USA > New York > Warren County > Queensbury > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 8
USA > New York > Washington County > History and biography of Washington county and the town of Queensbury, New York > Part 8
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road, in 1880, carried ten thousand six hun- dred and sixty-two passengers and nine thou- sand seven hundred and thirty-nine tons of freight.
The Glens Falls railway, running from Fort Edward to Glens Falls, in Warren county, a distance of five and three-quarter miles, was projected in 1867. It was built soon after- ward.
The New York and Canada railway, run- ning from Whitehall north, along the west shore of Lake Champlain to the northern boundary of the county, and connecting there with another railroad running to Montreal, Canada, was built in 1874 and 1875.
By the centennial year of the Republic the county possessed good communication by rail and water with the leading cities of the Uni- ted States.
PRESENT INDUSTRIES.
Sheep raising and wool growing has ceascd to be the profitable industry that it once was, and the great wool trade of the county since the late war has dwindled to small proportions, although there are many fine flocks of sheep to be found in the different towns. Corn, oats, potatoes, apples, and dairy products are now the main resources of the farm.
Turning from agricultural pursuits to the mining interests of the county, we find that lime burning in Greenwich could be made a source of wealth.
Iron ore lies within the hills of the northern peninsula, and the furnace production in 1880 was very creditable to the county.
Slate and marble quarrying have been de- veloped in the eastern part of the county. In Granville fine roofing slate and excellent block marble quarries have been opened.
Ticonderoga black lead is obtained in Put- nam in considerable quantities.
Manufacturing establishments are situated at many places in the county, and prominent in this great branch of material wealth are agricultural and carriage works, iron foundries
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
and steel, hosiery, flouring, paper, cotton and woolen mills.
The garden seed business was started in the Cambridge valley as early as 1816, and the first manilla paper mill in the United States was built in 1846.
With good soil and considerable water power, and lying on the great inland route of commerce the county should be noted for the prosperity of the present industries and fine facilities for future enterprises.
COUNTY PROGRESS.
The growth of the county has been slow but substantial through its century and a third of white inhabitation, while the history of its territory extends through nearly three centur- ies of time. The Indian war period of eighty years was followed in 1689 by the inter-colon- ial war period, whose ending in 1763 was two years beyond the first permanent settlement beginnings. Ten years of an early settlement period was distinguished for the incoming of three thousand white settlers, and a county formation, and was succeeded by the Revolu- tionary period of eight years, during which the county was severely ravaged. Following the Revolution was a pioneer period of nearly twenty years, in which the earlier industries sprang up and emigration sent the volume of population from about three thousand to thir- ty-five thousand. Then came a pike period, during which Warren county was cut off and the population fell off nearly six thousand. After nearly twenty-five years of pre-eminence the pike yielded to the canal, and the first great stride of progress was taken by the county. Wool growing and other industries came with it, and passed in 1848 into the rail- road period, that was terminated by the Civil war period, whose disastrous effects on the county retarded its advancement for some time. Succeeding the Civil war has followed the third great material advance of the people of Washington county, which may be designa- ted the progressive period noted for invention,
the introduction of labor-saving machinery, and a spirit of general improvement.
The financial panic of 1873 had some de- pressing effect upon the county, and occasion- ally the dullness of times may temporarily check the flow of business, but will never stop the march of improvement.
Washington county, rich within her own agricultural resources, her manufacturing in- terests and her commercial facilities, need never occupy any but a proud and prominent position in the wealth and development of the mighty State that stretches from the Hudson to the great lakes.
CHAPTER XVI.
STATISTICS OF POPULATION, MANUFAC- TURES, AGRICULTURE, MINING, AND TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION.
Census statistics have been specially intro- duced in this volume to supply a feature that is largely wanting in so many county histories published in the United States. While num- bers are not essentially necessary to the de- velopment and progress of a county, yet their increase stands for growth in industries as well as population, and their decrease tells the story of abandoned enterprises and the loss of territory as well as every great drain by emigration. The condensed statistics of agriculture, manufactures, mining and trade and transportation will forcibly tell their own story without need of illustration or explana- tion.
