History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 105

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1200

USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 105
USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 105

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In 1879 the venerable Simeon Ide, who for many years-from 1834-was prominently identified with the manufacturing interests of Claremont, pre- pared and published a little book, entitled, " The Industries of Claremont, New Hampshire, Past and Present," containing many valuable statistics, and but for him, probably, would not have been preserved for the benefit of present and future generations of such as are interested in the history of the growth of the town. From this publica- tion we gather many facts, it being the most relia- ble known source of information upon the subject embraced in it.

Mr. Ide says, speaking of the water-power :

"From the statistics I have at hand, it would seem there was comparatively but very little use made of it previous to the year 1833-34. There was then at the upper fall, No. 1, a grist-mill on the south side of the river; on the third fall, No. 3, south side, a wool-carding and fulling-mill, carried on by Wood- man & Elmer, and a furnace by Roswell Elmer ; and on the north side a small hand-making paper- mill, having two 120 lb. pulp-engines, and other necessary appliances of that day, in proportion, for making paper, owned and operated by Fiske & Blake, successors of the first paper-maker in Cheshire County, Colonel Josiah Stevens. On Fall No. 4 was a seven-feet dam, and till the 1st of January, 1833, only water enough was drawn from it to move Timothy Eastman's bark-grinding machine. The Claremont Manufacturing Company's stove-fac- tory, on the south side, had recently been put in order to receive its machinery. On the fifth fall, east side of the river, was the Tyler saw and grist-mill ; on the west side, a wool-carding, spinning, weaving and cloth-dressing factory. On the sixth fall, west side, Farwell's cotton-factory, with Billings' machine-shop in the basement or L, first put in operation in 1831; and on the west side, in 'the gully,' a small slate-sawing and planing-mill, operated by Curtis Stoddard. On Falls Nos. 7, 8 and 9, in 1832, not even a dam had been built, so far as I can learn.

"Following the above order in a more minute historical descriptive view of the several present and former mill-sites in the village proper of Claremont the earliest date at which I find there had been any use made of that at Fall No. 1, north side of the river, was about the year 1800, when Stephen Dexter erected

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a small building there, and he and his brother, Colonel David Dexter, carried on in it a scythe-making concern till about 1824. They also owned grist, saw and oil-mills, located on and near where the Monad- nock Mills Company's saw-mill now stands, which were run by water drawn from a low dam then standing about midway between Dams Nos. 1 and 2. On the decease of Colonel Dexter, in 1830, his son-in-law, Moses Wheeler, in 1831, succeeded the Messrs. Dexter in the several branches of business above stated, ex- cept the scythe-factory, as sole proprietor, and carried them on for several years.

"In 1837-38 a two-story brick building took the site of the old Dexter scythe-shop, and was owned and occupied by the 'Claremont Carriage Company ' two or three years. Hard times finally put a stop to this company's operations, and soon afterwards their buildings were destroyed by fire. Paran Stevens, Timothy Eastman, Moses Wheeler, A. J. Tenney, T. J. Harris (agent), were of the company. In 1843- 44 the present three-story brick building was erected. It stood empty a few years, when John Fiske put into it cotton machinery ; run it two or three years; then a Mr. Cozens bought the property, continued business but a short time, when the Monadnock Mills Company bought and continued its use as a cotton-mill until 1863, and then substituted the woolen for the old cotton machinery. This is the only factory on the north side of the river operated by power from Fall No. 1.

"On the south side, in olden time, Colonel Josiah Stevens, it is said, built a one-story wooden building at the south end of the upper bridge, and put it into machinery for making paper." This must have been, according to Mr. Ide, prior to 1810. The building was burned about 1812, and the present two-story wood structure erected there, which, in 1831, was owned and occupied by David W. Dexter as a grist- mill. It was afterward used for various parposes, and is now the repair-shop of the Monadnock Mills Com- pany.

