USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Picturesque Hampshire : a supplement to the quarter-centennial-journal > Part 17
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Many interesting stories could now be told, doubtless, concerning these matters. And we have some, told us, in mind, but this is not the place for their repetition.
Flax was grown upon nearly every farm. In the winter it was prepared for spinning and weav- ing in the family looms. Doubt- less some families in the hill towns still preserve some articles com- posed entirely of linen of domestic manufacture. Many of these spec- imens of female handiwork were of exquisite fineness and texture. No young woman was supposed to be qualified to enter into the mat- trimonial condition until she had made with her own hands a supply of linen sufficient for all domestic commendable pride in exhib- iting these treasures of their taste purposes. And they often showed and skill. The coarser and shorter fibre of the flax was called tow. This tow was never wasted. By bleaching it could be made nearly as white as the longer fibre from which the best linen cloth was woven. Tow was an exceedingly useful article. From tow the shirts and trousers were made for summer wear, and garments were strong and durable, and produced sufficient friction upon the sur- face of the body to preserve it in a healthful condition.
The saw-mill, the grist-mill and the tannery usually were the accompaniments of civilization. The tannery, as it existed in the early history of the county, has disappeared. The scarcity of hemlock bark, and the cost of transportation over hilly roads, have banished this form of industry. But there was a period within the memory of some of our oldest citizens when almost every town had its tan yard. Gideon Lee was a tanner
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PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
in Worthington. He removed to the city of New York, engaged in the same business in the locality known as the "Swamp," accumulated a large property for the times, and was elected mayor of the city. The saw-mill still exists, but the grist-mills, the primitive New Eng- land grist-mills, are rapidly diminishing in number.
There was a time when manufacturing, in many of its varied forms, existed to some extent in most of the towns. There were several woolen mills in Cumming- ton. In Chesterfield, half a century ago, an iron foun- dry was in active operation. In this foundry stoves and plows were made. The first stoves used in the farm houses in Western Massachusetts, were made in Chesterfield. The plows, although not so highly finish- ed as those now found in the market, were fashioned after President Jefferson's theory of the true curve of the mold-board, and performed good work on hundreds of farms among the hills. At the beginning of the pres- ent century wooden plows were commonly used by the farmers. When a piece of timber could be found suffi- ciently curved to form the outline of a mold-board, it was wrought into proper shape with such simple tools as the ax, the adze, and the drawing knife. Then the village blacksmith riveted thin plates of iron upon the concave side of this wooden slab. It was firmly attached to a wooden beam, and, with a narrow strip of iron for a landside, a point rudely formed by the same son of Vulcan, handles -- or stilts as the Scotch call them-hewn from crooked saplings by the farmer himself, it assum- ed in some degree the shape and proportions of the modern płow.
Thus much for the first things that necessity invents in the early stages of settlements and civilization. At the period alluded to there was no startling disparity in the population of the several towns of the county. Now conditions are changed. Some towns are known as strictly agricultural in their industry, while others are as distinctly classed as manufacturing ones.
When the first manufacturing enterprise was started in Ware, the town contained a little over one thousand inhabitants, and was in every sense of the term an obsenre hamlet. But the fine water power attracted the attention of capitalists from the eastern part of the state, and works were projected on a somewhat exten- sive scale. Some of them were unsuccessful. The dams and spacious buildings, however, remained, and when the country began to recover from the financial crash of 1837, they found occupants, and, as business increased, others were built. The Otis manufacturing company, employing over one thousand hands, dates its existence from 1839. Its career has been one of unin- terrupted prosperity. It is confined mainly, if not entirely, to the production of cotton fabrics. Charles A. Stevens and George H. Gilbert came to Ware from North Andover two or three years after the organiza- tion of the Otis company, and commenced the manu- facture of woolen goods. Subsequently the firm of Gilbert & Stevens was dissolved and a division was made of the property. Mr. Stevens still survives, and, in connection with his son, is actively engaged in the production of woolen fabrics of various descriptions. On the dissolution of the firm of Gilbert & Stevens, a new company was organized by Mr. Gilbert, styled the George H. Gilbert manufacturing company. The bus- iness of this firm has gradually expanded until it has assumed mammoth proportions. To these large indus- trial establishments Ware is indebted for all her pros- perity. From a small and insignificant collection of rural dwellings, Ware has become a large and prosper- ons town, and only second to the city of Northampton in wealth and population.
