USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Lee > Lee : the centennial celebration and centennial history of the town of Lee, Mass. > Part 23
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chairs was changed, when he turned his attention to making paper, building a mill in Water street. In con- nection with the paper business he also started the man- ufacture of paper bonnets. The paper was made thick and of a straw color, and was then stamped with a large copper plate, giving it an impression which was a very good imitation of Leghorn straw. This business had a short run but was very profitable while it lasted, the Navarino bonnets, as they were called, sometimes retail- ing for five dollars when their actual cost was not five cents. Mr. Thatcher continued in the paper business here till 1852, when he sold out and removed to Saratoga, N. Y., where he lives with his son-in-law, Mr. Jared Inger- soll. His mind is still active, and it was hoped that he would be present at the Centennial, and contribute to the pleasant reminiscences of the occasion, but his friends thought him too feeble to undertake the journey.
Among the manufacturing industries to which the war of 1812 gave an impulse, was that of cotton fabrics. During this war, a duck factory was started in this town by Messrs. Elisha Foote and Ransom Hinman. A large building was erected on Main street, opposite the block now owned by P. C. Baird. For a time the business was profitable. It was literally a manufacturing estab- lishment, for the work was all done by hand power. Of course such a factory could not stand the competition with England, which the close of the war brought, to say nothing of the competition from factories in our own country driven by water, and more eligibly located for transportation. After the failure of Messrs. Foote and Hinman, the duck factory stood idle for many years, and was finally sawed in two parts, Mr. Abner Taylor pur- chasing one for a cabinet shop, and the Messrs. Laflin the other for a store. The remains of the old duck factory may now be seen in the tin shop of Mr. Chauncy W.
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Smith, and the cabinet shop of Messrs. Horton and Taintor.
In 1817, Messrs. Winthrop and Walter Laflin, and Riley Loomis, moved into town from Southwick, Mass., and commenced the manufacture of powder at the north end of the village, under the firm name of Laflin, Loomis & Co. The Erie canal was at this time in the process of construction, and the rock excavations in this enterprise, furnished so good a market for Lee powder, that another mill was soon started near South Lee, on a stream com- ing down from Beartown Mountain, which has ever since been called Powder-mill Brook. Messrs. Laflin, Loomis & Co., were men of capital and enterprise, and their ad- vent to this town gave a great impulse to its business. The average quantity of powder manufactured by them per day, was 25 kegs, and as they required but few hands, and the raw materials, charcoal, sulphur and salt- petre, were not expensive, the business proved lucrative. The explosions however, were frequent, and the destruc- tion of life and property was great. In 1823, November 28, Mercy Brown and Walter Quigly, were mortally burned by the explosion of the mill of Messrs. Laffin, Loomis & Co. In September of the following year, Charles Targee, Thomas I. Beach and Jesse Sparks, were instantly killed by the blowing up of the same mill, while Edmund Hinckley survived the explosion two days. In December of the same year, two men were killed by the explosion of the mill in South Lee. The mill at the north end of the village, was so near to other buildings, that the explosion in September, at which time it was estimated there were five tons of powder burned-dam- aged many houses in the neighborhood, and produced consternation throughout the town. Mr. Loomis was him- self near the mill at the time of the explosion, and came very near losing his life from the falling timbers. There
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was a general protest against rebuilding the mill in the same locality, and in this opinion the proprietors coinciding, this water privilege was sold for the manu- facture of paper. The mill at South Lee was operated some years longer, but the business was finally abandoned here also.
