USA > New York > Franklin County > A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time > Part 53
USA > New York > St Lawrence County > A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time > Part 53
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On receiving news of the war, the inhabitants of the southern part of Rossie, erected a block house on the road between Somerville and We- gatchie, about half a mile from the latter place, for mutual protection. Thither the inhabitants were accustomed to repair to spend their nights, on occasions of public alarni, which were very frequent, and as often entirely groundless. The sight of an Indian, however innocent his in- tentions, was sufficient to originate an aların which lost nothing by pass- ing from mouth to mouth, and stories are related which reflect little credit upon the courage of certain ones of the settlers. This block honse was well built, of hewn timber, 24 by 30 feet, and stood till about 1840. It was used only in 1812. A similar one was built of round logs, near a small stream a few rods northeast of the present village of Somerville. It was only occupied a few nights.
In the summer of 1812, the mills built by Mr. Streeter were burned in the night time, as it was reported, by the Indians. This is believed to have been done by a man who lived in the edge of Gouverneur near the Kearney bridge, and who wanted a pretext for quitting the country. He fled to New York, and was not pursued or apprehended.
The mill was immediately rebuilt by Mr. Parish, and owned by him until sold to Mr. James Howard about the year 1817. It was his wish to have the settlement at his mills called Caledonia, and this it has in some measure retained, although it has been since known as Howard's Mills, Church's Mills, and Wegatchie. The latter name was given it upon the establishment of a post office in 1849. It was intended at one time that Caledonia should be the name of the town.
The first settlement at Rossie iron works was commenced by men sent
450
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
by Mr. D. Parisb, late in the summer of 1810, to erect mills, and make arrangements for settling lands .*
The stone store at Ogdensburgh being enclosed and nearly finished, Mr. D. W. Church, who had superintended its erection, with seven men, one of whom was accompanied by his wife to cook for the party, pro- ceeded in a Canadian bateaux, with shanty furniture and tools, to the head of navigation on Indian river, and landed at sunset on a fine flat ock, on an island near where the foundry now is, and spreading their sail upon poles for a tent for the married pair, and their blankets on the rocks under the canopy of heaven, around a fire, for themselves, they spent the first night. The following evening saw a commodions hut with two rooms erected, near where the saw mill now is, and by winter a saw mill was erected and in operation. In December, the camp was broken up and abandoned till spring. During the winter, parties were engaged in getting ont timber, which subsequently was employed in buildings then erecting at Ogdensburgh, and in the frame of the Genesee Packet, built soon after at that port.
During the summer of 1811, the lumber business was prosecuted with vigor, and in the following winter the bridge at the foot of the Big hill was built. The furnace was commenced in the summer of 1813, under the immediate direction of Mr. James Howard, and from this period the settlement exhibited much life and spirit under the enterprising direction of Mr. Parish, its proprietor. A road through to Ox Bow, had been run out in the fall of 1810, and was cut and cleared the following summer. It was subsequently made a turnpike under the name of the Ogdens- burgh turnpike. The first male child said to have been born in town, was Wm. Rossie Williams, March 31, 1814.
Rossie furnace, was the first blast furnace erected in Northern New York, and is at this time by much the largest. It was built in the sum- mer of 1813, and got in operation in 1815. The Caledonia iron mine, one mile and a half east of Somerville, began to be wronght at about the same time or the year before. The ore was first sent to Albany for trial. When first erected, the furnace consisted of two stacks, but ouly one of these was ever got in operation. They were about thirty-two feet square at the base, and of the same height.
The agent employed by Mr. Parish to build and run this furnace, was Wm. Bembo, an Englishman of great experience in this business, but unacquainted with the ores and fuel used in this country. The result was, that no iron could be made, and after spending large sums in ex- perimenting, and in building a costly mansion for permanent residence, he abandoned the attempt in discouragement, and returned to England. At this juncture, Mr. Parish met with parties from New England, who guessed that the thing could be done, and he accordingly offered to Messrs. Keith, Marvin and Sykes, the free use of the furnace and coal, with the privilege of culling the best of the ore on the premises, and all they could make in three months, if they would make a trial. The re- sult was that these men realized a large profit, and not the least difficulty was found in getting iron of a good quality and in the greatest abundance. From this time the furnace was run by S. Fullers & Co., for about three years, on a contract which was to have run five years, but Mr. George Parish having an opportunity of leasing it for a long term, bought the
The early settlers found traces which indicate that the English or French had at some time contemplated the erection of some station at Rossie. It being at the head of a navigation of 27 miles towards Fort Stanwix, rendered it important. A Durham boat laden with stone, was found sunk in the river, with every appearance of having been a long time submerged, and an excavation apparently for a cellar existed where the stone store at Rossie now stands.
