History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 73

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 73

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In spite of all the grandeur of growth of the forests, it has only been of recent years that the people of St. Louis have begun to supply themselves with the articles manufactured from the wood products of the country, much less to produce any for export. The absorption of industry in other channels, the scarcity of capital and skilled labor, and the cheap goods sup- plied by competing communities elsewhere prevented these essentially home manufactures from establish- ing themselves in the city upon anything like a large scale or one commensurate with the community's needs.

The ancient French habitans did indeed contrive to manufacture their canoes and bateaux, their rude

charrettes, and their equally rude houses of posts from native timber, joining their roofs and floors, and framing them, and making their cedar-picket inclosures with a good deal of simple, compact skill. But they did not admire the forest, nor choose to grapple with it ; they got their firewood from the débris brought down by the floods of the Mississippi and Missouri, and the old town either bought its sawed and squared and planed lumber or else did without. The Missouri Gazette of March 1, 1809, has the following adver- tisement :

"The subscriber will receive and execute orders for any quan- tity of plank at the following prices per hundred feet, viz. : Cherry $3.50 Walnut or ash. 3.25 Oak 3.00

" To those who may forward their bills and receive their plank at any of the landing-places at St. Louis a deduction of twenty-five cents per hundred feet will be made.

" A quantity of the above kinds of plank is deposited for sale at Mr. Stedman's tan-yard at the above prices.

"N.B .- Orders for plank will be received at the printing- office and forwarded to the mill.

" THOMAS KIRKPATRICK.

"GOSHEN TOWNSHIP, INDIAN TERRITORY."

The following is probably the first notice of an at- tempt to manufacture furniture in St. Louis. It is from the same journal, 26th of July, 1810 :

" Heslep & Taylor, windsor and fancy chair-makers, at their shop, adjoining Mr. J. Coons', St. Louis, inform the public that they have just arrived from Pennsylvania with an extensive assortment of materials necessary for elegant and plain chairs. They will gild, varnish, japan, and paint their work agreeable to the fancy of those who wish to encourage the business in this place."

Feb. 13, 1813, we find the following :

" Philip Matile, wheelwright, carriage- and chair-maker (from Switzerland), informs the public that he has for the last two years carried on business in this neighborhood. He has now established a shop six miles from St. Louis, on the road that leads to Camp Bellefontaine."

In 1818, 3d of January, we read,-

" Pine boards sell here now at the enormous price of eight dollars per hundred feet. Ash, oak, walnut, and every other description of boards rate in the same proportion."

In the year 1819, Messrs. Laveille and Morton ar- rived in St. Louis from Pittsburgh on flat-bottomed boats loaded with lumber, on the tops of which were stowed the effects of the emigrants. This is believed to have been the first importation of Eastern lumber into St. Louis. On their arrival they engaged as carpenters, and subsequently became extensive build- ing contractors. With the increase in their business came an increased demand for lumber, and for a good many years the principal supply was drawn from the yellow-pine districts of the Gasconade River and its

1323

TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.

tributaries, in what was then Gasconade County, but now Gasconade, Texas, and a half-dozen or more other counties. The principal mills were located on the Big Piney, and were owned by Messrs. Fort & Lynch, Ormsby, Truesdale, Addison, Bates, and Joseph Wal- ton, there being some eight or ten in all. After the lumber was manufactured it was brought down the . Gasconade and Missouri Rivers in rafts, and it was from this lumber that the St. Louis arsenal and Jef- ferson Barracks were built. Every winter the builders or dealers in lumber had to make a trip by horseback to that district, the time occupied in going being six days, and the route by way of Manchester, thirty miles from St. Louis ; Union, sixty miles from Man- chester, crossing the Burbois, and taking the Shaw- neetown trail to Strong's, on Little Prairie, thirty miles from Union; then to Clayton's, forty miles from Strong's ; then to Bradford's, on Spring Creek, thirty- five miles from Clayton's; and then to the mills on Big Piney, about twenty miles from Spring Creek. The country was sparsely settled, and the points named the only ones where accommodation for either man or beast could be had.