The fulling and cloth dressing mill, and the machine for carding rolls from wool, primitive institutions, dating back more than one hundred years, were the germs from which have grown the present woolen man- ufactures of Enfield. The Swift River company have existed, with slight changes for nearly seventy years. It commenced under the firm name of D. & A. Smith, the manufacture of cotton goods in a small way. From time to time the business was enlarged until it obtained its present dimensions. No cotton goods of any de- scription are now made, the mill being used for the production of fine cassimeres.
The Minot Manufacturing Company was the suc- cessor of two or three business enterprises in Enfield which proved unsuccessful. This company was organ- ized in 1837 and was engaged in making flannels and
light weight cassimeres until recently, when it failed and closed its doors.
Another establishment devoted to the manufacture of woolen goods is the Highland mills at Huntington. There are now partly oceupied and working mills in Cumington, where no cloth is made, but occasionally some yarn is woven.
The present prosperity of the town of Easthampton must be attributed mainly to the rare business capacity and energy of Samuel Williston. At a very early period he engaged in the manufacture of covered buttons, in a limited way at first, but as success attended his efforts the business was enlarged until it became the most important establishment for the manufacture of this description of goods, in the United States. The button factory which had been located in Haydenville, was moved to Easthampton about fifty years ago. Hon. and ex-Lieut. Gov. Horatio G. Knight, who now manages and controls the business, has been connected with this enterprise almost from its inception by Mr. Williston.
Other manufacturing establishments were projected by Mr. Williston. Among them were the Nashawan- nnek company for the production of elastic fabrics, and the Williston mills, for the manufacture of fine cotton goods. Another company was formed in 1862, for the production of elastic fabrics, styled the Glendale com- pany. It was subsequently reorganized. The machi- nery was purchased in England, and the goods manu- factured by this company will bear comparison with any produced in Europe. The Easthampton Rubber Thread company confines itself solely to the manufac- ture of rubber thread of every size and description for which there is any demand in the market. The Valley Machine company is also located in this town. Steam pumps are made by this company, and its business is constantly increasing in volume. But for the foresight and sagacity of Samuel Williston and his associates, in projecting and locating these industrial establishments in Easthampton, the little town would now probably contain a population of a few hundred, principally en- gaged in agricultural pursuits, instead of several thous- and who find profitable employment in diversified forms of labor.
The first paper mill erected in Hampshire county, was at the village of North Amherst, nearly one hun- dred years ago. The work was principally done by hand, and the finished goods were carted over the mountains to Albany. Amherst is entitled to the honor of being the pioneer paper town of the county, and the business is still carried on there in a moderate way. But the construction of the canal around the Falls at South Hadley, rendered the immense water power at the village available on account of economy in trans- portation, and large manufacturing establishments were speedily ereeted. The Carew Company was the first in the field, and dates its existence from 1848. The site of the present city of Holyoke then consisted of pastures and cultivated fields. The same year the Glasgow eom- pany was incorporated for the manufacture of ginghams and dress goods. A few years later this company built the mills now occupied by the Hampshire Paper com- pany.
There are paper mills in several towns in the county, notably, the L. L. Brown company in Cummington, the Cushman mill in Amherst, the Chester company in Huntington, the West Ware Co. at Ware, a tissue paper mill in South Hadley, the Bulkley and Dunton Co. in Middlefield, and two establishments in Loudville. But in the magnitude of the business transacted, the paper mills at South Hadley Falls surpass all the others unless we except the soon to be opened paper pulp mills at Mt. Tom, pictured elsewhere, but these will only furnish part of the raw material.