In 1820, Messrs. Samuel A. and Amos G. Hulbert, - brothers and partners, commenced the manufacture of carriages and sleighs at the north end of the village. These gentlemen were skillful mechanics, young, ener- getic and persevering, well adapted to supplement each other, as Samuel A. was a blacksmith, bound to strike hard blows, and make even iron bend to his strong will, while Amos G. was a worker in wood, more gentle in his ways, making the wood to bend to suit his taste by the aid of steam and steady pressure. They commenced on a small scale, each with one boy to assist him in his department, and had made quite a number of sleighs and wagons when their shop was burned. Insurance was not customary in those days, and they were uninsured, except in the esteem of their neighbors, which they had won to a remarkable degree by their industry and manly bearing. With the assistance of their neighbors, a new and larger building was soon erected, and their business started off with new life. One apprentice after another was taken, and so systematically was the business managed, and so thoroughly were the apprentices trained, both mechani- cally and morally, that this carriage shop came to be con- sidered one of the best schools in town, and the graduates from it were regarded as having a diploma entitling them to respect in any community. Certainly, with very few exceptions, they proved to be good mechanics and good men. The carriages of the Messrs. Hulbert had a high reputation in all our cities, and orders for them came from the other side of the Atlantic. At the time the
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Housatonic railroad was projected, the company were em- ploying from thirty to forty hands. The energies of Mr. S. A Hulbert were now directed to the construction of the Stockbridge and Pittsfield road, a branch of the Housatonic, of which he was made president, and to his indomitable energy and perserverance, the town is greatly indebted for the successful prosecution of this enterprise. The road, however, ran directly through the then exten- sive shops of the Messrs. Hulbert, necessitating their re- moval. The attention of the senior partner had become so much enlisted in other matters, that he did not care to continue the carriage business, and the partnership was accordingly dissolved, and the business discontinued.
In 1828, Messrs. Lewis Beach and James H. Royce came to Lee, and commenced the manufacture of carding machines in Water street, under the firm name of Beach & Royce. The business prospered and in addition to card- ing machines, they soon added the manufacture of other woolen machinery. In 1832, this firm built a stone cotton factory located a few rods west of their machine shop. In this they placed thirty looms, and employed forty-five hands, manufacturing about 1,200 yards of sheeting per day. In 1837, Messrs. Beach & Royce took in Mr. Ed- ward P. Tanner as a partner in the machine business, and gave their own attention principally to the cotton mill. Mr. Tanner came to Lee in 1835 from Kinderhook, a thorough mechanic, first taking the position of a journey- man in the machine shop, in two years becoming a partner, and in five years more sole owner of this branch of the business of Messrs. Beach & Royce. The latter firm continued the manufacture of sheetings till 1850, when they put in some machinery for weaving seamless grain bags. The mill was run on this production till 1862, when Mr. Beach left the firm, and Mr. Royce con- verted the factory into a mill for the manufacture of pulp
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from the native white poplar, an article greatly in de- mand during the war, taking the place of rags in the manufacture of news and book papers. The inventor of the machinery for the manufacture of pulp from wood demanded so great a royalty, that the business was not profitable when the war closed, and rags were cheap, consequently its production ceased and the mill has stood idle for some years. Messrs. Beach and Royce suffered great vicissitudes in the course. of their business career in this town, but no one ever questioned their integrity, and their memory is cherished for their enterprise, public spirit, and the stimulus which they gave to the business of the place.
Mr. Tanner, after buying out the machine business of Messrs. Beach & Royce, continued it alone till 1848, when he took in Mr. Timothy D. Perkins as partner, and for 14 years the business was conducted by the firm of Tanner & Perkins, both of these gentlemen being skillful and in- dustrious mechanics. Since 1862, Mr. Tanner has been sole owner of the machine shop and the foundry connected with it. During the war the demand for machinery greatly increased, and prices were remunerative. Of late years his son, James A. Tanner, has taken an active part in the management of the business, and the shop has an enviable reputation for turning out the best of paper machinery, for the manufacture of which it is now mostly devoted. The product of some years has amounted to $140,000, and averages over $100,000.
In 1847, Messrs. E. A. Royce and the brothers Charles A. and John Mclaughlin, bought of Capt. Zacheus Win- egar a good water privilege on the outlet of Lakes May and Green-Water, with the grist-mill and saw-mill at- tached, and in a part of the grist-mill building commenced the manufacture of machinery under the firm name of E. A. Royce & Co., at the same time continuing the business
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of grinding grain and sawing lumber. The Mclaughlin's afterwards bought out Mr. Royce, and finally the whole business fell into the hands of John Mclaughlin, who dis- continued the grist-mill and enlarged his machine shop. In 1863, he built a foundry on the site of the old Wine- egar house, remarkable for being the oldest house in town, which he removed and fitted up as a store-house for pat- terns. We are happy to add that Mr. McLaughlin in- tends to keep the old house in good repair as a relic of the past. This machine shop employs ten men, and turns out machinery valued on the average of years at $50,000. The production of his saw-mill annually, is nearly half a million feet of lumber. John Mclaughlin is one of the adopted citizens of Lee, having been born in Ireland in 1818. He came to this country at the age of 18, and not liking New York had engaged his passage back to Ireland, but was finally persuaded by his brother to visit Lee, which he liked so well that he went to work in the ma- chine shop of Beach & Royce. By his industry, skill and energy, he rose step by step, till he became proprietor of a saw-mill, machine shop and foundry.
