History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 58

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 58

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2000 hhds. strips, worth in Europe

$175 $350,000

2500

1sts,

New Orleans

120.

300,000

2500

2ds,

50.

75,000

500

ings and bull's eye, worth in New Orleans

$25

12,500

$912,500

"' From the best estimate that can be formed of the growing crop, it will range from 12,000 to 15,000 hogsheads, but prices will not be equal to last year.'"

John W. Wimer and Hiram Shaw, in recommend- ing the City Council of St. Louis to establish tobacco inspection, said,-

" The crop of Missouri tobacco in 1841, although the business of growing that staple is yet in its infancy, is estimated by gen- tlemen well versed in this matter at not less than twelve thou- sand hogsheads; the crop of 1842 is estimated at twenty thou- sand hogsheads, and should one-third only of this quantity be inspected here, the storage on the same, at seventy-five cents a

hogshead, the price fixed by an act of the Legislature, will amount to five thousand dollars, to say nothing of the quantity which will be brought from the other States and Territories. If viewed only in the light of revenue, with reason it might be urged upon the City Council to adopt this measure, but it pre- sents itself in another form inore enlarged and benevolent, that of benefiting the entire population of the great valley of the upper Mississippi, more particularly our own State. The planter, if we act wisely, will find here a market for his tobacco, can at- tend in person and dispose of it to his own satisfaction, and re- turn home convinced that the citizens of St. Louis feel an in- terest in his welfare, and are willing to lend a helping hand in advancing not only her own prosperity, but that of the entire State, that she knows no difference between honorable and valuable customers on her frontier and her own immediate citizens."

The increasing crops of tobacco in Missouri and adjacent States induced the City Council to establish regulated inspections of tobacco, and Messrs. Wimer and Shaw, as a select committee of the City Council, reported an ordinance to that effect.1

From 1853 to 1868, inclusive, the following were the receipts of tobacco at the warehouses of St. Louis :

Hhds.

1853

9,926

1861

8,505

1854

9,485

1862

13,050

1855

6,632

1863

19,325

1856

6,829

1864

42,490

1857

5,646

1865

16,483

1858

6,721

1866

13,669

1859

9,006

1867

18,584

1860

11,956

1868

12,266

Since and including 1870 the receipts, shipments, and offerings have been :

RECEIPTS, SHIPMENTS, AND OFFERINGS, IN HOGSHEADS, DURING THE PAST THIRTEEN YEARS.

1882.

1881.

1880.

1879.

1878.

1877.

1876.

1875.

1874.

1873.

1872.

1871.

1870.

Receipts.

17,445

22,042

18,813

20,278 10,766

25,870 19,701 16,322

28,064 22,109 18,913

29,204 24,221 17,466

13,110 11,574 10,980

22,881 17,772 18,174

19,062 14,648 13,048

12,676 9,137 10,087.

16,523 11,243 14,677

7,642

Inspections

6,871

10,457

11,470

14,870

10,480

About 1850, Missouri possessed the largest tobacco manufacturing establishment in the West, the house of Swinney & Lewis, Lewis Brothers, Lewis Company, of Glasgow, afterwards of St. Louis. This house was founded in 1837 in Glasgow, and removed to St. Louis in 1847, the Glasgow branch being still main- tained. In 1860 the house employed five hundred hands, manufactured between three and four million pounds of plug and fine-cut, and exported large quan- tities of leaf and strips to Great Britain and the Con- tinent of Europe. Of its operatives, one hundred and twenty-five were negro slaves owned by the firm. This firm, before it closed operations to go into other occupations, sold tobacco in every State and Territory.

In the production of manufactured tobacco, St. Louis now ranks second among the cities of the United States, being surpassed only by Jersey City, and is also becoming quite a market for leaf tobacco. The

trade has increased of late years to about four million five hundred thousand dollars, and the capacity of all

1 The old State tobacco warehouse, situated between Washing- ton Avenue and Green and Fifth and Sixth Streets, was destroyed by fire on the 11th of August, 1873. The building was erected by the State for a tobacco warehouse in 1843, and after being used for that purpose for a few years was abandoned. It was closed for a long time, and about 1859 the State donated the use of the building to the city of St. Louis. While the old Lin- dell Hotel was in process of construction, the State ordered the sale of the ground and building, and they were purchased by Jamieson & Cotting, for the purpose of erecting an immense dry-goods house. This plan was afterwards abandoncd, and the property was sold to John J. Roe, and belonged to his estate at the time of his death. It was afterwards purchased by John G. Copelin, Mr. Roe's son-in-law, for $190,000. The building was estimated to be worth not more than $4000. During the time it was in disuse for commercial purposes it was in great de mand for parties, balls, drills, and large assemblages generally, its extensive floor-room rendering it at one time the most eligible place in the city for such purposes.

