USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume I > Part 34
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"We need not leave Essex County to find that within a few years there has been introduced by skill and careful cultiva- tion, the Hubbard Squash, the Stone Mason and Marblehead Mammoth Cabbages, Emery's Early Cabbage, a superior early Tomato and Lettuce, the Danvers Onion, all better in some respects than before existed; and to the list of fruits have been added Allen's two hybrid grapes, and those of Dr. Rogers, possessing qualities superior to those of any others.
"Who ever heard, until within a few years, of seventy- four tons of mangel-wurzels being grown upon one acre of
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land; of thirty-six tons of carrots or nine hundred bushels of onions per acre? Such facts as these are facts that can be proved."
Dr. Loring then went on to suggest that English sparrows be imported to feed on insects harmful to agriculture.
In 1870 a four-wheeled farm wagon supplanted the ungainly two- wheeled tip-cart, and a blacksmith of Ipswich, Webster Smith, brought out an ox wagon for hay, which drew this comment : "Prob- ably in no other part of the country can such large, even, handsome loads of hay be seen as are hauled to Boston from Essex County upon these Ipswich hay wagons." It was a common sight at night to see farmers walking their horses to Boston in order to arrive with their produce in time for the early morning market. Another farm machine, the manure spreader, was introduced in 1879. During this period dairying was beginning to be more and more important, and various wealthy gentlemen prided themselves on their choice breeds of cattle. Francis H. Appleton, of Peabody, exhibited his famous Ayrshires, Maud and Lassie, the former producing twenty- two quarts of milk per day. The outstanding Holsteins, Lady Clif- ton, Maid Marion, and Lady Andover, caused much comment and brought distinction to their owner, William A. Russell, of Law- rence. Other notable exhibits were Betty Burke and Rosanna from the Ayrshire herd of J. D. W. French, of North Andover, and the Cotswold sheep and Kerry cows of D. W. Appleton, of Ipswich. About the same time General Francis H. Appleton had noticed a type of fodder corn used in Hungary which was cured by burying the stalks in pits and covering them with earth. He prevailed upon his Hun- garian friend to give him a written explanation of the process, which resulted in the publication of his "Sour Fodder Making." At the cattle show of 1879, J. J. H. Gregory, the famous seed producer of Danvers, had over two hundred varieties of seed on display. The State Report of that year included his method of tomato culture, while Crosby's early sweet corn and Stowell's evergreen, two of his out- standing varieties, are still favorites. John Ives, of Salem, and Aaron Low, of Essex, also produced noteworthy specimens of seeds. At this period phosphates and various types of condensed fertilizers had come into general use.
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While delivering an address on "What Science Has Accomplished for Farmers," in 1881, Dr. James R. Nichols, of Haverhill, empha- sized the importance of chemistry in the production of fertilizers, and then went on to say in regard to the cultivation of raspberries and strawberries : "I do not remember to have seen cultivated varieties until long after reaching adult age. Now of strawberries there are
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LAWRENCE-OLDEST HOUSE Built Between 1700-1708
Photo by G. H. Leck
more than 350 varieties." Through his efforts with scientific farm- ing at Haverhill and his study of agricultural chemistry, Dr. Nichols was able to write "Fireside Science," "Chemistry of the Farm and Sea," and "Whence, What, Where"; and he was responsible for the founding of the "Journal of Chemistry" in Boston in 1866. The following year General Appleton reported at Haverhill that farmers were adopting the French method of sour fodder and that they were
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commencing to build silos to keep it. In 1883 Benjamin P. Ware reported the assets of the society and said: "It has never paid a dollar for seed since its organization, but has paid an average of $3,000 annually for premiums for the past ten years, and a total sum since the beginning of $44,271.54." He also called attention to the scholarships awarded by the society at the Massachusetts Agricul- tural College, there being three of them at $50 each for a period of four years. A further award of $100 was offered "for the best prepared student from Essex County who completes his course." Important farming matters were discussed at the Farmers' Institutes held in the various towns of the county. Moreover, the following local organizations were affiliated with the society: The Amesbury and Salisbury Agricultural Association, founded in 1856; the West Newbury Farmers' Club, organized in the same year; the Ipswich Fruit Growers' Association, IS56; the North Andover Farmers' and Mechanics' Club, IS78; the Houghton Agricultural Society of Lynn ; the Marblehead and Swampscott Farmers' Club; the Bradford Farm- ers' and Mechanics' Association; farmers' clubs in Rowley, George- town, Topsfield, West Peabody, and Wenham.