1
AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES.
contract and leased to Robert R. Burr, of New Jersey, who run it two or three years, and left about 1827. It then lay idle about ten years. A forge was erected in 1816, which was subsequently burned. The first furnace was what is technically called a quarter furnace, with one tewel . or pipe for air. During some considerable portion of the time before 1826, bog ore was in part used. The principal supply has been derived from the Caledonia mine in Rossie, the Keene and Wicks mines in Antwerp, and a small opening adjoining the Kearney mine.
This furnace has been several times burnt and rebuilt. On the 12th of May, 1837, it was again got in operation by Mr. Parish, and has since been run by his agents with short intervals. A stack 32 feet square and 46 feet high was built in 1837, and stood till about 1844, when the present one was erected. It is 40 feet square, 46 feet high, 9 feet diameter within, and capable of making 11 tons a day with a hot blast. It is 'technically called a three quarter furnace, and has three tewels or air pipes. Since 1838 the hot blast has been used most of the time, the apparatus of which was put in by Mr. Alger, the patentee, in 1838.
From 110 to 120 bushels of charcoal are required to make a ton of iron with the hot blast, and 200 with the cold blast. Fire brick are used for lining. Formerly sandstone was employed for this purpose. The for- mer is found to be much more durable. The following table derived from the books of Mr. D. W. Baldwin, the agent, will exhibit ; to, those acquainted with the iron trade an acurate idea of the operations of the furnace, and the average yield of the iron ores of Northern New York, from which a comparison can be drawn with the results of other fur- naces and different ores. The table exhibits the number of tous and pounds of ore consumed, the tons and pounds of pig iron made, and the percentage of yield of each blast since 1837.
ORE.
IRON.
IRON.
tons.
lbs.
tons.
lbs.
per cent.
ORE. tons.
lbs.
tons. lbs. per cent.
1088
708
490
367
45.01
618
810
275 1125
44.56
666
825
382
556
57 36
3580
990
1698 1297
47.44
1328
992
746
136
56.16
1782 1725
908 1570
50.97
1251 1048
741 1222
59.25
1310
815
608
365
46.41
1580 1998
847 1747
53.62
3630
11
1687
485
46.48
1245
354
758
827
60.90
5297
231
2568
892
48.48
2078
717
1113
568
53.56
5398 1700
2724 1794
56.05
574
708
289 1560
50.45
1706 1950
851 1667
49.88
1281
162
616
769
50.06
All of the above blasts, except the last, were made with heated air.
The iron mines in this town, situated a mile and a quarter east of the village of Somerville, began to be wrought in the fall of 1812, and have been continued with more or less interruption till the present time. The amount is inexhaustible, and the yield in the large way about 50 per cent. It is raised by laborers of little or no capital, at a stipulated price per ton, including the cost of draining and raising. The first ore that was taken to the Rossie furnace was not sorted, and a large amount of red stone was carried for smelting, which was one of the principal causes of the first failures in getting iron. Afterwards a large quantity of middling quality was thrown away, and none but the best was taken. From $1 to $3 has been paid per ton for drawing ore, 13 miles, to the furnace, and this business, done mostly in winter by sleighs, has enabled great numbers to pay for lands with their surplus labor. The Caledonia
451
452
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
mine belonging to the Parisli estate, and the one that has been princi- pally wrought, is estimated to have furnished 100,000 tons of ore.
The geological and mineralogical associations of this mine will be found detailed in the chapter on these subjects.
The mills represented in the accompanying view of Rossie iron works, were erected in 1845-6, and the large foundry on the opposite side of the falls in 1848-9. This with the machine shop (not represented in the engraving), are capable of producing every variety of castings, and ma- chinery on the most extensive scale. The facilities of a plank road from Watertown and Rome to the St. Lawrence river, has made this point ac- cessible to market, and it can not fail to participate in the future pros- perity of this section of the state. A large amount of rail road castings have been made here, and the property of chilling which this iron pos- sesses to a high degree when made with a blast of cold air, renders it peculiarly well adapted for those purposes which require hardness, com- bined with strength. This property belongs in common to all the iron made by the cold blast from the specular ores of Northern New York. Rossie is nine miles from Chippewa bay, a port in Hammond, and most of the distance over a plank road. It is front nine to thirteen miles from the mines which supply it withi ore, and from one to ten miles from for- ests which will for a long period furnish abundance of coal.
