USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1800 to the year 1876 > Part 18
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likely to stay, for what I see. It has swindled me out of about $1,500 -for besides what I shall lose by failures, I have twenty-two machines on hand, besides pickers. They were all engaged last summer, and if times had not turned, I should have had the money for them now. If I had left business the spring before last, it would have been much to my interest; but at that time the Imbargo was not thought of, except by King Jefferson and his party, and as they can't do wrong, we must put up with it. I have often thought you might have done better by moving back into the country ; but, as things are now, there is no doing anything anywhere. ARTIIUR SCHOLFIELD.
Mr. Scholfield's advertisement of a small quantity of woolens for sale in 1801, leads us to believe that he commenced weaving soon after his removal to town ; but we have no distinet mention of broadcloths until 1804, when he offered a few pieces of gray- mixed to several merchants of the village, who were all afraid to purchase. The goods were, however, sold in a larger market, and a few weeks afterwards Josiah Bissell, a leading store-keeper, brought home from New York two pieces of cloth which he had purchased for the foreign article. Scholfield was sent for to give an opinion upon them, and had the pleasant triumph of exhibiting to Mr. Bissell the private mark, which proved them to be the same goods which he had so lately rejected.
Still, Mr. Scholfield's labors and successes must have been little known to, or have made little impression upon, his townsmen ; for, in April, 1808, a correspondent of the Sun wrote as follows :
MR. ALLEN: Some have doubted the practicability of our success in the establishment of woolen-manufactories; and others have foolishly held in derision the importation and the value of fine wool of the Spanish breed. To such I request that you would hold up the follow- ing advertisement from an Albany paper: * * G. W. & 1. POR- TER, Merchant Tailors, No. 66 State street, Albany, have just had come to hand from the manufactory at Poughkeepsie, best superfine broad- cloth, made of the wool of the Spanish merino breed of sheep, imported by Chancellor Livingston. This cloth, for quality and beauty, is not exceeded by any imported.
A still more marked oversight of Mr. Scholfield occurred about the same time. While the English clothier was perfecting the machinery and minor details of his quasi factory, some improve- ment began in American wools ; and in 1807, Elkanah Watson brought to Pittsfield the merino ram and ewe, whose exhibition
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in the fall of that year, under the old Elm on the park, proved the germ of the Berkshire Agricultural Society's cattle-shows.
The next June, Mr. Watson had the wool of these sheep made into a piece of blue broadcloth, by " artists " whom he styles " the best in the country." "It far excelled," he says, "any (Amer- ican) fabric which has yet appeared." Samples of it were exhib- ited in the principal cities, and among the letters which he received, concerning them, was one from Chancellor Livingston, in which that eminent and judicious friend of American industry wrote : " The samples you have sent me of your cloth are full and satisfactory proofs of our ability to manufacture as good cloth as we should wish to wear, as well as of the great importance of cultivating the merino breed in preference to any other."1
A detailed account of the manufacture of this cloth, and of its expense per yard, written by Mr. Watson to Rev. Dr. Shepard, of Lenox, was printed in the Sun, of November 12, 1808, and widely copied. The essential portions are given below :
I am happy in being able to answer correctly your queries respeet- ing the width and cost of the superfine Berkshire broadcloth in which I am now clothed ; having been very exact in the first essay made in this county.
On the 10th of June last, my Spanish ram and ewe were sheared, and yielded, including tags, eight pounds and four ounces of wool.
I received in rolls, 6 lbs. 11 oz.
Tags and cuttings,
1 1b.
Waste 7 per cent.,
First weight, 8 1bs. 4 oz.