11,193

Shipments.

7,946

10,737

8,879

70 ..

175,000

1500

1248

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

the factories together is over twenty million pounds a year. Some of these establishments have erected magnificent buildings and other improvements of this nature within the last two years. The revenue paid by St. Louis manufacturers and its excess over that paid in Chicago establishes the pre-eminence of the St. Louis market ; indeed, the monthly tax of one St. Louis factory in excess of one hundred thousand dol-

Company, and Price & Austin Tobacco Company, to- gether with a large number of individual firms.

The cigar trade has grown scarcely less in propor- tion, and the dealers in leaf tobacco express themselves as well satisfied with the ratio of increase in their branch of the trade.

The receipts of leaf in 1882 were seventeen thou- sand four hundred and fifty-five hogsheads, and the

LIGGETT & MYERS TOBACCO COMPANY, Corner Thirteenth and St. Charles Streets.

lars (including the cigar duties) is frequently larger than that of all the Chicago dealers. St. Louis manu- factured tobacco is found in every part of the United States, and the volume of product has steadily in- creased since the reduction of the government tax in 1879. Among the largest manufacturers of tobacco in St. Louis are the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Com- pany, Catlin Tobacco Company, Dausman Tobacco

shipments seven thousand nine hundred and forty- six.

In St. Louis, as elsewhere, the manufacture of cigarettes has developed within a year or two, and the present season already shows a marked increase in this branch of the trade. Including this, the following tabular statement covers the local manufacture in all lines :

1877.

1878.

1879.

1880.

1881.

1882.

Tobacco ...

lbs.

5,448,522

5,954,747 33,560

8,642,688 35,042

12,846,169 38,412

17,139,087 39,904

17,121.199 40,877 453

Cigarettes M.

...

Snuff

lbs.

35,595

36,180

41,180

43,710

1,982 47,769

48,990

Cigars M.

33,920

In 1880 the census return was, for the whole trade : Tobacco .- Establishments, 222; capital, $1,419,- 125; hands, 2627; wages, $668,926; material,

$4,262,681 ; product, $5,702,762 ; net profit, $629,- 243, equal to 44 per cent., which will do very well This is divided up thus :

1249

TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.

Cigars .- Establishments, 201; capital, $272,925 ; lands, 825; wages, $265,967; material, $312,725; products, $888,993.

Tobacco (chewing, smoking, snuff) .- Establish- ments, 21 ; capital, $1,146,200 ; hands, 1802 ; wages, $402,959; material, $3,950,956; products, $4,813,- 769.

The leading Southern factories keep agencies and an extensive stock in St. Louis for sale and conve- nience of distribution, and the Havana and Key West cigar manufacturers have also large dealings here.

The following tables will show the extent of the business done in St. Louis during 1882 and for the nine years previous, though half of the period is counted by the fiscal year, the method of keeping the record previous to 1877.

YEAR.

Tobacco Manufac- tured and Sold.

Amount Tax Paid.

Fiscal,

1872

5,751,185

$1,358,717.50

1873

5,441,872

1,094,600.03

1874

4,794,985

1,154,651.52

1875

6,324,408

1,317,783.26

1876

4,928,147

1,185,712.92

Calendar, 1877.

5,484,43L

1,319,036.16

1878

5,990,80L

1,440,716.84

1879

8,670,466

1,477,899.00

1880

12,889,784

2,062,546.45

1881

17,234,869

2,751,307.00

1882

17,170,190

2,728,525.82

Total

85,839,684

The manufactures of 1882 can be classified as fol- lows :

Pounds.

Plug chewing tobacco.

13,223.857}

Fine-cut

239.73142

Smoking

3,657,615₫

Snuff ..