The census of 1890 has been issued so slowly that many statistics of interest con- cerning the county have not yet been pub- lished.
STATISTICS OF POPULATION.
AGGREGATE POPULATION.
U. S. Census.
White.
Colored.
Aggregate.
1 790
13,992
50
14,042
1800
35,393
399
36,792
1810
41,159
3,130
44,289
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
U. S. Census.
White.
Colored.
Aggregate.
Towns.
1870.
1880.
1890.
1820
38,427
404
38,831
Granvillle.
4,003
4,149
4,715
Greenwich .
4,030
3,860
4,196
Greenwich village.
1,231
1,663
Hampton
955
833
791
Hartford
1,989
1,760
1,470
Hebron
2,399
2,383
2,044
1880
47,523
340
47,871
1890
45,687
252
45,939
Washington county had two Indians re- ported in 1860, three in 1870, and six in 1880. Its Chinese inhabitants in 1880 were two. The 3, 130 colored population reported in 1810 is undoubtedly a mistake, and is more likely 313.
NATIVITY.
1870.
1880.
Born in the State.
27,253
37,568
Vermont .
2,605
2,678
Massachusetts
432
338
Connecticut.
180
I36
Pennsylvania
114
I27
New Jersey
29
53
Total native born.
41,274
41,517
Born in Ireland
5,024
4,046
British America.
1,999
1,323
England and Wales.
888
661
Scotland.
198
137
Germany
I24
125
France.
14
8
Sweden and Norway.
3
I7
Total foreign born.
8,294
6,354
In 1860 the the native population was re- ported at 39,248 and the foreign as 6,656.
POPULATION OF MINOR CIVIL DIVISIONS.
Towns.
1870.
I880.
1800.
Argyle
2,850
2,775
2,313
Argyle village.
35I
316
158
Cambridge
2,589
2,324
2, 162
Dresden
684
73
636
Easton
3,072
2,740
2,500
Fort Ann, including vil- lage.
3,329
3,263
2,996
Fort Edward, including
village
5,125
4,680
4,424
Jackson
1,662
1,562
1,278
Kingsbury
4,277
4,614
4,677
Sandy Hill
2,347
2,487
2,895
Putnamı
603
611
568
Salem
3,556
3,498
3,127
Salem village.
1,239
1,410
White Creek, excluding
part Cambridge village 2,881
2,742
2,690
Cambridge village (a part)
1,153
Whitehall, including vil-
lage ..
5,564
5,347
5,402
Whitehall village
4,322
4,270
4,434
Town of Queensbury .. 11,849
Glens Falls village ..... 9,509
In 1880 there were 23,955 males and 23,916 females in the county. Of school age - from five to seventeen years - there were 6,380 males and 6,143 females ; and of military age- from eighteen to forty-four years - there were 9,312, while of citizenship age the number was 13,656.
STATISTICS OF MANUFACTURES.
The statistics of manufactures in any census of the United States so far have never em- braced the full production of the hand-trades of mason, carpenter, blacksmith, cooper, plum- ber, and others of less importance; but the tables for 1880 include every establishment of mechanical or manufacturing industry which was returned at the Tenth census as having had during that census year a product of five hundred dollars or more in value.
In all comparisons between values reported in 1870 and in 1880, it should be recollected that the values of the former year were ex- pressed in a currency which was at a great discount in gold. For purposes of compar- ison the values of 1870 should be reduced one- fifth.
1830
42,242
393
42,635
1840
40,808
272
41,080
1850
44,400
350
44,750
1860
45,643
259
45,904
1870
49,186
379
49,568
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
SELECTED STATISTICS OF MANUFACTURE.
Establishments. Capital. Employees.
1870 427 $3,561,980
2714
1880 355
2,658,188 2205
The introduction of machinery will explain the decrease in the number of establishments and employees in 1880.
Wages. Material. Products.