This was spun and wove in a superior style by the Shakers, who delivered me nine and a half yards of cloth, one and a quarter yards wide. The cloth was dressed by Mr. Maynard, who delivered me, after fulling, dyeing and finishing, seven and a half yards of cloth full thirty inches wide. The whole cost was as follows :
Carding 6 lbs. 11 oz. wool, $1 09
Spinning and weaving, 3 98
Fulling, dyeing, etc., 2 85
Total cost of eloth, $7 92
The cloth, as it is finished, is considered by competent judges to be
1 Watson's Men and Times of the Revolution.
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worth three dollars and fifty cents a yard ; and, allowing this to be just, the following is an estimate of the profits :
8 lbs. 4 oz. wool, unwashed, at $1.50 per pound, . . $12 37
Neat cost as above, 7 92
Clear profits, 25 per cent., 5 96
7 1-2 yards at $3.50 per yard, $26 25
Hence it is unequivocally ascertained that my wool, in the state it was shown, is fairly worth one dollar fifty cents a pound ; besides leav- ing a handsome profit for the manufactory. Or in other words, the value of $26.25, in seven and a half yards of cloth, cost me seven dol- lars and ninety-two cents, exclusive of the wool as shorn, or two dollars and twenty-two cents a pound, putting profits out of the ques- tion. The value of the cloth, as estimated above, is considered low ; for imported broadcloth is about fifty-six inches wide, exclusive of list, or twenty-eight for the half. Mine is thirty. This difference I have not noticed.
Watson continued this manufacture of broadcloth by proxy, and in 1812, took the Berkshire Agricultural Society's premium upon it. Before the latter date he became acquainted with, and complimented, the merits of Mr. Scholfield. It is singular that he should not have done so still earlier.
It was certainly a remarkable and very happy coincidence which brought together in Pittsfield, independently of, and unknown to, each other, two men, each in his specialty so essen- tial to the building up of its woolen-manufacture.
In the year 1809, several companies for the manufacture of woolen-goods-frequently connecting with it that of cotton-cloth -were formed in the interior of Massachusetts. Among them were one at Pittsfield, and one at Stockbridge. The organiza- tion at Pittsfield originated in a meeting held, January 4th, at Captain Merrick's inn, when Colonel Joshua Danforth presided and Theodore Hinsdale, Jr., was secretary. This meeting
Resolved, That, whereas, from the exertions which have already been made by a few individuals, and from the indications that many others will zealously engage the ensuing season, in the introduction and gen- eral spread of the invaluable merino sheep in this county, this meet- ing are fully impressed with the opinion that the establishment of an extensive woolen-factory for fine cloths and stockings, in this town, will greatly promote the interests of this county by manufacturing a new and valuable raw material within the same, in preference to its future exportation.
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Resolved, That the introduction of spinning-jennies, as is practiced in England, into private families, is strongly recommended by this meeting to the attention of the public ; since one person can manage by hand by the operation of a crank, twenty-four spindles, or more, at one time ; and it is by these labor-saving machines that the American people will successfully rival the Europeans in many important articles; and the establishment of an extensive factory under legislative patron- age will always go hand and hand with private enterprise, to the great benefit of individuals.
To carry the objects of the meetings into practical operation, Elkanah Watson, James D. Colt, Jr., and Simon Larned were appointed to apply to the legislature for a charter and to take such other measures as they deemed proper in the premises; Colonel Danforth and Captain Merrick were requested to receive proposals for a suitable mill-site, sufficient land for the erection of the neces- sary buildings and "such hydraulic works as might be necessary."
The legislature incorporated Simon Larned, Elkanah Watson, Joshua Danforth, James D. Colt, Jr., Jared Ingersoll, Oren Good- rich and such others as they might associate with themselves as " The Pittsfield Woolen and Cotton Factory," and at a meeting of the corporators, in September, 1809, James D. Colt, Jr., was chosen clerk; it was determined that the stock of the company should consist of one thousand shares of the par value of twenty dollars each. The meeting was adjourned until the second Wednesday of the following November. A communication in the Sun of January 24, 1810, denies a statement in the Reporter that "The company had completed their machinery, and had actually gone into operation under the able management of Mr. Scholfield." The writer says that no assessment had ever been paid on the shares, but that Mr. Scholfield " had commenced man- ufacturing on a small scale, and entirely at his own risk, without any kind of assistance from the said company."
About this time a New York gentleman wrote to one of the corporators, that there could be no more favorable opportunity for commencing operations; British cloths having risen enor- mously, a whole cargo being sold by the bale at Philadelphia, in December, 1809, at fifteen dollars a yard. But the company pro- ceeded no farther, being crippled by the failure of the Berkshire bank, of which the principal members were either directors or large stockholders.
