USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 47
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 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96
It was not long before it came to be pretty generally known in the neighborhood that grape growing could be successfully ac-
414
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
complished at North East, and the fact that the fruit could be sold at 25 cents per pound created a considerable amount of interest and even a degree of excitement, and the intelligence of the state of affairs found its way by one means or another to considerable distances, knowledge of it reaching Mr. John W. Foll, later to become very prominently identified with the industry, while he was serving in the army during the war of the Rebellion. Nor was Mr. Griffith in- clined to make a secret of what was developing in connection with this new departure in horticulture. On the contrary, he exerted him- self to make known in his community what the prospects were and in 1865 secured a visit of the United States Secretary of Agriculture, who made an address to a gathering of quite large proportions in the wine cellar of the South Shore Wine Co. By this time the South Shore Wine Co. had developed its business to what then appeared to be great proportions. Mr. Griffith was an eminently practical man, possessed of foresight and fertile in expedient when difficulties pre- sented. His early experience proved that he was working at a dis- advantage. There was a good deal about grape culture that he did not know, and his method of making wine was a failure. For the purpose of remedying the defect in the matter of culture he at first secured the services of experienced German vine dressers. The re- sult was not satisfactory. The methods that gave good results on German vines in Germany did not have the same results here. An- other course must be pursued.
It was in 1863 that the South Shore Wine Company decided to embark in the business on a much larger scale and planted a vine- yard of forty acres. At the same time steps were taken to provide remedies for the defects above noted. In the Ohio valley, near Cin- cinnati, many immigrants from Europe had settled, largely Germans, and some French, and there they had embarked in the cultivation of the grape and the manufacture of wine. They had followed it for years, and had obtained experience. There Mr. Griffith went for the assistance he needed, and brought to North East John E. Mottier, a Frenchman, who had been connected with Mr. Longworth, of Cin- cinnati. The result was most satisfactory. The method of pruning was found to be effective in increasing both the amount and the quality of the product. The wine made was now the real article and could be depended upon.
Hitherto but one variety of grape had been regarded as the staple for cultivation, both for sale fresh and for wine. This was the Catawba. The Isabella was grown to a certain extent, but the other, being better known had the preference. In the year 1866, how- ever, Horace Greeley, of the New York Tribune, offered a premium of $1,000 for the best grape for the whole country. This proceeding was decided upon by the editor of the Tribune because of all the
415
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
varieties then known none was fitted for successful cultivation in ev- ery locality. A grape for universal cultivation was what was desired. This offer brought forward the Concord grape, and this is the variety that is now universally grown and is generally used for making wine, a really good wine being produced from this variety at a remarkably low price. In the Erie county grape district the Concord is almost exclusively grown, although the Catawba, the Isabella, the Delaware and the Niagara are also cultivated. The last named, a white grape, was originated at Lockport in Niagara county, N. Y., and is still sold to grape growers under restrictions which preserve the monopoly in it to the originators.
The success achieved by grape growers here is due largely to climatic conditions, the result of proximity to the lake. The influence of that large body of water upon the country adjacent is that it re- tards vegetation in the spring until all danger of frost is past, for it is not the steady cold and freezing that is detrimental to fruit growing, but the frosts that come after growth has started, killing the buds when in a delicate condition. The waters of the lake not only retard the early development, but later, when the season has sufficiently ad- vanced to permit the start to be made, there has been a sufficient degree of warmth developed in the water to temper the surrounding air and prevent late frosts. The radiation, first of the chilly influence of the icy waters to delay or postpone the start of vegetation, and later of the warmth, permits a gradual and steady development that is in the highest degree beneficial. Frosts in the early summer are practically unknown on the lake shore, while in the interior of the county and in the southern tier of townships, and notably in the French creek valley, frosts in the latter part of May and in early June are by no means unknown. Another advantage possessed by the lake coastal plain is the especial adaptability of the soil to fruit culture and especially for grape growing, and in no part of the Chautauqua belt, is the soil condition quite equal, according to reliable authorities, to that of the western end, in North East and Harbor- creek townships of Erie county. The market value of the product establishes this fact.
