USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Smithfield > History of the town of Smithfield [R.I.] from its organization, in 1730-1, to its division, in 1871 > Part 9
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The " Mott Dam," now a thing of the past, it having been flowed out by and for the benefit of the Manville Company, was the subject of an eleven years' law suit between Joseph Wilkinson, and Jenkins and Man. It was situated about one mile below the Hamlet village, and was nearly five feet high. John Whipple and Richard W. Greene were of counsel in the case, Whipple being for the complainant, Wilkinson, who owned the adjoining land, and Greene for Jenkins and Man. Afterwards Thomas A. Jenckes came into the case
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with Judge Greene and Thomas Steere as counsel for Wil- kinson, and after the usual fortunes of a case, where both parties were pertinacious and all the counsel able, with judg- ment for the plaintiff in the Common Pleas, a reversal by the Supreme Court, a new trial and much expense and trouble, the case was finally settled by junior counsel on both sides, one at least of them never having been forgiven by his client for doing him that good service. Samuel F. Man died in 1847, Joseph Wilkinson in 1851; they were neighbors for years, and although opposing litigants, were quite capable each of appreciating the abilities of the other. The Black- stone flows without a ripple over "Mott Dam," and the in- tellectual vigor and varied information of Samuel F. Man, and the keen perceptions and cool understanding of Joseph Wilkinson, are only occasionally brought to mind in that lo- cality where once they swayed an influence respected and acknowledged.
Thomas Mann was one of the first settlers of Smithfield, was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, under the old system, and Town Clerk of the town of Smithfield, for many years. He was first chosen clerk in June, 1817. He was succeeded in June, 1840, by the late Gen. George L. Barnes. Stafford Mann, son of the Judge, was Town Clerk from 1850 to 1855, and was then succeeded by the present Clerk, Sam- uel Clark.
Stephen Clark, father of Samuel, and son of Samuel, oc- cupied, as did his father, the estate now owned and occupied by the present Town Clerk of Smithfield. The great-grand- father of the present owner of this fine estate, was concern- ed in Shay's rebellion, and the grandfather, as a boy, came first to Glocester, and afterwards to Smithfield, where he was President of the Town Council in 1798. Stephen Clark was a member of the General Assembly in 1839, and a prominent man in his town.
George and Daniel Hill were land owners near Manville,
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and Jesse Brown, a proprietor in Cumberland. David Wil- kinson owned a farm about a mile from Manville, and was one of the " solid men " of the town. The enterprise evi- dently did not meet the anticipations of the projectors, al- though the losses, if any, were not such as to embarrass men of their means.
The first mill was built at Manville in 1812. It is four stories in height, counting the attic, 100x32, shingled on the sides, and is being renewed and promises to last for years to come. The present mill was built in 1826, of brick, and was originally 139x42, five stories high. In 1859, thirty-two feet were added to its length, and in 1862, forty-five feet more, making it now 216x42, with an ell, added in 1859, 80x44. At the same time turbine wheels were put in, so that there are now six stories filled with machinery. The entire machinery has been changed since 1847, and under the superintendence of Mr. Russell Handy, who has been, with a short intermission, thirty years about the mill, every- thing presents a neat and improving aspect. By purchases of real estate, and improved machinery, with other outlays, the value of the Manville property has been doubled since 1866. The new dam, built year before last, is one of the best, if not the very finest on the river. It is constructed of large hewn granite ; is 246 feet long ; 13 feet in width at the bottom, 8 feet on top, with cap; 18 feet in height on the average, and rests upon solid rock its entire length. In some places it is 24 feet in height, and composed of stones 10 to 14 feet in length, and 2 feet square. It was com- menced August 15th, 1868, and finished in three months and one day. It cost, say $32,000. The foundation for a new
mill, 350x76, with an ell 76x36, is finished. It is of the most solid description. It is built of hewn granite, the stones being from 6 to 8 feet in length and 18 inch face by 12 inches in depth. It cost some $62,000. The work re- cently done on the trenches, bulkheads, &c., has cost $20,-
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000 more. The fall of water is 19 feet, and the volume sufficient to drive both mills, or rather the three mills, as the old wooden structure before mentioned is to have new ma- chinery. Three hundred hands are now employed, and the horse power, 250. The entire power is 900. The looms in use, 348 ; spindles, 20,000 ; and about four hundred tons of coal are used to heat the mill. One hundred additional looms and 4,000 spindles are to be placed in the present and old wooden mills. The mill to be erected on the new found-
ation is calculated for 45,000 spindles. The goods made here now are fine lawns for printing, these having taken the place of fine shirtings, which were equal in quality to the goods of the New York Mills. A thousand acres of land give the Manville Company "ample room and verge enough " for agricultural pursuits; and they have on their premises some of the finest building sites in the State. The village, which lies on the Smithfield side of the river, is well built on wide streets, shaded with beautiful maple and elm trees. It is perfectly kept and evinces the results of careful oversight. The Company is fitting up a large two-story store, and making preparations for slaughtering cattle, so as to provide plentifully and cheaply for the wants of their op- cratives.