PAPER MANUFACTORIES.
The leading business of the town is the manufacture of paper, other industries, as has been noticed, being swal- lowed in this. Under the old system of manufacturing paper by hand, the rags, after being well washed, were left in tubs for a number of days so as to be made more tender. They were then pounded until the fibrous matter became a pulp fine enough to spread evenly on the wire sieve which was used to dip it up sheet by sheet. It took 20 mortars to reduce 100 pounds of rags in one day. In other words, hand labor would accomplish only one-eighth of what machinery can do. The engine with its revolv- ing cylinder, fitted with plates of steel, will now convert
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250 or 300 pounds of rags into pulp in about six hours. The Fourdrinier machine with the endless vibratory wire gauze, was invented in 1798 by Louis Robert, of Essonne, France, but improved by the Frenchman whose name it bears. It was first manufactured in this country about 1830, by Messrs. Phelps and Spofford of Windham, Conn. ·With the introduction of this machine began the rapid development of this branch of industry. What once took three months to accomplish, could with machinery be done in one day. Other improvements followed, such as the use of chlorine in bleaching colored rags, steam to scour them, calender rolls to give the smooth surface re- quired for steel pens, the cylinder machine patented by John Ames of Springfield, in 1822, the use of various fibrous materials, etc.
SAMUEL CHURCH.
In 1806, Samuel Church removed from East Hartford, Conn., to this town, and immediately commenced the erection of a paper mill at South Lee, where the Hurlbut Company's mills now stand. This was the first paper mill built in the town, and among the first built in the county. It was afterwards owned by Messrs. Brown & Curtis. The work was all done by hand. The second mill was built 1819, by Luman Church, on the site of the old For- est mill, now owned by Hon. Harrison Garfield. In 1808, by the strong solicitation of gentlemen living in this part of the town, and the offer of liberal assistance in the erec- tion of the building, Samuel Church was induced to set up a paper mill near the spot where the Smith Paper Co.'s Eagle Mill now stands. The paper business of the town grew with amazing rapidity. In 1857, two years before the first mill was built at Holyoke, now the lead- ing town in paper manufacturing, there were were 25 mills in Lee, with an annual production of $2,000,000.
37
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This was the culminating point in the history of the paper business in Lee, so far as the number of mills indicate its extent and importance.
W. W. & C. LAFLIN.
In the Summer of 1826, Messrs. Walter, Winthrop and Cutler Laflin built, where now stands the Smith Paper Co.'s Housatonic Mill, a paper mill which was regarded at that time as a marvel of enterprise. The race-way, 140 rods above and 30 rods below the mill, was excavated in eight months' time. In 1850, when the property passed into the hands of Platner & Smith, the race-way was ex- tended further down the river, below the bridge. Pre- vious to this time the water, in freshets, worked its own way across the road. The main building was 100 feet by 35, with wings 50 by 24, and 30 by 30. Its four machines worked up 600 to 1,000 pounds of rags daily.
In connection with this mill, another was built three- quarters of a mile up the river, at Crow Hollow, with a daily production of 24 to 60 reams of printing paper. This mill, burned some years after but rebuilt by the Laflins, is now known as the Columbia Mill. Mr. Win- throp Laflin was a personal friend of Horace Greeley. Calling upon him as he was busy at the press, Mr. Gree- ley expressed his desire to issue a daily paper if he could procure the paper on three months' credit. Mr. Laflin offered to furnish it, and thus began the publication of the New York Daily Tribune.
The Laflins also engaged in the manufacture of paper bonnets, made to resemble Leghorn straw by passing the paper through a series of rollers. The business was com- menced by Stephen Thatcher, but the Laflins were the first to introduce them into market on a large scale. Their shipments to the New York house of Arthur Tap- pan, alone, amounted to 50 dozen per day. But there
RESIDENCE OF ELIZUR SMITH.
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was so much money in the business that others rushed into the manufacture of these Navarino bonnets, and the market was quickly glutted. The Laflins sold out their business in Lee in '37, and Cutler Laflin went to New Or- leans as head of the wholesale house of Laflin, Stevens & Co.
