USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey : from its earliest settlement to the present time : including a brief historical account of the first discoveries and settlement of the country, Vol. II > Part 31
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
In 1748 a glass factory was established at Freasburg by Ger- man workmen, imported at considerable expense; but the pro- prietor was soon ruined by the workmen deserting him to become land-owners. In 1765, " Wistar's Glass Works" were in opera- tion about three miles from Allowaystown, Salem County. The first factory for the making of window-glass was established near Malaga, Camden County, about the year 1780. By the begin- ning of the next century others were in operation at Port Eliza- beth and Millville. In 1820 works were running at Clementon, Camden County, and Hammonton, Atlantic County. Other factories were established at Waterford in 1825, at Jackson in 1829, at Winslow in 1832, and there has been a steady increase of glass factories since that time. The works at Glassboro' were started in 18ro, and were the first to make hollow-ware glass. At the close of 1868 there were thirteen glass factories in the State. Ten furnaces connected with these produced to the value of about $1,000,000 of window-glass, and twenty furnaces manu-
Bergen, three; Burlington, eight; Camden, four; Cape May, three; Cumber- land, fourteen; Essex, sixteen; Gloucester, three; Hudson, twelve; Hunter- don, eight; Mercer, nine; Middlesex, five; Morris, five; Monmouth, six; Ocean, three; Passaic, eight; Salem, four; Somerset, four; Sussex, eight; Union, eleven; Warren, eight.
351
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
factured $1,500,000 worth of hollow-ware goods during that year.
Small works for the manufacture of salt were scattered along the shores of New Jersey during the Revolution. A number of these were destroyed by foraging parties of British troops. In 1778 several salt works on the south side of Squan Inlet, Mon- mouth County, were burned; and Dr. Harris's large establish- ment near Townsend Sound, Cape May County, was threatened because the owner had furnished gunpowder to the American troops.
The cultivation and home manufacture of hemp and flax flour- ished in the early settlements of New Jersey. These were intro- duced into West Jersey by Scotch immigrants before the year 1684. In 1678 the Quakers from Yorkshire and London. who settled Salem and Burlington, in West Jersey, introduced the manufacture of cloth, serges, druggets, and crapes ; good plushes, with several varieties of linen goods were made at the same time. The first fulling-mill in the Province was built in February, 1703, by Richard Clarke, and for his encouragement he was granted twenty acres of land. In 1784 there were forty-one fulling-mills for household woolens, but no woolen factories.
In 1791 the Legislature chartered a "Society for the Estab- lishment of Useful Manufactures," with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars, divided into shares of four hundred dollars each. This company had the exclusive privilege of carrying on all kinds of manufacturing at the Falls of the Passaic. It was under the patronage of Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. In 1791 the association founded the town of Paterson, and in the following year the first yarn was spun there. The first factory was completed in 1794, and in that year calico goods were first printed in New Jersey. In 1823, Paterson contained three extensive woolen and two duck factories, which chiefly supplied the navy with canvas, and consumed over one ton of flax per day .. "The New Jersey Bleaching, Printing and Dye- ing Company," at Belleville, nine miles from New York, was incorporated December 8, 1824, with a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It erected one of the largest and most complete factories in the United States. In 1840 the
352
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
manufacture of silk from the cocoon was begun at Paterson by John Rawle, of England. , That town has since become the principal seat in the country of that industry, and produces annually silk goods to exceed two million dollars in value. The "Passaic Flax Mills," for making shoe, sewing-machine, and all kinds of linen thread, were established at Paterson in 1864. The "American Velvet Company," previously located at Newark, erected a factory in Paterson in 1865. This was the first attempt to manufacture velvets on a large scale in America. To Paterson also belongs the credit of having pro- duced the first locomotive engine made in the State. It was built at the Rogers Machine Works in 1837. These works were established in 1831 for the manufacture of machinery for cotton, woolen, and flax factories. They were for many years one of the most extensive establishments in the country.
The mills of John Rawle for the manufacture of silk are situ- ated near the Falls, and employ about seven hundred hands, manufacturing weekly sixteen hundred pounds of silk. Paterson contains two large locomotive manufactories, and several for carriages, guns, machinery, paper, and other articles. The Passaic River is well adapted for manufacturing purposes, having a perpendicular fall of fifty feet, and a total descent of seventy- two feet, affording an immense water-power, which has been improved by a dam and canals. Paterson is handsomely laid out ; its streets are generally straight, well paved, and lighted with gas. In the extent of its manufactories it ranks as the second city in the State, and is the third in population.
