USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Palmer > History of the town of Palmer, Massachusetts, early known as the Elbow tract : including records of the plantation, district and town 1716-1889 > Part 26
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But the canal proved refractory. There remained a long cut through the solid rock to be excavated. The engineer and con- tractor did not understand the art of effective blasting ; tons of powder were wasted ; brain and brawn, and money went up in smoke. Time did not wait ; bills matured ; stockholders' purses grew lean, and their hearts discouraged. The cost had not been counted. And the original outlay, and expense of building the dam and factory, and the upper part of the canal appear to have exhausted the means of the corporation, and forced it to the dangerous ex- pedient of borrowing money, and giving mortgages as security. How long the work proceeded is not definitely known. Records of a later date show that Edmund Munroe of Boston held a mortgage covering one-half part of the estate. O. Pickering, Luther Parks,
Fay, - - Putnam, - - Pritchard, had claims secured by mortgage.
In 1828 a special effort appears to have been made to save the plant. Among others, Hall J. Kelley, who had attained a gocd reputation as civil engineer, visited the place and invested a con- siderable sum in the enterprise. He took hold with his accus-
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tomed enthusiasm, and probably was reckoned as a kind of forlorn hope. He made accurate surveys, and drew a comprehensive plan of the site, embracing the dam, mill and canal, took the necessary levels and alignments and marked out lots and streets. The plan is still extant, and evinces a comprehensive mind, which took in the immense facilities afforded by the water power and the favor- able lay of the land for planting a productive industry, and creating a village. He also projected an extension of the canal to the Con- necticut river, to be used for the transportation of the supplies and goods of the factory and village.
But the debt already incurred must first be lifted. The means were not forthcoming, the mortgagees foreclosed and the company failed.
THE PALMER COMPANY .- Oct. 7, 1831, an Act was passed by the General Court incorporating John S. Wright, Thomas Lord and Luther Parks as a corporation by the name of the Palmer Com- pany for the purpose of manufacturing woolen and cotton goods and machinery in the town of Palmer, with right to hold real estate not exceeding in value $200,000, and personal estate of the value of $200,000.
October 17, 1831, the Palmer Company bought the buildings, privilege and all rights pertaining thereto of the Three Rivers Manufacturing Company, and of most of the mortgagees holding claims under said company. The price paid is supposed to have been $60,000.
At this date appear upon our records the names of two men who were destined to act an important part in the history of Palmer and be largely instrumental in transforming a rather sluggish farming community, content with the "old ways" of the fathers, into a busy, bustling and thriving manufacturing town. The two men were John S. Wright and Joseph Brown. Mr. Wright fur- nished the money, Mr. Brown furnished the brains. And both together brought into subjection the waters of our three large streams, and made them tributary to our commercial and social prosperity, and laid the sure foundations of the three flourishing factory villages. Other men began-wisely, perhaps-and made preparations and showed the possibilities, and deserve all proper credit for the necessary preliminary work, but to them belongs the credit of success.
Joseph Brown was born in Cumberland, R. I .; located early at Chicopee, where he learned the manufacturing business in all its parts, and successfully managed a cotton mill. He came to Three
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Rivers in 1831, with the advent of the Palmer Company and took charge of the revivified enterprise. He was a man of action and push, of excellent judgment and business capacity, and withal of an indomitable will and large hopefulness. All things conspired to point him out as managing agent of the new company. His first move was to finish the canal. One who was then living at the place says : " It was wonderful to see the energy he infused into the workmen. He was down in the cut, and up on the bank, and everywhere." Blasts were put in where they would do the most good, and in a comparatively short time the canal was finished.
Mr. Brown's knowledge of machinery enabled him to construct a set of cheap spindles and looms for utilizing short staple cotton in making fine goods. Up to near this date our manufacturers largely used the long fibre for spinning fine threads. The short staple was considerably cheaper than the long. The goods, as he produced them, were well liked, and the profits were large. At first and for several years the mills were run on printing cloth, 27 inches wide. Later, the manufacture of sheetings was introduced. The enterprise prospered. Mr. Brown became owner of a considerable number of shares, and continued to act as managing agent for the company till 1859, when he retired with a competence.
Mr. Wright never located in Palmer. The house of John S. Wright & Co. of Boston was the selling agent of the concern.
