Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 43

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823-
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman
Number of Pages: 1094

USA > New York > Jefferson County > Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894 > Part 43

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Perhaps the greatest advantage which this mill enjoys over others is its independence of Black river for the water used in making paper. Half a mile away, up on a hill on the mainland, an abundant spring of pure, clear water was secured, and this water is carried down to the mill in iron pipes, the fall being over 30 feet. The mill turns out 20 tons of pulp per day, and its manufacture of paper reaches 10 tons per day.

The investment is nearly $500,000.

The company has a saw-mill at the head of the island which has a capacity of sawing 10,000 feet of lumber a day. A cheese-box factory is also a part of the company's prop- erty, it being leased to other parties.

At the head of the island there is also a dam 486 feet in length, over which all the waste water flows down the north channel, and there the pulp timber is collected.

THE BLACK RIVER WOOD-PULP COMPANY. -The stock of this company is now all owned by Wooster O. Ball, of Watertown. Value of plant, $25,000. Has three grind- ers, with an output of 4 tons daily. Value of daily output $72; hands employed, 6; mill started in 1888. Timber used comes from the Adirondacks.

JEFFERSON COUNTY PAPER COMPANY,

At Black River, F. H. Munson, Watertown, President; Fred W. Herring, Watertown, Treasurer. They have 12 pulp grinders and 3 wet machines; manufacturing 24,000 pounds of pulp daily. They have one 92-inch Four- drinier machine which turns out from 10 to 12 tons of paper per day. Hands employed, 45 to 50.

EMPIRE WOOD PULP COMPANY,

At Black River, is another recent establish- ment, of which Christopher Poor is President; George C. Hazleton, Secretary and Treasurer. They have four grinders and manufacture about 8,000 pounds of pulp per day of 24 hours. From 6 to 8 men are employed. They do not make paper.

Hiram Remington and his son, Edward, of Watertown, built a mechanical pulp mill at Black River recently, the estimated value of which (water power included), is $100,000. The pulp made is 16,000 pounds daily, and is used in their paper mill at Watertown, They employ in this and their Watertown mill 65 to 70 hands.

WATERTOWN.

Coming to Watertown, the first works in order are at the head of Sewall's Island, called the Watertown Paper Co., Hiram Remington. President. At this mill they have two Four- drinier paper machines, which produce daily from sixteen to eighteen tons of paper. Their pulp mill at Black River supplies them with a portion of their stock, and the sulphite fiber required is purchased elsewhere. The value of the plant here, including water-power, is estimated at $150,000. Their output of paper is worth about $800 per day. They employ at this and the Black River pulp mill from 60 to 65 hands.

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

The Remington Paper Company's pulp, sul- phite and paper mills are on Sewall's island, on the south and north branch of the river, with one pulp mill down the river below the poor house. In all these mills they have 21 wood-pulp grinders, the output being 40 tons daily ; and from the sulphite mill 20 tons of chemical fiber. In the sulphite mill 3 tons of sulphur are used daily, which is imported at a cost of about $20 per ton. The company run 4 Fourdrinier paper machines, turning out from 32 to 36 tons of paper daily. The capi- tal invested, including 26,000 acres of Adiron- dack land, is estimated at $1,350,000. They work up 75 cords of wood per day, and the value of their paper and sulphite output is from $2,300 to $2,500 daily. The number of men employed averages about 200. This com- pany has an extensive machine shop, where their own repairs are attended to by their own workmen. The present officers of the com- pany are A. D. Remington, President ; Geo. P. Folts, First Vice President ; Charles R. Remington, Second Vice President ; Charles H. Remington, Secretary, and N. R. Caswell, Treasurer. These now immense works date back to 1854, when I. Remington, of Fayette- ville, the father of Hiram, A. D. and C. R. Remington, of Watertown, began to make paper in the long-time idle factory building of Patrick O'Dougherty, on the north side of the river, and at first could produce only one ton of paper per day. The first company was composed of Illustrious Remington, Hiram Remington and Alfred D. Remington, the latter of whom moved to Watertown and en- tered upon the management of the business, and to his industry, skill and tireless energy are so greatly due the development of the paper industry upon Black River. The sul- phite mill of this company was started in 1890. No rags are now used in these mills, the whole stock being chemical fiber and mechanical pulp.