Tanning was introduced in the Province by the first settlers of Elizabeth, in 1664, and was encouraged by John Ogden, one of the proprietors. Throughout East Jersey efforts were made to induce mechanics to settle, and at Newark a lot of land was set apart as a gift to the first of every trade who should settle there. In 1676 Samuel Whitehead, the first shoemaker from Elizabethtown, was " formally admitted a member of the com- munity, on condition of supplying it with shoes." The exporta- tion of hides was forbidden by law in 1678. The first tannery in Newark was established in 1698 ; and the first japanned leather made in this country was produced in that city. The leather
353
1
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
trade was indebted for some of its most valuable mechanical aids to William Edwards .*
The manufacture of iron-ware, jewelry, leather, harness, and carriages is now extensively carried on at Newark ; and the city has recently rapidly increased in population and wealth. In 1830 it contained a population of ten thousand inhabitants, and was little known as a manufacturing town. In 1870 its popula- tion had increased to one hundred and five thousand one hun- dred and thirty-one, and the products of its manufactures to nearly forty million dollars. The "Clark Thread Company," in 1865, erected, at a cost of three-quarters of a million dollars, at this place the most extensive factory in the United States for the manufacture of cotton thread.
Newark now takes the place of the third manufacturing city in America. It is a port of entry, and seat of justice of Essex County. It is the largest city in the State, built chiefly on a plane, terminated on the west by an elevation or ridge of land extending from the northern to the southern extremity of the town. It is regularly laid out, for the most part, with wide, straight streets, intersecting each other at right angles. Broad street, the principal thoroughfare and seat of business, is one of the finest avenues anywhere to be met with. It is upwards of eighty feet in breadth, and extends throughout the entire length of the city, dividing it into two nearly equal parts. Near its centre it is intersected by Market street, which is also an im- portant thoroughfare, communicating with the principal railroad depot. North of this, and bordering on Broad street, are two beautiful squares, called the Upper and Lower Parks, each adorned with majestic elms.
* Colonel William Edwards, grandson of the eminent Jonathan Edwards, was a descendant by his mother from the Ogdens. He was born at Eliza- bethtown, in 1770, and learned the business of his uncles, Colonels Matthias Ogden and Oliver Spencer, two Revolutionary officers, who had a factory in that town. At Northampton, Massachusetts, when twenty years of age, he carried on the tanning, and it is believed he there employed the first bark- mil: run by water. He subsequently invented and patented the copper heater, long used by tanners, the hide-mill or fulling-stocks, and the heating or roll- ing mill. The saving of manual labor thus effected gave a great impulse to the manufacture of leather.
23
·
.354
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
The rapid growth of Newark is chiefly owing to its manufac- tures, for which it has long been distinguished. In the manufac- ture of jewelry this city is, perhaps, not surpassed by any other in the United States. Newark was settled in 1666 by a company from New Haven and other towns in Connecticut.
New Jersey contains rich mineral deposits-iron, copper, and zinc. The zinc mines in Sussex County are among the richest in the United States, and have long been extensively worked by the New Jersey Zinc Company. In colonial times the most cele- brated and productive copper mine was in the town of Hanover, Morris County. This ore was discovered in 1719 by a negro servant, who picked up a piece of copper near that place. Ham- mers and other tools were found in an opening which had been worked many years before that date by Dutch settlers. The rich ore was transported by a short land carriage to the Hudson, and thence through New York it was shipped to England, where it was sold for forty pounds per ton. Before the Revolution the shaft had been sunk nearly two hundred feet. A steam engine was imported by Colonel John Schuyler in 1745, to keep the mine clear of water. It was the third engine erected in America, and continued in use for forty years.
In 1750, Elias Boudinot, of Philadelphia, leased for ninety- nine years a copper mine within one quarter of a mile of New Brunswick. He erected a stamping-mill, and sent many tons of ore to England ; but the mine was subsequently abandoned.