1870. $928,398 $2,927,615 $5,028,391
1880 565,335 2,208,225 3,597,512
In 1870 there were twenty-eight steam en- gines and two hundred and fourteen water wheels in Washington county.
Of the four hundred and thirty-seven estab- lishments mentioned there were twenty-six cheese and butter factories, seven foundry and machine shops, twenty-eight flouring and grist mills, four tanneries, three lime works, eleven carriage and wagon factories or shops, one hosiery mill, eight woolen goods factories, four marble and stone works, one malt liquor manufactory, one iron and steel mill, thirty- one sawed lumber plants, one slate and marble mantel works, and nine paper mills.
AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.
CEREAL PRODUCTIONS, 1870 AND 1880.
Cereals
Bushs. 1870.
Bushs. 1880.
Wheat
24,091
16,809
Corn
384,702
537,060
Oats
761,489
889,834
Barley
6,021
4,414
Buckwheat
58,479
52,660
Rye.
105,932
100,981
There were four thousand two hundred and seventeen farms with an average size of one hundred and sixteen acres in 1880.
LIVE STOCK, 1870 AND 1880.
No. 1870. No. INst.
Horses
10,222
11,360
Milch Cows.
18,352 21,762
Oxen .
554
307
Sheep
102,045
64,606
Swine
9,30I
17,908
5
Other cattle, in 1880, in addition to milch cows and oxen. were reported at thirteen thousand three hundred and thirty-two. In 1880 the spring clip of wool was given at three hundred and thirty-eight thousand eight hun- dred and eleven pounds.
POTATOES AND DAIRY PRODUCTS, 1870 AND 1880.
1870.
Bus. Potatoes 2, 141,464 2,216,648
Lbs. Butter. 1,606,457 1,793,243
Lbs. Cheese. 225,002 104,914
In 1879 there were one hundred thousand four hundred and forty-two tons of hay cut ; fifty-nine thousand five hundred and sixty- seven pounds of honey, and one thousand one hundred and forty-two pounds of wax taken ; and five thousand twenty-five bushels of beans harvested. Orchard products were worth eighty thousand five hundred and fifty- five dollars, and market garden products nine thousand five hundred and sixty-three dollars, in that year, while there were one hundred and thirty-six thousand five hundred and sixty- seven poultry fowls in the county, whose pro- duct of eggs was five hundred and twenty-five thousand one hundred and eighty-seven dozen.
MINING STATISTICS.
SELECTED STATISTICS OF MINING. Ores.
Tons in 1850.
Magnetite iron ore 18,892
Quartz and feldspar 1,907
There were two mines in which two hun- hundred and fifteen thousand five hundred dollars capital was invested, and ninety-two hands employed. Twenty-six thousand dol- lars yearly wages was paid, and the value of the output was forty-seven thousand two hun- dred dollars. The maximum yearly capacity of these mines was forty-four thousand eight hundred tons.
There were four quartz and feldspar mines in which fifty-two thousand dollars capital was invested, and seventeen hands employed. The wages paid was three thousand three hundred and fifty-two dollars, and the value of the out-
66
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
put was seven thousand eight hundred and twelve dollars.
STATISTICS OF TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION.
In 1880 New York had seven canals, whose aggregate length was six hundred and seven miles, with four hundred and eleven miles of slackwater, that were built between 1817 and 1862, at a cost of nearly sixty-nine million dollars. Those canals were : Erie, Oswego, Cayuga and Seneca, Champlain, Black River, Oneida River, and Delaware and Hudson.
The fourth named canal, 'the Champlain canal, with its feeder and dam, was built be- tween 1817 and 1837, at a cost of two million three hundred and seventy- eight thousand nine hundred and ten dollars. It runs from Whitehall to Waterford, is eighty-one miles in length, and has a width of fifty-eight feet at the surface and forty-four feet at the bot- tom, being six feet in depth. It has thirty- three locks, one hundred and ten feet long and eighteen feet wide, with a rise and fall of one hundred and seventy-nine and one-half feet. In 1880 its freight traffic was one mil- lion two hundred thousand five hundred and three tons ; gross income, fifty-one thousand two hundred and sixty-seven dollars ; and ex- penditures, one hundred and thirty-six thous- and five hundred and twenty dollars.