Some lumber was also brought from the neighbor- hood of Ste. Genevieve, and poplar from the vicinity of a stream south of the city, known as the Big Muddy, and Cape Girardeau, and it was not until somewhere about the years 1825-27 that Messrs. Laveille & Mor- ton commenced making a regular business of bringing lumber from Pittsburgh and vicinity to supply the St. Louis market.

July 2, 1836, we find the following, showing a rapid progress :

" Our readers are referred to an advertisement in another column of a steam planing-machine, recently put into operation in this city by Mr. James Kipp. The machinery is in all respects perfect, and we un- derstood that it was capable of turning out six hun- dred planks per day completely finished. The whole operation is performed with wonderful velocity."

In 1844 lumber began more regularly to be brought from the Allegheny regions, and about the same time St. Louis lumbermen turned their attention to the pine regions of the upper Mississippi and the northern lakes, the erection of mills there, and the manufacture and shipment of lumber direct by river. During that time, and even yet with some exceptions, the lumber in the St. Louis market was brought in rafts floated down by its manufacturers, or from Chicago yards, the business all the while increasing.

For several years the larger portion of white-pine was brought via Chicago, but the cost of transporta- tion operated against Chicago.

The manufacture of pine lumber in St. Louis, that has proved a fortune to some of its citizens, was par- tially the result of a misfortune to some of the log or lumbermen of the St. Croix region. In 1843, in consequence of the heavy rains in the upper country and the vast accumulation of logs in the Lake St. Croix " boom," the " boom" gave way, and thousands of logs escaped to the river. They were gathered up at dif- ferent points along the Mississippi, made into rafts and brought down to St. Louis, and some of them sold to Daniel Page, who had a mill on the river-bank, a short distance above what is now known as Mound Street. On the 1st of November, 1841, Messrs. West, Field & Vandeventer started what was known at the time, and as long as it was conducted, as the Pine Mill, which was confined exclusively to the saw- ing of pine lumber. So successful was this enterprise, and so great the demand, that the supply of logs be- came inadequate, and they were forced to hire men and send them to the pineries to cut logs for their mill, so that this firm may be set down as inaugurating that branch of business in St. Louis.

In this connection it may not be amiss to say that among other orders they filled was one in 1849-50 for the spars, decking, etc., of the ship " Matilda," built at St. Louis, and designed for the St. Louis and San Francisco trade. This was about the time of the breaking out of the California gold fever, but before the ship was finished Mr. French, for whom she was building, failed, and West, Field & Vandeventer and Gordon & Brotherton, who had a hard lumber mill, and had furnished the oak lumber for the outside and inside siding, ribs, etc., closed their lien, and with some other interested parties caused her to be sold at sheriff's sale and bid her in. After the sale they had her taken down to New Orleans, where she was rigged out, a cargo taken on board, and started for New York, but on entering the gulf she sprang a leak, and was forced to put back and go on to the dock for repairs. The insurance on the hull and cargo did not cover the loss, and her owners put her on the market and sold her at a great sacrifice. She was subsequently sold in New York for twenty-seven thousand dollars.

The firm of Schulenburg & Boeckeler in 1848 pur- chased their first raft of pine logs, which were brought from the Wisconsin pineries, and hence became the second firm to commence the manufacture of pine lumber in the city. That mill continued the manufac- ture of native and pine lumber from that time, although a part of the intervening time the mill was mainly run by other parties, Schulenburg & Boeckeler retaining an interest all the time. It finally passed under the entire control and management of A. Boeckeler & Co.,