In connection with the work of the Committee on Ornamental and Wayside Trees, in IS83, Major Ben Perley Poore was awarded a premium of $1,000 for his excellent oak, chestnut, hickory, locust, fir, and pines planted on his land at Indian Hill. The preceding year Richard S. Jacques, who had won more ploughing contests with his oxen than any other farmer, obliged the committee at the cattle show by competing against the new type sulky drawn by horses; and the evident superiority of the horse and sulky was immediately seen, while Jacques readily admitted, "The sulky is the plough of the future." In ISS5 premiums were offered for various types of horses, running the gamut from gentlemen's driving horses to heavy draft horses. An interesting feature of Essex County agriculture was brought to light at the end of this decade, when a message was sent to the poet Whit- tier on the occasion of his eighty-first birthday, saying: "In no places are your poems read with more interest and pleasure, or your works of tenderest love cherished with a purer admiration than in the homes of the farmers of your native Essex County." The farmers' poet replied : "No better proof of real gain can be found than the crea- tion of pleasant homes for the comfort of age and the happiness of
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youth. When the great English critic, Matthew Arnold, was in the country, on returning from a visit in Essex County, he remarked that while the land looked to him rough and unproductive, the landlords' houses seemed neat and often elegant, with an air of prosperity about them. 'But where' [he asked] 'do the tenants, the working people live?' He seemed surprised when I told him that the tenants were the landlords and the workers the owners."
The 'nineties opened with a rather remarkable record for Essex County, for Eurotisama, one of D. Fuller Appleton's prize Kerry cows, established a new record for the number of pounds of butter produced in one year. The record of the famous Oakes cow, of Danvers, which had produced four hundred eighty-four and one-half pounds in one year, had long been surpassed; and in April of 1890 Eurotisama reached a peak of nine hundred and forty-five pounds for the past year. The next year saw the death of a man who aided the advancement of Essex County agriculture, Dr. George B. Loring. He had founded the New England Agricultural Society in 1864, and was appointed United States Commissioner of Agriculture by Presi- dent Garfield in 1881.
During this decade the finding of a permanent headquarters for the society provoked much discussion and feeling among the members. It was said that modern transportation was such that there was no longer any need to have the cattle show in a different locality each year. The conservative element was opposed to this suggestion, for those members were afraid that a permanent location would mean the installation of a race track and all the evil that went with this type of amusement. However, it was finally decided to purchase land in Peabody, where buildings were built and a quarter-mile track pre- pared; and the first cattle show held there took place in 1895. Dur- ing the next fifteen years the affairs of the cattle show and of the society itself did not prosper well. Elements other than those solely devoted to agriculture were introduced, and in 1899 the yearly address was given for the last time. It was necessary to introduce entertain- ing features such as vaudeville shows and bicycle races to bolster the weakening finances of the society, and the mid-way was beginning to be a greater attraction than the agricultural exhibits. Also, there were those who were seriously considering whether the society was needed, because of the fact that Essex County was no longer primarily
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an agricultural region. The census of 1860 showed that farming was predominant in Haverhill, Beverly, Newbury, and Danvers, and in several of the other towns, but the census of 1910 told an entirely different tale. Lynn had become a large city with practically no farm population. Lawrence and Haverhill turned to manufacturing, while the great farms of the South Parish of Danvers had given way to the leather industry of Peabody. In Wenham, Hamilton, Topsfield, and Ipswich, as well as along the North Shore, many of the farms had been bought by wealthy people whose interest in agriculture was merely for the amusement and recreation which it provided. In spite of this disheartening prospect, there were those who still had faith in Essex County agriculture; and as a last venture, they decided to move the cattle show back to Topsfield, where the first one had taken place in 1820. The old Treadwell Farm, which had been leased since the time the society had inherited it, became, in 1910, the site of the present Topsfield Fair Grounds, which now are exceptionally well equipped and yearly draw people to the fair in September. In 191I the number of cattle, horses, and swine entered was double that of the preceding year, while the silver medals awarded by Thomas E. Proctor brought out a large number of contestants for honors in poul- try, fruit, and vegetables. For the first time the younger generation had a part in the