USA > New York > Essex County > The military and civil history of the county of Essex, New York : and a general survey of its physical geography, its mines and minerals, and industrial pursuits, embracing an account of the northern wilderness > Part 38
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In connection with the lower dam, an immense forge is constructed, which is believed to be the most extensive upon the continent, and pronounced equally superior in its capacity ; and in the completeness of its arrangements and power. This forge embraces sixteen fires, with the appro- priate number of hammers. Its motive power is created by water conveyed in a canal nearly half a mile in length, twenty-five feet wide and ten feet high, to the summit of the embankment formed by the material excavated. This stupendous work, which as the creation of private enter- prise has few parallels, was constructed in 1834 by the Peru Iron Company. It is securely guarded by sluice ways and waste gates, and presents along its course a scene of great activity and prosperous industry. These works produce per annum from three thousand to three thousand five hundred tons of iron fabrics, and consume in their production twelve to fourteen thousand tons of ore and from one million to one million two hundred thousand bushels of charcoal. This is the principal fuel used, and doubtless influences the character and quality of the iron produced. The charcoal is made in twenty-three kilns owned by the company. Two hundred persons are usually engaged about the works, and three hundred others re- ceive employment in the varied external operations of the
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company connected with the establishment, and used mainly for its convenience there as a foundery ; an exten- sive wheelwright and blacksmith shop. The company own a wide domain of woodland territory.
Keeseville. The immense hydraulic power afforded by the Au Sable river, at Keeseville and in its immediate vi- cinity has only been partially occupied. The use of its full capacity would create one of the most extensive manufacturing localities in the state. Commencing at the Upper Falls in the village of Keeseville, and extending to Birmingham, a distance by the stream of more than two miles, four heavy dams are already constructed, creating a vast power on both sides of the river, and in addition to these, several other sites may be made available, and by ar- tificial structures nearly the whole distance is susceptible of conversion into a continuous power, where the water from one wheel might almost literally be discharged upon another.
The enormous amount of choice pines which half a cen- tury ago abounded in the region, stimulated the early erection of saw mills on this site. These forests have been long exhausted and more extensive mills now exist. Mo- dern enterprise, which has been developed with magni- ficent success upon the Saranac, has determined that it is far more easy and economical to transport logs by the agency of streams from the wilderness to the mills and towards market, than to convey the sawed lumber from the interior, may restore to Kecseville its lumber manufac- turing preeminence, with vastly enhanced importance and profit. While the inland territory penetrated by the Sara- nac has been to a large extent denuded of its forests, the timber lands at the head waters of the Au Sable, which spread over a great area, remain as I have remarked al- ready, nearly in their primeval condition. By the creation of artificial facilities, which may be constructed at a tri- fling cost in comparison with the infinitely valuable results which would be accomplished, this timber, principally spruce and hemlock, but with an important proportion of
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pines, might be rendered accessible. We have seen, that the aggregate waters of a wide mountain region, accumu- late in the channel of the Au Sable and are discharged, with rare intervals of slackened current, by a rapid and often precipitous course. These peculiarities subject this stream to frequent and severe freshets, which although perilous to the structures along its banks, singularly adapt it to the conveyance of logs by floating. No booms now exist on the Main river which would interpose obstacles to this transportation of the raw material to Keeseville, where the construction of gang saw-mills on an extended scale is now in contemplation. No mill site occurs below Birmingham upon the river, but the project exists of erect- ing large mills at the mouth of the Au Sable to be pro- pelled by steam. What influence the operation of the rail road in progress of construction, and which has already reached the Au Sable, may exert upon these views and calculations can alone be determined by the issue. It is conceded, I think, that the weight and bulk of lumber adapts it to transportation by water rather than rail road. If the theory is just, the fact will to some extent effect the division of this question. Whatever may be the course of business, as it impresses the interests of localities, we may safely calculate, that the incomputable wealth, which now slumbers in the forests upon the upper waters of the Au Sable, will at an early period reward the efforts of industry and capital, and that the volume of the Au Sable will in some form be instrumental in the realization of this desi- rable result.
