USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Picturesque Hampshire : a supplement to the quarter-centennial-journal > Part 18
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MILLS AT MONTREAL, CANADA.
MILLS AT BELDING, MICH.
noticeable, as it seemed, even if the workmen failed to find water, gas, oil, or something else must be found be- fore many days. But when operations were finally sus- pended, the public were not surprised, though disap- pointed, and sincere regrets, the warmest sympathy and highest admiration were expressed for the plucky but baffled firm-thwarted for the first time in any of their undertakings. After repeated torpedo explosions, for the purpose of opening possible fissures thereby, but as it proved in vain, the tools used were withdrawn and the great work abandoned, as already noted.
But, as we have already intimated, it is not alone in the silk business, or in enterprises concomitant with it, that the Beldings are known. The town of Belding, Mich., has been an outgrowth from the homestead of the family, since they removed to the west, from Ash- field. Starting as a small hamlet, it is now a town of 25co inhabitants, and here the brothers started the first silk mill in the west, in 1877, which they sold to a Chi-
cago syndicate, and it is now run and known as the Richardson silk company's factory. The brothers' own mill at Belding was erected since, and this (not the Richardson's mill) is the subject of one of our illustrations, and their interest in the town of their adoption has been further shown by their building for it an opera-house, hotel and a large business block. The Beldings are also interested in other manufactures than their own, at this place. One company, known as the Belding Mfg. Co., makes a large line of hardwood refrigerators. This estab- lishment has been selling 15,000 refrigerators annu- ally throughout the country. The Miller Casket Co. is another of the Beldings' ventures at Belding, Mich., and a superior line of caskets and coffins are sold by it, through the west. The Belding Bros. are anxious to have other manufacturers locate in their patron-town and offer special inducements to them to go there and establish themselves.
But the versatility and enterprise of the Beldings does not stop even here. They are largely interested in the St. Lawrence Marble company at Governeur, N. Y., which turns out a very popular produet much re- sembling the famous Quincy granite. They are also connected with and chief promoters of the work of manufacturing a fibrous paper pulp, from talc. It is used to give weight and body to paper, and the demand for the product is rapidly increasing. The mills of this company are also located at Governeur and the corpo- rate name of the concern is the St. Lawrence Fibre Pulp Company.
Milo M. Belding is president of the Livonia salt company, at Livonia, in New York, and this is one of the most important and promising of the Beldings' ont- side ventures. The salt obtained at Livonia is mined instead of being produced by evaporation, as at Rochester, Syracuse and some other places, and there is but one other region in the country where it is so obtained-in Louisiana. The monopoly there is now broken up, and very effect- ually, because the Belding Bros. salt mine fur- nishes a product ninety-eight per cent. pure, and this is a better result, for stock feeding purposes especially, than any which has hitherto been obtained. The salt can be put on the cars at the mines at a very low price, and this also is so un- precedented that the Beldings may be considered as public benefactors, even though they should be such unintentionally.
Finally, the Belding Bros. have large interests in the "New South," consisting of 75,000 acres of land in North Carolina and Tennessee, teeming with almost inexhaustible stores of timber and
PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
87
mineral wealth. Much of this tract lies on the Tennes- see river and a company has already been formed to bring some of its product to market.
All the enterprises of the Belding Bros. have turned ont well, unless their artesian venture is excepted, and even this resulted in the lowering, somewhat, of water rates to them by the city of Northampton.
We have outlined, as briefly as possible, the remark- able record of a remarkable family in the manufactur- ing annals of our country. It remains to be seen wheth- er the story is complete. It seems more likely that it has been but half told, and that the future achieve- ments of the brothers and their coadjutors in the ยท various enterprises in which they are engaged are yet to be recorded. Yankee pluek and ingenuity has, seemingly, no limitation but that drawn for it by the mutations of time and the embarrassments of mortality which are felt by one and all, and which have been ex- perienced by the Belding family in common with others. Since the Quarter-Centennial edition of the Hampshire County Journal-of which this book is a supplement- Hiram H. Belding, one of the members of the firm, has died. He was the manager of the Chicago department of the business, and his loss is a great one to the firm and severely felt, but the work which he performed, with his brothers, lives after him, and imperatively de- mands their eonstant attention, as their best tribute to his memory.