For the purposes of a school house and a large hall, there is a fine two-story building, and we have rarely seen better furnished rooms than the primary and intermediate school rooms present. Leading up to this building and the church which stands beside it is a wide and pleasant avenue having noble trees on either side. Episcopal services are conducted in the church regularly, and the edifice, which will seat three hundred persons, has been cushioned, carpeted and hand- somely painted by the Company. There is a good organ, and the "dim religious light " which streams in at the win- dows is in perfect keeping with the atmosphere of the vil- lage. No where is to be found a more quiet and thorough-
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ly orderly community. The late Samuel F. Man was a strict disciplinarian, and he laid out Manville regularly, and main- tained in it, during his life, a sober and industrious popula- tion. The present proprietors act upon the assumption that wealth has its duties, as well as its power and privileges, and they are not only improving the looks and capacity of their establishment, but they have regard to the welfare of their operatives. No liquor is sold in the village, and persons em- ployed must conform to the proprieties and outward morali- ties of life- Mr. Handy and the Treasurer, John A. Taft, Esq., make it evident, by every word and act, that they feel the responsibility which, whether acknowledged or not, presses upon all who have the direction of large numbers of individuals.
The population of Manville is about 1,000; there are 100 scholars in the Sabbath school; and the district school is well attended. As a proof of the advance made in the character of their manufactures, it suffices to state, that in 1866 the numbers of the yarn spun were from 30 to 35 while now they are from 65 to 80. This place was for many years the residence of Hon. Bradbury C. Hill, late Senator from Smith- field in the General Assembly, and here he laid the founda- tion of his fortune, working sixteen hours a day, honest la- bor. When that question, which caused so wide a difference of opinion, and in many cases worked so great an alienation of feeling between the Law and Order men,-whether Dorr should or should not be liberated-came to agitate the State, Mr. Man and Mr. Hill were found on opposite sides. Mr. Man went with Charles Jackson for liberation; Mr. Hill could see neither its necessity nor justice. He had sympa- thized with the spirit and been electrified and strengthened by the eloquence of "Old Narragansett," and he could not change his convictions so readily as some other men, equally able and equally honest. He had been in the Legislature, and had received a renomination, but Samuel F. Man, in 14
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whose employ he then was, and for many years had been, told him squarely that he should be defeated, notwithstand- ing his nomination, unless he would pledge himself to vote for liberation ; this he would not do, and he was defeated. Without acceding to the judgment of Mr. Hill, it is, at this day, at least, refreshing to recall the political firmness of one, who even at the loss of office, carried out his own views of individual duty.
ALBION.