48,990₴

Total

17,170,19548

Lead .- The earliest mineral of value to St. Louis in point of time, was lead. In fact, it may almost be said that St. Louis owes its existence to lead. The Hon. E. B. Washburne, of Illinois, ex-minister to France from the United States, in a letter to A. D. Hagen, Librarian of the Chicago Historical Society, dated Dec. 13, 1880, after speaking of the researches of M. Margry in the archives of the French Ministry of Marine, and his important and valuable contribu- tions to the early history of the United States, in which he takes an enthusiastic interest, says,-

" I took the opportunity to talk with him touching the early discoveries of lead-mines in what is now Illinois and Missouri, and received a letter in reply, which I also inclose herewith. He was kind enough to send me a transcript of certain documents which are to be published by Congress, and which I have not yet seen. By these documents I am more convinced than ever that the Galena and Dubuque lead-mines were the earliest ever

discovered by the French explorers, either in Illinois, Iowa, or Missouri. The accounts of the discovery, about the year 1719, of the mine of M. de la Motte and the Maramec mines of Mis- souri are very interesting, but I cannot here refer to them par- ticularly. What interested me very much is an extract from a letter written from Fort de Chartres on the 21st day of July, 1722, by one Le Gardeur de Lisle, which I copy herewith, and which is in relation to the discovery of minerals on tbe Illinois River :

"' I have the honor to inform you, gentlemen, that I have been sent in command of a detachment of twelve soldiers to ac- company M. Renaud to the Illinois River, where the Indians had found some lumps of copper, which they brought to M. de Boisbriant, and more particularly to a coal-mine, said to be very rich.

"' When we reached the place of our destination, M. Renaud commenced the search for the copper-mine, but without success, no sign of that metal being visible anywhere. However, in looking for the coal-mine, which we had been told was near the spot we had examined before, we discovered a silver and copper mine, of which M. Renaud made an assay, and which upon the surface of the ground is much richer than M. de la Motte's.

"' I have kept a little diary of that journey. I take the liberty of sending it to you; it will enable you to locate the spot where this mine is situated. It is a most beautiful site; the mine is easy to work and close to a magnificent country for settlers. I am delighted with my trip and with the success which has at- tended it, for the assay made by M. Renaud was upon ore found on the surface, and it has proved to be much better than that of M. de la Motte's mine.'

" M. Le Guis gives an account of the manner in which these miners smelted their ore in 1743, and it is almost precisely the same method which was followed in the Galena up to within three or four years before I located there in 1840. There were then the remains of many old log furnaces throughout the mines. It was about in 1836, I think, that the log furnaces were supplanted by the Drummond blast furnace. The amount of waste or scoria by the old log method of smelting was very great. This waste was .in a great measure avoided by the blast furnace, of which the inventor was Robert A. Drummond, of Jo Daviess County, the uncle of the Hon. Willis Druminond, of Iowa, late commissioner of the general land office at Wash- ington.

"The following is the description of the log furnace one hundred and thirty-seven years ago :

""' They cut down two or three big trees and divide them in logs five feet long ; then they dig a small basin in the ground and pile three or four of these logs on top of each other over this basin; then they cover it with the same wood, and put three more logs, shorter than the first, on top, and one at each end crossways. This makes a kind of a box, in which they put the mineral; then they pile as much wood as they can on top and around it. When this is done, they set fire to it from under; the logs burn up and partly melt the mineral. They are sometimes obliged to repeat the same operation three times in order to extract all the matter. This matter, falling into tbe basin, forms a lump, which they afterwards melt over again into bars weighing from sixty to eighty pounds, in order to facilitate the transportation to Kaskaskia. This is done with horses, who are quite vigorous in the country. One horse carrics generally four or five of these bars. It is wortby of remark, gentlemen, that in spite of the bad system these men have to work, there has been taken out of the La Motte mine two thousand five hundred of these bars in 1741, two thousand two hundred and twenty-eight in 1742, and these men work only four or five months in the year at most."

Pounds.

1250

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

Capt. Pittman, writing, in 1770, of Ste. Genevieve, says, " A lead-mine about fifteen leagues distant sup- plies the whole country with shot." Many curious facts in regard to these Potosi lead-mines are to be found incorporated in different parts of this work, and we do not need to reproduce them in the present chapter.

Lead soon became, next to peltries, the most im- portant and valuable export of the country, and, like pelts, it served in lieu of a currency. It was not, however, until St. Louis began to control the com- merce of the surrounding regions that much lead came there. Before that it was nearly all shipped from Ste. Genevieve. John Arthur, in 1811, offering to sell a large line of cheap goods, gives notice that he will take in pay furs, hides, whiskey, country-made sugar, and becswax, but says nothing about lead. However, it was offered for sale by William Clark, then Indian agent, afterwards Governor, in the fol- lowing miscellaneous assortment :

" For sale by William Clark, the following articles, viz. : 113 pounds beaver, 103 otter-skins, 327 raccoon-skins, 6 pechon, 20 muskrats and minks, 25 gray squirrels, 10 painted buffalo- skins, dressed, 53 plain buffalo-skins, dressed, 436 deer-skins, 24 dressed deer-skins, 1276 pounds lead, 400 pounds gunpow- der, 70 pounds nails, 130 beaver traps, 1 box of glass, 10 x 12, 2 horse-pistols, 1 fusee, 2 rifles, 70 pounds tobacco in carrots, 14 hanks of worsted, assorted, 80 shawls, 4 pieces Irish linen, 2000 yards calico."