WHYTE & HULBERT.
Mr. Samuel A. Hulbert, born at Wethersfield, Ct., No- vember 6, 1796, at the age of 17 went to Salisbury, Ct, to learn blacksmithing. He commenced business at Great Barrington, but continued there only a short time. In March, 1820, he started in Lee, with his brother Amos, a carriage manufactory, and built up a large business. The Stockbridge and Pittsfield Railroad, a continuation through Lee of the Housatonic Railroad, running over the site of the carriage factory, necessitated the removal of the shops, and he gave up the carriage business. With Alexander Whyte, a practical paper-maker, he bought the Columbia Mill. But in 1857, the firm succumbed to the financial pressure. Mr. Hulbert's sight and hearing had failed, and he did not again enter into active business. He con- tinued to reside in Lee and died here, 1875, January 16, honored and respected for his uncompromising integrity and his marked energy. His son Charles died soon after (January 25), born in Lee, March 20, 1824, from 1842 to 1851 a partner in the well-known dry goods firm of Plunkett & Hulbert of Pittsfield, and afterwards a men- ber of the firm of James M. Beebe & Co. of Boston. Mr. Whyte, after the failure of the company, engaged in the manufacture of paper at Richmond, Va., and died at New York in 1873.
THE SMITH PAPER COMPANY.
Mr. Elizur Smith was born in Sandisfield, 1812, Janu- ary 5. When he was 16 years old he cut his foot, and
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was confined to the house for months. The books he read and studied made him desirous of further knowledge, and he went to Westfield Academy to pursue his studies. In 1830, he came to Lee as clerk for John Nye & Co., at a salary of $20 a year and his board. In 1834 he bought half an interest of Ingersoll & Platner in their Turkey Mill in Tyringham. The other partners carried on the manu- facture of paper at the Ætna Mill in the village, located
just across the stream from the present Eagle Mill ; Mr.
Smith took charge of the Turkey Mill. In 1835 he bought out Mr. Ingersoll's interest, and thus began the partnership of Platner & Smith, for over thirty years iden- tified with the paper manufacture of Lee. At first they made only fine papers, and for years they had the honor of being the greatest paper-makers in the country. The crisis of 1837 was safely weathered by the new firm, which soon afterwards bought of J. & L. Church the Union Mill, and of Luman Church the Enterprise now known as the Eagle Mill. At this time the only remain- ing mill privilege in the " Huddle," as the north end of the village was then called, was a turning-shop for wood- work. This the firm also bought, and on its site built a woolen mill, which however was profitable only in excep- tional years. In 1850, they bought the Housatonic Mill, originally built by Laflin & Loomis, and enlarged it. They bought also Ball & Bassett's satinet factory and clothier's shop on the outlet of Laurel Lake, and con- verted these into the Castle and Laurel Paper Mills. In connection with his brother, Mr. Platner built a large mill in Ancram, N. Y .. and Mr. Smith with his brother, J. R. Smith, bought in Russell a paper mill in connection with Cyrus W. Field. These outside ventures did not prove specially successful, and were given up. In May, 1855, Mr. Platner died. Mr. Smith kept on with the business under the old firm name. The war stimulated
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COLUMBIA MILL OF SMITH PAPER CO.
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production and brought great prosperity. In 1864, Mr. Smith took in his two nephews, Wellington and Dewitt S. Smith, as partners, and organized the Smith Paper Company, which is now the leading manufacturing com- pany of the town. The capital originally was $220,000, and is now $250,000. The stock is wholly owned by the Smiths. The four mills in which they have concentrated their paper machinery, are the Housatonic, at the south end of the village, originally built by the Laflins; the Eagle, which includes the old Union mill of J. & L. Church, and occupies all the water power at the north end of the village; the Columbia, half a mile further up the Housa- tonic River ; and the Pleasant Valley Mill, still further up and near the Lenox boundary, originally built by Thomas Sedgwick & Co. The capacity of the Eagle and Pleasant Valley Mills is 9,000 lbs. of paper each per day, while the Housatonic turns out 10,500 lbs., and the Co- lumbia 12,500. The Eagle is devoted almost exclusively to the production of manila paper, while the other three mills produce news and book papers. The most approved machinery is used by the Smith Paper Company, and their business is conducted with such system and energy as must command success. Steam is used in all their mills to drive a part of the machinery, and in case of a failure in the water-power, the boilers and engines are of sufficient capacity to keep up the average production. The wheels of these mills do not stop, night or day, ex- cept on Sunday and for repairs.