Samuel Clarke, who died in the year 1817, owned the Albion privilege, together with a large tract of land on the Smithfield side of the Blackstone river; and this property descended by will to his two sons, Samuel and Mowry Clarke. Samuel sold his interest in the same very soon to Mowry, who in 1822 deeded it to Samuel Hill, Jr., ot Smith- field, and Abraham Wilkinson, of North Providence, who were the first to improve the water power, they having pur- chased land on the Cumberland side of the river, of Jotham Carpenter. (For several years the place was called Monti- cello.) In 1822, Hill and Wilkinson having no more than commenced operations by building a dam, Wilkinson sold to Hill his interest in the fifty-three acres of land then compris- ing the estate, and the water power bounding on the Paw- tucket river, for the consideration of fifteen hundred dollars. March 22d, 1822, Samuel Hill sold to Joseph Harris, Pre- served Arnold, Daniel G. Harris and William Harris, Abra- ham and Isaac Wilkinson, nine undivided tenth parts of this estate. In March, 1823, Mr. Hill sold to the last named par- ties his remaining tenth part, leaving the entire fee in them. This company erected in 1823 the old stone mill, about 50x100, four stories high, which is still in operation, and which contained 108 looms. In 1830, the interest of Abra- ham and Isaac Wilkinson and Samuel B. Harris, who had in the meantime become part owner, was sold at Sheriff's sale
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by Mark Aldrich, Deputy Sheriff, at the suit of the Lime Rock Bank, George Wilkinson, son of Abraham, being the purchaser, the privilege at this time being known as Albion. George Wilkinson, in 1833, the Harrises and Preserved Ar- nold having disposed theretofore of their interest, for the sum of ninety thousand dollars, sold to Horace Waldo, Fran- cis Waldo and George Trott, Jr., of the city of New York, two undivided thirds of the Albion estate. The Waldos and Trott sold in 1834, to William and Christopher Rhodes, Orray Taft, Thomas Truesdell and Robert Rhodes, who owned the entire estate, the title to which we have traced in a general and not detailed way.
Afterwards Orray Taft sold his interest to William A. Howard, of Providence, and Thomas Truesdell his, to Robert Rhodes. In the year 1864, William A. Howard deeded his interest to Harvey and Samuel B. Chace. Dur- ing the few years previous to 1854, Gen. Libbeus Tourtellot, now of Woonsocket, was superintendent, and made very material improvements in the place, adding not only to the value but to the beauty of the village.
In 1854, Harvey and Samuel B. Chace purchased three- eighths of this estate, and in the year 1856, the Albion Com- pany was incorporated by act of the General Assembly. Afterwards, Robert Rhodes disposed of his interest to H. and S. B. Chace, and Samuel B. Chace of his to Harvey Chace, who transferred to the Albion Company, which then first organized under the charter.
In 1832, a wooden mill was erected near where the station of the Providence and Worcester railroad now stands, 35x60, which was burned in 1837. Another wooden mill had also been built in 1830, by George Wilkinson, called the Green mill, about 40x120, which has recently been dis- mantled. As before stated, the original stone mill is still in operation, and on the north is now joined by a new picker and carding room, built of brick, two stories high, one
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hundred feet in length, while on the south is the new mill, built of brick, 120x52, with the foundations laid, and wheel in for an additional hundred feet. This new mill is six stories in height, most thoroughly constructed, and has a large and commodious tower, which will be in the centre of the building when completed as planned. The entire mill will be, in round numbers, four hundred feet in length when finished. There is also a cloth room and office, con- structed of brick, two stories high, 40x60; a blacksmith and machine shop two stories in height, brick, and in the upper story of which weaving is performed; a saw mill 80x25 ; a two story stone store house ; and one half of the Green mill, 55x40, to be used as a store house, the other half having been transformed into an imposing tenement house. A new modern dam was erected in 1854.
As is the case with many, if not most of our manufactur- ing villages, Albion presents to the traveller by rail its least attractive aspect. Ineeed the village is hardly to be seen from the cars. In reality the eighty tenements are mostly situated on a high bluff overlooking the river, and are very pleasantly and even picturesquely placed. Nor is this all. Standing on the platform in front of the station, and looking north, there is as pretty a landscape as is to be found on the river. At the right, looking across the dam, is a bit of scenery which is unique and perfect. The river is placid ; the water splashes over the dam with a joyous beauty ; the rugged rocks rise rough and abruptly on the thither shore; the graceful birches are reflected in the water below, and the light and cheerful green of the springing foliage con- trasts charmingly with the dark gray of the granite; while taking in a wider sweep, the river winds gracefully between the hills on either side, which, by their curvature, seem to mingle not far off in one mass of bright and living verdure. In the early spring-time, and when the autumn rains begin, Muzzy brook, which once turned the wheel of Oziel Wilkin-
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son's forge, leaps in a succession of cascades from the meadow above to the river below ; and, like one of Ruggles's gems, is, in its own way, wholly unapproachable. It is infinitely more lovely than the celebrated falls of Inversnaid, on Loch Lomond, about which so many pretty and poetical things have been said and sung.