The enterprise of the pioneers of Keeseville was directed to the occupation of its hydraulic powers by other manu - facturing pursuits. Forges, a woolen factory, ftouring mills, a plaster mill, foundery and various other minor es- tablishments were erected. The forges were soon suc- ceeded by more extensive and important iron works. Two rolling mills were built with works on a large scale for the production of cut nails and other fabrics. Each of these for a term of years were eminently prosperous ; but
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in the changes of circumstances, and the revolutions incident to all business pursuits, were ultimately suspended, and the large property passed into different hands. A period of severe depression in the progress and prosperity of Keese- ville ensued, but new and more valuable interests, which promise to be far more stimulating to the general success of the region, have at length arisen from the ruins of the former occupation.
A company was formed in the year 1863 with a capital of forty thousand dollars, which was subsequently increased to eighty thousand, for the manufacture of horse shoe nails by a machine invented and patented by Mr. Daniel Dodge of Keeseville. The success of the experiment has been ample, and not more in a financial aspect, than by esta- blishing the superior character of an engine, which exhibits a remarkable triumph of mechanical ingenuity and science. It transcends, it is asserted, any agency of the kind for the execution of its peculiar process, by the magnitude and uniformity of its work, and the perfect quality of the article it produces. The immense and complicated power, combined with extreme simplicity; the beauty and pre- cision of the principle, and the exactness and rapidity of its execution, impart to this machine its marked superiority. Nails formed by other mechanism often present equal exter- nal beauty of appearance, but it is assumed, that the force which produces the compression of iron by the Dodge machine communicates to the nail it forms, solidity, a tena- city and toughness that characterizes no other article of the kind. The pressure to which these nails are subject in their fabrication, so consolidates and amalgamates the metallic fibres, that splitting or roughness in the article is deemed almost impossible, while the extreme care and caution exercised in preparing the nails for market are calculated to prevent any poor or defective fabrics reaching the consumer.
A walk through the workshops, and an examination of the various processes connected with the manufacture, sorting and preparing these nails, affords a highly interest-
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ing study. Fifty of the machines are in operation at Keese- ville, and are increased as rapidly as the demands of the business require. They are all constructed at that place under the immediate supervision of the inventor, and at an expense of $500 for each machine. One person, usually a boy, attends and feeds every machine. At its side is placed a small furnace, supplied by mineral coal, in which eight or ten thin iron rods or strips are heating. A large conductor, through which the air is forced from a reservoir by mechanism, conveys it to each furnace by a small tube, which the workman controls by a valve. These rods, heated to the proper degree, are successively applied to the machine, and when they become too cool, are returned to the fur- nace and another taken from it, with a celerity that scarcely interrupts the revolutions of the machine. The nails are discharged almost uniformly perfect on an average of forty- five per minute. The article falls from the machine, im- pressed with the precise form and appearance of the black- smith's nail formed by the most expert hand. The nails collected from the machine are carried to another room, where they are singly inspected and pass through a process that determines their perfect finish. This duty employs a large number of hands, chiefly boys. When this operation is completed, the nails descend by a funnel into a lower apartment, where they are carefully inspected and assorted, and every nail in the slightest degree imperfect is rejected. Thus, each fabric is handled twice separately, to secure and ascertain its exact perfection. The assorted nails are then placed in small square boxes, holding each twenty-five pounds. The contents of each box is accurately weighed and the top placed upon it, to avoid mistakes or depreda- tions.
A very small fraction of the nails is discharged by the machine in an imperfect form, either from a deficient pointing or other cause. When a point requires adjust- ing, the nail is transferred to another shop, where it is perfected by hand. Such nails are never sent into market, but are sold at the works for home consumption.