In following the river we come next to the oldest paper mill in the county, the Knowlton Brothers. This mill was established in a small way as a hand-mill by Gurdon Caswell in 1808, on the site where now stands a portion of the works. We have hitherto alluded to the small beginnings of this mill and of this industry in Jefferson county, now grown to such grand proportions. Of course a mill 86 years of age must have had more than one change of pro- prietors, yet the Knowlton Brothers' mill, for more than 60 years, has in great part been in the hands of the Knowlton family; neverthe- less, it had its early vicissitudes. The mill, in the hands of one or another, continued to make paper from 1808, in the old building, to 1833, when George W. Knowlton and Clark Rice, who had bought the mill in 1824, sold the site and built a new building a little higher up, on the upper side of what is now Mill street. Mr. Caswell built another mill in 1819 at Fac- tory Square, and sold it to his brother, Henry Caswell. In 1823 Gurdon Caswell built his third mill on Sewall's Island, occupying a part of the site where the Bagley & Sewall Com- pany's works now stand. This mill suffered

once by fire, and was demolished in 1830, so that, from 1824 to 1854, a period of thirty years, Knowlton & Rice were, with only slight exceptions, the only paper makers in the county. In 1833 they abandoned both mills and built on the site of Knowlton Brothers' present works. But that mill was burned in 1848. It was rebuilt, however, larger than before, with improved machinery. In 1854 Knowlton & Rice retired from active business, having sold the mill to Chamberlain & Dalton, of Massachusetts. In 1861 that firm sold it to the present proprietors, John C. & George W. Knowlton. Since it came into their hands the mill has been practically rebuilt and equipped with larger and greatly improved machinery, taking in a grist mill on the west side of Mill street, and otherwise expanding the area of their works, till now the capital invested is estimated at $100,000, employing from 40 to 50 hands. They have two pulp grinders, two rag-engines, each of 1,000 pounds capacity, one washer of 2,000 pounds capacity, one 66-inch Fourdrinier machine, turning out 9,000 pounds of colored mediums per day. The value of this daily output is about $500. This mill uses mostly rags, but some pulp. Their pro- duct is sold all over the country.

Having reached Watertown in our descrip- tion of the pulp mills of Black River, we will now describe the PAPER MILL AND BAG FAC- TORY OF THE TAGGART BROTHERS' COMPANY. It is sometimes the case that a very large in- dustry may have been in active operation in a city for so long a time, and its daily routine so noiselessly conducted, as to elicit but little observation, because there is no novelty about it. Such, it seems to me, may be the case in the quiet and peaceable management of the Taggart Bros.' Paper and Bag Co., whose ex- tensive plant, as all our people know, is in Pamelia, but within the corporate limits of Watertown.

At the point occupied by their large mills they are the owners of one-half of the whole water-power of Black River. To sustain the tremendous pressure of spring freshets they have been obliged to rebuild half of the dam at that point ; and to make entirely safe the bulkhead from which their great flume is sup- plied, they have built a solid wall of very thick and high masonry, bedded upon the solid rock of the river. The cost of this substantial im- provement must have run into many thou- sands of dollars, as such operations are always expensive. The available water-power at this point is calculated at 3,000 horse-power.

The head and fall is something over 14 feet at low water, which keeps the flume well filled, ready to drive the 11 beating engines, the last three of which are now nearly completed. In addition to these engines, the paper-making machinery, the rope-cutting and rotary bleach- ing boiler, the bag-printing presses, and the many other machines incident to so large a plant are all driven by their immense water- power. In the paper manufacturing depart- ment alone they can turn out 7 tons of paper per day, and in the bag-manufacturing room

JEWETTVILLE MILL OF THE REMINGTON PAPER COMPANY.