When experience had demonstrated the fact that conditions of a favoring climate and a suitable soil were dependable in this region the business of cultivating the grape rapidly increased, although, with the development of the business other problems came up for solution. Not the least in the early days was the question of transportation, as well as of developing markets. It did not take long to establish the fact that the fruit could be sold if it could be got to the larger cities both east and west, and experience taught the growers, but prin- cipally the shippers, the method of packing most desirable-where the product of the vineyards was to be marketed. For it had come to be accepted fact that most of the fruit would be disposed of in its fresh Vol. I-27
416
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
state. The practice had been to ship it in bulky crates. It was not a good method, nor an economical one, but it was pursued up to the year 1874. That year Mr. John W. Foll, who was engaged in the shipping of grapes, addressed himself to the work of winning over the railroad interests to the plan of shipping by car loads in baskets instead of crates. Mr. Davidson was freight agent at North East, and he was first interviewed by Mr. Foll, who undertook to prove the feasibility of the method. He did it by making a practical dem- onstration. Taking a basket, with its cover, he requested the agent to stand on it and thus prove its strength. Establishing his argument with the local freight agent it was still necessary before the con- tention was won to be as successful with the general freight agent. With him too, he won out, and the result was that an order issued permitting the loading of cars with grapes in baskets, but the amount to a car was limited to five tons. That year Mr. Foll shipped the first car load of grapes to Chicago. They carried safely, reaching their destination in prime condition. This practical demonstration forever settled what had been a vexed question and gradually the cargo of the cars was increased until now twelve tons is the estab- lished load of the cars and the rate has decreased from 85 cents, the original charge, to 17 cents.
There are many now engaged in the business of shipping grapes from North East and Harborcreek, and there is practically no limit to the distance. Mr. R. S. Pierce has successfully shipped as far as Seattle, and to all intermediate points in the farthest west, and the product of North East vineyards sells regularly in the markets of all the New England cities. An effort was made to ship grapes fresli to Europe, and it was measurably successful. On the longest trips dependance has to be placed upon ice, but for shipments to New England and into Minnesota, Nebraska and that portion of the west ice is not necessary. The shipments are, taking everything into con- sideration, enormous, a single season's business for the two town- ships of Erie county having aggregated 1,200 cars.
This statement of the shipments will indicate the degree to which the viticulture in Erie county has attained. Rapidly the agri- cultural policy of the region changed. There was one brief set-back, when the price of grapes for wine-making decreased to $8 per ton. Then for a time the farmers, believing that the business had been overdone, many of them pulled up their vines and began along other lines. But it was only a transient matter. In the course of a few years prices again advanced, until the selling price ranges from $30 to $40 per ton and the increase in acreage has steadily grown until in the year 1908 there were in North East 7,000 acres in vines and in Harborcreek 1,700 acres. Instances are cited where $360 was realized from less than an acre of ground, and the annual product of the grape region of the county amounts to 3,500,000
417
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
baskets. Along with this development of the industry there has come as a logical corollary, the increase in land values. Land in the grape producing belt, with bearing vineyards sells at $500 per acre and vacant grape land readily brings $200 per acre.
Of course the cultivation of the grape has its drawbacks. There are problems to be solved, and the exact science of cultivation to be acquired. Not all of the growers of grapes are equally successful, but careful attention to business and intelligent application wins out in this as in any other pursuit. There are diseases to be treated and insect pests to be fought, just as there are in other branches of horticulture or agriculture. But all of these are coming to be under- stood, and by employing sprayers and other devices which experience and study have developed, success is attained.
And along with grape-growing move kindred industries. That of making baskets is one of them, and it is no small one either, when it is considered that a season's crop calls for three and a half million of them in the northeastern corner of Erie county alone. The factory of C. H. Mottier & Son at North East turns out a million baskets every year, and there is really no season of vacation with this in- dustry. The season of gathering the crop is a time when thousands find employment in the vineyards in the neighborhood of North East. Grape pickers flock in from practically every part of the county. They are largely girls and women, and while it is a pleasant occupa- tion, it is also strenuous, for it must be accomplished within a limited time. Then there is the packing, the hauling to the railroad, the loading of the cars and the details of the business. Nor is the bank- ing feature of the business an insignificant matter. This is itself of great importance to the borough of North East.