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

and since then the bulk of its manufactures has been of pine to fill home orders for bridge material and other heavy work. In 1850 the firm became owners of the now large planing-mill on Mullanphy Street, be- tween Tenth and Eleventh. In 1853, Schulenburg & Boeckeler conccived the idea of establishing mills of their own in the pineries of Minnesota, from which they might supply their yards direct, and the success that attended the enterprise has abundantly proved its wisdom. The site selected was at the town of Stillwater, on the St. Croix River, and in 1854 the mills were completed and put in motion. These mills were propelled by steam, generated by five large boil- ers, and the machinery driven by two good-sized en- gines. The saws were run in " gangs," there being three "gangs," in one of which there were twenty-eight saws, in another one twenty-two, and in the other one eighteen, so that the cutting of the largest log was a matter of but small moment. Besides these gang-saws there was one large rotary- or circular-saw, and a num- ber of smaller circulars for manufacturing lath, shingles, palings, etc., the whole machinery giving employment to about one hundred and seventy-five men. From the starting of the mills in 1854 to 1857 the most of their manufactures were sold to different points on the river, only a part being brought to St. Louis, and it was not until the summer of that year that they began "piling" in their yards.

The time occupied in bringing a hand-raft from Stillwater to St. Louis varied according to the stage of the water and the rapidity of the current, but gen- erally was from twenty-five to thirty days. The man- agement of the raft required about twenty-four men and a pilot, each string having two oars and requiring two oarsmen. The time necessary for a tow-boat raft to make the trip was about twelve to fifteen days, and required only one man to each string, besides the reg- ular boat's crew. Laths, shingles, and palings were manufactured at the mills in the pincries, and brought down on the top of the lumber-rafts, a single raft often bringing 150,000 shingles, 300,000 laths, and 25,000 palings, making in all a very valuable cargo,, and worth, at a reasonable estimate, about $25,000.

From Michigan and Canada large numbers of logs were, even at that early day, brought to St. Louis. Yellow-pine from the Gasconade, poplar from South- western Indiana, Southern Illinois, and Tennessee, and cedar from the cedar-rifts of Tennessee were early imported to St. Louis.

Richard Schulenburg, the senior member of the lumber firm of Schulenburg & Boeckeler, and one of the pioncers in the lumber trade of St. Louis, was born in Westphalia, Prussia, in 1837. His father

was an attorney, and gave his son an education suit- able for entering on the study of a profession, for which he designed him. At the age of nineteen it was found that his taste inclined toward industrial and commercial pursuits, and, with the approbation of his father, he went to Manchester, in England, where he passed two years in the acquisition of a knowledge of business. He then returned and passed two years in Germany, one of which was devoted to the discharge of his military duty.

In 1861 he came to America and located at St. Louis. Soon after his arrival he engaged in the lumber business in a small way, and this business he has ever since followed. His trade steadily enlarged, and in 1874 he became a stockholder in the Eau Claire Lumber Company.

After the death of Nelson C. Chapman, which occurred in that year, Mr. Schulenburg succeeded him as vice-president and general business manager of the company. Under his management the busi- ness of the company in St. Louis has largely increased, and it now reaches the amount of 65,000,000 fect of lumber annually sold here.

Mr. Schulenburg was married in 1864 to Miss Eliza, daughter of Frederick Schulenburg, an old citizen of St. Louis. They have five children, three sons and two daughters. He has devoted his entire time and energies to his business, and has bestowed very little attention on other matters.

It was many years before St. Louis began to supply her own wants in the lumber and timber line, and to manufacture the various wares of wood which occupy so large and important a place in business and domes- tic service. In 1850 the census statistics showed but two planing-mills, with 35 hands and an annual pro- duct valued at no more than $96,000. There were 55 cooper establishments, having 248 hands, and making $288,822 of annual products ; 9 saw-mills, with $115,000 capital, 103 hands, and $248,000 annual product ; 1 bucket-factory with 10 hands, turning out $6000 a year; 8 carriage-makers, $56,- 000 capital, 138 hands, and $130,000 products ; 50 cabinet-makers, $72,700 capital, 195 hands, $182,800 products ; 3 plane-makers, $5300 capital, 15 hands, $48,000 products ; 1 chair-factory, $1500 capital, 5 hands, $3500 output ; 1 basket-maker, $400 capital, 2 hands, $2160 product ; 32 wagon-makers, $27,275 capital, 121 hands, $146,585 products ; 1 yawl-boat builder, $150 capital, 1 hand, $750 product ; 1 block- and pump-maker, $8000 capital, 17 hands, $9000 product ; and 1 ship-yard, $125,000 capital, 85 hands, $150,000 products in steamboats.