exhibits, for in the spring four potatoes and six ounces of sweet corn had been given for planting to all the school children who wished to ask for them; and the results of this venture were highly successful. This was only the beginning of the work which now encourages the children of the county to try their hand at farming, canning, poultry raising, handicraft, and other types of farm and domestic science. On October 1, 1913, nearly a century after Dr. Nichols had suggested at the first cattle show, in 1820, the foun- dation of a county agricultural school, the Essex Agricultural School at Hathorne welcomed its first class. Since that day great progress has been made among the youth of the county. The school now gives courses of three or four years in agricultural training, a course of three years in homemaking, and a one-year vocational course in the same subject. Twenty-eight weeks of the year are devoted to the classroom, while each student is required to spend the summer on an agricultural project at home or in the employ of someone else. Dur- ing this period the student is visited regularly by some one of the
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instructors, who makes a thorough examination of the work the stu- dent is doing. A modern set of dairy equipment enables the student to make a scientific study of the best methods. The school also has large orchards and plantations for work in fruit growing. Instruc- tion is given in packing and marketing the finished product as well as in the production of it. A greenhouse, nursery, hot beds, and cold frames are provided for the student of ornamental gardening and floriculture. Thorough courses are also offered in poultry, husbandry, vegetable gardening, minor animal husbandry, farm crops, farm for- estry, and beekeeping.
Later Industries
CHAPTER XI
Later Industries
By Robert K. Vietor
Toward the end of the first half of the last century the character of the economic life of Essex County was undergoing a profound change. No longer was the sea to furnish the major share of the wealth, or supply the means of livelihood to so large a proportion of the populace. Industry, more particularly manufacturing of the mod- ern sort, was fast coming into its own, and in the course of twenty-five years was to become firmly entrenched as the primary factor in the economic scheme of this county.
By 1835 the decadence of shipping was so evident that the wealthy merchants of Salem and Newburyport were forced to find other employment for their capital. Several well-to-do Essex County fami- lies had already removed to Boston, where the opportunities for investment appeared better, and had been instrumental in the estab- lishment of large scale textile manufacture at Waltham and Lowell. But much of this wealth, derived from the sea, remained at home to make possible the large and varied industrial expansion shortly to follow. New industries of all descriptions appeared, old ones were enlarged and reorganized, and a new epoch in the economic life of the county was at hand.
This phenomenal increase in manufacture, however, was most rapid and spectacular in the already long established textile, boot, shce, and leather industries. Essex County was particularly well adapted to the manufacture of these articles. Long years of experi- ence under the handicraft system of shoemaking, in conjunction with expert knowledge of the processes of the tanning of leather and
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proximity to the seaports as an aid both to importing the hides and exporting the finished product, opened the way for Essex County to become the second ranking shoe center of the country. Before 1840 there were woolen mills on many of the smaller power sites, but as yet the great resources of the falls of Merrimac River at Methuen had not been tapped, leaving room for a tremendous addition to the county's power driven textile industry.
The events which signalized more than any others the sudder rise of Essex County to its present industrial position were the build- ing of the great dam across the Merrimac River at Bodwell's Falls, and the founding of Lawrence.
From time out of mind this swift stream had tumbled its great volume of water down the fourteen feet of falls and rapids, known as Peter's, Deer Jump, and Bodwell's Falls, within the small confines of the present city of Lawrence. The tremendous possibilities for future water power development at this point must have impressed themselves upon the mind of many an imaginative man who chanced to traverse this beautiful but unproductive wilderness, but it was left for Daniel Saunders, a woolen manufacturer of Andover, to make, in 1840, the first move toward the actual utilization of these falls for the application of power to manufacturing.
In 1820 the Merrimac Canal Company was incorporated for the purpose of making the Merrimac River navigable from tidewater in Haverhill to Lowell. Although no attempt was actually made to build a canal, surveys were made which showed plainly the power available at the falls and rapids at Methuen. But at this early time, before power had been applied to textile machinery on a large scale in this country, it is not surprising that nothing was done about it.
