USA > New York > Rockland County > The history of Rockland County > Part 19
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 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
172
Accident led to the two great discoveries in brick making. Through the mechanical genius of a belated boatman, whose vessel, fortunately for Haverstraw, had run aground on the flats before that place, James Wood was shown how to make a mould with a bottom and a vent. Soon after this, in 1828, happened the great discovery of his life. An English friend, with whom he had lived when he first arrived in this country, sent him a small quantity of anthracite coal, which was then being developed in Pennsylvania, as a curiosity. On burning it he found, that while the com- bustion gave forth intense heat, but little smoke was cmitted.
At once the idea came to him that the coal could be used to burn brick, and he hastened to make the experiment. A piece of the coal was pulverized in a borrowed mortar and mixed with the clay for four bricks, which, after being marked, were placed in the kiln. The kiln was burncd, the bricks examined, and the examination showed that the experiment was a success.
But the success in the case of four bricks only proved a part of the dis- covery. It remained to learn the proper proportion of coal dust to mix with the clay for a kiln. Mr. Wood obtained a load of anthracite coal and sent it over the mountain to Van Houtens' grist and plaster mill to be ground, and then mixed the dust with clay in nearly equal parts. That kiln burned to slag, and was ruined. At last the proportion arrived at was, according to the State Geologist's Report for 1838, 22 1/2 tons of coal dust to a kiln of 450,000 bricks.
Further tests were tried. The coal dust was mixed with the bricks, which composed the upper layers of the kiln, with the result that they were burned as hard as those in the lower layers, a condition never before obtained. On still further trials it was demonstrated, that whereas up to that time it had been impossible to make bricks in a kiln of uniform quality, that of the three classes into which brick-makers divided a kiln- " Hard," "Salmon ", and "Pale"-the latter were soft and perfectly use- less, by this discovery they were all equally burned and all equally useful.
The discovery of James Wood revolutionized brick making. In a moment the custom of three and thirty centuries was changed. In a mo- ment the vast growth of American cities was rendered possible because a quick, cheap and almost inexhaustible building material had been found. In a moment the brick yards, scattered along the Hudson, which had been dragging along with a slow and not over lucrative business, were turned into scenes of busy industry. In a moment the vast wealth of Haverstraw, her position as one of the three leading villages in the County, her present life itself, were rendered practicable.
173
And what have brick-makers done to reward James Wood? Ethic- ally, they stole the benefit of his discovery, fought him year by year in the courts, and permitted him to die in comparative poverty, while they were amassing fortunes from the use of his experiments. It is vain to plead that the use of coal dust in brick clay had existed in England. It was not known here. It is vain to plead that his patent was defective, because he did not give the proper proportion of coal dust which should be mixed with different clays in different localities. He did give the proper proportion for the clay of Haverstraw and vicinity, and it is of Haverstraw and vicinity I am speaking. It is begging the question to point to the fact that he did not succeed in business when others did by following his discovery. Hundreds of men, who have benefitted the world, have been unsuccessful in business. . The fact remains, that on the brick-makers of this County rests a great crime, which may be boldly faced, but which can neither be argued away nor hidden.
In still another particular did Wood improve the means of making brick. He invented a machine, consisting of a wooden axle with spokes projecting from it, which, revolving in a central shaft, mixed the clay, coal dust, and sand more rapidly than before was possible. The time saved by these different discoveries was from seven to ten days on a kiln.
The next yard after Wood's was established by the Allison family, a short distance north of the foot of the present Main street, in Haverstraw, and in a brief time several yards were opened at Grassy Point, and below Caldwell's Landing. By 1834, these yards were dragging along in a pre- carious condition. In November of that year, David Munn, came to our County, bought land at Grassy Point, took hold of the brick business with a determination to make it pay, and succeeded. In 1838, the following yards were in operation with their annual production :
Hodges' yard at Grassy Point 2,500,000.
Mackey's yard at Haverstraw
2,500,000.
Wm. Holme's yard at Grassy Point 2,000,000.
Lent's yard, below Caldwell's 500,000.
David Munn's yard at Grassy Point 3,500,000.
Churchill's yard below Caldwell's - - 1,000,000.
In the following years this industry advanced with rapidity, largely through the efforts and foresight of David Munn, who, taking instanta- neous advantage of every improvement, demonstrated the lucrative value of the business.