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Mr. Scholfield, however, having experienced an effect from the " Imbargo " different from that which he contemplated at the date of his letter in 1808-although it did not restore to him a monop- oly of the manufacture of machinery-was encouraged to enter into the woolen-manufacture upon the small scale alluded to by the Sun's correspondent.
This enterprise of 1809, was, like most of the establishments up to that time, not in all respects what we now commonly under- stand by a " factory ; " i. e., an establishment in which all the proc- esses of manufacture are carried on in immediate succession, under one head and ordinarily under one roof.
In 1806, as we have said, Mr. Scholfield, in order to devote himself more exclusively to the making of carding-machines, spinning-jennies, and looms, sold his wool-carding business to Alexander and Elisha Ely, who carried on the manufacture of marble monuments, fireplaces, "etc." in the same building-the old mill of multitudinous uses. But, notwithstanding the lively demand for American cloths caused by the exclusion and high prices of English goods, the market for machinery did not recover from the glut mentioned in Mr. Scholfield's letter of 1808. And as Alexander Ely, the surviving partner in the carding-business, was also disheartened by bad debts which he had allowed to accumulate during the scarcity of cash in the two preceding years, Scholfield repurchased it; and, encouraged by the increas- ing demand for American cloths, made changes and improve- ments in the " Pittsfield Factory," which made it more worthy of its name.
The spinning-jennies and looms, which were both run by hand, were placed in a building newly-erected for the purpose, on the east bank of the river just below the bridge. It was afterwards known as " the old red mill." The carding-machines were retained in the original mill which stood on the same side of the river just above the bridge. The stone-banking, built along the river to receive the building, still remains. In the pressure of business during the war, a few looms were afterwards placed in an addition which was built to the cottage where Scholfield lived and died, and which is still standing on the south side of West street next to the west side of the river. There were few houses in town where there were busier thoughts or merrier hours.
The fulling and finishing of the cloth manufactured by Schol-
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field in this cluster of little factories, were done at the clothier's works on Elm street, carried on successively by Eli Maynard, Maynard and Allen, and Jonathan Allen, 2d, -the distance between which and the factories was a little over a mile. .
But, while the continued improvements in machinery and raw material were tending toward the combination of all the processes of manufacture in a proper factory, the clothiers' business, in its old form, had grown to an importance which it did not lose for years, and which proved of great value to the country in the second war with Great Britain.
In 1805, " a brother-clothier," proposed, through the Sun, the organization of a society of his fellow-craftsmen "for the lauda- ble purpose of investigating chemical liquids, and to improve in making and dressing cloth :" which, in his opinion, " would be as useful and honorable to the county, as a missionary, or any other society whatever." And such a society seems to' have been formed, although it did not long continue. So far as the art of dyeing was concerned, the necessity of improvement by some means was undoubted. That their colors were not fast, was long the prevailing defect of American cloths. White edges were the distinguishing mark by which their nationality was detected. Daniel Webster long remembered his sorrow when a boy, and crying with vexation, because the blue, on a rainy day, washed out of his new outer garments, and into his shirt. And Hon. Phinehas Allen used to boast with humorous zest of his patri- otic persistence in wearing Scholfield's earlier Pittsfield blues, although they crocked him as though he had been dipped in an indigo-pot.