MONADNOCK MILLS COMPANY .- This company · was organized and commenced business in 1844. According to Mr. Ide, in 1831, Dr. Leonard Jar- vis obtained a charter from the New Hampshire Legislature for a manufacturing company in Clare- mont, called the " Upper Falls Company." This company expended about twenty-five thousand

dollars in the purchase of land, water-power, the erection of a large four-story factory building, tenement-houses, etc. They had only put up the walls, put on the roof and put in the windows and doors of the factory building, when their capital was exhausted. Then followed several years of discouraging times for all kinds of business, and these expensive buildings were unoccupied and were, of course, going to decay until 1843, when the whole property was sold to Messrs. Parker, Wilder & Co., of Boston, who organized the Monadnock Mills Company, put cotton machinery into the mill and commenced business in 1844. Henry Russell was agent and general manager for this company about two years ; he was succeeded by Jonas Livingston, who filled the place for seventeen years, when he resigned, and was suc- ceeded by Daniel W. Johnson, the present agent. This company has had a general prosperity from its first organization, subject, of course, to fluctu- ations in trade, with other similar establishments. Its business facilities have been very greatly ex- tended by the purchase of water-power and land, the erection of new buildings and making improve- ments from year to year to meet the requirements of the times, until it is now the largest manufac- turing establishment in this part of the State. It manufactures cotton-goods, sheetings from a yard to three yards wide, and Marseilles quilts. An extensive bleachery was added to the establishment in 1875. In addition to their own, they bleach large quantities of goods sent here from other States. This mill produces annually 2,255,500 yards of cotton cloth, from one to three yards wide, ninety-four thousand Marseilles quilts, employs five hundred hands, and its average pay-roll is ten thousand dollars per month.

THE SULLIVAN MACHINE COMPANY .- This company occupies the water-power from Fall No. 3, thirteen feet, which was formerly owned by Ros- well Elmer, who carried on a small iron-foundry, making castings for plows, stoves, potash kettles, etc. Mr. Elmer was succeeded by George W. Emerson, in a similar kind of business up to 1850, when he built a machine-shop, now a part of one

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

of the buildings occupied by the present company. In 1851, D. A. Clay & Co., consisting of D. A. Clay and James P. Upham, leased the machine- shop and started a general machine business. Sub- sequently James P. Upham purchased the water- power and real estate, including the foundry of Mr. Emerson, made extensive additions to the buildings and facilities for doing business, which was continued for a few years by D. A. Clay & Co. In 1868 the Sullivan Machine Company, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars, was organized, and purchased this property,-J. P. Upham (president), R. W. Love (treasurer), and Albert Ball (superintendent). These gentlemen owned most of the stoek of the company. Mr. Love subsequently sold his interest to Charles B. Rice, who took Mr. Love's place as treasurer, and such is the organization at the present time (1885). This is an extensive and important establishment ; its buildings occupying an area of three or four acres. They manufacture a great variety of ma- chinery and machine tools. They manufacture the Diamond drill, extensively used for quarrying marble and other stone, and take contracts for quarrying. They also manufacture the Tyler and Witmore turbine water-wheels, water-wheel regu- lators, shafting, gearing, pulleys, and all kinds of mill irons, paper roving-cans, flexible cop-tubes, and do mill iron repairing. They generally give employment to about seventy-five men, most of them first-class skilled workmen.

THE CLAREMONT MANUFACTURING COMPANY. -This company's factory building, are located at Fall No. 4, twelve feet. Authorized capital, one hundred thousand dollars. It was chartered by the New Hampshire Legislature in 1832, and was the first company for manufacturing purposes organized by citizens of Claremont, and has been in continuous operation since its organization. Its factory buildings and tenement-houses were crected in 1832 and 1833. The walls of the factory buildings and a large two-story tenement- house are of stone, quarried within a few rods of their location. The original largest stockholders and most active managers of this company were

Austin Tyler, Dr. Timothy Gleason, William Ros- siter and Timothy Eastman. They purchased about fifteen acres of land on the south side of the river. The business originally contemplated by this company was the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods, and printing and writing-papers, and about the 1st of January, 1833, they were prepared, with the requisite machinery and other appliances, to commence the manufacture of satinets and printing and writing-papers. In De- eember, 1834, Simeon Ide, then a bookseller, printer and publisher of a weekly paper at Windsor, Vt., sold to the Claremont Manufacturing Company his entire stock of books and the printing establish- ment, taking his pay in the stock of the company and came to Claremont and took the ageney and general management of the concern, which he continued until 1858, and was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Edward L. Goddard. Mr. Ide sold his stock to his two sons, George G. and Lemuel N. Ide. Mr. Goddard continued as agent until 1867, when George G. Ide succeeded to the place, and continued in it until his death, in 1883, and he was succeeded by his brother, Lemuel N. Ide, who has since occupied the position of agent and manager. To make room for presses and other printing apparatus, the satinet machinery was sold to the Sullivan Manufacturing Company, an outgrowth of this company, then just started, at the lower fall, No. 8. After Mr. Simeon Ide took the management of the Claremont Manufacturing Company's affairs, its business was the manufacture of books,-making the paper and doing the printing and binding. This business was continued until 1880, when the paper-mill building was destroyed by fire, since which it has not been rebuilt, but the printing and book-binding has been continued. For many years from fifty to eighty hands were employed in this establishment, but of late years the number has been considerably less.