3250

NEWYORK AIR BRAKE

ROME, WATERTOWN AND OGDENSBURG CAPACITY

THE TAGGART BROS.' PAPER AND BAG MILL.

193

CITY OF WATERTOWN.

they have one machine that makes a bag with satchel-bottom, direct from the roll, at the rate of 3,600 finished bags per hour, completing with ease 25,000 fifty-pound flour sacks in 10 hours. The use of this, the "Stillwell " ma- chine, is limited to a very few mills. Mr. B. B. Taggart was one of the first to aid in de- veloping the original device, and when he sold his interest in the machine at a round profit, he reserved the right to manufacture at his own mills. This very ingenious and compli- cated machine takes in paper at one end and turns out bags at the other with a rapidity that is astonishing. The firm has also smaller "Stillwell" machines for smaller sacks, but the smallest size they make is the 10-pound sack for flour, sugar, coffee, or any substance requiring a strong bag.

Among the many improvements being de- veloped at the Taggarts' mill is machinery by which the paper, as it is made into rolls, is to receive upon one side a coating of colored size, enabling that firm to sell a bag with the inside dark or shaded, to contrast with the whiteness of the flour, and the outside of a clear white. Millers have become quite fastidious of late about their flour sacks, having found out that a handsome label helps to sell their goods.

This firm has many "kinks" in their bag business. They now print a certain portion of their sacks before the satchel-bottom is formed, thus enabling them to print right on the bot- tom of the sack. This, of course, necessitates passing the bags through the machine which forms the bottom, and then they pass through still another machine to give the crimping at the top, which enables the sack to be readily gathered together for tieing.

The sacks of this firm are made from old rope, manilla or hemp, and do not admit of the use of any other stock, for flour sacks must be strong and yet pliable. Wood-pulp makes a brittle, harsh product without much strength, but is admirably adapted to all the cheaper qualities of paper.

The consumption of coal is about 4 tons per day, and the output of the mill about 7 tons. Taking into consideration the incoming freight as well as the output, some 3 to 5 cars are needed daily to deliver and carry away their freight.

The writer remembers Mr. B. B. Taggart when he made bags on Beebee's Island from such paper as he could purchase on the mar- ket. He was the pioneer in that business in this part of the State, and now his company manufactures bags from their own paper, made in their own mill, print them on their own presses, and can sell bags below any other manufacturers, for they have cheap power, large buildings that were bought at a low figure, and the firm retains within itself the profits which many other concerns are obliged to divide among a half-a-dozen middle-men.

These paper industries have been a great and lasting benefit to Watertown, providing "work for willing hands to do," and building up in- dustries that challenge the commercial world for their completeness.

The Taggarts have not been altogether ex-

empt from fire losses. On Dec. 24, 1876, their paper and bag mill was on fire, burning out the eastern section. Their works were stopped for two weeks only, the enterprise of these two remarkable men having overcome obstacles that slower people would have taken months to surmount. The lesson of that fire, how- ever, was not lost upon them, and they were the first in this section to introduce the Hall system of automatic sprinklers into their large mill. It has direct connection with the city waterworks, and any ordinary fire would have a very wet time indeed in trying to make head- way there.

THE C. R. REMINGTON & SON COMPANY .- This is a mill of large capacity, having two Fourdrinier paper machines, sufficient for a daily product of 20 tons of print paper. The chemical fibre of this, as of most of the other mills, comes from the sulphite mill of the Remington Paper Company. The C. R. Remington & Son Company's mill has grind- ers enough to turn out 18 tons of wood pulp per day, and employs a force of 55 to 60 men. The plant is estimated at $300,000.

THE ONTARIO PAPER COMPANY.