"In 1852, a fresh impetus was added (to the brick making business)
174
by the invention of the Automatic Brick Machine * * of Richard A. Ver Valen. For some time previous, what was known as Hall's Improved Machine had been in use. * * * In the old machines the clay was pressed into the moulds by a lever worked by hand, and the moulds with the bricks were drawn out of the press by the man in charge. To do this with any degree of rapidity, required a combination of strength and quick- ness which few men possessed ; and although higher wages were offered as an inducement, it was soon found that the labor was so exhausting that it could not be endured for more than a few days at a time. Another great disadvantage was the fact that to render it possible to press the clay in the moulds it must be in a condition so soft, that when placed on the dry- ing ground, the bricks failed to retain their shape, if exposed to any press- ure. After long thought (Mr. Ver Valen) invented the machine now in use, which not only tempers the clay, but presses it into the moulds while sufficiently stiff to cause the bricks to retain their shape in the most perfect manner. A slight change in the motion shoves out the mould ready to be placed on the truck and carried to the drying field."
Litigation against Mr. Ver Valen and some of the brick makers who used his patent, was begun by the inventor of the Hall machine, and the matter dragged in the courts for some time, but was finally settled in Mr. Ver Valen's favor. This invention has not only increased the number of bricks manufactured, but it also gave to Haverstraw a new branch of busi- ness, of which we shall read under the history of the town.
In 1853, a brick maker's strike occurred on account of a reduction of wages. Hundreds of strikers marched from yard to yard, breathing threats of violence. At length the feeling of insecurity became so great that Sheriff Henry L. Sherwood, applied for troops, and Company R of the 17th Regiment-Rockland County Rangers, under the command of Major Isaac Pye, was ordered on duty.
In May 1877, another strike occurred. Again dissatisfaction arose among the laborers because of a reduction of wages, and they stopped work. The yard owners thereupon sent to Canada and obtained the ser- vices of a large number of French Canadians. As soon as the new labor- ers began work the strikers began to act violently, and Sheriff William Hutton called upon the Governor for aid. In response two companies of the 16th Battalion, N. Y. S. N. G., one from Nyack and one from Sing Sing, were sent to the scene of trouble, and in a week, quiet was restored.
175
Among the names of those who have been engaged in the brick busi- ness at Haverstraw, besides the few already mentioned, are:
Thomas Doyle,
Seamans,
John Campbell,
Isaiah Milburne,
Redner & Strang,
Briggs,
Wm. Call,
Close & Van Orden,
Rutherford & Marks,
O. C. Gerow,
Daniel Weed,
S. D. Gardner,
Cosgroves,
John Owen,
Geo. Oldfield,
Gardeners,
M. Nye,
W. Gordon.
James Eckerson,
The manufacturers in 1885 are :
B. J. Allison,
T. G. Peck & Co.,
James Morrissy,
Allison, Wood & Allison,
John Oldfield,
Malley & Goldrick,
Wood & Keenan,
Brockway & Smith,
Thos. Shankey & Co.,
Allison, Wood & Keenan,
Richard Crowley,
Gillies & Benjamin,
Diamond Brick Co.,
Snedeker Bros.,
Gillies & Frederick,
D. Fowler & Sons,
Sherwood & Baum,
T. McKearns,
John Derbyshire,
P. Buckley & Co.,
Archer Bros.,
Richard Murray,
John Dunn & Co.,
George Knapp,
U. F. Washburn & Co.,
Andrew Donelly,
G. G. Allison,
Carr & Smith,
McMahon & Co.,
Tomkins Bros.,
Felter Bros.,
Christie & McCabe,
Riley & Rose,
Josiah Felter,
Lynch & McCabe, James De Groot.
Riley & Clark,
In 1883 there were forty-two brick yards in operation between Long Clove and Caldwell's Point, and the production was 302,647,000, the number of employees 2,400. In 1884 there were forty-three yards in operation between Long Clove and Tomkins Cove.
As now mixed, coal dust, in the proportion of one bushel to every thousand bricks, is used for the inside of the kiln, but for those that are nearest the shell double that quantity is necessary. The quantity of sand employed depends so largely on its quality that an absolute rule cannot be made. The size of the kiln varies, but few are as small as the old figure, 450,000. Double that number, a million, and even more are now burned at once. As regards the method of transportation, the sailing vessels of old have, in a measure, been supplanted by barges. In the former's favor was the fact that they carrried their own motive power, but as an offset to this the barges will carry four and five times larger eargoes. In regard to the leasing of brick property, there is, of course, variation. but the custom seems to be for the lessee to pay from twenty-five to fifty cents, and even $1, on every thousand bricks made.