While Scholfield was, as a matter of business, pushing his improvements in machinery, and Watson, as a matter of personal pride and of patriotism, was urging, by example, instruction, and argument, the improvement of Berkshire wools; other citi- zens of more or less prominence joined them heartily in their efforts. It was justly considered, by almost all the more intel- ligent part of the community, that there was no act of more true or more effective patriotism than to establish a new branch of manufactures, or to introduce some improvement in husbandry. The newspapers recorded every attempt and every achievement of this kind, with abundant praise, and were profuse in teachings and theories; which were more correct, and less visionary, than
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could have been expected. Indeed, considering that almost every enterprise in cloth-manufacture was as yet an experiment untried in America, and was to be undertaken by men of little experi- ence, urged on by those of less ; it is wonderful how few errors there were as to general principles and long results, however much they may have underestimated immediate difficulties, and overlooked their deficiencies in skilled labor. This may be, per- haps, accounted for by the fact that some of the writers and speakers upon these subjects had been for years residents in Europe, and close observers, under favorable circumstances, of the agriculture and manufactures of its most prosperous nations. Others were diligent students of the best books upon those sub- jects. In Pittsfield, Mr. Watson, in particular, was remarkably well qualified to be a teacher in these subjects, having long been a resident of France, in close contact with its manufactories, and having visited England, Holland and Belgium, studying with keen and envious eyes, their highly-cultivated farms, their superb flocks and herds, and their factories, where skill in the useful arts was carried to the highest perfection then attainable. Thomas Melville, who succeeded Mr. Watson as the leading advocate of patriotic effort in this direction-a little after the period of which we write-had almost an identical experience. Both these gentlemen were frequent contributors to the columns of the Sun, whose antipathy to England gave an added zest to its zeal in building up rivals to its manufactures. Rev. Thomas Allen, and his son Jonathan, paid great attention to this subject, and gave it the aid of their pens. Ezekiel Bacon, and indeed all the capable writers among the democrats, manifested their interest in the same way.
The loss of the files of the Reporter prevents our knowledge of the contributions of federalists to this class of literature; but David Campbell, James D. Colt, Lemuel Pomeroy and others certainly gave very valuable practical aid to the movement.
In November, 1809, the Sun published a long and carefully- prepared article upon Berkshire manufactures, from which it appears that an attempt had just been made to ascertain the extent and progress of manufactures in the county. And, although the responses of those to whom application had been made for information was not so general as was desired, they afford a pretty satisfactory idea of the facts in the case. Returns
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were received from ten towns, showing the following production of woolen goods for the year 1808 :
Lenox, 3,030 yds., Pittsfield, 15,270 yds.,
Lanesboro, 5,000 yds.,
Gt. Barrington, 4,400 yds.,
Hinsdale, 2,000 yds.,
Stockbridge, 3,250 yds.,
Sandisfield, 5,441 yds.,
Tyringham (estimated), 5,450 yds.,
Cheshire, 6,960 yds.,
Alford (estimated), 4,400 yds. Total, 55,212 yds.
Of the amount credited to Pittsfield, about five thousand yards were dressed at a shop near Richmond-Daniel Stearns, at Bar- kersville-and were manufactured, in a " good measure, in that town." There were twenty other towns in the county, and although some of them were small, and some had no fulling-mills, it was supposed that the total product of the Berkshire looms was at least a hundred thousand yards. The cloths were made mostly of the common wool of the county, three-quarters of a yard wide; and were estimated to be worth rather more than a dollar a yard.1
From this the writer in the Sun draws a lesson :
Here then is a single branch of manufacture, carried on principally in private families, at a very trifling expense, and interfering very little with the great business of the farmer, which yields to this small county-consisting by the last census of about 33,000 souls-more than $100,000, being more than three dollars to each person, of all ages and sexes. It is easy to see how greatly the wealth, comfort and hap- piness of our county are promoted by pursuits of this sort, and how far they tend to increase and invigorate the solid sinews of national wealtb. It is equally obvious, how easy it would be for our farmers to double the amount of this branch of manufactures in quantity, even by the increase of the common wool of our county ; and equally so to quadruple it in value, by cultivating the finer species of wool which is now happily brought within the reach of every one.
Statements and arguments like this were frequent in the Pittsfield newspapers during the first quarter of the present cen- tury, and, although we may have space to copy, or even allude to,
1In 1811, Scholfield advertised his prices as follows : for carding, twelve and a half cents per pound, for common or quarter-blood wool; for half-blood, sixteen cents ; for full-blood, twenty-five cents per pound ; for manufacturing, thirty cents to one dollar twenty five cents per yard according to quality for 5-4 cloth delivered at the loon. Broadcloths, double that price.
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only a few of them, we must bear testimony to their great efficacy in advancing the cause of domestic manufactures. The product of 1808 was certainly a very creditable one, and a noble testi- mony to the industry of Berkshire households; but it was con- siderably less than Berkshire looms, under a more perfect organ- ization of labor, and with more perfect appliances, now often send out in a single day; while, although the quality of the goods is greatly improved, the cost to the consumer is but slightly, if at all, enhanced.
