USA > Virginia > City of Richmond > City of Richmond > Virginia, especially Richmond, in by-gone days; with a glance at the present: being reminiscences and last words of an old citizen > Part 18
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
12 Pounds Currency.
VIRGINIA JAMES RIVER BANK, No. 395. date, I, Robert C. Nicholas, Esq., Treasurer of the Colony and Dominion of and Company Bank in Virginia, Promise to pay to, or before the tenth day of December, 1775, or Bearer on de- mand, Twelve Pounds, Current Money.
Witness my Hand this first day of April, 1773. Cashier, Robert Carter Nicholas, Treas'r. Randolph. John Blair.
The date of the bill seems ominous.
317
BANKS AND INSURANCE COMPANIES.
The Virginia Legislature had such a holy horror of banks in 1803, that they refused a charter to the petitioners, as they had to previous ones, but they got over their scruples in 1804 and granted a charter to the present Bank of Virginia. About ten years afterwards they were delivered of a second; after another long interval, a third and fourth were born ; but of late years it is as difficult to check the increase as it was formerly to over- come the barrenness, and each meeting of the Legislature gives birth to a whole litter of banks. In 1858 the number was about twenty-three, with sixteen millions of capital, and the last Legislature chartered about sixteen, and authorized an increase of capital for twelve branches to existing banks. The progress of banking in the United States, if tables are correct, may be thus stated :
In 1790 there were
4 Banks with $ 1,950,000 capital.
" 1800
23
19,000,000
" 1830
394
183,000,000
" 1860
1,580
470,000,000
How much further the expansion can proceed without bursting, time will show.
INSURANCE COMPANIES.
In the former edition a chapter was devoted to an institution named by its projector " The Mutual Assurance Society, against Fire of Virginia," but the phraseology may be excused, as he was a
318
RICHMOND IN BY-GONE DAYS.
Prussian, and his secretary a Turk; both men of edu- cation and well qualified for the offices they held.
This institution has now existed about sixty-three years, and is likely to continue indefinitely if well conducted. Until of late years insurance compa- nies in Virginia, important and useful as they are, were few in number, and did not attain to great age. In that branch, as in many others, we were dependant on northern or British institutions, through their agents established in our towns.
But now insurance companies shoot up at every corner, and not only in Richmond, but in our other cities, towns and villages, and bid fair to be as numerous as banks and court-houses.
As yet the indemnity they proffer is against the risks of fire, water, storms and death-or it may be said, the four elements-as earth has its claim with the others. But we have no companies here yet, as in Europe, to insure against moral risks, such as the dishonesty of clerks and other em- ployees, nor against theft ; indemnity against both of which is certainly very desirable, and especially if the Federal and State Governments were re- quired to have all their risks insured. This diffi- culty perhaps might arise, that it would interfere with the powers of appointment, or with the patronage now existing, as no prudent or safe company would insure the honesty of officials, without first ascertaining whether they possessed
319
MANUFACTURES AND MILLS.
that qualification, and were, as Mr. Jefferson re- quired, "honest, faithful and friendly to the Consti- tution." Fidelity is now required, but in a de- based sense, to men, not to principles, and even that is not fulfilled.
Loss or injury by some other risks are indemni- fied in England. For instance, a penny will insure a passenger's limbs for a long distance on a rail- road, but whether any company in this country could take such risks and pay dividends, is yet to be tried.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
MANUFACTURES AND MILLS.
THE attempts to establish manufactories in Richmond on the joint-stock principle, have been almost invariably unsuccessful; and not in Rich- mond only, but throughout the South; and I might add the North also, with the exception of those establishments which are owned by a few stockholders who look to their interests.
When England and France were vieing with each other which could commit the greatest outrages on our commerce, by their Orders in Council and Berlin and Milan Decrees, (Napoleon dating his
320
RICHMOND IN BY-GONE DAYS.
edicts from almost any capital he chose,) and when we resorted to the terrapin policy of Embargo and Non-intercourse, to prepare for war by depriving ourselves of the means to conduct it, this among other patriotic resolutions was adopted at public meetings, that we should dress in domestic fabrics ; and as homespun "was the only wear," the price of coarse mixed Virginia cotton cloth was a dollar or more a yard for such as is now worth twelve or eighteen cents, and many of our citizens who could afford it, especially the politi- cians of the Terrapin party, were thus arrayed from head to foot.