The best wishes we can express for the Belding Bros. & Co .- now conceded to be the largest silk manu- facturers in the world-is that, in behalf of the citizens of Northampton and Hampshire county, at least, their sagacity, enterprise and energy may outlast the envy and malice of all rivals, as we have no doubt it will, and complete the monument already begun to their pre- eminence, head and shoulders, above their strongest competitors.
John N. Leonard & Co.
Among the New England silk manufacturers of prom- inence the house of John N. Leonard & Co. of North- ampton is rapidly coming to the front. It has for some time held eminence for quality of goods, and improve- ments lately made and to be made have euabled the firm to many times double the product of the old mill. The engraving on this page pictures the mill buildings
Warner .
JNY. Leonard
now occupied by the firm on the road to the village of Florence, about a mile and a half from the center of the eity. The boarding-house of the company, and resi- dences of the proprietors are elosely contiguous, but do not show, for obvious reasons, and the whole area of the company's property is over five acres in extent, in one of the most sightly and convenient parts of the city. The mill property is of brick and wood, and the long building on the right of the engraving was erected the past summer, and dedicated by the proprietors and employes with a dance.
The genesis of the silk business on this spot dates from the establishment of manufacturing here by Joseph Warner, about 1838. After his death, Luther J. Warner, his son, took up the work and continued it successfully, joining in partnership, in 1882, with the present senior member of the firm of John N. Leonard & Co., the two gentlemen now uniting their forces with equal success in carrying on an enormusly enlarged
business. Very few people in Hamp- shire county have any conception of the great amount of work carried on in the buildings on the Florence road, and an inspection would as- tonish them, as it did the writer. To one accustomed to seeing so much nnocenpied space in the large, roomy modern factories, the scene here is suggestive. Every spare inch of room is utilized ; nothing is wasted. From cellar to attic the raw and finished material and the busy workers over it are found and the system with which everything is managed finds frequent illustra- tion. Mr. Warner is a vigorous and active member of the firm, is a direc- tor of the First national bank and has been president of the "three- counties" agricultural society ; ed- ucated in the business of silk man- ufacture from a youth up, and Mr. Leonard came here fresh from his
well known triumphs at Ware- house Point, Conn., where, as is generally known, he had the name of making a full honest weight of silk to the spool, and the very best in the market at that.
Mr. Leonard has brought to Northampton the same spirit of intense application and painstaking attention which distinguished him in Connecticut and he and his partner both give their personal attention to the details of business and know exactly what is going on in their mill, at all hours of the day. "I believe," said Mr. Leonard to the writer, "in concentrating my business under one head. Our mill, office and sales-rooms are all in Northampton, and I think we can deal to better advantage with our customers and save them money by thus simplifying our operations."
The firm have more than doubled the capacity of the works by the erection of their new mill, 50x150 feet in dimensions, of three stories. The whole is operated by a large steam engine and equipped with everything of the latest in the way of im- proved labor saving machinery, with the addition mentioned, greater facilities than before being afforded. In the new part mechanies would notice with much pleasure the ingen- ious shafting and counter- shafting, Mr. Leonard's own arrangement, the most com- pact and frictionless work. of the kind we have ever seen. Wood pulleys only are used and the amount expended for repairs in this department re- duced to a minimum.
The produets of the mill are full lines of sewing silk and machine thread, of a superior quality, and the firm employ no selling agents, but dispose of their own goods through traveling salesmen to the trade all over the country.
The new accommodations of J. N. Leonard & Co. allow of the employment of two hun- dred hands, and a ramble through the different rooms will convince one that every employe has his proper place and fills it, and that every inch of space is made to tell. Fire proof room is provided for the choicest silk and Messrs. Leon- ard & Co. dye their own skeins. A few words as to the handling of silk in their mill may be of interest. After being sorted, the silk goes to the machine to be "thrown"and made of the requisite strength.
MILL OF J. N. LEONARD & COMPANY.