This, however, was but the beginning. As the

Richard Schulenburg

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

1325

TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.

annual trade review of one of the city newspapers for 1854 puts it,-

"In many articles of manufacture, both of wood and metals, we are dependent upon the industry, enterprise, and ingenuity of other States for nearly the whole supply which our demand requires ; this, too, while this section has ample stores of the raw material, superior in texture, and capable of being procured in the cheapest possible manner. With the most inexhaustible quantities of iron and copper ore, we import nearly all the arti- cles manufactured out of these metals, such as nails and cast- ings of every description. Sand is taken from the State, to be returned from Pittsburgh in the shape of glass. Our forests are filled with timber suitable for the finest furniture, and we import bureaus, sofas, chairs, bedsteads, buckets, and a hundred other articles of like character."

There were, to be sure, many factories, as shown above, but they were on a small scale, and did not meet the city's requirements. During the year 1853, for which this journal's statistics were compiled, for example, there were received from other places 20,063 dozen brooms, 1018 nests of baskets, 98,141 pieces of cooper stuff, 8474 packages of furniture, 771 chicken-coops, 1091 saddle-trees, and about 10,000 packages of woodware, such as washboards, buckets, tubs, pails, etc., besides hub-stuff and hoop-poles and blocks by railroad. The exhibit of lumber from all sources was as follows :

Feet.

Lumber (sawed) received by the lumber merchants in 1853

36,412,451 Shingles received by the lumber merchants in 1853 .. 30,462,700 Laths 6

6,947,000

Cedar posts "

22,748

During the year there were purchased by the city mills the following :

Feet.

Logs purchased. 29,636,808 Lumber manufactured therefrom .. 23,095,545 Laths from same .. 7,975,500

The plank-road stuff received by the county for roads,

by way of rafts and the river.

1,278,336

The above shows, in the receipt and consumption of sawed lumber, 60,786,332 feet.

A comparative statement of the lumber trade for 1868 and 1869 makes the following exhibit :

1868.

Feet. 20,000,000

Upper Mississippi ..

Saginaw and Canada,-Saginaw 5,000,000 and Can- ada 2,500,000

7,500,000

Chicago ...

3,000,000

Poplar from Southern Illinois and Indiana

500,000

Yellow-pine, Mobile and Ohio Railroad and steamer from Vicksburg.

1,500,000

Yellow-pine from Potosi, Mo.

2,500,000

Total. 35,000,000

Upper Mississippi .. 1869.

20,000,000

Saginaw

500,000

Canada

1,500,000

Chicago

5,000,000 Poplar from Illinois, Indiana, and Tennessce.

1,500,000

Southern yellow-pine from Vicksburg, Mobile, and Ohio Missouri pine.

1,000,000

3,000,000

Total

32,500,000

The Chippewa, Black River, Wisconsin River, Wolf River, the Green Bay district, and Southeast Missouri were in time made tributaries to the lumber trade of St. Louis.

The receipts of lumber at St. Louis in 1875 were :

Feet.

White-pine by river .. 89,217,880

66 by railroad. 9,464,000

Yellow-pinc ... 21,326,850

Poplar by river ..

4,496,000

by railroad

2,149,000

Hard woods ..

12,474,500

Cedar.

2,729,090

Shingles

43,574,090

Laths

15,099,000

Logs of all kinds.

40,232

The shipments aggregated 56,643,000 feet.