Tradition has it that in 1826, C. Wortendyke, of New Jersey, came to and cut from Rockland Lake, then called "the Pond," two boat loads of ice, which he conveyed to the city in the sloop "Contractor," commanded by Captain John White.
176
The origin of the company with which I am to deal, however, the now famous Knickerbocker, dates from 1835, when John J. Felter, John G. Perry and Edward Felter cut a sloop load of ice from the Lake and sold it at an almost clear profit. In the following year, 1836, the following men joined together and formed an association for the purpose of supplying the city of New York with ice, under the name of Barmore, Felter & Co .:
Nathaniel Barmore,
Isaac Van Houten, John J. Felter,
John De Baun,
Edward Green,
Edward Felter,
Thomas Wells,
Moses G. Leonard,
Ambrose Wells,
Benedict Wells,
Peter P. Gasque.
William Hutchison,
George Smith,
Alfred Wells,
John Smith,
William Smith,
Jacob Swartwout,
John G. Perry,
John Van Houten, George Swartwout,
Each member of the Association put $100 into the concern, forming a capital of $2,000. The articles of association for this company were drawn by Wm. F. Frazer, then District Attorney, later County Judge of the County.
With their capital the company built the dock at Slaughter's Landing and a small ice house, capable of holding two or three hundred tons of ice at the lake, and hired a cellar in Christopher street, near Greenwich ave- nue, and one in Amos street, to store the ice brought to the city. The hosts of the hotel that stood on the present site of Stewart's old store, corner of Chambers street and Broadway, and the hotel at number one Broadway, were seen and shown a specimen of the lake ice, which the canvasser, Hon. Moses G. Leonard, carried wrapped in a handkerchief.
Up to this time, 1837, the little ice used in the city was by butchers and the hotels. None was used in private houses, they being supplied with water from the wells and cisterns in the city. Ice was obtained from neighboring ponds, and was dirty and cut up. The purity of the Lake ice made it at once popular, and it was contracted for at $20 a ton. To the hotels already mentioned must be added the Astor House, which, though being built when the ice company started, was in readiness for their product the following year.
The encouragement thus given to the company led them to buy a periauger,-capable of carrying about thirty tons, and to instantly begin shipping their commodity. But so little was known of the business, so little calculation was made for the waste of melting, that even at the enor- mous price obtained there was but small profit and the supply of ice was exhausted by July. For the following year, 1838, still greater prepara- tion was made; two small houses were built on the left hand side of the dock at Slaughter's Landing, capable of holding about 2,000 tons, which
177
were filled by running the ice down a shute from the mountain top ;- the first cake I have been told, came down with such velocity that it passed through the house and fell well out in the river beyond-ice was also stored in the cellar of the City Hotel and, as soon as the river was opened, ice was forwarded to the city by sloops and schooners,. In spite of the extra amount in storage the material was again exhausted in July.
By this time dissatisfaction, which had been growing for sometime in the company, became so marked that the future of the business appeared hope- less. The causes which led to that dissatisfaction seem to have been due largely to the ignorance of those who were interested, of the business they managed. The original capital was far from sufficient to start a new en- terprise that was destined to gigantic growth, further assessment was not listened to by the members, the fact that the capital had been invested in implements and buildings necessary for success and that until success came the stock could not be held at par, seems not to have entered into their calculations; they only felt that the share for which they had paid $100 had apparently depreciated to almost nothing; they only wished to sell their certificates at any price that could be obtained.
For sometime Alfred Barmore, who was then engaged in the boot and shoe business, in Greenwich Street, New York, had been watching the efforts made by the company to start the new venture, and he had finally determined, that if properly looked after, there was money in the ice busi- ness, accordingly, when others were so anxious to sell, there was little diffi- culty for him to purchase, and, joining with Moses G. Leonard, the two bought up the stock of the old company and organized a new one under the name of Barmore, Leonard & Co., in 1840.
The entrance of Alfred Barmore into the ice business was the begin- ning of its success. Keen, far seeing, not so carried away by his belief as to be visionary, but willing to accept risk and bold to enter upon new fields, energetic, he brought all these qualifications into the new project ; saw for it a wonderful future ; labored to make that future as great as his prescience told him it would be, and had the great satisfaction of seeing the weakling he had nurtured in its darkest hours, developed into one of the strongest forms of business in a vast metropolis.