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PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE
After being re-reeled it is put in the hands of the dyer, who boils it for two or three hours in soap and water, and then rinses it in clear water, and drying it proceeds to give it the required color. By this boiling good silk loses about 25 per cent. of its weight, and just here comes the opportunity for deception or fraud, which J. N. Leonard & Co. have been particularly careful to guard against-indeed, this is where Mr. Leonard earn- ed his reputation in the business. If the silk receives what is called a pure dye, only a fraction of an ounce in every pound of the loss from the boiling which removed the gum and impurities of the silk is restored, but the silk remains soft, will not crack or fade, is stronger, though somewhat finer, than before it was dyed. If, on the contrary, the dyer is so disposed, he can cause the siik to absorb the dye-stuff and swell with it until its weight has been increased one-fourth, one- half, three-fourths, double, triple, and even quadruple its original weight. The silk thus treated has a good lustre, but is stiff and brittle ; if a dress silk it is liable to crack and fray and does very little service ; while the silks of pure dye are soft, bear any amount of folding and erumpling, will not crock, break or crack, and are very durable, points which Messrs. Leonard & Co. have been careful to follow in the example of the senior member of the firm.
The minute details of the manufacture of silk have been many times explained and need not be repeated here; suffice it to say that the conscientiousness shown by the firm in that stage of manufacture already de- scribed is also carried out in every department of the factory, and when John N. Leonard & Co. stamp a spool of silk as such a fraction of an ounce in weight. their customers know that they are paying for that weight of silk, and not half silk and half dyes, or other pigments.
Every part of the mill is an interesting study, in more than the ordinary sense of the word, because the ingenuity of arrangement is simply surprising to one unfamiliar with the place and one could hardly believe such an amount of finished and unfinished stock could be accumulated in the old and new structure. The attic even is utilized, in every foot of space, and here are barrels upon barrels of different sizes of spools, and the machine for printing upon them-Mr. Leonard's own invention.
The new counting-room of the firm is a model of con- venience ; a sky-light throws kindly assistance upon the book-keeper's desk and Messrs. Leonard's and Warner's private office commands a view of nearly the whole length of the mill, in the second story. An American
watchman's clock records the movements of that now indispensable adjunct of every mill-the night watch- man-and telephone, telegraph and messenger call are at the instant service of the firm. With its new and greatly improved quarters, and the old-time sagacity, conscientiousness and energy of both members of the firm still continued, it seems evident enough that the house of John N. Leonard & Co. has not yet seen its best days.
Regarding the characteristic quality of the senior member of the firm for compact and convenient arrange- ment of material in a comparatively small compass, we think no higher compliment could be paid than that given by the senior of those well-known pioneers of the trade, the Beldings, when he said, "It is the most ingenious mill arrangement in our line that I have seen yet, and no man in America but Leonard could have done it, in such a space."
The fact is that in the mill of John N. Leonard & Co., although the quarters are now much enlarged, the machinery, material, stock and employes are so com- pactly arranged that many concerns with twice the amount of room do not turn out any more, and some times not so much work, as do Messrs. Leonard & Co. The firm evidently has a brilliant prospect before it.
THE PAPER INTEREST.
Next in importance to silk, the manufacture of paper is the most important of Hampshire's industries, and the mills at South Hadley Falls are entitled to first mention, and in this connection it seems in order to state that the canal around the falls at South Hadley was begun and completed during the last eight years of the last century, and was long used for purposes of nav- igation by boats and other craft ascending and descend- ing. Its later use, however, and that which has stimu- lated the growth of the Carew and Hampshire paper
rop built a small mill and a general store, which Mr. Carew entered. He took entire charge of the mill and store until 1848, when this property and that of D. & J. Ames adjoining (the first paper-makers in this part of New England) was burned. Howard & Lathrop thus sustained such a severe loss as to cause their failure and terminate their business at the Falls, which was the occasion of Mr. Carew organizing the Carew Mfg. Company the following year, with a capital of $35,000. Mr. Carew died in 1882, and C. W. Gardner was treasu-
high grade papers, such as bond, linen and commercial papers. Hampshire bond paper has a fine reputation in the market, and the demand for it is constant. The officers of this mill are:
President-J. H. Southworth; Treasurer-C. H. Southworth; Secretary-E. C. Southworth.