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A blacksmith's shop is connected with the establishment, in which the fragments of the rods are welded together and again used in the machine. All the varied refuse is carefully gathered up, cleansed by a separator, and, until the introduction of a new process, returned to market. Another and adjacent room is appropriated to the sharpen- ing of tools and repairing and adjusting the machines. The company own a saw-mill near the works, at which, besides custom and other work, the lumber for construct- ing the nail boxes is cut. From the mill the boards are conveyed to a planing and cutting machine, where the materials for the boxes are prepared. These materials are conveyed to another apartment, in which the boxes are put together and arranged for use. The conveyance of the iron and nails, and the transportation of all the materials used in the works are performed by the teams and employees of the company. Thus by a wise and efficient arrangement, every department of labor in the concern is executed by the company itself. An extensive coal house is connected with the works. The fuel annually consumed amounts to about five hundred tons.
Each machine produces an average of one hundred and fifty pounds of nails per diem, and runs only during day- light. A boy examines and kegs from one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds daily. The works yield about five hundred tons of nails per annum, worth not less than $250,000. The best brands of Norway iron are exclusively used in the manufacture of these nails. No American iron has yet been produced adapted to the pur- pose. Intelligent iron manufacturers do not accept the theory, that this impediment is produced by the quality of our ores, but ascribe it rather to the peculiar processes observed in the production of the iron. The iron is im- ported from Norway in bars, rolled into rods or slits in New England, and in that shape is conveyed to the works. The company has recently reorganized a rolling mill, situated between Keeseville and Birmingham, and propose soon to prepare their own rods from the imported Norway bars.
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The boys employed in these works earn from fifty cents to a dollar and a half per diem, and receive with all the workmen of the company payment in money on every Sat- urday afternoon. It is pleasant on this occasion to observe their cheerful and contented countenances, when they ap- proach the table of the agent, and as their names are called from the pay roll receive the reward of their industry and steadiness. This scene is an infinite improvement upon the system, which formerly existed in many of the manu- facturing institutions of the country, by which the laborers were paid in orders upon a store; or when the merchant's clerk stood ledger in hand at the pay desk to claim and re- ceive his account from the wages of labor. Here the work- man is independent and uncontrolled in using the fruits of his toil.
This company is incorporated under the style of the Au Sable Horse Nail Company, of which Silas Arnold, Esquire, is the president, and Edmund Kingsland, Esquire, is the active agent and manager. Mr. Dodge, the ingenious in- ventor of this valuable machine, has favored me with the following account of the labors and trials incurred in the progress of the invention, which resulted in his signal triumph. It will be read, I think, with great interest. "My first experiments with the view of producing a machine for making horse shoe nails were made in 1848, with a model or miniature machine, on a very small scale. In 1849 I built a complete machine of working proportions. It proved but a partial success, producing nails with great rapidity, but not of sufficient uniformity to satisfy con- sumers. A series of machines were built on the principle of the first, and each was an improvement on its predeces- sor. Several of them were so far successful as to produce nails of uniform and satisfactory quality and with great rapidity ; but they were found unprofitable for use, as the expense of the repairs consumed the profits. At length in 1854, I abandoned the leading principle on which they had been constructed and adopted a new one, admitting greater simplicity of construction and greater ease in the movement of the parts. On this principle I also built a
:
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series of machines, with successive improvements, result- ing about the close of 1862, in the perfected machine now used by the Au Sable Horse Nail Company."
A large economy has been attained in the preparation of the refuse crops referred to for their reproduction into bars by the introduction early in 1869 into the works of a powerful hydraulic press.
The foundery at Keeseville formerly transacted a heavy business. It frequently executed orders from California, New Orleans, and various sections of the west. This ex- tended demand for its fabrics was created by the superior quality of the iron used in their manufacture, but especially the unusual excellence of the work. The foundery for a period, in common with the other iron establishments of the place, experienced a great depression; but at present under the energetic management of Nelson Kingland, Es- quire, is again in a prosperous condition. Its production the last year amounted to about two hundred and fifty tons of castings. The foundery and machine shop connected with it in the same period did a business of about thirty- five thousand dollars, and possess a capacity for performing work to the amount of seventy-five thousand dollars per annum.