Descending the river we next come to the great Ontario mills. This mill was built by a stock company in 1887, the capital invested being about $300,000. Its present output is 20 tons of print paper per day, of the value of $1,200. They have two large paper ma- chines. The officers of the Company are Geo. W. Knowton, President; S. F. Bagg, Vice-President; E. B. Sterling, Secretary and Treasurer. The timber used for pulp is mainly spruce from the Adirondack region. They employ from 70 to 80 hands.

AT BROWNVILLE.

OUTTERSON PAPER COMPANY .- This or- ganization is of recent origin, and is officered by J. F. Outterson, as President, and Charles Outterson as Secretary. It has 3 pulp grind- ers, 1 Fourdrinier paper machine, and has a capacity of 5 tons of paper per day. It em- ploys about 25 hands, procures its timber from the Arirondacks, and the estimated value of the plant is $40,000.

THE GLOBE PAPER COMPANY-Located at Brownville, of which T. W. Waller, of Watertown, is President, and E. A. Flanni- gan, Secretary, has 5 grinders and 1 paper machine, with a capacity of 4 tons per day; employs about 20 hands; makes manilla wrapping paper, and the estimated value of the plant is $40,000.

THE BROWNVILLE PAPER COMPANY .- President, C. H. Remington, of Watertown; Secretary and Treasurer, J. M. Gamble, also of Watertown. The mill has 3 pulp-grind- ers, 1 Fourdrinier paper machine, which turns out about 7 tons of paper per day ; 24 to 28 men are employed, Timber procured from the Adirondacks. The value of the plant is estimated at $60,000. This mill is also of recent origin.

AT DEXTER.

THE ST. LAWRENCE PAPER COMPANY, of

194

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

Dexter, built its paper mill in 1889, and be- gan to make paper in March, 1890-a pulp mill having been set in operation about three years earlier.

They now run 5 grinders, with 1 Fourdrin- ier paper machine. They grind all the mechanical pulp they use and purchase their chemical fibre from other parties. The mill grinds about 8 tons of pulp per day and turns out from 10 to 12 tons of print paper daily, and employs from 36 to 40 workmen. Pay- roll amounts to over $400 per week. They procure their timber from Canada and the Adirondacks.

The officers of the company are Hon. Henry Binninger, of Dexter, President; Chas. M. Otis, of Watertown, Vice-President; and E. P. Binninger, Acting Secretary and Treasurer. The value of the daily output is about $400. The value of the plant, includ- ing 1,600 acres of spruce-wood land in the Adriondacks (on which no timber has yet been cut), is estimated at $100,000. This mill uses both steam and water power.

THE FRONTENAC PAPER COMPANY, at Dexter, Richard Marcy, of Watertown, President; Fremont W. Spicer, of Dexter, Vice-President and General Manager; L. S. Lansing, of Watertown, Secretary and Treasurer. This mill was started in 1889 and made the first paper in March, 1890. Has three pulp-grinders with a capacity of six tons per day ; one Bagley & Sewall Company Fourdrinier paper machine, and turns out about eight tons of print paper per day. They employ from 28 to 30 workmen; pay- roll per week about $325. The estimated value of plant is $100,000. They use both water and steam power, getting their timber from Canada and the Adirondacks. This mill stands on the south branch of the river, on the very foundations of the first saw mill built in Dexter. They sell their product principally in New York city.

DEXTER SULPHITE AND PAPER COMPANY. -Dr. C. E. Campbell, President; G. Overall, Vice-President, both of New York city: E. F. Birmingham, Secretary, Dexter. The company employ about seventy men; buy their wood delivered at Dexter, some from Canada, but the major part from the Adiron- dacks, much of which is floated down the river. Use about 200 cords per week, mostly spruce. The process of this sulphite mill differs from the Remington Company, in being slower-the cooking process lasting about fifty hours, while the Remington pro- cess is completed in twelve hours. They use here a weaker acid at a lower temperature and lower pressure, and consequently take a longer time, and the claim is that it makes a stronger fibre. The process is known as the " Mitscherlick." This mill contains eight digesters of nine tons' capacity each, set in a horizontal position instead of upright, and turns out from twenty to twenty-five tons of fibre per day, at a value of about $1,100. Their pay-roll is about $500 per week. The fibre produced by this great mill is sold to all parts of the State, and takes the place of rags