It is pleasant to note that the labor troubles which afflict most manufacturing concerns have been conspie- uously absent from the history of the two South Had-
MILL OF CAREW MANUFACTURING COMPANY, SOUTH HADLEY FALLS.
MILL OF HAMPSHIRE PAPER COMPANY, SOUTH HADLEY FALLS.
companies and the village of South Hadley Falls, has been to supply water for the manufacturing purposes of these and the Glasgow mills.
The Carew Manufacturing Company.
Probably the oldest paper mills in the county are those at South Hadley Falls. The engraving which shows at the head of our manufacturing and industrial department is of the first mill of the Carew company. It was established in 1848, and Dea. Joseph Carew was the projector, as will be explained. Mr. [Carew also built the Congregational church in that village and contributed greatly to the prosperity of the village and the church.
But the manufacture of paper really began at South Hadley long before this, in 1824, when Howard & Lath-
rer and manager until 1886, when Mr. Southworth took charge. There are four 500 lb. and one 700 lb. engines ; and one 80-inch Fourdrinier machine. The "Carew" trade mark, or name, on writing-papers has become famous all over the country, and now the company manufactures excellent bond and ledger papers.
One hundred and twenty-five hands are employed, in turning out three tons or more of paper every day. The officers of the company are:
President-J. H. Southworth; Treasurer-E. C. Southworth; Secretary-C. H. Southworth.
Hampshire Paper Company.
The Hampshire Paper Company was established in 1865. The capital was made $200,000 and has so remain- ed, but the buildings have been largely added to and the product increased, numbering four tons daily of
ley paper companies. The employes make good wages, seem happy and contented, and the proprietors evident- ly take the same interest in their welfare and the pros- perity of the village that the founder of the mills did and seem determined to leave as good a name behind them.
L. L. Brown Paper Company.
Many a sojourner among the Hampshire hills, hap- pening along in the quaint little village of West Cum- mington, is surprised when he sees a cluster of mill buildings on the bank of the brawling little river, and is told that here is a paper mill. These buildings are the subject of our first illustration, on the succeeding page, and for picturesqueness of surroundings alone deserve a place in these pages. Here," apparently shut in by the hills on all sides, is a paper mill which has quite a
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PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
history. It is now the property of the L. L. Brown paper company of Adams, a picture of whose main mill, at that place, is also given on the same page.
A mill privilege is known to have ex- isted on the site of the present mill in West Cummington, as long ago as 1805, when it was used by Wmn. Hubbard, and by his son and other parties, after his death, as a tannery and saw-mill. It was burned down finally and rebuilt by the people of the village, afterwards passing into the hands of Spencer and Charles Shaw. Then J. D. Nelson bought a share and in 1856 the Shaws, Nelson and Noble Whitman built the present mill and put in the machinery for making paper. They failed in 1861 and Jonathan R. Smith held the place on a mortgage. In 1863 James Crumby leased the mill, with Amos Eddy as agent. They ran it for three months, and then it was idle until April, 1864, when Crumby took a deed from Smith and gave Eddy a bond for a half interest. Crumby gave a deed to S. D. Hollister in November, 1866; the latter failed in 1869 and L. L. Brown then took possession as principal creditor.
Writing papers were made at the West Cummington mill-at one time a full line of them-and after Mr. Brown took pos- session the paper, before being finished, was carried over the hills to Adams, to be sized and ruled. Ledger and blank book paper of excellent quality and paper for the Zylonite mills was made here. Now bond and ledger paper is made to order. Amos Eddy, however, who is yet living in the village, made an attempt to manufacture photograph paper, claims to now possess the secret of its manufacture, and says he would have succeeded years ago but for the hindrances maliciously thrown in his way. Mr. Eddy says there is no necessity for American photographers paying the present high price for their paper, as it can be as well made in this country and his peculiar pro- cess of sizing, he claims, would give them what they want.
There are a few facts of general interest in relation to the mill. Included in the property appertaining to it are about 400 acres of land, which when Wm. Hub- bard started here consisted of only about fifty acres.
MILL PROPERTY OF L. L. BROWN PAPER COMPANY AT CUMMINGTON.
