foundry which they continued until 1852 making stoves and hollow ware. In that year the firm dissolved, and Lewis Pratt, Jr., moved the cupola and flasks back to Wenham and rebuilt the foundry on Wenham brook, in 1855, which he conducted in company with his sons until it was again burned in 1866. The works were immediately rebuilt by Matthias Pratt and burned again in 1869. It was rebuilt by Matthias and Joseph Pratt and operated until 1887, when it was abandoned and its proprietors established their works at Campello. Stove re- pair work and funnel irons were the main part of the products of this foundry during its later years.
In 1844 a foundry was established by Benjamin Cobb and others near the present residence of Alton C. Chandler. It was in operation about four years when Cobb retired from the part- nership to establish the firm of Cobb & Drew in Plymouth. The buildings were removed about 1860.
In 1841 David Pratt established a foundry on Wenham road near the swamp southerly from the present residence of Eben S. Lucas. It was operated by horse power but a few years. The buildings were moved to Wenham brook in 1868 by Pratt brothers and burned the following year.
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FEDERAL VILLAGE Abodes of Employees during Harvest Season
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FURNACES AND FOUNDRIES
The enterprise started here was the inception of the Walker & Pratt foundry of Watertown.
About 1825 for a short term Joseph and Nelson Barrows operated a small plant between the Union church and the Barrows homestead. A unique feature of this plant was its method of obtaining the power which consisted of the swinging of a huge log. The log was operated by a muscular negro and this form of furnishing power was one of the earliest impressions of Lewis Pratt who witnessed the manœuvre while passing the plant when a very young boy.
For a few years during the decade beginning with the year 1800 a furnace was in operation on Fresh Meadow dam near the site of the N. S. Cushing mill. Little is known of the plant or of the nature of its output except that John Bent, Joseph and Nelson Barrows were interested in the business and worked there.
In 1850 Silas Bumpus conducted a furnace with horse power near his residence in South Carver. Caboose stoves, grates, funnels, etc., were made for the Charlotte furnace company. This plant was in operation but a few years.
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THE CRANBERRY INDUSTRY
The swamps which had furnished the residents of this region with pasturage and hay during their first century, with bog ore for the operation of their furnaces during the second century, proved to be ideal ground for the cultivation of cranber- ries and thus formed the basis of the industrial life for the century following the decline of the iron trade.
While the records show that cranberries were used as an article of food in earliest Colonial days the fruit did not become a staple article of com- merce until late in the 19th century and even that period was well beyond its prime when a methodi- cal attempt at cultivation was made. Through the earlier years the berries were regarded as common property, but after their place in com- merce was established marsh owners looked more carefully after their property and gleaning gradu- ally disappeared. Flooding for winter protec- tion and the annual mowing of grass constituted the only encouragement of the old school of growers* and in the industrial development fol- lowing the close of the Civil war the farmers first began the cultivation as it is now practiced.
*Benjamin D. Finney, who built a dyke for flooding a marsh in 1856, is claimed to have been the first to encourage the growth of cranberries by artificial means.
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HISTORY OF CARVER
After marsh owners came into undisputed pos- session of their property, cranberry harvesting began to develop as an industry. A popular method of harvesting was "by the halves," that is the laborer held one half of the day's harvest for his labor while the owner took one-half as rental of his marsh. Screening and packing were also of a primitive order. A windy day was necessary for the operation when a sheet was spread upon the ground and the screener, with a measure of berries held above his head gradually shook them out, the wind removing the chaff as they fell upon the sheet. The fruit was then packed in discarded barrels of varying dimensions.t
Shipments were consigned to agents in Boston, New York and Philadelphia, and these commis- sioners acted as distributors until the custom of selling for cash came into vogue. The increasing demand for the fruit that grew up in the West made buying an attractive speculation and the operator found a promising field between pro- ducers and consumers. Co-operative selling did not become an influential factor until the dawn of the 20th century.
From the hygienic standpoint the experiences of the harvesters of the earlier days of the industry would now be regarded as a hardship that would call for an investigating committee. The marshes
tThe contents of the barrel is now regulated by state laws, while a movement is on foot to establish a national standard. The dis- position of national legislators to make the contents of the package too large has aroused the interest of the growers.
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A VIEW OF THE WANKINCO CRANBERRY BOG Largest Single Tract Bog in the State
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THE CRANBERRY INDUSTRY
were always damp and in wet seasons they were breeding places for rheumatism and kindred com- plaints. The older laborers wisely refrained from a contact with the water but the boys took no such precautions. Long files of shivering barefoot boys lined out on the marsh awaiting the signal for attack and when the word was given they would drop into the icy water with shouts of laughter and boyish pranks, and the knees were numb with cold before the sun was high enough to impart its heat.
The New Meadows, comprising five hundred acres of natural cranberry bog, was the most famous of these early marshes. It proved to be valuable property as the trade developed and em- ployees gathered for the annual harvest from Car- ver and surrounding towns. Prominent among the growers of the old regime were Sampson McFarlin, Luther Atwood, Benjamin D. Finney, Joseph and Benjamin W. Robbins, John Dunham, George Shurtleff, Eben and Earl Sherman, P. W. Bump, H. A. Lucas, Ephraim Griffith, Nathan Ryder, Nathaniel S. and Matthew H. Cushing and Atwood Shaw.
Cultivation as it was later practiced began in the decade 1870-80. Among the first to train the plants were Thomas Huit McFarlin,* Chas. Dex- ter McFarlin, Alfred M. Shaw and George P.
*Thomas H. McFarlin, whose residence was near the New Meadows marsh, was a pioneer in the development of the industry. Noticing a large variety he transplanted a few of the vines and started cultivation of what proved to be one of the most popular varieties, the McFarlins. Mr. McFarlin died in 1880.
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HISTORY OF CARVER
Bowers, the latter being the first to embark in the business on a large scale. Charles D. McFarlin* expended upwards of one thousand dollars on one acre constructing more on experimental than on financial grounds. Every root was dug from the mud, and ditches were boarded and a spirit level used to insure a proper grade.
In 1878 George P. Bowers who had interested capitalists in the possibilities of the trade, began active construction on the East Head bogs which have proved a model, ideal sand, mud, drainage and water, making it one of the most valuable bog properties in town. Chief among those interested in the operation of the Bowers company was Abel D. Makepeace who a year later began work on the large swamps around Wankinco which ultimately developed the largest single tract bog in the State. The success of the East Head and Wankinco com- panies gave an impetus to the industry that made Carver the banner cranberry producing section and up to the year 1900 this one town raised one fifth of the total crop of America.
The status of the town is seen in the following statistics :
Acreage under cultivation in 1890 750
Acreage under cultivation in 1912. 2461
*Charles D. McFarlin migrated to California in the gold excite- ment period. On his last visit east in 1874, he became interested in cranberry culture and constructed the bog as stated in the above record. He returned to the Pacific coast in 1876 and em- barked in the business of cranberry culture near Coos Bay in Oregon, which he continued until his death in 1910.,
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THE CRANBERRY INDUSTRY
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