In the meantime, a stone grist and saw mill (still standing) was put in on the northerly side of the stream, taking power from the pond. This was in operation for many years, and, among others, was leased by Horace Hunn.
The mill was burned May 10, 1863, and the disturbances and un- certainties of the war rendered it inexpedient to rebuild. Nov. 23, 1863, the Palmer Company sold the privilege to John S. Wright, who was a principal owner, and it remained unoccupied for ten years. February 9, 1872, Mr. Wright sold the property to The Otis Company of Ware. The dam and canal remained intact, and the new proprietors proceeded during 1872 and "73 to build the present mill, 290x75 feet, and put up a dye house, finishing room, and several new tenements. As then arranged, the mill contained 20,160 spindles and 450 looms, and employed 425 hands, with a product of 12,200 yards per day. At first the leading product was cotton flannels ; changed to denims, cheviots, fancy shirtings, and colored goods, the manufacture of which still continues. Within the last few years changes have been made, as the result of experi- ence, and improvements introduced, and the product largely in- creased. Present number of spindles, about 24,000; looms, 700;
IVES
CROWBCUP & WEST END. CO. PHILA. PA.
PALMER MILL OF THE OTIS COMPANY, THREE RIVERS, MASS.
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hands employed, 625-males, 350, females, 275; annual product, 9,000,000 yards; cotton consumed, 2,800,000 pounds.
Height of fall, 18 feet.
The valuation for 1888 shows, machinery, $181,406; factory and buildings, $121,450; water power, $8,000; forty-four houses, $64,- 125; stone grist mill, store, barns, etc., $2,450; land for building purposes, 20 acres, $4,000; land for farm, 265 acres, $5,300.
The population of the village is about 1,700. Six schools are supported by the town, carefully graded so as to meet the wants of all classes, except high school scholars, who are transported to the high school at Palmer Depot. There are three regularly organized religious societies, viz., the Union Church, the First Baptist, and the French Catholic-which last erected a tasty house of worship in 1884.
The location of the village of Three Rivers is fortunate as to the feasibility of building operations, and good drainage to secure the health of the people. In 1860 an acre of ground directly in front of the mill yard was set apart for public use, planted with shade trees, and now constitutes a handsome park. In 1883 the town re- located and straightened the principal streets, thus adding much to the convenience of travel and the symmetry of the village.
A brief notice of the man who first surveyed and laid out the village, and who was a somewhat noted character here during the last years of his life, will complete the narrative of this locality.
Hall Jackson Kelley, according to his own account, was born at Northwood, N. H., February 24, 1790. He was a descendant of John Kelley, who settled in Newbury, Mass., in 1633. His father was Benjamin Kelley, a physician, who practised his professsion in Loudon and Gilmanton, N. H. At the age of 16, the boy left home, and taught a school at Hallowell, Me. He studied the clas- sics, and graduated with honor at Middlebury College in 1814 ; was granted the degree of A. M. by his alma mater, and also by Har- vard University in 1820. He married, first, a daughter of Rev. T. Baldwin, D. D., of Boston. His second wife was Mary Perry, an adopted daughter of T. D. Bradlee of Boston. They were married by Rev. Mr. Baldwin, at the house of Mr. Bradlee, April 17, 1822, and took up residence at Charlestown, where they remained till the spring of 1829, when they removed to Three Rivers in Palmer. Mr. George Mooers remembers their arrival at their new home ; and that Mrs. Kelley, wholly unused to country life, but determined to be her own housekeeper, employed him to milk their cow, and then to teach her to milk, which she readily accomplished. The family
-
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resided at Three Rivers till the summer of 1832, when Mr. Kelley was preparing to start for Oregon. The wife and children then went to Boston, and from thence to Bradford, Mass., and later to Gilmanton, N. H., to live with Dr. Kelley. After Mr. Kelley's return from the West, he passed some time with his family in New Hampshire ; and after his re-settlement at Three Rivers his wife and children visited him occasionally down to 1843; but his " home " was not re-established.
In his "Letters to his Wife," Mr. Kelley mentions his sons, Charles, who went to California ; Benjamin, who about 1850 was at Fort Lincoln, Texas ; and John. "Tom Kelley," another son, is remembered by old people.