In 1856, the Manville Company and the Albion Company gave the land, and built a road between Manville and Albion, along the river side. In 1868, as a continuation thereof, Messrs. Harvey and Samuel B. Chace constructed a bridge across the Blackstone at Albion, and a road of a mile in length to the Cumberland Hill road, to Providence. The entire length of the road is some three miles, which together with the bridge cost, aside from the land, not less than ten thousand dollars, and which the towns of Smithfield and Cumberland accepted as a public highway, paying in all to the. builders, three thousand dollars.
The fall of water at Albion is fourteen feet ; the power in use-water-three hundred and eighty horse power; the power available is something like eight hundred horse power. There are four hundred looms, and from 18 to 20,- 000 spindles in operation, there being power provided for twenty-five thousand spindles. Two hundred and eighty- five hands are employed; four hundred tons of coal used per annum ; and four million yards of print cloth produced an- nually.
David Alexander is the efficient superintendent of this concern.
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LONSDALE.
This place, owned by the Lonsdale Company, situated seven miles from Providence, on the Blackstone river, was commenced as a manufacturing village in 1829, and the first mill was started in 1832, the second mill in the same year.
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The bleaching department was put in operation in 1844. About ninety thousand yards of cloth are put in process of bleaching per day. These three mills contain 860 looms, 41,000 spindles, and the fall of water is 22 feet. The horse power is: water, 550; engine in bleachery, 180; engine supplementary to water power in summer, 250. Three thousand tons of coal are consumed annually at the bleach- ery ; two thousand at the mills; one thousand at the gas works. The number of hands employed is 850, and 3,200 bales of cotton, averaging 275 pounds each, are used each year. The product is five and one half million yards of fine sheetings and other goods. The girls in the finishing rooms of the fine goods, such as silesias, earn from seven to twelve dollars per week.
The population of the village is about sixteen hundred. A fine brick school house, large enough for the several de- partments of the public school, has been erected by the company, and the rent is given to the district. A new brick building, 62x111, is building for library and other pur- poses. The superintendent, Edward Kilburn, has had supervision over the establishments since 1847. Of the new mill and new village, as they are in Cumberland, we make no special mention.
VALLEY FALLS.
In April, of the year 1812, Joseph Jenks, of Smithfield, for the sum of $2,500, sold to Abraham, Isaac and David Wilkinson, sixteen acres of land, including the water privi- lege at Valley Falls, and gave a right of way through his land to Central Falls. In November of the same year, David Wilkinson sold his interest to Abraham and Isaac. The latter constructed the turnpike from Pawtucket to Lons- dale, at the old oak which stands in the centre of the road leading west to the village of Lonsdale. Isaac Wilkinson was an excellent mechanic, and at the age of seventeen had
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charge of the Cupola, now Franklin Foundry, in Providence. During the war of 1812, he cast cannon sixty days in suc- cession, two heats per day. Abraham and Isaac Wilkinson built, about the year 1820, a stone mill, which has recently been demolished. In 1830, Henry Marchant purchased one- fourth part of the privilege. William Harris owned one- twelfth, and Crawford Allen the remainder. William Harris built, about 1820, a mill which was burned in 1830. In 1833, Crawford Allen erected the stone mill on the Cumber- land side of the river. This mill, as originally built, was 44x112, and four stories in height. To it was added, by the Valley Falls Company, in 1868, an addition, of brick, two stories, 40x90 ; one, also of brick, 40x90, three stories, and a picker house, of stone, two stories, 54x40.
On the Smithfield side a wooden mill, 125x44, four stories, was erected in 1844, and a brick mill, four stories, 156x44, in 1849. These mills are now run by turbine wheels, four doing the work of eleven breast wheels. The first self-act- ing mules, operated on the Blackstone river, were started at Valley Falls. When the Messrs. Chace applied to Brown & Pitcher, Pawtucket, to build them, Mr. Pitcher refused to have anything to do about it; afterwards, Mr. James Brown built them. In 1868, this privilege became the property of Samuel B. Chace, and thereafter of the Valley Falls Com- pany, of which Mr. Chace is the principal member. Since that year, improvements have been made on a large scale about the mills, and to a considerable extent in the village, mainly owned by the company, and containing a population of something like two thousand inhabitants. In the year 1852-3, the Messrs. Chace constructed a stone dam of the most substantial kind ; although not so high as that at Man- ville, it is one of the finest and perhaps the handsomest dam on the river, it being built upon a curve, of hewn stone, with abutments which are remarkable for their solidity.