Among the largest dealers in this sort of merchan- dise in the fur-trading days of St. Louis, was Joseph A. Sire, one of the associates of Chouteau & Sarpy's fur company.

Joseph A. Sire was born at La Rochelle, France, Feb. 19, 1799, and left home when fifteen years of age to seek his fortune in the New World. His father, a teacher of languages, had died, and his mother, a woman of fine intelligence, encouraged him in his de- termination to emigrate to America, in the belief that the chances of success were greater there than in her own country, then distracted by the daring schemes and restless ambition of Napoleon Bonaparte. At this time Europe was one vast camp, still heaving from the struggle between Napoleon and the allied powers to determine whether that great adventurer's ambitious dream of the solidarity of nations should be realized. Mr. Sire's mother, in view of the unsettled condition of the country, overcame the natural im- pulses which prompted her to keep her son at her side, and urged upon him the advisability of seeking a distant and more promising field of usefulness. Mr. Sire, who fully appreciated her wisdom and maternal courage, always maintained for her the deepest filial reverence and love, and contributed most generously

of his fortune as long as she lived to minister to her comfort and happiness.

The voyage to America might well have dismayed one much older than the adventurous lad, for in those days the facilities of travel did not exist which now enable one to make the circuit of the world in less time and with far less trouble and danger than were then required to performn the journey between St. Louis and New York. No steamships traversed the ocean with almost the regularity of ferry-boats; the sailing-vessel was the only means of transportation, and even the sailing-vessel had not acquired the swiftness and regularity of movement attained by modern ships. Often beating about for days in view of a haven, awaiting a favorable wind, and frequently driven out to sea by an off-shore storm, it seldom per- formed a voyage of any length without encountering many hardships and delays. On land the methods of locomotion were similarly cumbrous and unreliable. The canal-boat, with its crowded, ill-ventilated “ be- tween-decks," and the stage-coach were practically the only resources of the traveler. Young Sire, however, endured the hardships of this novel experience with that courage and fortitude which continued to char- acterize him throughout his career,-a career un- dimmed up to the hour of his death by a single dis- honorable act.

Arrived at Philadelphia, he sought the advice and assistance of Vital M. Gareschè, then in business in that city as one of the firm of Gareschè & Rasazies, but who subsequently removed with his family to St. Louis, where he became an influential member of the City Council and president of the Board of Public Schools. Mr. Gareschè's parents had been residents of La Rochelle, and he extended a cordial welcome to the young Frenchman, who brought letters of intro- duction to him, and gave him employment. His in- dustry, integrity, and thorough reliability soon created a most favorable impression, and he continued to en- joy the confidence of the firm of which Mr. Gareschè was the senior partner until, in 1826, he determined to go West. Upon his arrival in St. Louis, whither he directed his steps, he was promptly admitted to the houses of the best families of Creoles, to whom he was commended by valued correspondents, and ob- tained a situation as clerk with Sylvestre Labadie.

St. Louis at that time was but little changed from what it was when seen by Washington Irving,-" a motley population, composed of the original colonists, the keen traders of the Atlantic, backwoodsmen of Kentucky and Tennessee, the Indians and the half- breeds, together with a singular aquatic race that had grown up from the navigators of the river, the boat-

Los: A Sing

Ur IHF UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

1251

TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.

men of the Mississippi, who possessed habits, man- ners, almost a language peculiarly their own and strongly technical." Such a community, with the dis- sipation ever incidental to frontier life, offered strong temptations to a young man, an entire stranger, de- void of means and deprived of the associations of home and kindred, yet the energy and pure character of Mr. Sire bore him safely through the ordeal. To quote the words of one who met him just after his arrival, he was then about twenty-five, stout in form, florid in complexion, of commanding but not extra- ordinary stature, very affable in his manner, and earnest and energetic in his ways. Mr. Labadie, his employer, was a Creole gentleman who had married a Miss Gratiot, and he and his wife by their own worth, as well as relationship to the Chouteaus, the Prattes, the Papins, the Bertholds, and the Soulards, ranked among the very first people of St. Louis. Mr. Labadie was the owner of a grist-mill, to which was attached the first saw-mill ever established west of the Mississippi River. It was located on the bluff near the foot of Ashley Street, rude and simple though serviceable in its machinery, its motive-power being an elevated circular tread-plane worked by oxen.