in the manufacture of news or cheap manilla. The acid seems to eat out the fat of the wood and leaves only the muscle (so to speak), and, in a thick sheet, is about as tough as leather. It is used by putting a certain per cent. of it with mechanical pulp and grinding them to- gether in a rag-beating engine. This mill occupies the building of the Old Woolen Mill at Dexter, and has been in operation about five years. The value of the plant is estimated at $225,000. Aage Drewsen is and has been the Superintendent for the past three years.

GENERAL SUMMARY.

We have thus given the details of the large investments of capital and the amount of labor employed in the pulp and paper indus- try of Jefferson county. `The magnitude of this interest has surprised the collector of the facts, as it doubtless will the reader, the most of it having sprung into existence since the discovery of the process of converting wood into paper. The capital invested aggregates over $4,000,000; the workmen employed number nearly 1,000; the daily product aggregates nearly 200 tons, valued at $10,000, a large sum of money, which is focused at this point from a widely surrounding section of country. The pioneers of this great indus- try, and particularly the one whose sagacity originally applied it here, are entitled to the thanks of the public for their persevering and tenacious purpose in originating and develop- ing the business to its present magnitude

THE REMINGTONS.

The citizens of Watertown do not need to be told that this is an important, very indus- trious and highly respectable family, all more or less engaged in paper making or in its kindred industry, the manufacture of wood pulp. They are so numerous and their prop- erty so extensive, that we have thought it best to speak of them separately and individ- ally, in order to avoid confusion.

THE REMINGTON PAPER COMPANY, A. D. Remington, President, are the owners and operators of the great sulphite pulp works and paper mill, midway of Sewall's Island. They have also a pulp mill on the south shore of the river, and one on the north branch of Black river, upon the site where Hiram and A. D. Remington and their father, under the firm name of I. Remington & Son, began to make paper. They also own and operate a pulp mill at Glen Park, below the Poor House.

THE WATERTOWN PAPER COMPANY, H. Remington, President, owns and operates the large paper mill at the upper end of Sewall's Island, and the H. Remington & Son Pulp and Paper Campany own and operate the ex- tensive pulp mill at Black River, just above the lower bridge.

THE C. R. REMINGTON & SON COMPANY, (C. R. Remington, President), own and oper- ate the extensive paper and pulp mill at Wood's Falls, in Glen Park.

It will be observed that Mr. Illustrious

THE C. R. REMINGTON & SON'S MILL AT GLEN PARK.

THE REMINGTON PAPER COMPANY'S LOWER MILL.

195

CITY OF WATERTOWN.

Remington and his two sons, of Manlius, Onondaga county, N. Y., were the men who furnished the means for starting the paper mill on the O'Dougherty property in Jewetts- ville, where they began to make paper, and where were laid the foundations of the pros- perity of this family in Watertown. His son, Charles Rollin, soon joined them, and then other members of the family came, until they are now a strong family influence in this city. It may be said that although there were paper mills here from an early date, there was no great progress in the business beyond filling a purely local demand, until the era of the great power presses, which chanced to be soon after the senior Remington and his sons had commenced in Jewettsville. Indeed, pre- vious to building their first mill, there had not been a carload of paper a month sent away from Watertown by rail. This family were then, in a sense, the actual pioneers in the recent great developments in paper making. They were soon followed by Mr B. B. Taggart, who has kept close up to them in all the great developments of the paper industry, as well as being himself the actual pioneer in the paper-bag and manilla- paper industry, now so important a factor in Watertown's daily labors, and we wish to put on record the fact that the first successful development of the all-wood paper industry in America, was made at Watertown by the Remington Paper Company.