A company has been organized at Keeseville, and re- cently commenced business for the manufacture from cotton of twine, carpet warp and wicking, and has already in operation a number of machines competent to consume twelve thousand pounds monthly of the raw material. It is starting with the designation of Kingsland, Houghton & Co., under the most favorable auspices, with means and facilities, and the purpose of largely extending its opera- tions if the measure is warranted by adequate success.
The Messrs. Boynton have also just erected several machines for the fabrication of cotton hosiery. The move- ment is experimental, but if attended with success, the business will become an important feature in the industrial pursuits of the place. Two flouring mills are located on separated sites at Keeseville, a plaster mill, planing mill,
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furniture and tin factories, and various other subordinate manufacturing establishments are also in prosperous ope- ration. At the village of Birmingham a small part of its vast water power is occupied by a paper mill, two starch factories, and a grist mill.
Works are in progress of construction by Messrs. Pollard & Pease in the vicinity of Keeseville, and near the vast kaolin deposits noticed in a former page for the separating and preparing that article for market.
BOQUET VALLEY.
New Russia Forge. In the southern extremity of Eliza- bethtown, and upon one of the highest branches of the Boquet, where it almost mingles with the head waters of the Hudson, stands the New Russia Forge. This is one of the oldest iron works of the county, it having been erected about the year 1802. It has been repeatedly rebuilt and in 1860 received a thorough reconstruction. The existing forge, owned by Messrs. E. H. & H. A. Putnam contains four fires, and a wooden hammer of about one thousand eight hundred pounds weight. It possesses both steam and water power. The ore used, is principally taken from the New Russia mine, owned by the company and situated half a mile from the works. The forge is about six miles from the Fisher hill ore bed, from which it has obtained a part of the ore worked. Charcoal, chiefly made in closed kilns, is exclusively consumed in the works. The company own in the vicinity about ten thousand acres of woodland. The products of the forge are slabs for boiler plates, and blooms adapted to the fabrication of wire and steel. These are transported by land carriage to Westport, a dis- tance of twelve miles for shipping. A grist and saw-mill are also in operation on the same site. In 1866, the forge consumed 300,000 bushels of charcoal and 2,400 tons of ore, producing six hundred and seventy-five tons of iron.1
1 For these returns I am indebted to the valuable work of Mr. Wm. G. Neilson, to which I shall frequently refer, when I am unable to procure sta- tistics of a later date.
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY.
Kingdom Forge is situated about six miles south-east from the Court House, upon Black creek, a branch of the Bo- quet. It was erected in 1825, and was formerly owned by Mr. Henry R. Noble. It has been enlarged within a few years by the present proprietors, the Essex and Lake Champlain Ore and Iron Company, from two fires, its ori- ginal capacity, to six fires. Its supply of ore is chiefly derived from the Burt mine, a distance of five miles. It consumes charcoal. This property was owned by the same interest as the Valley Forge. The company are proprietors of about eleven thousand acres of woodland. Two closed kilns are appropriated toward the supply of the Kingdom forge. These works consume 30,000 bushels of coal and produced seven hundred and fifty tons of iron in 1866.
Valley Forge was erected in 1846, and was several years conducted by Messrs. Whallon & Judd. It stands upon the Boquet, a half mile from the village of Elizabethtown, and has a land carriage eight miles and a half to West- port. The premises have passed through various transi- tions of proprietorship, and for the term the business has been suspended, but has been recently resumed. It came into the possession of the Essex and Lake Champlain Ore and Iron Company in the year 1864. The forge contains six fires and one hammer, weighing about eleven thousand pounds. The blast is driven by a horizontal engine, with a cylinder of about ten inches diameter and thirty inch thick. There are two blowing cylinders. Steam is sup- plied by two boilers, heated by escape heat from a part of the forges. Its ore is obtained chiefly from the Burt mine, a distance of about ten miles. This company are the proprietors of numerous ore beds in the district. The forge consumes charcoal burnt in six kilns and the re- mainder in pits, principally belonging to the company and from its own woodlands. The works annually consume one hundred and twenty thousand bushels of coal and yielded in 1866, ten hundred and fifty tons of iron. They produce bloom iron, which is shipped at Westport to
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various points south and west. William G. Neilson, Esq., is the resident agent and manager of this company.