There was no metal connected with the machinery, just as the " Vide Poche" carts, now unknown, but then the only vehicle, had not a particle of metal, even for the harness of the ponies by which they were drawn. Mr. Sire became clerk of this establishment, but by his amiability and excellent deportment ingra- tiated himself in the favor of his employers, and in the following year married the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Labadic, a lady of sweet disposition and culti- vated and engaging manners. The union was a happy onc while it lasted, but of short duration, for within two years his wife and their only child died.

Having become associated in the fur trade with Pierre Chouteau and John B. Sarpy, owners of the American Fur Company, with whom he was con- nected by his marriage, he took charge of their an- nual expedition to the upper country, as the region in the vicinity of the head-waters of the Missouri was then denominated,-a wild, unbroken waste, the home of fierce and warlike tribes, the counterpart of which is still to be found in the dark and bloody ground of portions of Texas and New Mexico, where the Apaches wage a desperate but futile struggle against the advance of civilization. The company erected at different points throughout this district stockade forts for protection against the ruthless warriors of the plains. The expedition would always leave in the spring, with a cargo of trinkets, blankets, tobacco, guns, and ammunition, and would remain at the forts, bar-

tering with the Indians, until the opening of navigation in the following year enabled them to descend with their boats to St. Louis to dispose of their product and to replenish their stock. The navigation of the Missouri, with its swift, turbid current, its snags, and its shifting channels, was fraught with danger, aside from the fact that the voyagers were necessarily always on the alert against the wily Indians.

Within the fort peril also lurked, and sleepless vig- ilance was maintained lest some hostile band should invade its precincts and murder every white man. These forts were oases in the trackless wilderness, far more isolated than those of the general government at the present day. The latter are united by tele- graph, have regular mails, and are always within sup- porting distance of each other, but the trading-post had no other communication with the outer world than by the courrier du bois, who traveled from one fort to the other, or perhaps was sent to the settlement thousands of miles away with dispatches. These courriers werc white men who had lived so long among the Indians that, like them, they had acquired their skill in guiding themselves through trackless wilder- nesses by night by the light of the stars, and by day by the bark of trees. Six years of Mr. Sire's life were passed in these distant forts, yet on his return'to St. Louis, so little had he been spoiled by his contact with barbarism; that he was welcomed in the most exclusive circles. After this Mr. Sire settled down in the office of the company at St. Louis, to guide and organize the expeditions he had formerly commanded, an occu- pation in which he was still engaged at the time of his death, July 15, 1854. His business-like and meth- odical habits, fortified by his personal experience, proved of great importance and value to his associates, and contributed materially to the development of their business. All three have now passed away, each leav- ing a fortune honestly earned, which is the best evi- dence of their thrift and foresight.

In 1852, Mr. Sire was married for the second time, the lady of his choice being Mrs. Rebecca W. Chou- tcau, widow of one who belonged to a family honored then, as now, not only as of historic interest in respect to St. Louis, but of great public importance, having ever shown itself ready to embark capital in enter- prises which were likely to promote the development of St. Louis. Mrs. Sire is still living, a woman of marked characteristics, beloved, not for herself alone, but also for her feminine virtues of true sympathy and charity.

Although a consistent and earnest Democrat, Mr. Sire had no taste for politics nor any aspirations for public office. He was frequently requested to become

1252

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

a candidate, but invariably declined. He was a man of warm and affectionate temperament, gencrous yet prudent, unobtrusive in dress and manners, a public- spirited citizen, and an ardent and loyal friend. A notable illustration of the latter fact was afforded in the devoted affection he ever entertained for his first employer, Mr. Gareschè, who also possessed great kind- ness of heart. Between the two there always existed an attachment which time could not diminish nor ab- sence impair, and when Mr. Gareschè, with his family, reached St. Louis in 1839 the intimacy was renewed. Upon the death of Mr. Gareschè, April 4, 1844, Mr. Sire became the protector of his children, and one to whom they never appealed in vain. Generous in his instincts, constant in his friendships, honorable in all his transactions, genial in his intercourse with his fellow-men, the friendless boy-adventurer died the wealthy merchant and lamented citizen, leaving be- hind him a record without stain or blemish.

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 58

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358