Broad street is a quiet, pleasant street, upon which are
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numerous charming residences, with ample grounds, fine trees and shrubbery, and an air of neatness and elegance which speaks well for their owners. That of Mr. Samuel B. Chace is the largest and most modern, and is surrounded by flower gardens and all the insignia of refined taste. On the opposite side of the street is a vacant lot laid down in a beautiful lawn, giving what so many seem indifferent to, but which is so important, an attractive prospect from the front windows of the dwelling. Other places are rich in grass and trees and ample space and that air of re- tirement, which is so grateful to the busy or the cultivated man.
The fall is, on the Cumberland side of the river, eleven feet seven inches, and on the Smithfield side fourteen feet, the gain on the Smithfield side being made by the increased length in the trench. The horse power -- water -- is 400; 350 hands are employed; 750 looms run, and 35,000 spindles.
Valley Falls, in Smithfield, is surpassed by no village in the State in its efforts in behalf of temperance. Not only are there frequent lectures upon the subject, but the influence of the Company and its managers is persistently exercised in favor of sobriety. For many years no place has been let by the Messrs. Chace, as none is now, for the sale of intoxi- cating liquors, nor is any such sale permitted on any premises owned by the Company.
CENTRAL FALLS.
We doubt if there is anywhere a more distinctive and noteworthy manufacturing village than Central Falls; one where within the same area of territory there are so many mechanics and operatives who own the houses in which they live. No one conversant with this place can have failed to notice the great number of small but comfortable houses,
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each with a small garden plat, which distinguishes this thriving village. It bears evident marks of thrift, comfort and independence. There have been indeed, within the few years last past, some large establishments erected, and those employed in these, like the great majority of operatives in manufacturing establishments, do not own premises of their own; but there are yet a great number of well-to-do persons, neither possessed of riches, nor dependent upon boarding houses, who form a population industrious, prudent and substantial. The business is varied; large capital is employed ; the streets are well graded and curbed; and ac- tivity and public spirit prevail.
The first intimation we have of the use of the water of the Blackstone river at Central Falls was that Benjamin Jenks erected a snuff mill near the dividing line between the towns of Smithfield and North Providence, and got his power by extending a trench by the side of the river up stream, into the river, which was the usual way of utilizing the water of the Blackstone. At what time this business was abandoned is uncertain.
The next intimation we have is that Stephen Jenks (great-grandfather of the present Stephen A. and Alvin F. Jenks), bought, in 1763, of Gideon Jenks and Ezekiel Carpen- ter, three-fourths of an acre, on which was built the trip- hammer and blacksmith shop, which was afterwards known as the blacksmith shop lot, and is now owned by the mill owners of Central Falls. Whether Stephen Jenks utilized the water of the Blackstone previous to the erection of the dam by Charles Keene, in 1780, is not known. Captain James S. Brown thinks there was no use of the water pre- vious to the building of Keene's dam, in 1780.
In 1777 William Jenks, of Wrentham, Mass., sold a lot of land, comprising some ten acres, located near the old dam at Central Falls, to Benjamin Cozzens, of Providence (clothier), who had a fulling mill at Pawtucket Falls, which 15
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was carried away in the great freshet of 1807. Benjamin Cozzens was the father of Benjamin Cozzens, the lawyer, of Providence, whose daughter is the wife of Abraham Payne, Esq., of Providence. This purchase from William Jenks was evidently made for the purpose of using the water power for his business.
In 1780 Benjamin Cozzens sold to Charles Keene that portion of this estate purchased of William Jenks as now includes the Stafford Manufacturing Company's mill estate, stone house and blacksmith shop lot, Chocolate Mill lot and the dam lot, so called.
Charles Keene built the first dam across the river at Cen- tral Falls, and perhaps the first dam across the Blackstone anywhere. The dam was built for Mr. Keene by Sylvanus Brown, father of Capt. James S. Brown, of Pawtucket. Keene erected a building for the manufacture of scythes and other edge tools, and was called an edge tool manufac- turer. A part of the building was occupied by a man named Wheat, for the manufacture of chocolate, which gave the name of Chocolate Mills to the village, and it re- tained that name down to 1824.
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