The first project for the utilization of the rapid descent of the water of the Merrimac below Lowell for industrial purposes was undertaken in 1838 by Methuen interests, who proposed that water from the Merrimac be diverted at a high level, and turned into the Spicket River, a small tributary stream which entered the larger river just below Bodwell's Falls. There was a fall of thirty feet on the Spicket, but hitherto the small and irregular flow of that river had made this site of rather limited industrial value. If the scheme could have been carried through as projected, a fall of considerable volume and great regularity would have resulted. Their project came to
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nothing, as the surveys of an engineer, named Stephen Barker, showed it impracticable.1
Surveys of the river below Lowell to determine the water power available were made several times between the initial one of the Mer- rimac Canal Company and the launching of the project that built the city of Lawrence. Such able engineers as Captain Phineas Stevens, of Nashua, New Hampshire, Benjamin I. Baldwin and George P.
LAWRENCE-LAWRENCE DAM, THE FOUNDATION OF LAWRENCE $1,000,000 was subscribed for its construction, and it was completed in 1848 Courtesy of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce
Baldwin, of Woburn, had recognized that a permanent dam at Bod- well's Falls would establish a water power comparable to that of Lowell.
As already alluded to, Daniel Saunders, of Andover, was the man who finally undertook to utilize the Methuen power site. It is
I. "The Merrimac River," J. W. Meader, B. B. Russell, Boston, 1819, p. 290.
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said that Saunders had, at some time before 1835, acquired the plan of the canal projected in 1820 by the Merrimac Canal Company, and, to authenticate the old chart, had gone over the falls at Methuen with the aid of a straight edge and a spirit level. His investigations proved so promising that, in 1840, he quietly began to buy up the land about Peter's Falls and also purchased strategically located property further down the river. By 1843 he controlled the falls and under- took to interest certain Lowell textile men in his project. That same year the Merrimack Water Power Association, composed of Saunders, J. G. Abbott, John Nesmith, Samuel Lawrence, Daniel Saunders, Jr., Abbot Lawrence, Thomas Hopkinson, Jonathan Tyler, Nathaniel Stevens, and others, was formed for the purpose of promoting a power development at Bodwell's Falls. This association purchased more land in this vicinity and made plans for the construction of a dam at the falls. On March 20, 1845, the associates were granted a charter under the name of The Essex Company, which gave them the right to build the necessary dam and canals.
By the time the act of incorporation of the Essex Company reached its final passage, a furor of interest and excitement about the new power project had risen among the capitalists of Lowell and other centers. On the day after the act had been passed, a number of prominent textile men examined the site of the projected dam, and that evening, after the group had dined at the Merrimac House, in Lowell, Abbot Lawrence and John A. Lowell offered $30,000, over and above all previous expenses, for the charter, land, and water rights of the new Essex Company. On the very next day, March 22, 1845, a subscription list of stockholders in the new company was drawn up. Thus was Essex County's first and only large scale water power development launched.
Upon the list of the first stockholders of the Essex Company appeared many names already well known, and many which were to become famous in connection with textile affairs. Abbot Lawrence subscribed $100,000, John A. Lowell, Nathan Appleton, and T. H. Perkins $50,000 each, and Bryant & Sturgis, George W. Lyman, and Amos Lawrence $40,000 each. Other large subscribers were Samuel Lawrence, John Nesmith, William Stone, Theodore Lyman, William
2. "History of Massachusetts Industries," Orra L. Stone, The S. J. Clarke Publish- ing Co., Boston-Chicago, 1930, 2 vols, p. 327.
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Lawrence, John P. Cushing, J. W. Patterson, Charles S. Storrow, J. Huntington Wolcott, Samuel Batchelder, Charles Jackson, Daniel Saunders, J. Wiley Edmands, Patrick T. Jackson, J. P. Putnam, Mar- tin Brimmer, Josiah G. Abbott, Samuel Hooper, George C. Shattuck, and Samuel Appleton. The total subscription of $1,000,000 was received without delay.
On April 16, 1845, the company was organized. Abbot Law- rence, Nathan Appleton, Patrick T. Jackson, John A. Lowell, Ignatius Sargent, William Sturgis, and Charles S. Storrow were elected to the board of directors. Abbot Lawrence became president and Charles S. Storrow treasurer and general agent.