In 1875 this company bought the factory formerly used by the Lenox Plate Glass Company for polishing glass, and converted it into a mill for the manufacture of wood pulp, a fibrous material made by grinding up the American poplar, and extensively used in combination with rags for the production of printing papers. The capacity of this pulp mill is 2,000 lbs. per day.
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In connection with their paper mills, the Smith Paper Company also run a first-class machine shop, in which their repairing is done and much of their machinery is made. The number of hands employed by the company in the several departments of their business is over 300, who are paid regularly at the end of each month, and the monthly pay-roll is $10,000.
For a few years past, Mr. Elizur Smith, the founder of the company, has left the management of the mills to his nephews, Wellington and Dewitt, and has given most of his time to the conduct of his large farm. This is lo- cated on the table-land just west of Laurel Lake, of which beautiful sheet of water it commands fine views. In the management of his landed estate Mr. Smith has exhibited the same enterprise and system so characteristic of his manufacturing. Improved machinery, thorough-bred stock and great crops attest his energy in agriculture. Much of his land was naturally wet, and this he has thor- oughly under-drained, putting in over forty miles of drain tile. The stones have been removed and placed in walls, the " hard hacks " and other weeds been eradicated, and fertilizers have been liberally applied, till his farm of nearly 600 acres is one of the most productive in the state. In the meantime the mills, under the conduct of the young men, have been rendered more productive than ever before. The present product of paper is about twenty tons per day.
HURLBUT PAPER COMPANY.
In 1822, Messrs. Charles M. Owen and Thomas Hurlbut came to South Lee and began the manufacture of paper. They employed four men and six women, and made ten reams of letter paper a day. The sheets, made by hand, were left in a rough state, edges untrimmed and quires unstamped. The best qualities were hot-pressed, that is
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partially smoothed by being pressed between hot iron plates. The reputation of the firm for producing a uniformly excellent article of paper was such that the well- known water-mark of O. & H. was a guarantee of the qual- ity. Their business integrity and high standard of work- manship gave a reputation to the town. They spared no expense to secure any valuable improvements. As their means increased they extended their business, purchasing of Messrs. Brown and Curtis, Church's Mill ; then of Mr. Billings Brown his grist mill, which they converted into a paper mill. They also purchased the Forge on the opposite side of the river, so as to control the whole wa- ter privilege, and on the site of the Forge erected a flour- ing mill. The mill farther down the river, at Housatonic, was also built by the firm. In 1856, the old firm was dis- solved, Mr. Hurlbut retaining the property at South Lee, and Mr. Owen the mill at Housatonic. Both these gen- tlemen were born in 1794, Mr. Hurlbut in Wethersfield, Conn., and Mr. Owen in Windsor, Conn. Mr. Hurlbut had been part owner of a paper mill in Suffield, Conn. Mr. Owen's business experience had been acquired in a country store. On dissolving partnership, each member of the firm associated a son with him in the business, which was conducted at Housatonic under the name of the Owen Paper Company, and at South Lee by the Hurlbut Paper Company.
Messrs. Owen and Hurlbut were no common men. Their business capacity was of the highest order. Com- bining prudence, enterprise and strict integrity, the course of the firm was steadily onward and upward. They passed through the commercial storms of 1837 and 1857 without even the shadow of a cloud resting upon their credit. Mr. Hurlbut was a retiring man, finding his happiness in his business and family, and caring little for honors and offices. Mr. Owen was more ambitious, and early
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acquired the title of Major in the military service, and rep- resented the town in both branches of the Legislature, and was also a member of the Governor's Council. Mr. Hurlbut died at his home in South Lee in 1861, beloved and lamented by all, leaving a widow, two sons and three daughters, by whom the stock of the Hurlbut Paper Company is mostly owned. The sons inherit the talent of their father, and under their management the business of the company has prospered and greatly increased. In 1872, they built one of the best paper mills in the state, on the site of the old South Lee Forge. This mill is of brick, with a stone basement, is three hundred and sev- enty-three feet long, fifty feet wide, and including the basement, and attic, four stories high ; having a capacity for making 8,000 lbs. of fine paper per day. The whole
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