The growing of grapes has effected a wonderful transformation in the appearance of the country, and a trip through that region is a delight. Nothing in connection with farming has a neater or more attractive aspect than the widely extended fields laid out in their ab- solutely straight rows of vines. These trained upon a frame of wires stretched upon posts or stakes, always carefully trimmed, possess an air or orderliness that nothing else in a cultivated field can com- pare with, and they seem the tangible evidence of smiling prosperity. For, besides the thrift evident in the growing crop, the handsome residences with their surroundings of fine lawns and other signs of luxurious comfort give additional proof of prosperity. The develop- ment of the grape-growing industry has not yet reached its climax in Erie county. It is still growing, each year witnessing an extension of the acreage. Mile after mile of vineyards is to be seen from the windows of passing trains or of the more modern inter-urban trolley cars, and every year witnesses a gradual extension until from west of Harborcreek station to the State line but little else than stretches of vineyard are to be seen.
418
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
The latest development in connection with the grape-growing in- dustry was the organization, in 1908, of The Grape Products Co., of North East, chartered for the manufacture or preparation, principally of grape juice. The company was organized in Erie, and immediately a piece of ground was secured on the south side of the Lake Shore Railroad, opposite North East station, and work was begun on the erection of a large building to meet the requirements of the business. The building of reinforced concrete, fireproof construction, is 500 feet long by 116 feet wide, three stories in height with a basement, and it will have a capacity of 2,500,000 gallons per year. It has been es- timated that, to meet the demands of this industry alone there will be required a product almost equal to that of the entire acreage of the section at the present time in vineyards. If the prospects of the new company shall be made good in actual business-and there is every reason to believe it will-in the course of a few years the grape- growing industry that has been steadily growing, with no such ad- ditional stimulus, will be far more than doubled. The plant of The Grape Products Co. of North East was sufficiently advanced toward completion to permit operations being begun in the fall of 1909.
CHAPTER XXXVII .- POLITICAL RECORD.
FAMOUS GATHERINGS .- THE WHIG CONVENTION OF 1840 .- WAR-TIME POLITICS .- THE GREAT SCOTT CAMPAIGN OF 1884.
It is considerably more than a century since they began voting in Erie county, and for a long time they voted the Democratic ticket. The voting here was begun, as a matter of fact, before Erie county had an existence as a shire. People began to settle in Erie in 1795, but it was 1:98 before there was an election here. Then the voting was done as citizens of Allegheny county, and so far as the record goes all the voting was done at Erie. Next year, however, it was different. It was as though this county, prophetic it may well be surmised, with the small fire kindled was quickly swept by the political blaze-that the game was soon learned, for in the year 1799 there were six voting places appointed for the township of Erie, county of Allegheny : one in the town of Erie, one at the house of Timothy Tuttle in North East, one at the house of John McGonigle at or near Edinboro, one at the house of Thomas Hamilton at Lexington in Conneaut town- ship, one at the house of Daniel Henderson in Waterford and one at the house of William Miles in Concord township.
The people early took naturally to politics, and in the beginning it was a game that everybody seemed to be ready to play at, and often, the more the merrier. So far as the records or relics serve to show, however, there were some of the adjuncts of these later days that did not exist even in embryo in those good old times. The poll worker, for example, and the political boss, had no equivalent then, and the primary meeting was only evolved after a greatly extended period of political effort. The candidate was there, however, life size and active ; there was no lack of him. Neither was there any social condition or financial or business standing that would disqualify a citizen from being a candidate. Even the prospective office was not an obstacle. There was Thomas H. Sill, for example, who was at one time elected county auditor and not long afterwards was a successful candidate for Congress. Rufus S. Reed was once elected coroner. There was an election in 1825, in which there were six candidates for sheriff : Henry Colt, of Waterford, Thomas Forster, of Erie, Albert Thayer, of Millcreek, Thomas Laird, of Erie, A. W. Brewster, of Erie, and
420
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
David McCreary, of Millcreek, but only one of them was elected, Mr. Thayer. It illustrates how zealous they were then to serve the people-quite as much so as they are now, and in this regard we are not so very different from our forbears.