After his graduation from college, Mr. Kelley devoted his time to teaching, the preparation of elementary books for schools, the introduction of black-boards, and the study of the higher branches of mathematical sciences, making what he deemed a discovery in the true system or method of geographical and topographical sur- veying ; but his neglect to formulate the "proper tables, left the discovery incomplete. Gen. Bernard, head of the corps of Civil Engineers, approved the new principle ; and " President Jackson promised to adopt it, whenever a book, giving directions for its practice, and a proper apparatus, should be prepared." But the time and means were wanting.
In 1828, Mr. Kelley became interested in the affairs of the " Three Rivers Manufacturing Company" of Palmer, chartered two years before, which was then struggling with some engineering and financial difficulties, and invested largely in its stock and plant, [the sum named is $10,000], which proved a total loss. This led to his taking up a residence in Palmer, as already narrated. And the existence of some claims to land of his own, and of his friend, Mr. O. Pickering, led to his return to Palmer in 1839.
As early as 1817, while a teacher in one of the grammar schools of Boston, Mr. Kelley conceived the idea of leading a colony for the exploration and settlement of Oregon, then practically an "unknown country." He says : "Then I began first to converse with friends about it, then to lecture and write books and tracts, in order to give the widest publicity to my plans and purposes." In 1824, he publicly announced his intention "to settle Oregon, and to propagate Christianity beyond the Rocky Mountains." In 1829, he procured an act of incorporation from the Legislature of Mass- achusetts of "The American Society for Encouraging the Settle- ment of the Oregon Territory ;" and in 1830 he published a "Geographical Memoir of Oregon," accompanied by a map, drawn
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by himself, and also a "Manual of the Oregon Expedition," for the guidance of emigrants.
Mr. Kelley spent the winters of 1830 and '31 in Washington, opening his scheme, and enlisting the interest of public function- aries.
After many haps and mishaps, difficult to understand and describe, he left Boston for Oregon on the first of November, 1832; stopped in Washington through the winter, where he " was the re- cipient of many favors, and of further public encouragement and patronage." Left Washington March 1, 1833, and traveled via the Cumberland road and the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Or- leans; thence by ship to Vera Crux, where he arrived May 11; thence by stage to Jalapa and the city of Mexico. From thence, after vexatious delays, he proceeded to San Blas, and reached San Diego April 14, 1834. He arrived at Monterey in due time, and left for the north by land the last of June. The party then consisted of about 30 men and 160 horses and mules. They were mostly new acquaintances of our hero; old hunters and trappers, traders and tramps, and four or five who intended to settle. On reaching Oregon he selected the Valley of the Wallamnet as the place for planting a colony; pitched his camp there; made some surveys and explorations. But he did not "settle." Other adventurers were there; disagreements arose about priority of claims; about motives and plans, and means and ends. The Hudson's Bay Company viewed the attempt to establish a colony there with jealousy, and were active in thwarting the plans of the Americans.
" Mr. Kelley left Fort Vancouver in March, 1835, taking passage in the brig Dryade, belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, for the Sandwich Islands ; but not, however, until he had collected a large amount of valuable information relative to the geography and statistics of that Territory, and had made a particular survey of the Columbia river from Vancouver to its mouth." While at the Sandwich Islands he explored the island of Owyhee, of which he constructed a map. He sailed for home in the ship Canton Packet, reaching Boston late in the year 1835.
He relocated at Three Rivers in 1839. In January of that year he sent a memoir to Congress, reciting his labors and losses in the Oregon expedition ; and afterwards petitioned that body for a grant of land in that region, as an acknowledgement of service and re- muneration for expenses and losses incurred "in promoting the colonization of that Territory." Hon. John Davis, then a member of the U. S. Senate, wrote to Mr. Kelley as follows : "June, 1848. Sir : Having learnt that you are about to leave Washington for
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your home without having obtained an Act of Congress in your be- half, the subject not having been acted upon, I beg leave to say that I consider you as entitled, in equity and good conscience, to a liberal grant of land from the Government for your meritorious services in promoting the settlement of Oregon, and I by no means despair of obtaining such a grant.
Signed
J. DAVIS."
Among the supporters of his petition were the Hon. George Ban- croft, T. H. Perkins, Esq., Gen. J. McNeil, W. P. Gregg, Isaac O. Barnes, P. P. F. Degrand. But he failed to secure a land grant, and passed the remainder of his days in comparative poverty. He died at Three Rivers the middle of January, 1874.
The following letters speak for themselves :
Boston, Jan. 30, 1843.