As far back as 1835, Samuel Whitmarsh, a prominent citizen of Northampton, in connection with two or three other persons, began the manufacture of silk in that part of the old town commonly known as Florence. Mr. Whitmarsh was deeply interested in the develop- ment of the silk industry in all its stages, from the rear- ing of the worms, the winding of the fine, glossy fibre into cocoons, until it issued from the mill in such forms as utility and taste might suggest. But the experiment was at first unsuccessful. Then the property passed into the possession of the Community Association, which was dissolved at the expiration of five years. But during its existence it had been proved that sewing silk could be successfully manufactured. Samuel L. Hill and Samuel L. Hinckley, on the dissolution of the
Association, engaged in the manufacture of sewing silk ; but the business was soon merged in that of the silk company, which appears to have been formed at nearly the same time. This company was incorporated under the laws of the state in 1865 with a capital of $360,000. When sewing machines were invented it was found impracticable to use the silk thread which the machi- nery then produced. After many experiments the com- pany was able to overcome all difficulties, and furnish for the machines a thread which answered all require- ments. The business has expanded probably far be- yond the expectations of those who established it and besides their mills, the Belding brothers, John N. Leon- ard and Luther J. Warner have built up a great busi- ness in Northampton and elsewhere. Had it not been for this silk company, it is reasonable to suppose that the locality now known as Florence, with its varied industry, churches, institutions of learning and elegant residences, would still be known as " Warner District," with its ten or fifteen plain farm-houses.
The Williams Manufacturing company was formed under another name, in the village of Huntington, as far back as 1850. A few years later the business was removed to Northampton.
The manufacture of hats from straw and palm leaf is now carried on in Amherst by two factories, and had its origin in Enfield, as facts elsewhere given show.
It has been the purpose of this article to notice par- ticularly the introduction of diversified industry into the County of Hampshire, and, consequently, any ex- tended mention of those companies and firms of com- paratively recent organization, would transcend the limits assigned it. But an allusion may be made to some of them, such for example, as the wood-working mills of the Stevens, at Chesterfield and Cummington and at Northampton the Florence Manufacturing company, the Northampton Cutlery company, the Florence Taek company, the Florence Machine company and the Northampton Emery Wheel company ; at Haydenville the Brass Mig. Co. Besides the above there are many others which are mentioned elsewhere.
Probably the largest early mannfacturing enterprise in the county was the woolen mills of James Shepherd. He started the manufacture of broadcloths and wool- ens about the year 1810, in what is now the village of Leeds, then and for nearly fifty years afterward known as "Shepherd's Hollow." More men were employed at this mill than at any other factory in the county and Mr. Shepherd was unhampered by tariffs on raw mate- rial, as he raised great flocks of sheep himself and thus obtained his wool. But Mr. Shepherd failed about 1826, and was succeeded in ownership by Edward Hutchinson Robbins of Milton, who sold the goods manufactured by the mill at his wholesale house in Boston. Stephen Brewer of Maine became the home agent of the mills here and they flourished greatly under his management. At the great fair in Baltimore, about 1835, the mills carried off the first prize for broadcloths, in competition with foreign manufacturers, and about this time, Henry Clay passed through Northampton, by private carriage, on his way to Pittsfield. Clay was, as is well known, an ardent advocate of a protective tariff, and when he reach- ed "Shepherd's Hollow," Mr. Brewer came out with a whole piece of broadeloth and threw it into his carriage.
Stephen Brewer was a very popular manufacturer, energetie and enterprising, and was accidentally drowned in the Connecticut river, about 1843. Thomas Musgrave succeeded Mr. Brewer in management and the mill continued to prosper until about 1857, when the financial crash came.
Among other defuuct manufacturing enterprises in Northampton may be mentioned the Wm. Clark paper- mills, Arms & Bardwell's hoop skirt factory, Littlefield & Parsons' ambrotype and daguerreotype-case manu- factory, A. P. Critchlow's button factory, the Florence sewing machine works, etc.
But paying manufacturing enterprise is on the in- crease in Hampshire county, and if any one doubts it he has but to sean the following pages.