In Spafford's Gazetteer (1813), the following reference is made to this place :
" Black lake seems a mere expansion of Indian river, which it receives at the foot of a 'fine cascade, where is laid out the village plat named Rosa, and some mills are here erected."
That portion of the town of Rossie, lying between the Oswegatchie and the Indian rivers, is usually denominated the Scotch settlement, from the fact that nearly every inhabitant within these limits is of Scotch descent. The first of this settlement was begun in 1818, by ten families, who emigrated from Scotland in that year, by way of Quebec and the St. Lawrence river, viz :
Robert Ormiston, James Dickson, William Fachney, James Fairbairn, Corlan McLarer, Donald McCarrie, Thomas Elliot, James Henderson, James Douglas and Andrew Dodds. Their destination was uncertain ; a portion designed locating in Delaware county, but as they were proceed- ing up the river in a Durham boat, they stopped a short time at Prescot, where they were visited by an agent of David Parish, and indneed to cross to Ogdensburgh, with their families. The latter were liberally pro- vided for in the village, while the men went to view the lands then nearly surveyed in Rossie. It is said that they passed up through the valleys and across the richest portions, and that the existence of hills and ledges of rock was not known until after they had located their farms, and com- menced clearings. To assist the emigrants on first starting, Mr. Parish caused 10 acres to be cleared for each, supplied each family with a cow, seed, wheat and provisions for the first year, besides building a comfort- able log house on each farm, and furnishing an ox team to every two of his settlers. For these they were to pay, when they had got fairly settled and were in a condition to earn something from their farms, but prices were then very high, and the debt ran up faster than, with the means of payment at the depreciated prices which followed, they could cancel. The settlement was increased the following year by new emigrants from Scotland, but to these the facilities extended to the first were not offered. Meanwhile some of the former became disheartened by the burden of debts which constantly increased, and some thought of giving up their
-
MISS INO OF WORTH
Rossie Iron Works. Rossie, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y.
455
AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES.
location and beginning anew elsewhere. To avoid this and to place them in a condition more favorable and equal, Mr. Parish assembled these in- habitants at Rossie village, in the winter of 1823-4, and after ascertaining the indebtedness of each, reduced the whole to a common level, by can- celing all above $500. This measure met with general approbation, and his tenants returned home with renewed courage. With but few exceptions the same families or their immediate descendants, still occupy the same farms that were then selected, and may be counted among the more thrifty, successful and industrious farmers in town. In 1819 the following families settled: Robert Clark, Andrew Culbertson, John Henderson, Andrew Flemming, John Dodds, James Hobkirk, John Tait, James Ormiston, David Storie, Wm. Laidlaw and James Lockey.
In 1820, John McRobbie, Thomas Turnbull and brothers, Michael, Adam, Andrew and William, and Scotch settlers continued to arrive oc- casionally until 1832. Roads had been made through the central part of the town before these Scotch emigrants arrived, and small beginnings made in one or two places.
Yellow lake derives its name from the circumstances of its being coverd with the blossoms of the nuphar or pond lily, when first noticed.
The village of Somerville, is situated upon the plank road between Antwerp and Gouverneur, six miles from the latter and seven from the former place. It derives its name from the township as given by sur- veyor General Dewitt, long before its settlement. Being without natural facilities it has remained but the centre of a fine agricultural district, and at present contains about a dozen dwellings and the usual variety of me- chanic shops. The Universalist and Methodist societies have each a church which will compare favorably with those of any place in the county, in which the population and number of members are not greater. They were both erected in the summer of 1846. Perhaps no place in Northern New York, presents more inducements to the visit of the min- eralogist than the country within fifteen miles of Somerville.
On the Oswegatchie river, two and a half miles from Somerville, is the little village of Wegatchie, containing a post office, a furnace, woolen factory, grist mill, saw mill, and about 20 dwellings. The furnace was begun in 1847, and got in operation in the spring of 1848, by Skinner and Blish. Up to the spring of 1852, it had made about 2000 tons of iron at two hot and one cold blasts. It is 30 feet square, 36 feet high, and has two tewels. It is capable of making four and five tons daily. No cast- ings are made on the premises.