During the summer of 1845 great activity was taking place on the banks of the Merrimac in Methuen and Andover. The company purchased some 4,000 acres of land about the falls. Plans for the dam, the canals, the locks, and the principal streets and squares of the new town were prepared under the guidance of Charles Storrow, acting as engineer of the company. The labor on the works com- menced in July.
The building of the Lawrence Dam was a truly great engineering feat for those days. According to "Lawrence Up to Date, 1845-95":
"At the time of building, fifty years ago, the structure was said to be the longest, it was undoubtedly the most symmetri- cal and substantial, of any for like purpose, in the world. . . The dam is built in a slight curve (it arches fifteen feet up stream), the chord, or width of unbroken over fall, is 900 feet. It crosses the stream in an oblique direction and there is a wing or projection wall upon the north bank 450 feet in length, that upon the south bank being 324 feet long, making the entire work 1,629 feet in length. The face and capping of the structure is of dressed stone from the Pelham quarries, the remainder of rough granite rubble, from South Lawrence ledges, all laid in hydraulic cement. The front face has a barter of one foot in twelve, its average height from foundation to crest, is 33 feet, but height varies with the uneven surface of the ledge. The whole is of solid masonry resting upon the blue quartzite ledge. The breadth at the base is 35 feet, breadth of the top capping about 15 feet, 3
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feet of which is level, and 12 feet stepped back at 45 degrees slope. The natural rock foundation is stepped off to receive the structure of the dam, the front being secured by blasting out a trench in the natural blue ledge, along the entire length, in which the first course granite masonry, bolted to the ledge, is laid. .... The plunge or fall secured at the dam is twenty-six feet and this artificial barrier deadens the current and backs the arrested waters to the foot of Hunt's Falls at Lowell. The dam cost $250,000. The canals and locks, including damages and attendant expenses, cost $275,000 more."3
An elaborate system of canals to conduct the water to be utilized for power was constructed on the river banks below the dam. The new mills were to be arranged along these canals and were to draw from them the water needed to turn the wheels. The north canal is 5,330 feet long, tapering from one hundred feet in width at the upper end to sixty feet at the outlet, and is twelve feet deep at the center. The south canal is three-quarters of a mile long, sixty feet wide at the upper end, and ten feet deep.
The work progressed rapidly, and, with the exception of the col- lapse of a coffer dam with the loss of two lives in October, 1847, the construction was carried out smoothly and according to plan. By April, 1848, the north canal was ready for use, and the dam was completed September 19, 1848, exactly three years after the first stone had been laid.
During the construction of the dam, canals, and mills, a commu- nity rapidly grew up near the works. The new town at first was very similar in appearance and customs to the boom towns which were later to appear in the West following the discovery of gold, silver, and oil. Most of the buildings were crude, ugly affairs, thrown together in haste. The usual lawless element, the gamblers and adventurers, were not slow in arriving upon the scene of the new operations. Dated December 27, 1846, the following entry is found in the memoranda of the company's agent :
"Soon after we began to collect here we found law want-
ing; next, churches and a school; next, the enforcement of law
3. "Lawrence Up to Date," 1845-95, pp. 15-17, Rushforth & Donoghue, Lawrence. 1895.
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was wanted, and we had constables appointed. Now the law issues its warrants, the constables arrest, but the prisoner escapes for want of a jail. . . . . The various trades are already well represented here. We have constant applications and correspondence relating to business openings; among others, one wishes to know if he can have monopoly of the coffin trade in the new town."
The town was first known as "Essex," or "Andover Bridge," and later was called "Merrimack." The post office was opened in Sep- tember, 1846, and also housed the police station and jail. Pioneer lawyers, physicians, merchants, and an apothecary soon appeared and a "Concert Hall" for the amusement of the people was opened. Land offered for public sale by the company, starting in April, 1846, brought good prices.
The population of the new town was mixed. Men and boys from the surrounding country came here in large numbers, but most of the labor was supplied by recent immigrants from Ireland. This influx of foreigners was the beginning of a movement which went on in gathering volume until the World War, bringing successive waves of Irish, French-Canadians, Germans, Italians, and Poles to the growing city. Consequently, the political and social history of Lawrence has been complicated by racial antagonism and serious problems in educa- tion and Americanization.
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