Westport Forge stands upon the Boquet, four miles from Westport, was built about 1845. It has been for many years in the occupation of Messrs. W. P. & P. D. Merriam. It contains three fires, one hammer and two wheels. It formerly worked Moriah ore transported by land, from Westport. A mine has been opened on the premises of the company from which the forge is largely supplied. Charcoal is consumed, and is principally burnt in the kilns of the company. In 1866 this forge used eighty thousand bushels of charcoal, and six hundred and thirty tons of ore, producing four hundred and fifty tons of iron. Its products are carried to Westport for shipping.
The Stower Forge is situated in Lewis, upon a small branch of the Boquet, and was erected about 1837. It was owned and worked several years by General William E. Merriam, and subsequently by his son, John L. Merriam, and still later by W. H. Roberts. Mr. W. H. Stower purchased the property in the year 1864. The forge stands upon an excellent water power, and contains three fires, three water wheels and a wooden helve hammer, weighing about eighteen hundred pounds. The ore used is chiefly procured from Moriah, which in summer is shipped to Essex or Westport, and thence carried by teams a distance of about eight miles. In winter it is transported directly from the mines, a distance of about twenty miles. Ore beds have been discovered in the town of Lewis, from which a supply to a greater or less extent will be derived. The forge consumes charcoal burnt both in kilns, and several of which are open pits, and uses about eighty thousand bushels with about eight hundred tons of ore. It fabricates blooms and slabs, which are transported to Essex for shipping. Its estimated production annually is seven hundred tons.
Willsboro' Forge is located at Willsboro' falls upon the Boquet, and very near the site occupied by William Gilli- land for a saw-mill in 1765, which was supplied for the
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creation of its motive power by a wing dam. The same site was occupied by Higby & Troop for the forge erected in 1801. The property has been held by a succession of owners. For a period it suspended operations. The forge was rebuilt in 1862, and with other improvements received an iron roof. It is owned by General Belden Noble, and is in the charge of J. M. Ferris, as manager. A large body of woodland owned by the proprietors is ap- propriated for the supply of charcoal, which is usually burnt in closed kilns. The forge consumes annually about three hundred thousand bushels, and yields twelve hundred tons of iron.1 These works enjoy peculiar and far greater facilities than any other upon the waters of the Boquet, in the vast economy it effects in the transportation of ore and the shipping of its fabrics. The Boquet is navigable within a short distance of the forge, and canal boats laded with ore from Moriah can in good water approach within a fourth of a mile, and having discharged their cargoes are loaded with iron, which without being reshipped is ex- ported usually to Troy. The forge contains four fires, one iron hammer of about five tons weight, and two wheels, one each for the hammer and bellows. It manufactures blooms and slabs.
A forge of two fires situated on a branch of the Boquet in Lewis, and owned by A. H. Wilder, was built in 1844, and abandoned in 1862. Another containing four fires, standing on the Boquet at Whallonsburg, and owned by Hon. J. S. Whallon, suspended operations in 1856. A grist and saw-mill, clothier works and a plaster mill have been also erected at this place.
Boquet Works. Extensive and important works embrac- ing a rolling mill for the fabrication of bars and iron plates from blooms, were erected about 1827 on the Boquet falls, two miles and a half west of Essex village. Gould, Ross & Low, for a period after they assumed the occupation, carried on a large and prosperous business, but the works
1 Rev. A. D. Barber.
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were suspended in the year 1856. A grist mill and woolen factory are in operation on this site.
Brainard's Forges, containing two or three fires each, were erected in 1830 and stood on Black river, a few miles from the Court House. They have been long abandoned. A saw mill now alone occupies this very fine water power, which may be used several times successively, on contigu- ous wheels.1
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