The celebrity which has been given to Rossie by its lead mines, will give interest to their history.
The Indians of St. Regis have a tradition that their ancestors knew of the existence of lead not far from the present mines, but the precise locality is not known. It was not where the workings at present exist, because it was said to be near a small streamn. The natives were accustomed to smelt the lead in a small way by casting the ore upon a fire kindled upon a bark or piece of wood, and pouring the metal when melted into a groove in sand. The bar was then cut into small pieces and rolled into balls between flat stones. Many years before the mines were discovered, a quantity of pure galena was found on the bank of the Oswegatchie, in the village of Ogdensburgh, evidently a cache of some Indian, and the traditions of lead mines in the woods was common with the early pro- prietors. It is said that lead was first found at Rossie, among the ashes of a log heap, but its precise locality was not then known.
Arthur Bacon, of Rossie, is reported to have discovered masses of ga- lena among the earth at the roots of an up turned tree, some time before
458
HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
particular attention was directed to the subject. This was at Coal hill, (so called from its being a coal job or place for making charcoal). The Victoria vein, so called, was subsequently discovered by a daughter of Joel Jepson. On the return of Mr. George Parish from Europe, in Sep- tember, 1835, he learned that B. T. Nash proposed to search for ores, and on the 11th of December of that year, a contract was executed be- tween him and Nash, with the following conditions:
A tribute of 50 cents per ton was to be paid for iron ore, and 75 cents per ton for lead ore, should mines of either be found. All the lead ore to be smelted into lead in Rossie, and no ore to be sent away for manufac- ture. The lease was to continue ten years from date.
Previous to the drawing of this contract, a company consisting of five persons, viz: B. T. Nash, Joseph Barber, Zadoc Day, Joseph Disbrow and -, all of the town of Oswegatchie, had been formed for the purposes of mineral exploration, and Indian traditions had led them to the Rossie district, where indications of ore if not the mine itself, were discovered before the lease from Mr. Parish had been procured. The articles of agreement between the individuals of the company were drawn up in due form, signed and sealed. Mr. Nash soon after sold the right to J.C. Bush. The remainder applied for redress, and they or those to whom they sold their chances afterwards, compromised the matter, and two companies were incorporated by the legislature on the 12th of May, 1837, for the working of the lead mines.
The charters of these two companies were alike in date, limitation, powers and privileges. They were to continue till January 1, 1847; cap- ital of each, $24,000, to be divided into 960 shares, of $25 each. The business of each company was to be managed by five directors, of whom the first were to be those named in the act, and these were to be cliosen on the first Monday in Feb. annually. They were to choose a president annually. Stock was deemed personal property, and stockholders were made personally liable for the company's debts. The company holding the eastern division of the Coal hill vein, was styled The Rossie Lead Mining Company, and David C. Judson, James Averill, Erastus Vilas, Peter C. Oakley and Roylas Vilas were named its first directors.
The western 80 rods of the same vein was held by The Rossie Galena Company, of which John C. Bush, Bliss T. Narsh, Elias G. Drake, Syl- vester Gilbert and David C. Judson, were named the first directors.
The vein upon which these two companies commenced their opera- tions, was in a ridge of gneiss rock, about two miles southeast from Rossie iron works, and one from Indian river. The relative position of the several veins and the bearings of each are represented in the accom- panying map. The appearance of the Rossie lead mines soon after they were first opened, is thus described by Prof. L. C. Beck, who visited the locality in the summer of 1836, as state mineralogist .*
"Following the road from the village of Rossie, at no great distance from the bank of Indian river, after passing through a dense forest, there appeared towards the west a precipitous ledge of rocks about fifty feet high. My attention being particularly directed to this hill, I observed a white deposite contrasting with the dark color of the rock, passing down perpendicularly or very nearly so, from the summit to the base. The part of the vein thus distinctly and beautifully exposed, was ascertained by measurement to be fifty feet, while its average width was two feet. Upon a more close inspection, the vein, before its sinking below the alluvium, was found to incline slightly towards the north, and the whitish
* See First Annual Report of New York Geological Survey, p. 54, 55.
SECTION
SHEWING THE RELATIVE POSITION OF THE GREAT LEAD VEINS AT COAL HILL.
RIVER
N
[A
D
HELLMER'S.
IVICTORIA KEYM
S 88 E .