Some of the rich mines of ore in this State have been worked for a century and a half, and during many years furnished a large proportion of the iron manufactured in this country. Many of them still contain immense beds of ore above water level, which may be taken out without the employment of expensive machinery. These mines could be made to yield, advantageously, a million tons of ore annually for many years to come, which would be sufficient to supply nearly half of the consumption in the United States. They are situated princi- . pally in the counties of Sussex, Passaic, Warren, and Morris, within an area of three hundred square miles.
In Hunterdon County nearly all the iron ore mined comes from the Bethlehem and High Bridge mines. Some work in
355
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
prospecting has been done near Lebanon, and at various points on the Musconetcong Mountain ; but the product of these dis- coveries has been inconsiderable.
In Warren County there have been several new openings made on the mountain range running northeast from Washington to the Sussex County line. Ore has been discovered in workable quantities at several points on the subordinate ridges of Jenny Jump Mountain. The most extensively worked of these new mines is that of the Pequest Mining Company, about two miles northeast of Oxford Furnace.
· On Schooley's Mountain, in Morris County, there are a few quite recent discoveries of ore, but they are not yet sufficiently explored to determine their probable value. Near Chester, three mines have been opened since 1868. Northeast of these, the mining operations, with few exceptions, are confined to the older localities.
In Sussex and Passaic Counties, the construction of the Mid- land Railroad has given a fresh impetus to searches for ore, and brought to light some outcrops that are quite encouraging. The completion of this road will, no doubt, lead to other discoveries, and to the further development of ore leads now known. Hitherto these have been almost valueless, in con- sequence of the cost of carting the ore several miles over rough roads to railroads and canal lines. There have been some inter- esting discoveries of iron ore in the northeastern part of Somerset County from two to three miles west of Bernardsville, but the diggings are still too limited in extent to speak with much certainty concerning them.
The product of the iron mines of the State for the year ending December 31st, 1871, may be approximately set down at four hundred and fifty thousand tons, as follows:
The ore tonnage of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroads, Central Railroad of New Jersey, Morris Canal; the statements of the managers at Ringwood, Oxford Furnace, Franklin Furnace, and the estimate for amounts mined at new openings, and mines whence the ore has not been shipped. The aggregate of the amounts carried from stations in New Jersey on the above mentioned lines is four hundred
356
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
and fifty thousand tons. This latter sum includes some hem- atite, but the amount is scarcely large enough to warrant a deduction from the above estimated product. In 1867, the product was estimated at two hundred and seventy-five thou- sand tons. In 1864, the estimate was two hundred and twenty- six thousand tons, so that there has been an increase of one hundred per cent. in the product of our iron mines since that date.
Of this total (four hundred and fifty thousand tons), more than four-fifths, or about three hundred and seventy thousand tons come from Morris County, leaving but eighty thousand tons for Sussex, Warren, Passaic and Hunterdon Counties.
In 1872 the tonnage was six hundred thousand; this at a valuation of five dollars per ton, would give three million dollars as its value at the mines. As compared with other States of the Union, New Jersey stands fourth, being exceeded by Pennsyl- vania, New York and Michigan.
In 1873 the product of New Jersey iron mines was six hundred and sixty-five thousand six hundred and fifty-two tons, the value of which was at the mines $3, 328,260. In 1874, in consequence of the depression in all kinds of business, the products of the mines fell off to five hundred and twenty-five thousand and seventy-five tons. In 1875 there was still greater falling off, for the same cause, and in 1876 we can find no improvement on the previous year.
The first iron-works in our State were established near Shrews- bury, in Monmouth County, and were on a large scale for an infant settlement. They are supposed to have been founded by James Grover, and were bought from him by Lewis Morris, a merchant of Barbadoes. The deed for three thousand five hun- dred and forty acres of land bears date October 25, 1676. Good iron was made by the smelting furnace and forge in 1682 ; over sixty negroes and a number of white laborers were then em- ployed. In 1714 Colonel Morris addressed a letter to the "Lords of Trade," transmitting an address from the Council and Assembly, asking encouragement for the iron interests of the Province.
The first settlements in Sussex and Morris Counties were
357
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
made near Hanover, in 1685, for the purpose of smelting the ores found there. Forges were erected at a point that is still known as the "Old Forges," twenty miles eastward of the Suckasunny mine, in the town of Randolph. This mine was public property until 1716, when it was taken up by Joseph Kirk- bride. It subsequently became the property of Mahlon Dicker- son, whose name it now bears. Batsto furnace was erected in 1766, by Charles Read, near the junction of Batsto and Egg Harbor Rivers in Burlington County. During the Revolutionary War it was employed in casting cannon, shot and shell for the use of the American army, and boilers for the salt works on the coast.