SUGAR RIVER MILLS COMPANY .- The mills of this company are at Fall No. 5, on the east side of the river.

From the Upper Bridge, or from Fall No. 1, Sugar River runs nearly due west, but, between

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the Claremont Manufacturing Company's privi- lege and the next one below it, the river turns and runs nearly due south ; hence the reader will un- derstand why a part of the privileges named are said to be on the south and a part on the north side of the river, and so of those named as being on its north and west side. This Fall No. 5 has been known for several generations as the old " Tyler Mills " privilege. Benjamin Tyler, before referred to, one of the first settlers of the town, once owned all the water-power from Fall No. 1 to No. 9, both inclusive. He erected the first grist and saw-mills in town, at the west part, in 1766, and the old "Tyler Mills" on this privilege in 1785. He gave the latter to his son Ephraim on his coming of age, who continued to own them un- til 1836, when a company, consisting of three gen- tlemen of Keene and three of Claremont, bought the mills and mill-yard and appurtenances with the intention of removing the buildings, which were very old and dilapidated, and putting in their place suitable buildings for a first-class calico- printing establishment. In the spring of 1837 they commenced their preparations for building, but before they had procceded far the financial panic struck the country, and the project was abandoned, never to be resumed. The old mills remained standing, and were rented to Mr. Tyler, their for- mer owner, and, by his administrator, to Lewis W. Randall and others until 1854, when the property was purchased by E. W. Sanborn, of Boston, and Abner Stowell, Aaron Dutton, Edward Brown and George Hart, of this town. In 1855 they erected the large three-story brick building for a grist- mill, and the saw-mill adjoining, now standing and in active operation. They put into the grist-mill eight run of stone, four flouring-bolts, and, to pro- pel them, eleven Tyler turbine water-wheels. The work was done under the superintendence of John Tyler, then of West Lebanon, but now of this town, patentee and manufacturer of the Tyler tur- bine water-wheel. This mill was designed for cus tom grinding and to manufacture flour from West- ern wheat, and it was said to be capable of making ten thousand barrels of flour per annum. These

mills have been leased to various parties since they were built. The saw-mill is now leased and run by Messrs. Freeman, O'Neil & Tilden, and the grist-mill is being run by its owners.

THE SUGAR RIVER PAPER-MILL COMPANY .- This company (capital stock, one hundred thousand dollars), owned mostly by citizens of Claremont, erected mills on Fall No. 6, twenty-two feet, east side of Sugar River, for the manufacture of print-paper, and commenced business in 1868. Since then some of the surplus earnings of the company have been used for extending their works and adding modern improvements. It is now one of the most com- plete establishments of its kind in New Hamp- shire, and is capable of producing eight tons of excellent print-paper per day. This mill is now (June, 1885), filling a contract for four of five hun- dred tons of paper for J. C. Ayer & Co., of Lowell, Mass. They have had this contract for several years. The paper made by this mill is of such ex- cellent quality that it finds a ready market. John Tyler, before referred to, is a large stockholder, superintended the erection of the mill, and is pres- ident of the company ; John L. Farwell, treasurer; John T. Emerson, agent. These gentlemen have occupied their positions since the organization of the company. This company has recently pur- chased of Reuben Shepardson what has been known as the Lafayette privilege, on the "Gully " on the west side of the river, and have tunneled through the rock of the island, formed by the main stream and this "Gully," two hundred and four feet, the tunnel being six feet square, taking the water that runs in the gully into their pond, thus getting the use of all the water that runs in the river. The Lafayette privilege had the right to take from the river, above the dam on privilege No. 6 and down this gully, one-half the water of the river, and return it to the main stream below the paper-mill dam. By this arrangement this company obviate, to a considerable extent, the use of steam to supplement their water-power.