The advent of Mr. Barmore led to a radical change in the methods used in obtaining and disposing of the ice, and was the signal for opposi- tion for over thirty years. It seems wise, then, to briefly review the pro- cess which had so far held in the business. From the first cargo of ice cut, till 1841, the sawing and cutting was done entirely by hand, part of the time with tools which were the invention of a Mr. Wright, and for
178
which the users had to pay a royalty. The first workers in the material, under the impression that ice could not be preserved above ground, dug great pits, thirty feet deep and ten feet in diameter, into it, and stored the commodity, packed with straw, in these. When, under the management of the company of Barmore, Felter & Co., houses were built for storage, the ice was hoisted to the doors by means of a pair of ice tongs, a block and fall and horse power. Under this improved method one animal could house about 100 tons a day. The first carts used were mounted on wheels, made by sawing slices from the trunks of trees of requisite thick- ness, on the axles of this primitive vehicle, a roughly made box was placed and loaded and the cart driven down to the landing, there to be placed on board the steamboat Rockland, which ran from Haverstraw to New York every other day. On arriving at the city the ice was trans- ferred to a cart which was driven to the place to be supplied.
The organization of the company of Barmore, Felter & Co., led, as we have seen, to the purchase of their own vessel and the hiring of cellars for storage in New York. But the carts still used bore no resemblance to the ice-wagon of to-day, and two or three were all that were required to meet the demands upon them. Somewhat of a small beginning this for a business that now requires sixty barges, with a capacity of 40,000 tons, and finds use for 1,000 horses and 500 wagons.
The first proceeding of Barmore, Leonard & Co., was to send to Bos- ton for the purpose of inspecting the business there, and to obtain an insight into the improved methods and implements used for harvesting the ice. The person intrusted with this mission returned and started an op- position company, bringing to it the benefits of his observation. As if by magic competition grew. Cheeseman & Andros built a large house in 1841, at "Stony Point " on the east side of the lake, which was later bought by Ascough & Co., and finally destroyed by lightning about 1845. John D. Ascough, J. Kershaw, and Hutchison began cutting ice in 1841, and were followed by John Wright, who erected a small house, and later by C. R. Wortendyke. Besides beginning at the lake Wortendyke built at Hop-O-Nose, on the Catskill, and Cheeseman built at Flatbush, the first ice house on the Hudson, which later became the property of the Ulster County Ice Co.
A bitter contest for the control of the ice at Rockland Lake was now begun, for the understanding of which, a brief glance at its topography in 1840, must be taken. Then as now the road wound along close to the lake shore on the south and followed the same roadbed on the east, but then the road on the north lay so much further south that there was prac-
179
tically no property between it and the water. Opposite the road on the north side of the lake was the property of Thomas Wells. But one, the clove road exists or ever can exist from the lake to the river and that has been practically unchanged.
It was generally believed that the owners of property around the lake alone had the right to cut the ice from in front of it, and in pursuance of this belief, Barmore, Leonard & Co., bought or leased all the property ad- joining the water on the east and north sides. Where the highway touched the water, the ice was regarded as public property. The south side of the lake is too far removed from the clove to make cutting there profit- able, and leaving that to its own inaccessibility, Barmore, Leonard & Co., prepared to forestall all others by cutting at the point on the north where the road ran down to the water. But here they had calculated without taking Mr. Wells into consideration. Whether annoyed because he had sold his stock at a low price and now saw his error of judgment, or im- bued with a conscientous belief that he was right in the matter; Mr. Wells, after cutting such ice as he needed for his own use, built a fence between the lake and the highway and demanded a royalty on every ton of ice collected. The first result was a physical struggle between the em- ployees of the company and those of Wells in which the latter were worst- ed, and the matter was then carried into litigation. Shortly after, an ap- peal to the Commissioners of Highways led to the changing of the roadbed to its present position ; the land between it and the water became the property of one of the firm, and Barmore, Leonard & Co. obtained virtual control of the ice business at the lake as they already controlled the land- ing on the Hudson.
Accepting the inevitable, the other companies eventually moved to Rondout Creek, where they combined and began the business under the name of the Ulster County Ice Co.