Before 1720 mining was commenced at Clinton, Hunterdon County. Union furnace, which was abandoned in 1778, was supplied with ore from this place. The Oxford furnace was established in Sussex (now Warren) County in 1741. The first iron was made March 9, 1743. It is one of the oldest remaining in the Union, and being in complete repair is still running as a steam. hot-blast furnace, two-thirds of the year on charcoal and one-third on anthracite. The Ringwood and Longpond Bloom- eries were built near Boardville, Passaic County, by Baron Hass before the Revolution. The Troy Bloomery, Morris County, is as old as the Oxford. At Andover, in the southern part of Sussex County, a blast furnace was erected before the Revolu- tion, and the works were noted for their superior quality of bar iron. In January, 1778, Congress directed that all steel for the use of the Continental artificers should be made by this iron, and the works were seized, as the owners were Royalists. They were again put in operation in 1847, by Messrs. Cooper and Hewitt. The first experiments in this country with the Bessemer process were made with this iron at the Cooper furnace at Phil- lipsburg. The first wrought-iron beams for fire-proof buildings were also made by this company at its rolling-mills in Trenton.
In 1775 Thomas Mayberry manufactured sheet iron at Mount Holly. Congress ordered from his factory, in May of that year, five tons of sheet-iron to make camp kettles for the troops. A nail factory was in operation at Burlington in 1797, and Messrs. Betts and Parmly had one at Trenton in 1800. The earliest
358
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
rolling-mill was built at Dover, Morris County, in 1792. The first anthracite furnace was blown in at Stanhope, Sussex County, in 1840. In 1784 New Jersey had eight furnaces and seventy- nine forges for the manufacture of iron. Ten years later there were made in the State twelve hundred tons of bar iron, twelve hundred tons pig, eighty tons nail rods, besides hollow-ware . and castings. At the close of the century ten mines were worked in Morris County, and two furnaces, three rolling-mills and forty forges were in operation.
The foundry for the manufacture of malleable iron was estab- lished in Newark, by Seth Boyden, in the year 1827. This city is now one of the largest producers of this metal in the country.
The manufacturing interests of Trenton are very important and extensive. In 1680 Mahlon Stacy built his flour-mill on the Assanpink Creek, and in 1776 Stacy Potts erected steel works there. Josiah Fithian built a cotton-mill, which was afterwards converted into a paper-mill, and has been continued as such until a short time ago.
In 1756 Daniel W. Coxe built a paper-mill on the Assanpink, and in 1769 steel works were erected on the same creek. Messrs. Betts and Parmly built a nail factory on the same creek in the year 1800. Asa Billings built a carding-mill in 1817. Law- rence Huron built a cotton factory in 1814. Among the manu- facturing interests of Trenton, those of bricks is a very important branch at present. About the year 1817 it was started on a small scale, but is now carried on extensively. The average number of bricks manufactured in Trenton between 1835 and 1850 was about two hundred thousand per year ; from 1850 to 1860, about three hundred thousand per year ; and from 1860 to IS71, about eight hundred thousand per year. Brick making in Trenton has gained a celebrity all over the country, and during the year 1870 about eleven thousand pressed bricks were made here and forwarded to New York city, and different parts of the country.
The fire-brick manufactory was started by Edward Davies in 1845, on a very small scale. It was first worked by horse-power, its capacity being then but from six to eight hundred bricks per
.
:
359
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
day. Mr. Davies introduced steam-power, thereby increasing the manufacture to twenty-five hundred bricks per day. On the Ist of January, 1867, Messrs. O. O. Bowman and Company pur- chased the works, and having introduced new machinery, new kilns, etc., they manufacture seven thousand bricks daily.
A terra cotta establishment was built by Mr. Lynch fifteen or sixteen years ago. These works adjoin those of the brick works, and are in possession of Messrs. Bowman and Company. They cover four acres of ground, and produce, when fully worked, two hundred thousand dollars per annum, giving employment to eighty men.
The Mercer Zinc Works was started in 1861 by John S. Noble and Alexander C. Farrington. These works, when driven to their full capacity, can turn out about three tons of oxyd of zinc daily.