The receipts of lumber for the calendar year 1881 were 434,043,094 feet, ncarly twelve times as much as in 1853; shingles, 56,578,785. In carpenter- ing, in 1880, the business done by St. Louis was as follows : Establishments, 185; hands, 2228; wages, $667,900 ($300 per capita) ; capital, $361,- 840; material, $1,585,094 ; products, $3,005,411,- leaving a net profit of $716,233 (200 per cent. on capital).

Baskets (rattan and willow-ware) .- Establishments, 7; capital, $9015; hands, 14; wages, $6140; ma- terials, $3960 ; products, $18,020.

Boxes (cigar) .- Establishments, 6; capital, $57,- 550; hands, 97 ; wages, $34,100 ; material, $47,700; products, $105,600.

Boxes (packing). - Establishments, 11; capital, $40,000 ; hands, 98; wages, $23,601; material, $75,430 ; products, $140,400.

Brooms and Brushes .- Establishments, 25; capi- tal, $95,175; hands, 328; wages, $83,349 ; mate- rial, $140,770 ; products, $281,280.

Carriages and Wagons (materials) .- Establish- ments, 3; capital, $126,000; hands, 203; wages, $91,638; material, $134,440 ; products, $264,600.

Carriages and Wagons (finishing). - Establish- ments, 39; capital, $740,050; hands, 1300; wages, $447,831 ; material, $811,865 ; products, $1,614,236.

Cars (railroad, street, and repairs). - Establish- ments, 7; capital, $314,200 ; hands, 704; wages, $293,384 ; material, $732,460 ; products, $1,100,809.

Coffins (undertakers' goods) .- Establishments, 5; capital, $30,500; hands, 33; wages, $12,530 ; ma- terial, $109,200 ; products, $157,396.

Cooperage .- Establishments, 78; capital, $493,- 295 ; hands, 1217; wages, $377,056; material, $798,262 ; products, $1,431,405.

Furniture .- Establishments, 54; capital, $920,- 702 ; hands, 1315; wages, $511,915 ; material, $1,- 082,825 ; products, $1,979,683.

Pieces.

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

Looking-Glass and Picture Frames .- Establish- ments, 19; capital, $323,900 ; hands, 280; wages, $80,251; material, $102,825 ; products, $268,682.

Lumber (planed). - Establishments, 9; capital, $272,350 ; hands, 418; wages, $152,609 ; material, $502,742; products, $756,936.

Lumber (sawed). - Establishments, 3 ; capital, $620,000; hands, 194; wages, $72,086; material, $251,600 ; products, $412,000.

Sash (doors and blinds) .- Establishments, 12; capital, $586,195; hands, 804; wages, $275,321; material, $669,871 ; products, $1,191,670.

Wheelwrighting. - Establishments, 52 ; capital, $51,950; hands, 148; wages, $47,598; material, $42,632 ; products, $140,121.

Wood (turned and carved) .- Establishments, 18; capital, $28,725 ; hands, 51; wages, $19,183 ; ma- terial, $20,045 ; products, $84,207.

These statistics do not include many industries in which .wood and lumber play a collateral or subordi- nate part, such as models and patterns, organs and pianos, pumps, refrigerators, roofing and roofing ma- terial, saddlery, show cases, trunks, umbrellas and canes, whips, billiard-tables, bridges, children's car- riages and sleds, casks, chairs, washing-machines, wooden-ware, agricultural implements, etc.

RECEIPTS OF LUMBER AND LOGS FOR 1881 AND 1882.

1881.

1882.

Feet.

White-pine lumber from upper Mississippi River.

100,454,498 162,682,830

Yellow-pine lumber from lower Mississippi River.

270,500

512,740

Ash lumber from lower Mississippi River.

2,568,000

Poplar " 66

10,705,700

Oak

1,154,000

3,764,748 11,844,915 1,903,447

Walnut lumber, half from lower Mississippi River, and half from Missouri River .. ... Cottonwood lumber from upper Mississippi River.

1,500,500

2,530,000

Total receipts by river

118,434,459

185,278,370

Receipts of shingles from upper Mississippi

River ....