There were a few breaks, at odd times, in the political pro- gramme; by which it is meant that now and then the Democrats gave place to the opposition. That party, however, held on very well up to 1829, when a cloud passed over and cast a shadow that has en- dured to this time, barring a ray of sunshine now and then, but at irregular intervals. The cloud at the beginning was known as the Anti-Masonic movement. It is difficult for people of the present time to understand why so much of a political pother should be made about a fraternal order, or how it was believed the country at large would be benefited by enactments against Masonic lodges, but the agitation had one effect. It gave life in time to a more vigorous opponent to the first old party than it ever before had. It was in 1829 that the Anti-Masonic party came to the front in Erie county, and in 1830 the ticket of that party was elected. In that year John Banks, of Mercer, was elected to Congress from this district on the Anti-Masonic ticket by a majority of 1,135. From that time on until 1839 Erie county was reliably Anti-Masonic.
In 1840 there came the change that brought in the great whig party and the circumstance of this was notable. It was the "Log Cabin Campaign." From the day of Perry's victory, the tenth of September was regularly observed at Erie, by parades and festivities and glorifications of the old fashioned sort. But more than in any other way it came to be observed by the politicians. By an un- written law it became the date for holding the Whig conventions. Once upon a time Pennsylvania was an October state and was even more before the eyes of the nation in a political sense than now. It came to be believed that "As goes Pennsylvania so goes the Union," this in reference to the election in October. And yet the conventions as a rule were held as late as the tenth of September. Some of these conventions, are well worth mentioning. and especially one held in Erie in 1840 which is yet without its equal. In fact it was not one conven- tion, but a dual gathering, for both Democrats and Whigs met at Erie on the same day.
It may be stated right here that there was something appropriate in holding the great Wliig convention of 1840 at Erie on the anniversary of Perry's victory, for the reason that the Whig candidate for president was the General Harrison, to whom Perry had sent that characteristic dis- patch. But about the convention and the situation in politics at the time.
The Democratic party had been in power almost uninterruptedly since 1801. But their theories had not brought prosperity to the peo- ple. There was therefore a widespread uprising to depose the Democrats.
421
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
The Anti-Masonic party in the north and a large part of the state rights party in the south joined the Whigs. As early as December, 1839, a convention had nominated Harrison and Tyler. Mass meetings became the order of the day, especially in Pennsylvania, for in this state the pros- pects were not flattering. Erie was not behind in the interest taken and announced a monster meeting for the established date.
The great convention was freely advertised, and as the date drew near the people began to come. Many arrived days in advance of the date, but the nearer proximity of the day swelled the proportions of the arriving throng to something tremendous. Steamers came from east and west, crowded, and landed their throngs of passengers as the cannon boomed. In wagons they came, and from great distances, camping by the way and requiring days for the journey, and during the last two or three days from every direction there was an uninterrupted procession of vehicles of all sorts-wagons drawn by horses, or by ox-team-all loaded down with humanity. And they came in singing, thousands singing at the same time the political ballads of a campaign that was specially marked by this form of argument. And the songs-one verse was about as follows :
What has caused this great commotion, Motion, motion, All the country through ? It is the ball we have set in motion Motion, motion. Rolling on for Tippecanoe, Tippecanoe and Tyler too. And with them we will beat little Van Van, Van, who is a used-up man.
The Whig convention was held on the square bounded by Front and Second, and Holland and German streets. The Democratic conven- tion, held on the same day, was held in the vicinity of the Cascade. The stir of the day, however, was produced by the Whigs. Theirs was the great convention. There was a monster parade and General Dick, of Meadville, was the chief marshal. The leading feature was the military display made by the Flying Artillery of Buffalo and a company of in- fantry wearing enormous bearskin hats. Then followed thousands of marchers, carrying flags, and prominently displayed was a great portrait of Washington. The vehicles were in line by the hundred, and there was martial music and cheering and singing the campaign songs.