THE EMERSON-HEYWARD PRIVILEGE .- On Fall No. 7, south side-the river has taken another turn and runs westerly-about 1842, George W.

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Emerson put up a one-story brick building, carried on the furnace business a few years, when it passed into the hands of Simeon Heyward, who did some furnace work, made horse and hand-rakes and va- rious other farm implements. The building was destroyed by fire in 1866, and the dam connected with it by flood soon afterward, since which no use has been made of this privilege.

THE SULLIVAN MANUFACTURING COMPANY .- This company's drills are located on Fall No. 8, south side of the river. It was chartered about 1833 for manufacturing woolen goods, and its buildings crected the next year. The machinery, as before stated, was taken from the Claremont Manufacturing Company's mill, and they com- menced the manufacture of satinets In 1836 Or- mond Dutton, of Keene, was appointed agent of the company, and continued as such about three years. During the hard times, from 1836 to 1840, goods did not sell readily ; a large stock was accu- mulated, which was sold for less than it cost to produce it, and the mill was closed. Its capital, fifty thousand dollars, was exhausted, and the com- pany settled with its creditors in the best way it could. In 1844 Thomas Sanford and William Rossiter got possession of the real estate and some of the machinery, and manufactured satinets and cassimeres until 1857, when the entire property was purchased by George L. Balcom, who has manufac- tured woolen goods there ever since. During the late war Mr. Balcom was very successful, and one year, under the United States internal revenue law, he paid the largest income tax of any man in New Hampshire.

THE OLD KNIFE-FACTORY PRIVILEGE .- This privilege is on the north side of the river, on Fall No. 8. The large three-story wooden building on this privilege was erected in 1836-37, by Dr. John S. Spaulding, but for what purpose it was to be used is not known. It stood empty, its inside but partially finished, until 1853, when Thomas Sanford, William Rossiter and some other gentle- men formed a company and manufactured table cutlery there for about five years, without pecuni- ary advantage to those engaged in the enterprise,

and the business was abandoned Next, in 1866, the "Claremont Linen Company" put in ma- chinery for making linen toweling from the raw material, by a new process, but this was not a success, and, after two or three years of experi- ment, this business was closed up, and the mill was unused until 1877, when Herbert Bailey, of Enfield, this State, bought the property and en- larged, repaired, fitted the buildings and put in machinery for manufacturing knit-goods, employ- ing about forty hands and turning out goods to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars annually. Mr. Bailey has made this property into a fine establishment.

THE LOWER FALLS COMPANY .- In 1836 this company, composed of gentlemen from out of town, bought a small farm of Jonathan Read, located below Fall No. 8, with the design of mak- ing a ninth fall of about twelve feet, by taking the water from the river by a canal. The canal was dug, a good foundation for a large factory building put in and building materials got upon the ground, when, in view of the threatened hard times for manufacturers, the enterprise stopped, the building materials were disposed of, and the ninth privilege has never been utilized.

THE LAFAYETTE PRIVILEGE .- Going up the . river, on the west side, the next privilege is at Fall No. 7, on the "Gully." In 1828 Arad Taylor bought this privilege of Bill Barnes. In 1836 the property was put on the market in thirty-two shares, of one hundred dollars each, which were soon taken, but it was not improved until 1844, when Chester Dunkley bought most of the shares and erected upon the privilege a two- story wood building, which was used for various purposes until 1866, when Reuben Shepardson bought it, made extensive improvements, used it for various manufacturing purposes until the fall of 1884, when he sold it to the Sugar River Paper- Mill Company, as before stated.

THE OLD MEACHAM FACTORY was on Fall No. 5, opposite the Tyler Mills, and this factory is said to have been the first one built in Sullivan County for the manufacture of woolen goods. It

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was built in 1813, by Asa Meacham. It was a two-story wood building, and was occupied suc- cessively by Asa Meacham, Asa Meacham, Jr. Woodman & Rockwell, Wilson & Earl, and William Earl, all of whom manufactured woolen goods, until the spring of 1854, when the main building was destroyed by fire. The following year Simeon Ide bought the property ; a dry-shop and store-house escaped the fire; the first he fitted up with water-power and rented it for various mechanical purposes, while he converted the other into a dwelling-house to rent. In 1859 Mr. Ide erected, on the site of the old factory building, a round brick structure, two stories high, and fitted it up with machinery, printing-presses, etc., for the making of books on contract for city publishers. The breaking out of the war in 1861, and other unforeseen events, operated against this enterprise, and the building was rented for different mechan- ical purposes. It was purchased by Reuben Shepardson in 1883. What was the dry-shop was purchased by Ira Proctor and occupied by him as a sash, blind and door-shop until about 1873, when it was destroyed by fire.