In the year 1831 I was editor of Zion's Herald, a religious paper sustain- ing the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the above year I pub- lished for Mr. H. J. Kelley a series of Letters addressed to a Member of Congress, developing his plans for the settlement of the Oregon Territory. At other times Mr. K. made appeals, through our paper, with a view to ex- cite the minds of the Christian community to the importance of founding religious institutions in that Territory. He was one of the first explorers of that region, and to his zeal and efforts is largely due the establishment of missionary operations in that country.
Signed
WM. C. BROWN.
Rev. David Green, secretary of the A. B. C. F. M., bears similar testimony, and says : "The welfare and improvement of the Indians of that Territory, and the introduction there of the bless- ings of civilization and the useful arts, with education and Chris- tian knowledge, seemed to be his leading object. Much of the early interest felt in the Oregon country by New England people was probably the result of Mr. Kelley's labors."
Hon. John P. Bigelow, Secretary of the Commonwealth, writes, January 26, 1843 : " Mr. Kelley may be said with truth to have devoted his life, health and property, for more than twenty years, to the colonization of Oregon. He has suffered much, very much, in every respect, in his endeavors to promote this object, and is entitled, richly, to the gratitude of his country, for his devotion to the noble cause."
Of the character of Mr. Kelley it is not easy to form a satisfac- tory estimate. He was a many-sided man. * In certain directions he was a learned, but in whole, was not an educated man. His mind was active, but appears not to have been well balanced. His sympathies were large, but liable to be misdirected for want of
HALL J. KELLEY.
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cool judgment. He saw things in their individuality, not in their relations. What appeared to him to be desirable and philanthropic he pursued with enthusiasm, and without counting the cost. The goodness of his motives was never called in question, but his zeal was often "without knowledge." In a word, he was the creature, not the creator, of circumstances.
Perhaps he gives the clue to his own character, when in one of his letters he tells of a "vision" which he had in his 12th year and another when he was 16, and of their fulfillment in actual occur- ences. The incidents narrated, show a natural tendency to depend on dreams and impulses, rather than on sober judgment and calm forethought. Perhaps his main defects were lack of knowledge of men, and lack of financial ability, which two lacks account for much of his ill-success in life. And disappointed hopes led to the misanthropic spirit and distrust of his friends, that characterized and embittered his later years.
Besides Mr. Kelley's philanthropic plans, his scientific projects and suggested industrial improvements were numerous. He made plans for a canal from the Charles river to the Connecticut ; for a ship-canal from Barnstable to Buzzard's Bay; and located several railroads in the state of Maine. He published "The American Instructor," the " Instructor's First Book," " Geographical Memoir of Oregon," "Manual of the Oregon Expedition," "Map of Upper California and Oregon," "History of the Settlement of Oregon," and "Appendix," "Narratives of Events and Difficulties," " Let- ters to Mrs. Mary Kelley," "Letters to My Brethren," besides the series of papers in Zion's Herald and The Traveller.
THORNDIKE .- An attempt to put to a practical use the power of the fall in Ware river, within the limits of the present town of Palmer, was made in the early days of the settlement. In 1736 Robert Ferrell and Thomas Harmon put in a grist mill about a fourth of a mile below what is now known as the lower privilege at Thorndike. With the exception of Capt. Jabez Olmstead's mill at Ware Village, this was the first grist mill erected in the Elbow Tract. Steward Southgate had built a saw mill at the outlet of Pottaquattuck pond six years earlier, but had neglected to set up a corn mill, though it was understood that he was under obligation to build such a mill. And this led to the official action recorded in the following vote : Article 4 of the warrant for a Plantation meeting November 29, 1736, was "to see if the Proprietors & Grantees will accept the grist mill built by Robert Ferrell and Thomas Harmon as a good and sufficient mill for their purposes,
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and in full satisfaction of the conditions enjoined on Steward Southgate by order of the General Court." "Voted, that the grist mill built by Ferrell & Harmon be accepted as a good and sufficient mill for our service, and as a complete satisfaction of the condition injoined upon Steward Southgate by act of the General Court." [Steward Southgate's grist mill at Pottaquottuck pond " was raised Oct. 26, 1737, and first went Jany ye 2ยช, 1737-8." Plantation Records.] Ferrell's mill was located on the north side of the river, and continued in use for many years. In 1757 it was owned and ran by Lieut. William Scott. A saw mill was put in at the same dam, which was in existence as late as 1795.