The hopeful condition of the woolen-manufacture in 1809, is attributed by the Sun's correspondent " very much to the card- ing-machines now in general use, and the newly-constructed spin- ning-jennies lately made by the ingenious Mr. Scholfield." The conclusion of this article is full of information, and we quote it :
These machines [the spinning-jennies] go with from twenty to thirty spindles, upon which a single woman can spin from twenty to thirty runs 1 of fine yarn per day in the best manner. A few of them are already in successful operation in this vicinity, and can be conveniently worked in any private family. The cost of them is about fifty dollars, and one of them is sufficient to do the spinning for a number of fam- ilies, who can join in the purchase.
The cost of foreign cloths of fine texture is already so high that few can afford to wear them. And a number of pieces have been made in this town which sell readily for three dollars per yard-three-quarters wide-which are in every point equal to foreign broadcloth which costs eight dollars ; leaving to the manufacturer a profit of more than a dollar a yard. The gentleman before-mentioned is engaged in getting into operation a manufactory of fine cloths, which there is no doubt will succeed with equal advantage to the undertakers and the public. * * *
We have not time to notice as they ought to be noticed, several other valuable branches of manufacture which have grown up among us, within two years past, particularly the valuable and extensive one of sail duck and cotton bagging, now in operation in this town, at which it is understood more than twenty thousand yards of the former, and a large but unascertained quantity of the latter have been made the year past ; affording a vast profit to the enterprising undertakers, consum- ing a great quantity of the raw material of flax, and thus encouraging its growth and increase, and employing a great number of the poorer classes of people in its operations.
1 It will be recollected that, under the old system, one and a half runs was considered a good day's work in spinning woo! prepared by the old-fashioned card, and three for wool carded by Scholfield.
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Many of the same remarks might be applied to the manufactory of muskets and small-arms, which has been pretty extensively carried on here for the year past, and at which more than a thousand have been made, and sold by contract to the state of New York.I
In the year 1809, then, a very interesting period was reached in the history of Pittsfield woolen-manufactures. A deep and practical feeling had been created in favor of improvements in the breed of sheep for the purpose of refining their fleece. Some very creditable cloths had been produced ; and a very remarkable advance had been made in other essential particulars. Arthur Scholfield had brought his carding and picking machines, his spinning-jennies and looms, to a high degree of perfection; and was manufacturing them, largely, for sale at home and abroad. He had also established a small factory for the manufacture of fine broadcloths. Under the impulse of his improved machinery, and encouraged also by the political state of the country and the world, the clothier-business was exceedingly prosperous. A num- ber of the most prominent business men of the town had been incorporated as a cotton and woolen manufacturing company ; and, although the enterprise had been checked by the pecuniary embarrassments resulting from the failure of the Berkshire bank, it was only for a time, and it was succeeded very shortly by two successful projects of a similar kind.
We here intermit our account of this branch of industry, to give place to the early history of the Berkshire Agricultural Society, which had at this stage of its progress an important influ- ence upon it.
But, as Arthur Scholfield's operations, after this date, were mostly in connection with other persons, we will here finish the general story of his life.
After the war of 1812, the extreme depression of manufactures rendered his affairs unprosperous ; and, in 1818, he was advised to apply to congress for relief in consideration of his early serv- ices to the American woolen-manufacture. He was, however, although in great need, distrustful of the project ; and, the changes
1 The Sun containing this article has the following paragraph : The Hon. Mr. Bacon left town on Monday last, for Washington. And it is with great pleasure we add, that he was dressed in a full suit of HOMESPUN, manu- factured in this town, and a part of it by his amiable and patriotic lady.
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of representation in the congressional district operating against him, it appears to have been abandoned.
Mr. Scholfield kept up his efforts to sustain himself, bravely ; but he never achieved pecuniary success, or even recovered the position he had lost. He gave up his interest in the " Pittsfield Factory," and in June, 1821, the following advertisement points him out as doing business on a small scale at Goodrich's mill, which occupied the site of the present Wahconah flouring-mill :
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