FREEMAN & O'NEILL MANUFACTORY .- In 1874 Messrs. Charles N. Freemen and David W. O'Neill purchased the site of the Ira Proctor shop and erected upon it extensive wooden build- ings, and fitted them up with the most approved machinery and other appliances at an expense of about ten thousand dollars, for the manufacture of stair-builders' supplies, of black walnut and other expensive woods, and telegraph pins and brackets of oak. They did a large and prosperous business, employing about forty hands, and marketing their products in almost every part of the country, until December 23, 1882, when their main building, valuable machinery, stock of foreign and domestic woods, manufactured goods, etc., were destroyed by fire. The loss was twenty-five thousand dollars ; insurance, twelve thousand dollars. They im- mediately commenced the erection of new build- ings, which were completed and ready for occu- pancy in August, 1883. Byron T. Tilden was taken into the firm soon after. They employ

about seventy men, and do a business of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars per annum. The style of the firm is Freeman, O'Neill & Tilden.

THE HOME MILL .- The three-story brick building now standing at Fall No. 4, north side of the river, was erected by the Claremont Manu- facturing Company in 1836, with the intention of using it for making fine writing-papers. The times did not favor the completion of the project, and the building was only so far finished as to protect the walls with roof and windows, until 1849, when a few of the stockholders of the Clare- mont Manufacturing Company bought it, together with one-half of the water-power, fitted it up with machinery for manufacturing cotton cloth, and sold the whole to George D. Dutton, of Boston. In 1852 Mr. Dutton sold a part interest to Arnold Briggs, a practical cotton manufacturer, of Woon- socket, R. I., and under the firm style of Arnold Briggs & Co. The business of manufacturing cotton goods was carried on until 1875, when, by reason of there being but a limited demand for the goods made by this firm, the business was stopped. In 1876 Mr. Briggs died, subsequent to which the interest of Mr. Briggs' estate in the mill was pur- chased by Pierce, Harding & Co , of Boston, who ran it but a few months. In 1883, Messrs. May- nard and Washburn, gentlemen from Massachu- setts, bought the property, repaired the buildings, put in machinery for the purpose and have since been manufacturing shoes there.

THE EASTMAN TANNERY .- In 1811, Timothy Eastman established a tannery on Fall No. 4, north side of the river, continued the business there un- til his death, in 1859, and was succeeded by his son, Charles H. Eastman. In 1870 the old build- ings were burned and new and larger ones were erected on the site. Charles H. Eastman con- tinued the business until his death, in 1879, since which the property has been unused. The real estate is now owned by Lyman Barnes.

At Fall No. 1, north side of the river is the saw mill of the Monadnock Mills Company, and what

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

was known as the "Sunapee Mill," on the site of the Claremont Carriage Company's works, before referred to, which is now owned and operated as a cotton-mill, by the Monadnock Mills Com- pany.

Between Fall No. 9 and the confluence of Sugar River with the Connecticut it is claimed that the former river falls about one hundred 'eet. On the north side of Sugar River, a mile or so below Fall No. 9, in 1852, Henry Russell and Dr. F. T. Kidder built a dam twenty feet high, erected a large one-story brick mill, put into it machinery for the purpose, and manufactured carpets there for a few months, when the business ceased and dam and buildings have disappeared.

At West Claremont, Sugar River furnishes ex- cellent water-power. The fall there is about nine- teen feet. On the south side of the river, at this fall, about 1813, Dr. Leonard Jarvis erected a two- story wood building, and in it manufactured broadcloth for about fifteen years. After his death, which occurred in 1848, this property passed into the hands of his son, Russell Jarvis, who is its present owner. The broadcloth-factory was converted into a paper-mill more than twenty- five years ago; it has been operated by the Clare- mont Manufacturing Company, N. Whitney, J. Peirce & Co., and is now run by its owner, making hanging and some other kinds of paper. On the same side of the river, and on the same privilege, Russell Jarvis has a saw mill and a grist-mill, now operated by H. W. Frost.

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History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 105

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1200

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1200