34,590,785

56,835,209 35,247,014

Receipts of lath from upper Mississippi River .. pickets " 46

870,175

1,451,748

53,574,783

93,533,748

Receipts of Logs by River.

1882, superficial feet.

4,341,763

1881,

11,912,635

1880,

8,699,192

Total Receipts of Lumber and Logs.

1881.

1882.

Feet.

Lumber by river.

118,434,459

Feet. 185,278,370 251,927,000

Logs by river ..

11,912,631

4,341,763

Total receipts

434,043,094

441,547,133

Total Receipts of Shingles and Lath by River and Rail.

1882.

1881. 1880.

Shingles, pieces.

........................

77,667,000 56,578,000 106,246,000

Lath,

35,247,000 18,523,000 41,023,000

Among the lumber merchants of St. Louis few, if any, have enjoyed a larger measure of success and in-

fluence than William G. Clark, who for nearly fifty years has been one of the prominent business men of the city. Mr. Clark was born in Baltimore, Md., Nov. 4, 1818. His great-grandparents emigrated from Argyleshire, Scotland, to York County, Pa., in 1750. His grandfather, Matthew Clark, was in 1802 a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, represent- ing the county of York. His father (who was also named Matthew) married Miss Tempie Glenn, the granddaughter of Maj. Robert Glenn, an officer under Gen. Washington in the Revolutionary war. Col. Matthew Clark (father of William G. Clark ) was one of the defenders of Baltimore in the war of 1812, being a volunteer from the county of York. Sub- sequently, in 1816, he removed to Baltimore to live. Matthew Clark's mother was a sister of Judge Hugh Breckenridge, of Pennsylvania, one of the most dis- tinguished men of his day.

William G. Clark was educated in the public schools of Baltimore until he was seventeen years of age, when he entered as clerk the dry-goods house of John Taylor, where he remained for one year. In 1836 he accompanied Daniel Trowbridge to St. Louis, to enter into business, and served him as clerk for a period of three years. In 1839, Mr. Clark com- menced business for himself as a wholesale clothing merchant, the firm being Jones, Clark & Gill, one of the largest establishments of its kind at that day in the city, and still remembered by the old inhabitants as one of the leading houses on Main Street. Al- though success crowned his career as a wholesale clothing merchant, he retired from the business in 1842, being convinced that the lumber business pre- sented a wider field for the exercise of his enterprise and ability. Accordingly he entered upon this new occupation with an energy and industry which soon caused him to become one of the most extensive and successful lumber merchants in the city. Having erected a large steam saw-mill on the river-bank in the northern part of the city, he continued in the lumber business until. 1874, when he retired with an ample fortune, and a reputation for integrity and up- rightness of which any one might be proud.

Mr. Clark's sagacity and forecast as a practical business man are seen in the investments in real estate which he made from time to time while actively en- gaged in other pursuits. One of these is worthy of mention. In 1850, when as yet there was but little business done on Fourth Street, he purchased the old Methodist Church property on the corner of Fourth Street and Washington Avenue, on which, in 1856, he erected a block of substantial and handsome five-story buildings, which he still owns, and which at the

. " railroad

303,696,000

1,781,261

2,039,680

Number.

18,113.823

Human blelack

LIBRARY Of THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

1327

TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.

present time occupy one of the most prominent busi- ness centres of the city.

As a citizen, Mr. Clark has been identified with many of the leading enterprises of the day. He was a director of the Southern Bank, a trustee of the City University, and a director and leading spirit in the building of the first Lindell Hotel. During the cholera epidemic in 1849, Mr. Clark was selected as one of the "Committee of Safety," to which was committed the management of sanitary affairs dur- ing the three months in which the terrible plague rested like a pall over the city. This " Committee of Safety," composed of such other leading men as Hon. Luther M. Kennett, Hon. Trusten Polk, Judge T. T. Gantt, and A. B. Chambers, discharged the impor- tant trust confided to it with marked fidelity, and to its action the city is indebted for the first estab- lishment of quarantine.

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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 73

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