The Messrs. Remington and Mr. Taggart, as well, have not spent in other localities the money made here. They have built many houses and aided in every great improvement in the city. Messrs. A. D. and C. R. Rem- ington and Mr. E. M. Gates built the Opera House, as fine a building for its purpose as can be found in any small city in the United States.

EARLY WATERTOWN.

THE author of this history, in common with all other early residents of Watertown, feels a sense of obligation to Mr. Brockway for his interesting articles, from which we have con- densed what follows, and added such data of our own as we have been able to accumulate. In these articles we have another illustration of the value of historical research and its per- petuation by the printed page. If Mr. Brock- way had left no other evidence of his ability as a writer or of his devotion to the interests of Watertown, these historical articles would commend him to affectionate remembrance.

The settlement of Watertown village may be said to have commenced in 1800; for though there were purchases of real estate in this lo- cality previous to that date, it is believed that no buildings were erected until about 1800 or 1801.

Tilley R. Sheldon, son of Joseph Sheldon, who resided a good part of his life on Dry Hill, and who obtained the story from one or more of the parties, tells us that Eliphalet Edmunds and his brother came down the Black river in the fall of 1798. They were

from Clarendon, Vt., and hearing that game was plenty in this section, came in pursuit of it. They built a boat at the High (now Lyons) Falls, and descended the stream without great difficulty until they reached the falls here. Undertaking to get their boat over these, it was upset and the contents, among them two valuable guns, were emptied into the river and lost. The two Edmunds then went south, one of them settling near the mouth of Sandy Creek, in Ellisburg, and the other in the town of Adams, one mile north of the present vil- lage. The next year, or the one following, Nathaniel and Seyrel Harrington and Joshua Priest, who were acquaintances of the Ed- munds' in Vermont, came on and settled on Dry Hill. These men were soon joined by Joseph Sheldon, Benjamin Fassett, John Lo- see, John Babcock, John Parsells, Patrick Agan (father of P. H. Agan, of Syracuse, for years editor of the Syracuse Standard), Samuel and John Knapp, Samuel Rockwell, J. Sikes (father of the late Dr. Sikes), James Glass, Jonathan E. Miles, Tilley Richardson (on the Jacob Stears place), Seth Peck and Francis Lamon, grandfather of F. P. and J. J. Lamon, of Watertown.

The first settlers in Watertown, or the first who made considerable purchases of real estate in what became the village and afterwards the city thus named, were Mr. Cowan, Henry Coffeen, the Masseys (Hart and Isaiah), and Zacharias Butterfield. The latter acquired title to all, or nearly all, the land between Washington and State streets; the Masseys, one or both, secured all the territory west of Washington street, while Mr. Coffeen took possession of the land between Court and Ar- senal streets to the western boundaries, but Jonathan Cowan paid more attention to the water-power. Ezekiel Jewett bought of Nich- olas Low, the original proprietor of the settle- ment, 400 acres of land north of State street. Mr. Coffeen came from Oneida county, but was a native of Vermont. The Masseys were likewise from the Green Mountain State, while Mr. Butterfield was from New Hampshire. Isaiah Massey erected and kept the first hotel, which was situated at the head of the Public Square, between the American Arcade and the Paddock Arcade. Mr. Butterfield erected a log cabin on a portion of the land now cov- ered by Washington Hall block, while Mr. Coffeen built a hut just west of the Iron block. Hart Massey resided first in a log house near the Paddock Arcade entrance, then in a frame house on the lot on Washington street where E. L. Paddock now lives, but after a few years built the brick dwelling on Massey avenue, which was then in the country. It is still owned by some of his descendants. These pioneers came to Watertown by a road from Utica which passed through Burrville, thence over the Reservoir Hill, striking Washington street, and thence down Washington street to the Public Square. Cowan is supposed to have held title to the strip of land between the Square and Court street and the river, but it may possibly have been embraced in the orig- inal purchase of the parties above named.

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Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 43

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823- Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman Number of Pages: 1094

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823-
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman
Number of Pages: 1094