The city was in holiday attire, gaily decorated. with flags flying everywhere and the streets lined with spectators. Up French street the procession moved, around the park, east on Sixth street to Holland and then down to the meeting place. It was a most imposing display, and those who witnessed it declare that it could never be forgotten nor its im-
422
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
pressiveness cease to be felt. The late Gideon J. Ball, George Riblet and James Sill regarded that gathering as the most remarkable in all its details of any political demonstration ever described.
Francis Granger, a man of national reputation in those days and afterwards a member of President Harrison's cabinet, was the president of the meeting, and one of the speakers, and enthusiasm reigned at the great convention.
At the Democratic convention there was less circumstance and not so large an attendance, but it was noteworthy nevertheless, as having many men of prominence present. James Buchanan, afterwards Presi- dent of the United States, was among those who took part in that meet- ing.
There have been other Tenth of September conventions, but none so great as those named. The convention of 1844 in the Clay and Polk campaign was held in the east park and T. H. Sill presided, while Cas- sius M. Clay, a cousin of Henry Clay, was the principal speaker. In 1860 Simon Cameron was present at the Republican mass meeting of September 10, and besides Gen. Cameron, Governor Curtin and General Geary attended.
The result of the election in the Log Cabin campaign in Erie county was:
W. H. Harrison .3636
Martin Van Buren 2061
That was the first Whig election in Erie county, and at the three succeeding presidential elections the Whigs held the same position re- latively, with their opponents practically unchanged. The fourth and last of the Whig elections resulted :
Gen. Winfield Scott. Whig 4015
Franklin Pierce, Democrat .2748
John P. Hale, Free Soil 611
Erie county was as prompt to fall in line for the new Republican party, which supplanted the Whigs, as it was to abandon the Anti- Masonic idea for its successor, and in its voting it was overwhelmingly for Gen. Fremont. the "Pathfinder." In this election the Republicans voted a fusion ticket, nevertheless naming on the ticket the personal preference of the voter as between Fremont and Fillmore. Of the fusion tickets cast but 3? were for Fillmore. The vote was as follows :
Gen. J. C. Freemont ( with Fillmore) .5156
James Buchanan. 2584
Millard Fillmore (straight) 252
The Lincoln campaign was memorable. Erie county was no ex- ception from the rest of at least the northern states in having been pro- foundly stirred by the debates that had given Lincoln his fame, so that
423
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
personally he had achieved a strong following among the voters in Erie. But there were other considerations. The vote for Fremont, four years before, would tend to show how the people in this corner of the state of Pennsylvania stood on the issues that the new Republican party had introduced. While Erie county could not be called an abolition strong- hold, there was no sympathy here with slavery. Therefore the Lincoln campaign was entered with zeal, and became picturesque beyond any- thing of the kind that had preceded it. The public meetings, the speeches, the parades of the "Wide-awakes," all the features then new, but later to become regular campaign attributes, stirred the people to a degree of political excitement unprecedented, and the first Lincoln election resulted :
Abraham Lincoln, .6160
Fusion of Douglas & Breckenridge 2531
Too soon the marchers were wearing blue flannel blouses instead of oil cloth capes and carrying muskets instead of torches. The Wide- awakes had become Union soldiers, and those left behind, with no heart for the gaiety of the political campaign, still maintained an interest suf- ficient to keep alive the spirit that had put Abraham Lincoln in the White House and a million soldiers in the field. And they remembered those soldiers and that promises had been made to them when they en- listed. The soldier was promptly in politics. The first to be given office was Lieut. Egbert D. Hulbert. He had been a member of Capt. Austin's Company of the Eighty-third Regiment and lost a leg before Richmond in one of the first battles of the war. In 1862 he was elected County Treasurer without opposition. Next year, 1863, another crip- pled soldier, Capt. John C. Hilton of the One Hundred Forty-fifth, who left a leg at Gettysburg, was elected Clerk of the courts, and he also had no opposition in the election. Thenceforward for forty years, the veteran soldier had the preference in county politics.
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.