Of the railways of the county we can se- cure no statistics in 1880, beyond the Green- wich and Johnson road, whose length was fif. teen miles and its transportation expenses twenty-eight thousand four hundred and fifty dollars and fifty-nine cents. It employed thirty-five persons, and carried ten thousand six hundred and twenty-two passengers and nine thousand seven hundred and thirty-nine tons of freight in 1879.
VALUATION, TAXATION, AND PUBLIC INDEBTEDNESS.
1870.
1880.
Real estate.
$15,866,649 3,091,234
Personal property
State tax. $65,791
57,577
1870.
1880.
County tax. $ 45,347
$ 50,194
Local and school taxes,
46,483
107,77I
County debt.
63,000
23,525
Local debt. 67,800
12,944
Total wealth
18,957,883
Total taxes
157,621
215,542
Total debt
I 30,800
36,469
In 1880 instead of county and local debt the headings in the census were bonded and floating debt, and with net debt for total debt. The valuation given is the assessed valuation.
CHAPTER XVII.
AGRICULTURAL AND MEDICAL SOCIETIES - THE EARLY PRESS - CHURCHES - SCHOOLS - EARŁY BANKS - SECRET SOCIETIES.
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.
It is an encouraging fact that the ratio of increase of the principal agricultural products of Washington county has more than kept pace with its increase of population, while every indication warrants an abundant supply for all future contingencies. It is also a mat- ter of gratification that the enterprising farm- ers of the county have been fully in sympathy with the progressive agricultural spirit of the age for over three-quarters of a century.
The people recognizing the value of an agricultural society as early as December 2, 1818, met at the Sandy Hill court house for the purpose of considering how the interests of agriculture could be best promoted. Hon. Asa Fitch was chairman, and Isaac Bishop secretary of that meeting, which resolved to organize a county agricultural society, and then appointed a committee to prepare a con- stitution and by-laws. This committee con- sisted of Hon. Asa Fitch, Isaac Bishop, Gar- rett Wendell, Zebulon R. Shipherd, David Russell, and Roswell Weston.
67
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
An adjourned meeting was held at Argyle, in the house of Joseph Rouse, on February 11, 1819. There the meeting gave organized form to the effort, and the first Washington county agricultural society came into exist- ence then and there, with a membership of forty. Hon. Asa Fitch was elected president, and a series of meetings were held at- differ- ent places in September.
The first "Farmers' Holiday" or county fair was held on the second Tuesday of Oc- tober, 1822, at Major Andrew Freeman's hotel, at Salem. In 1825 the fair was held at Greenwich, and in 1826 at Argyle, where the premiums offered only amounted to two hundred and eighty-three dollars. The badge of membership was a spear of wheat and a ribbon.
Under the general apathy concerning agri- cultural matters that prevailed in the State about 1826, the society went down, and its successor did not appear until fifteen years later.
On August 4, 1841, the second Washington county agricultural society was organized at Argyle, with Henry Holmes as president. Its first fair was held at Salem, in 1842, and at the next fair at Argyle two days were given to the exhibition. From 1844 to 1861 the fairs were held as follows : Salem, 1845. 1858; Cambridge, 1846, 1855, 1860; Greenwich, 1847, 1852, 1856 ; Argyle, 1848, 1850 ; White- hall, 1849 ; South Hartford, 1851 ; Granville, 1853; North White Creek, 1854; Hartford, 1857; Fort Ann, 1859. In 1861 and in 1862 the excitement of the war prevented the hold- ing of any fair, but in 1863, Salem agreed to erect the buildings and furnish the grounds for a fair, if the society would exhibit at that place yearly until 1872. This proposition was accepted, and during that time, on March 25, 1865, the society was incorporated under the law of 1855, as "The Washington County Agricultural Society." The fair was also in- creased to four days, and in 1867 Horace Greeley delivered the address. In 1872 Fort
Edward and Sandy Hill agreed to furnish twenty-five acres in their vicinity and two thousand five hundred dollars if the society would hold their fairs there until 1882. This proposition was accepted, and the county fairs have been held there regularly until the present time; and have grown in importance, both in the quality of their exhibitions of blooded cattle, horses, sheep, swine, etc., and in the number of attendance of the people, second only to the State Agricultural society.