ROAD
H
SI
3.2
E
OF SEVT
BOUNDARY
RIVER
1
132
26;
.3.06
SCALE 264 FATHOMS TOAN INCH
INDIAN
N. ORR N.Y.
N
ST. LAWRENCE CO.
Boundary
UNTON
PLANK ROAD TO OGDENSBURG, DISTANCE 26 MILES
ROAD
-
COMPARATIVE VIEWS OF THE CLIFF COPPER MINE OF LAKE SUPERIOR AND THIE COAL HILL LEAD MINE OF ROSSIE.
SECTION OF WORKINGS AT THE CLIFF MINE, LAKE SUPERIOR.
PRODUCT OF WHOLE EXCAVATION, $284,884.93
NUMBER OF FATHOMS EXCAVATED, 2,413
YIELD PER CUBIC FATHOM, $118
60 100 150 200 230 500
SCALE OF FEET.
.
SECTION OF WORKINGS AT COAL HILL, ST. LAWRENCE CO., N. Y.
PRODUCT OF WHOLE EXCAVATION, $241,000
NUMBER OF FATHOMS EXCAVATED, 1,396 YIELD PER CUBIC FATHOM, $172
Hetrilit
50
100 150
200 250
300
SCALE OF FEET.
463
AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES.
appearance was found to be due to the salts of lead formed by the decom- position of the galena. On ascending the ledge of rocks, the course and extent of the vein could be easily determined by the excavations that had been made, and by the appearance of the surface at those parts where it had not been opened. It was exposed at that time to the extent of 450 feet, and every part of it seemed to be so distinctly characterized, as to excite surprise, that it had not long since been discovered."
From an examination made at the time, it was inferred that the ore contained no silver, or at least that the quantity was too small to denote its presence by the tests employed, and of no importance practically. The lead ashes were found by analysis to consist of the carbonate and sulphate of lead and the carbonate of lime, in variable proportions, formed by the action of the atmosphere.
Workings on the western section commenced in 1836, but systematic operations were not begun until Jan. 1, 1837, at which time the eastern company also commenced operations. An immense number of laborers were employed, and the business for a considerable time went on pros- perously from the immense yield of lead, notwithstanding the entire inexperience of managers and miners, and the enormous expenditures for the erection of smelting houses and machinery, which were after- wards found to be inefficient. Wages to laborers, and prices for pro- visions were very high, and the whole operation was conducted without regard to economy ; but with all these drawbacks, the companies divided large dividends, stock arose to extravagant prices, and people's heads seemed to be bewildered with the dazzling prospect of wealth which several persons suddenly realized. It has been estimated by one who was intimately acquainted with the operations, that $16,000 were paid for smelting works not used; $8,000 for experiments; $12,600 for an extra set of managers 33 years, where one would have been better; $6,500 for drawing stone to the smelting house, which should have been separated at the mine; on contracts at excessive rates, $30,000, making $97,600, which might have been saved. The economical method of mining, is to sink vertical shafts at intervals of three or four hundred feet along the vein, and at every ten fathoms run levels as is represented in our section of the Cliff copper mine. The ore is then thrown down by blasting from above the levels, by a process called stoping, and the ore is then wheeled to the shafts and raised. Instead of this at the Rossie mines, the work- ings were mostly from above downwards. The amount of water at the worst season, was about 120 gallons per minute, but the machinery em- ployed for raising this, from its being inefficient, was a constant source of expense for repairs, and the workings were, from this cause, often suspend- ed. The ore was principally smelted by Messrs. Moss & Knapp, at a fur- nace on Indian river, 14 miles from the mines, at $25 per ton, with a clause in the contract giving them all over 68 per cent., which made it $28.16, besides drawing the mineral from the mines. A reverberatory furnace was erected at the mines, but this was found to waste more lead than it yielded. The Victoria and Union veins were wrought by Mr. Parish, and their yield is represented on the pages of the sections,
A working was commenced by him on the Robinson or Indian river vein, where ore was found on the surface, and about 300 pounds of lead were taken out directly over a cavity in the granite, which, on blasting to the solid vein proved to be 15 feet deep. A shaft 9 by 11, and 76 feet deep, was sunk here, which yielded 1,100 ponnds of lead. No vein in the last 8 or 10 feet. Cost $1,600. In the branch of the Union vein, two shafts were sunk, the western, 55, the eastern, 50 feet deep. Both pro- duced, and still show, some lead.
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