But it has gradually enlarged since to the area stated and is now let on shares to farmers in the vicinity. This paper mill farm furnishes one of the best pastures in all the hill country, somewhat stony, but still excel- lent pasturage for cattle, and largely availed of. John Wiethauper is superintendent of the company's inter- ests at this place and has been since 1882.
Very few casualties have occurred about this mill property, though it has been so long in existence. In 1860 a man from Poughkeepsie lost his life from being carried over a shafting by a belt, while putting in a new cut-off, and a man fell from a guy rope while Mr. Hollister had the mill, but was not seriously disabled. The mill, of course, has plenty of power and has some-
times employed a large number of hands. If a railroad is ever brought up this way, the golden days of this little mill privilege will return again.
But to speak of the paper mill at Cummington, with- out a word concerning the works of the L. L. Brown paper company in general would be like giving the play of "Hamlet" with Hamlet left out. This company has achieved a world-wide reputation as man- ufacturer of first-class, bond, linen, ledger and record papers, and we use the phrase "world-wide " advised- ly, as we were told, with pride, by a citizen of the town of Cummington, that Miss Julia Bryant, daughter of the poet, who now resides in Paris, recently asked her Paris stationer for the best linen paper made, and was handed out paper of the L. L. Brown make from her own native hills.
The L. L. Brown company have a high reputation for the ex- cellence of their pa- pers, not only with the trade, but also with the United States government, which has awarded them numerous contracts. Their braud of ledger papers is so well known to the trade that we need not de- scribe it; suffice it to say, that for county or state records, for mer- chants', bankers', and manufacturers' ledg- ers it is very pop- ular with officials and accountants, by rea- son of its durability in daily use and un- equaled writing and erasing qualities. The papers are sized to re- sist climatie changes and have proved their superiority in North America and other tropical climates.
MAIN MILL AND OFFICE OF L. L. BROWN COMPANY AT ADAMS.
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PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
T
MILLS OF THE MOUNT TOM SULPHITE PULP COMPANY.
The Mount Tom Sulphite Pulp Co.
As the mills of the Sulphite Pulp company are not yet in operation at Mount Tom, the managers
do not care to make any statement concerning the business of manufacturing paper pulp from wood, shortly to be begun there, but kindly permit us to print the above engraving of the works and the
following names of the officers of the company : Directors-W. A. Russell, president; A. N. Burbank, treasurer; William Whiting, Hales W. Suter, George Van Dyke and C. C. Springer.
THE LUMBER INTEREST.
The following article will show the justice of accord- ing the lumber business the third place in importance among the manufacturing interests of the county which have a place in this work. No amplification of our own is needed ; the figures and facts presented are impor- tant and of great interest to every citizen, especially to those who desire homes of their own and appreciate the means which facilitate their possession of them.
The Connecticut River Lumber Co.
[CONTRIBUTED.]
The lumber business on the Connecticut river, as now represented by the Connecticut River Lumber company fills so large a space in the public interests, that a sketch of the several branches of their work will probably be read, hy all business men, with satisfaction.
The present Connecticut River Lumber company owns the mills at Mcludoes Falls, Vt., and at Holyoke and Mt. Tom. This company is the successor of three
older large companies, and its origin dates at the year 1876. Some New York men owned much the largest traet of timber lands around the sources of this river, and being ready to begin bringing their lumber to mar- ket, in 1876 they bought and improved an old saw mill at Dutch Point, Hartford, and cut and drove a lot of timber to that place.
But the distance from the woods to Hartford, and the dams at Holyoke and Windsor Locks, besides the trouble made by logs with so many inhabitants in Hol- yoke, Springfield and Hartford, (as the logs floated withont protection, for many weeks, past these places) soon convinced these men that Holyoke is the lowest place on the river to which logs can be profitably driven. In 1879 this company bought the Mt. Tom mill, and all the business interests connected with it, from the Melndoes lumber company. They also leased the Holyoke mill from the Holyoke Inumber company. In 1884 they united all their timber lands and mill interests with those owned by George Van Dyke, who had built
and carried on a mill at Mcludoes Falls, after the old mill, owned by the Meludoes lumber company was burned in December, 1875.
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