It remains for us to speak of one more mannfactur- ing enterprise, and that is the manufacture of palm leaf and straw hats, which began at Enfield, but is now carried on by three factories at Amherst. Alonzo Cut- ler, a native of Enfield, but now of Richmond, Ind., has furnished us with the following account of the founda- tion of this industry :
"I presume it is not generally known that I was the first person in the United States to begin the manufac-
PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
85
ture of palm leaf hats, in Enfield. A gentleman in Boston went to Cuba for his health in 1830. He was absent about three years and while on the island noticed that the men and women wore hats of palm leaf, which grows abundantly there. He said to himself that if the hats could be made there the Yankee could make them and of a superior quality. He brought some palm leaf home, and after his arrival in Boston went to see a friend by the name of Holbrook, a wholesale dry goods merchant there, to interest him. Mr. Holbrook named
me as a man who might like to take hold of the work, and the next time I passed by his store he called me in. I remained with the friend (I forget the name) for about two hours, when I was satisfied that a large business might be made out of it. We agreed that when my man came for my goods I would order him to call for a few hundred of palm leaf, and I took the simple hat with me to Enfield. After arriving home I set my wits to work to find some girl to make the undertaking. I finally concluded to go to a poor widow woman who
lived about two miles from the village, and who had grown-up daughters. They were only too willing to attempt the work of making the hats, and as soon as the palm leaf arrived I took about one hundred leaves to the house, together with a machine which Ambrose Packard made for me at his gunshop, to split the leaf to suitable size. After the girls had finished the first hat they brought it to the store and I found it far supe- rior to the sample, and from that small beginning arose one of the greatest industries of the age."
THE SILK INTEREST.
As already intimated, the silk business is the largest and most important manufacturing interest in the county, and the leading honse in this line is the
Belding Brothers & Company.
From the small beginnings of the experiments in silk worm culture at Florence have grown the great silk companies of our time, and towering above them all, in importance, is the great firm of the Belding Bros. & Co., with mills at Northampton, Montreal, Can., San Francisco, Rockville, Conn , and Belding, Mich. These mills employ over 1800 hands, distributed as follows: At Northampton, 550; Rock- ville, 500; Montreal, 400; San Francisco, 250; Belding, 150. The principal product is machine silk, sewing silk, knitting and em- broidery silks, but at the Northampton mill one hundred and seventy-five looms are em- ployed in weaving silk fabrics, such as sleeve linings, and all silk coat linings, for tailors' use. Here there are also in operation twenty-five hosiery machines, now making one hundred and seventy-five dozen of silk hose a week. The total product of all the mills during the year 1889 was valued at $5,000,000. Over 2000 pounds of raw silk are consumed in the five mills, and some idea of the value of the raw material item may be inferred from the fact that it costs from four to six dollars a pound
Our purpose in this review is to speak with special reference to the company's inter- ests in Hampshire county and Northampton, where are manufactured the goods we have already described. Mention of the general enterprise of such an important concern and and illustrations of all their mills are natu-
rally concomitant to such an article, and will be found following. The engraving of the Northampton mill, given herewith, is a very accurate one, made from a wash draw- ing furnished by Artist Clifton Johnson of Hockanum, and photographed by Kurtz of New York.
This branch of the Beldings' interests, which is under the management of E. F. Crooks and the superintendence of H. C. Hallett, has become the most important of the company's works. The buildings comprise two four-story and one one-story brick structure, all of large dimensions. They are located near the Connectiont river railroad and
EDGAR F. CROOKS, Manager of Northampton Mill.
THE BELDING BROS.
the New Haven & Northampton road, and are equipped with the best mechanical appliances, inelnding one hundred and seventy-five looms
M. M. Belding, New York; A. N. Belding, Rockville, Ct .; D. W. Belding, Cincinnati, O. and twenty thousand spindles, the driving PRES. AND TREAS. SEC. AND ASS'T TREAS. VICE-PRESIDENT.
Johnson del
THE BELDINGS' MILL AT NORTHAMPTON.
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PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
MIILS AT ROCKVILLE, CONN.
force being supplied by a Corliss engine of 200 horse power and three compound Coghlan boilers of one hun- dred and twenty-five horse power each. The mills are illuminated by electricity and everywhere there is man- ifest the most recent improvements and facilities that skill can suggest or capital provide, among which we should not omit to mention those life protecting and fire-preventive appliances which the laws of the state demand. In all the rooms there are automatic sprink- lers and fire extinguishers.