The American Saw Company was organized under the laws of the State of New York in 1866, with a capital of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This company manufacture the movable tooth circular saws invented by James E. Emerson while in California in 1860. At this manufactory was made the largest saw in the world, measuring seven feet four inches in diameter, the plate for which was rolled expressly for the pur- pose in Sheffield, England. The saw was manufactured for, and forwarded to the Exposition Universaille, in Paris, in the year 1867.
The pottery business is more extensively carried on here than in any other city of the Union. There is no kind of ware known but is manufactured here, from the most common to the finest quality: White ware equal in quality and finish to any ware in this country or Europe, handsomely gilded, with the name of the owners, or with any design fancy may dictate, is manufac- tured here. There are about twenty large and extensive pot- teries located in the city and its immediate vicinity. The Tren- ton potteries have made wonderful strides in the last two years, and it is evident they will at no very distant day be able to cope with the most thriving European nations.
In 1849 John A. Roebling erected in the Township of Hamil- ton, immediately across the canal from Trenton, a mill for the
--
360
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
manufacture of wire rope and chain cable, which business has been carried on very extensively here. He built across the Niagara River a heavy wire suspension bridge, over which rails are laid for the passage of cars. This work was pronounced by Professor Stephenson (who erected the tubular suspension bridge across the Menai Straits) an impossibillity, yet Mr. Roebling so far succeeded in accomplishing his object as to insure entire success. He also erected several other large bridges, and at the time of his death was building the large suspension bridge across the East River, at New York, which work is still continued by his son, Washington A. Roebling, the cable for which are all manufactured at their works in Trenton. After the death of Mr. Roebling, the works were carried on under the firm name of John A. Roebling's Sons.
In 1867 the State manufactured of anthracite iron 36,919 tons, standing third in quantity among the States ; of charcoal pig- iron 9,000 tons. Its forges and bloomeries made 5,980 tons, and its rolling-mills produced 2,076 tons of rails. In 1866 the other products of the rolling-mills were 11,478 tons of bar and rod iron, 6,000 tons plate, 435 tons hoop, 24,519 tons nails and spikes, 6, 184 tons axles, etc. ; total, 48,616 tons. Its manu- facture of steel was at that time 4, 157 tons.
The manufacturing establishments at Camden, on Cooper's Creek, and at Gloucester Point, are comparatively of recent date, but they have grown rapidly and now rival the largest in the country. The American Nickel Works, owned by Joseph Wharton, founded in 1842, are on Cooper's Creek. This is the only establishment of the kind in America, and the operations carried on there are truly wonderful. The nickel ore is obtained from a mine in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which is the best found in the world. From this ore two hundred thousand pounds of nickel metal are produced annually, valued at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Cobalt-oxide, blue vitriol, and cop- peras are made from the same ore. The nickel is used at the United States mints in making coin, and in the manufacture of German silver. It is also coming into general use for butts and knobs for doors, as it is susceptible of a finer polish than silver, when soiled can be washed off without affecting its polish, and
361
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
will not tarnish like silver, gaseous substances having no effect upon it; the State Capitol at Trenton is furnished with it.
The manufacture of dyewood extracts, paint colors, fertilizers, and other chemical compounds, is carried on in several large establishments. The first of these was erected on Cooper's Creek in 1842; their annual product is nearly two million dollars.
Cotton and woolen goods are produced in considerable quan- tities. The Washington Manufacturing Company was incor- porated in 1844, and employs a capital of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars in the manufacture of cotton goods. The first loom was started in August, 1845. The works occupy ten acres of ground, contain 847 looms, 48, 150 spindles, and employ nearly one thousand hands. The manufactures are printed cloths, jeans, and satinets, of which nine million yards, valued at seven hundred and twenty thousand dollars, are produced annually. The Gloucester Manufacturing Company was incor- porated in 1845. Its works occupy eight acres of ground, em- ploy two hundred and eighty hands, and produce annually thirty million yards of calicoes. The buildings of this company were totally destroyed by fire on the 14th of September, 1868, and were entirely rebuilt and began the manufacture of goods before the middle of March, 1869. Large works for the manufacture of fine French cassimeres were erected on Cooper's Creek in 1864, with the capacity of turning out eight hundred thousand dollars worth of these goods annually. There is also in Camden a large mill for the manufacture of girths, reins, webs, bindings, cords, tapes, and other like fabrics.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.