About 1797 a dam was built at what is known as the upper privilege, just below the sharp bend in the stream, by Goodman, and a saw and grist mill erected on the north side of the river. In 1799 this property was owned by Capt. Charles Cargill, who set up a clothier's shop. In 1811 Moses Learned had an inter- est in the works-perhaps was owner of the property .*
In 1825 Asa Gates, Jun., owned part of the estate, which then consisted of "one shop lot with blacksmith's shop, clothier's shop with 3 carding machines and one picker." He sold to Aaron Blanchard. In 1830. the works were known as Merrick's mills.
Soon after the Palmer Company [the successor of the Three Rivers Manufacturing Company] had got established and in suc- cessful operation at the junction of the streams below, the owners of that concern turned their thoughts towards the acquisition of this valuable privilege on Ware river, and began quietly to buy the land and secure the water rights necessary to setting on foot a large manufactory.
THE THORNDIKE COMPANY. March 14, 1836, John S. Wright, Luther Parks and Israel Thorndike were granted an act of incor- poration as the Thorndike Company, for the purpose of manu- facturing cotton, woolen and silk goods and machinery in the town of Palmer, with right to hold real estate of the value of $250,000, and the whole capital stock of said company shall not exceed the value of $500,000. The lands bordering on the rapids hereabouts . were held by the Ferrell and McElwain families, Joseph Shearer, Aaron and Chester Blanchard (who owned the old Cargill estate), Franklin Morgan, et als.
John S. Wright appears to have been the leading spirit among the corporators, and was probably the largest owner of the com- pany's stock. His experience of five years at Three Rivers in start-
* Moses Learned married the widow of Capt. Cargill.
NO. 1 MILL, THORNDIKE CO., THORNDIKE.
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ing the Palmer Company, had taught him the value of the services of Joseph Brown as purchasing agent and general manager of the enterprise, and he availed himself of this experience and engaged Mr. Brown to initiate the works of the Thorndike Company. Mr. Jacob B. Merrick, who already possessed large interests here, and eventually became a large owner of stock and was agent for many years, was associated with Mr. Brown in these preliminary move- ments.
The year before, and in anticipation of the act of incorporation, Mr. Brown began to purchase land in the neighborhood of the falls. September 14, 1835, he bought of Joseph Shearer 20 acres lying a little north and northwest of the Cargill mills (which 20 acres was owned by Thomas Quinton in 1810), and Sept. 21 he bought the Cargill farm. Same date he bought of Jonathan McElwain 11 acres, being part of said McElwain's homestead. Sept. 24, 1835, Mr. Brown bought of Timothy Ferrell a lot of 23 acres, a lot of 7 acres and a lot of 35 acres, " with all my rights in the bed or channel of the Ware river and the right of flowage occa- sioned by any dam to be built on any of said lands conveyed by me to said Joseph Brown." Mr. Brown conveyed all these Ferrell lands and rights to the Thorndike Company May 6, 1836, for $23,000. This comprised the lower privilege. March 18, 1836, Messrs. Brown and Merrick bought 10 acres of Aaron Blanchard (formerly owned by Theophilus Knight), and same date bought of Chester Blanchard the Cargill mill privilege, with all the build- ings thereon, all of which they conveyed to the Thorndike Com- pany May 28, 1838. Thus the company came in full possession of the upper privilege.
The first dam was put in on the lower privilege in 1837, and No. 1 mill was built the same year. This mill was 175x50 feet, and 6 stories high. Power was obtained from two breast wheels. The first product was plain white goods, shirtings and sheetings, 36 and 40 inches wide. The number of looms was then 232. A turbine wheel was substituted for the breast wheels in 1862. The new dam on this privilege was built in 1868. The new part of No. 1 mill was started in 1881, and a dye house was built when the product was changed to colored goods.
The first dam on the upper privilege was put in in 1845, con- structed of logs, and mill No. 2, or the "new mill" built. This was 216x50 feet, six stories and an attic. A new and substantial dam has lately been put in.
In 1884 there were in operation 728 looms and 32,336 spindles, turning out a weekly product of 160,000 yards of denims, awnings
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and plain and fancy tickings. There were employed 600 hands, with an average monthly pay-roll of about $15,000.
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