In connection with the County Agricultural society, two other agricultural associations were formed. The Stock Breeders' associa- tion, February 20, 1816, and the Northern New York Poultry association, organized February 26, 1878, with headquarters at Sandy Hill.
THE WASHINGTON COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.
The pioneer physician of the county was Rev. Thomas Clark, M. D., who came to Salem in 1765, when the oldest settlements had not been made more than four years. He was the only physician in the county for eight years, and then Gen. John Williams, M. D., came to Salem. Clark and Williams were na- tives of England, and attended to all the home practice of the county until 1780, when Dr. Peletiah Fitch arrived at Salem from Vermont, although a native of Connecticut. The first native and the fourth physician of the county was Dr. Joseph Tomb, of Salem, who read with General Williams .. Among the prominent physicians succeeding them were: Zina Hitch- cock, M. D., of Connecticut, who settled at Sandy Hill about 1783. Hon. Asa Fitch, M.D., son of Dr. Peletiah Fitch, commenced practice at Salem in 1795 : the same year, Dr. Andrew Proudfit, a student of Benjamin Rush, and a native of Pennsylvania, became a resident at Sandy Hill. Jonathan Dorr, M. D., of Lyme, Connecticut, and Hon. James Stevenson, M. D., of Kilsyth, Scotland, read medicine at Salem, and entered upon practice about 1797. Cornelius Holmes, M. D., of Plymouth, Mas-
68
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
sachusetts, in 1805, was one of the first physi- cians of the present century and the last in the county, ere we come to the record of a county medical society with the year 1806, although a medical organization is said to have had an earlier existence than the year given.
The Medical Society of the county of Wash- ington held its first meeting at the Sandy Hill court house, July 1, 1806. Dr. Andrew Proud- fit was president of the society during 1806, and the charter members were twenty-three in number, as follows: Drs. Zina Hitchcock, Philip Smith, Andrew Proudfit, Isaac Sar- gent, Leonard Gibbs, Asa Stover, Cyrus Bald- win, William Livingston, Asa Fitch, Abram Allen, James Green, Ephraim Allen, Jonathan Mosher, John McKinney, Robert Cook, Daniel Hervey, Thomas Patterson, Liberty Branch, Israel P. Baldwin, Artemus Robbins, Asahel Morris, PenfieldGoodell and Cornelius Holmes.
The Society soon took high rank, and has done much since toward establishing the medical profession of the State upon an honorable and firm foundation.
THE EARLY PRESS.
The newspaper of to-day, with its command- ing position and wide influence, has grown from very small and very humble beginnings.
The press of Washington county is repre- sentative of the best interests of the people in every department of thought and field of ac- tivity, and aids largely in giving standing and moral and religious character to the county.
It is interesting as well as instructive to trace the early beginnings and slow growth of this press, now so active and potent for the progress of the county.
The pioneer of journalism in Washington county was George Gerrish, who on Wednes- day, June 18, 1794, issued the initial number of The Times or National Courier. It was issued at Salem, and bore the motto: " May we never seek applause from party principles, but always desire it from public spirit." This paper was printed "three doors south of the
court house," at 12s. per annum, and its his- tory is summed up in seven months of a pre- carious existence.
The second paper of the county was the Washington Patrol, to which fortune was no more propitious than to its predecessor. It was published at Salem, by William Wand, and edited by Saint John Honeywood, a lawyer of talent and education. The first number came out on May 27, 1796, and its last issue was at some time within the same year. Its mottoes were " Impartial and Uninfluenced." "All is well." "La nuit est passee," and " Watch for the Republic."