The introduction of Croton water to New York, on July 4th, 1842, gave a tremendous impetus to the ice business. With keen business fore- sight Alfred Barmore, hastened to test the temperature of the water which came from the pipes and the result of the test led to the exclama- tion, famous among the Knickerbocker people: "We must have more boats, more houses and more ice ; for the demand is going to be greater than ever before." Up to this time, the company had sold about 30 tons of ice a day. During 1841, Barmore visited Baltimore, and started a branch of the business in that city.
In 1845, the legal contest with Thomas Wells was compromised with- out reaching a legal decision and the last barrier to the control of Rock-
180
land Lake removed. The following year, the company built two houses on the east side of the lake and bought a small steam engine, which had been used in a cotton press, to house the ice. In 1847, still further ad- vances were made. A house was built in Cranberry Swamp, capable of holding 16,000 tons ; ground hired at the Red Fort, foot of Hubert street, in New York, and a house for storage purposes erected on it ; and, the un- certainty of sailing vessels having rendered them objectionable, two barges were built for the company at New Brunswick.
In the year 1853, E. E. Conklin, bought out Nathaniel Barmore's interest in the company and the firm became A. Barmore & Co. At this time all the ice business along the Hudson, was in the hands of three companies : John D. Ascough & Co., A. Barmore & Co., and the Ulster County Icc Co. It was determined to consolidate these companies under one management. Accordingly in the Legislative Session of 1854-55 Richard Compton, Moses G. Leonard and Ferdinand Nichols, visited Albany, to. obtain an act of incorporation. Consultation with Ogden Hoffman, Attorney General, revealed the fact that unless the general law of corporation for mining, etc. was amended, their mission would be fruit- less. An amendment was at once introduced, and after bitter opposition finally carried through. In pursuance with that act, the Knickerbocker Ice Company was incorporated in 1855, with a capital of $900,000, all paid up and clear of debt.
Richard P. Compton, President. Jefferson Wilcox, Secretary.
DIRECTORS.
Anthony Compton. Alfred Barmore. Moses G. Leonard.
Joseph Britton. C. R. Wortendyke. Horace Demett.
Leonard F. Fitch.
In the year 1858 the gravity railroad was built from the lake to the landing. The names of Quaspeck Pond and Slaughter's Landing had been changed to Rockland Lake in 1835. Difficulty having arisen be- tween some of the members, E. E. Conklin, left the Knickerbocker Com- pany in 1855, and, joining with Charles Scholey and J. Schineller under the name of E. E. Conklin & Co., built the first ice houses at Staatsburgh and Evesport. In 1856, J. L. Cheeseman, built a large ice house at Athens, and three barges, and incorporated the New York & Brooklyn Ice Com- pany, with a capital of $500,000. In 1866, E. E. Conklin & Co. and the New York and Brooklyn Ice Company, united and bought out Nelson
181
Fuller, who had recently built a house at Marlborough. These transac- tions increased the capital of the New York and Brooklyn Company to $750,000. In 1868 the Knickerbocker and New York Companies joined their capital and property, $900,000 and $750,000, and added $1,350,000 in cash, making an aggregate capital of $2,000,000.
After the sailing vessels had been replaced by barges in the ice busi- ness, these latter vessels were towed to and from the city by boats belong- ing to the Cornell Towing Linc.
For various reasons this arrangement became unsatisfactory, and the Knickerbocker Company finally determined, in 1867, to do its own tow- ing. Accordingly, two heavy tugs were purchased and placed at work. As may be imagined, Cornell did not accept this act kindly, and to oppose the Knickerbocker Company he bought up the ice interests of R. Parker, Bonesteel & Van Etten, Manhattan Ice Company, and Stone & Bleecker, which had been started about the time the Knickerbocker Company was incorporated, and with them formed the Washington Ice Company. In retaliation the Knickerbocker Company extended its towing business so as to compete with Cornell's line.
For a short time violent opposition continued. Then the Knicker- bocker Company discovered that it possessed in its charter no power to run tow-boats; Cornell found that he was managing the ice business at a loss, and the two rivals entered into an amicable agreement, in 1869, by which the Hudson River Towing Company was formed, and Moses G. Leonard took charge of the Washington Ice Company. Under his man- agement its debts were paid, a dividend declared, and a house, with storage capacity of 80,000 tons, built. In 1873 the Knickerbocker bought the Washington Ice Company for $1, 100,000.
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.