In the counting-room there is of course instant com- munication, by telegraph, telephone and messenger service, with all parts of the country, and the long dis- tance telephone service is connected for five hours each day. F. W. Bement is cashier and presides over the office-work. James R. Gilfillan is assistant book-keeper and H. W. Hillman stenographer. At the other mills of the company good men are in charge ; at Rockville, Conn., Halsey L. Allen is the popular and capable superintendent. The works at Belding, Mich., are in charge of F. W. Howard superintendent, formerly of Northampton ; at Montreal Frank Paul is the alert and wide awake manager, and Robert MeNally the efficient superintendent. At San Francisco the in- terests of the company are in the hands of Messrs. Carlson & Currier. At the salesroom of the company only men of push and energy are employed. At New York, C. W. Darling is in charge of the general sales department, while John R. Emery, the efficient and courteous cashier, has general charge of the accounts of the entire business. At Boston, Messrs. Adams & Curtis are the selling agents for most of New England ; at Philadelphia Geo. W. Ellis, who has been with the company over twenty years, is the vigilant and capable manager; at Cincinnati the large business of the company is managed by D. W. Belding, with Albert Diss as chief lientenant, and at St. Louis, Col. James F. Coyle and C. W. Sargent are the vigorous and pushing managers; at St. Paul, Messrs. Woodworth and Howes are the selling agents and at Chicago the interests of the company, formerly under the direct supervision of H. H. Belding, are now man- aged by W. A. Stanton, a director in the company and E. C. Young, who is in charge of the fabrie department.
What makes a record of the Belding company's enter- prise particularly interesting is the humble way in which it was started. The foundation of it was laid in 1860 by Hiram H. and Alvah N. Belding, who started from their home in Belding, Mich., (the western home- stead of the family after they left the east) peddling silk from house to house. This silk was purchased for them by their brother, Milo M , who was then residing at their common birthplace, Ashfield, a few miles from Northampton. This peddling soon assumed the form of a large business, and in a year after starting the Belding Bros. had extended the scope of their trade until it required the services of several teams and wagons and embraced the largest part of the jobbing trade of the section in which they were operating. Three years after their first peddling tour they started a house in Chicago, and in the same year they were joined by their brother, Milo M., who took charge of that ageney, afterwards removing to New York, where he has since re- mained. In 1863 the brothers formed a partner- ship with E. K. Rose, and taking the first floor of what was then the Glasgow thread company's mill at Rockville, Conn., they began manufacturing. In 1866 the business had attained such proportions that the building had to be enlarged, the partner- ship with Mr. Rose was dissolved, and soon after he failed. The Rockville mill lay idle two years,
the brothers meanwhile manufacturing elsewhere, but in 1869 they bought it and four years later they built the mill in North- ampton, and, subsequently, the others.
The reputation of the products of the company it is hardly necessary to allude to - they are so well known-and suffic it to say, that from the days of the Rockville mill, when the brothers began making their own silk, their fame as the makers of a reliable article,-which will neither crock, fade nor erack, and which will meet the test of the most rapid running and highest tension sewing-machines-has been fully established.
This great house is, however, not content with being at the head of the silk trade. Their versatility and general enterprise is no less unusual and remarkable than their success in silk manufacturing, and it would be an incomplete record of their work that did not men- tion their experiment in artesian well boring and their ventures in various other lines of trade. The history of their artesian enterprise alone would, if detailed in all its incidents, make a very interesting story, and what has already been told is a matter worthy of some- thing more than newspaper record. The drilling of the prospective well at Northampton was undertaken for the purpose of securing a better and cheaper supply of water for the mills. The success of similar projects, so near as Holyoke, led to the experiment of the Beld- ing Bros., but it was found that the red sandstone was very different north of Mt. Holyoke from what it was south ; seemingly, in Northampton, there was no bottom to the rock formation, which was found one hundred and fifty feet below the surface, and perseveringly
SAN FRANCISCO FACTORY.
followed by the Beldings down to the depth of 3700 feet, where, after drilling for many months and reaching by many hundred feet the lowest point ever reached in similar undertakings, it was abandoned. Operations were suspended only when $32,000 in hard cash had been expended and when the rope broke off squarely, necessitating the additional expenditure of many hun- dred dollars had work been proceeded with. More than the ordinary interest attending such enterprises was felt all through the Connecticut valley, because Prof. Hitchcock, the renowned geologist, had expressed his conviction many years ago that the thickness of the red sandstone rock in this vicinity was 2500 feet. When this point was passed by the well-borers, public inter- est, in Northampton especially, was at its height, and as, day after day, Prof. Hitchcock's figures were left farther behind, popular attention was hardly less
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