Following the Patrol at Salem came the Northern Centinel, the first permanent pa- per of the county. Its first issue was on Mon- day, January 1, 1798, and its publisher and editor, Henry Dodd, was a man of remark- able business ability. In May, 1803, the Centinel ceased, but was succeeded by the Northern Post, under the management of Henry Dodd and David Rumsey. James Stevenson, jr., and Edward and Henry W. Dodd, sons of Henry Dodd, were afterward associated with the paper that subsequently changed its name to that of Washington County Post. The Dodds were able editors and their connection with the paper ceased January 7, 1835, when Wil- liam A. Wells bought it and consolidated it with the Whitehall North Star, under the name of County Post and North Star. On May 17, 1837, the paper passed into the hands of Thomas G. Wait, who changed its name back to that of The Washington County Post, and in 1838 sold it to James Gibson, who made it intensely whig through the presidential cam- paign of 1840. Its successive proprietors were : William B. Harkness, 1841; F. B. Graham, 1846; and Grahamı & Martin, 1847- 48. The Post was strongly federal and whig in politics, and a year after its death, in 1848, the press and type were sold to Robert G. Young, who gave another paper to the public by the name of The Washington County Post, at Cambridge, where it has been successively
69
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
true american and republican in politics, under the management of Mr. Young, Edward Gardner, R. K. Crocker, James K. Smart, and others.
The Washington Register was the second permanent paper in the county, and made its appearance in October, 1803, at Salem, as the advocate of democratic principles, and was established by Hon. Edward Savage and oth- ers to counteract the influence of the federal doctrines put forth by the Post. It was pub- lished from 1803 to 1830, and its press and type were then used to print the Anti-Masonic Champion, of Greenwich, which existed but a short time. The editors of the Register were: John M. Looker, John P. Reynolds, Timothy Hoskin, James B. Gibson, Beriah Stiles, John P. Reynolds, and Alexander Robertson.
The Post and Register for twenty years con- stituted the press of the county, although the Cambridge Gazette was started but it had only an ephemeral existence.
In 1819 the Sandy Hill Times was issued by Adonijah Emmons, in the interests of the Federal party. Five years later it passed into the hands of James Wright, who called it The Political Herald, and in 1825 the name was changed to that of Sandy Hill Times, and its politics became democratic. It remained democratic until 1865, when its political com- plexion became republican.
The Sandy Hill Sun was started in 1826 by Mr. Emmons, but only run a short time.
For six years after the start of the Sun there were no new papers in the county, and then in 1832 there were three new ventures in journ- alism at Sandy Hill. First came the Temper- ance Advocate, next the Independent Politician, a Henry Clay paper, by C. J. Haynes and S. P. Hines; and third, the Free Press, an anti- masonic sheet, by A. Emmons. Short life was the fate of the Politician and Press, but the Advocate was destined to some length of years, and enjoyed the distinction of being the first total abstinence paper published in the United States. S. P. Hines edited the
Advocate at Sandy Hill for some time, and then removed it to New York city, where he published it under the patronage of the State Temperance society.
From 1832 to 1855 we have record of the following papers in Washington county: The Whitehall Republican, by J. K. Averell, 1833; Whitehall Chronicle, by H. T. Blanchard, June 18, 1840; The Washingtonian, of Salem, W. B. Harkness and John W. Curtis, 1842; White- hall Democrat, 1845; Whitehall Telegraph, 1847; Washington Telegraph of Granville, Zebina Ellis, 1847, afterward Granville Telegraph and Granville Times ; The Whitehaller, W. S. Southmaid, 1849; The Granville Register, 1849; The Salem Press, W. B. Harkness, 1850 ; The Granville News, 1851 ; The Public Ledger, of Fort Edward, T. A. Blanchard, 1854 : American Sentinel (afterward Whitehall Times), John E. Watkins, June, 1855.
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