As the primitive spinning-wheels and hand-looms could not supply the patriotic demand for their productions, a resort to machinery was proposed.
A large meeting was held at the Capitol about the year 1809, to raise by subscription a sufficient sum (no trifling one) for the establishment of an extensive cotton and woolen factory. The patri- otic fervor overflowed in frothy speeches, but when it subsided left no substantial residuum in cash.
Parson Blair made some fun of it in a satire . commencing thus :
"I've seen with pleasure in your patriot city, The appointment of a most august committee, To encourage manufactures of our own And bring Old England to her marrow bone, To spoil her commerce, since she's made us wroth, And bring her pride down with Virginia cloth."
-
321
MANUFACTURES AND MILLS.
Fortunately for the few who were disposed to subscribe for the mules and jennies, there were not backers enough to second them, and the project failed. An individual (B. J. Harris) who had twisted tobacco successfully, was the first to engage in the twisting of cotton, but unsuccessfully, and his mill was sold and converted to the more prac- ticable purpose of grinding wheat.
Some years later, joint-stock companies were formed for the manufacture of cotton, wool, iron, paper, &c., expensive buildings were erected, the works were put in operation, and while everything was new, and improved machinery was not intro- duced elsewhere, some dividends were paid-but prosperity was of short duration. The raw materials were bought with cash, or if on credit, at a high rate; the manufactured article had to be sold on credit, and generally to be shipped to the North for a market, incurring heavy charges. Dividends ceased, debts were contracted, and, to wind up the concern, the establishment was sold, at a loss to the stockholders of fifty or seventy-five per cent. It now became the property of an individual, or of a few partners. Presidents, directors, agents, &c., were dispensed with. Instead of being everybody's business, it was somebody's, and each establishment in succession passed from a corporate body to an individual one, and from decay to prosperity.
The amount of capital thus sunk by stockholders
322
RICHMOND IN BY-GONE DAYS.
in various manufacturing establishments in almost every town in Virginia, would count up to millions, but it was fortunately distributed among many parties. Their successors are rendering benefits to the community as well as to themselves, by employ- ing a large number of workmen, and giving occupa- tion indirectly to the various classes of tradesmen, farmers, landlords, &c., with whom the former deal.
The iron foundries and machine shops in Rich- mond are numerous, and some of them on a large scale. The boilers and machinery for several of the largest ships of war were constructed at the Tredegar Works, where many cannon are made for our ships and forts.
When the raw materials for manufactures which our interior can supply, and the water-power ex- tending some miles above the city, to convert them into useful fabrics, shall be practically developed, Richmond may become one of the largest manu- facturing cities in the Union .*
* Although not immediately pertaining to my subject, I will here take occasion to note, on the authority of Col. Byrd, that Col. Spotswood, on the Rappahannock, was the first person in America who built a furnace for making pig (or sow) iron. There were some bloomeries in New England and Pennsylvania, and following the Colonel's example, they introduced furnaces. There were at that time (1732) four furnaces in Virginia, near the Rappahannock above Fredericksburg, and the sow iron they made was carted fifteen to twenty-four miles to boat navigation, thence down to the port of shipment, where it was put on board
323
MANUFACTURES AND MILLS.
I have alluded to the Embargo and Non-inter- course which preceded the war of 1812 with Great Britain. The destitution of the country of many articles of the first necessity, caused by these precedents, was very severe, for they operated to prevent importations before war was declared ; whereas the utmost facility should have been given to obtain abundant stocks of articles of the first necessity to prepare for the coming contest.
Salt sold in Richmond at one period of the war at twenty-five dollars per sack, and some per- sons undertook to make it along the sea-shore, by boiling the salt water in large kettles, others in vats, by solar evaporation. Brown sugar sold at twenty-five cents or more per pound, coffee at forty or fifty cents, and almost all imported commodities in proportion.
The supplies we obtained were not so much by importation as by capture from the enemy. Our privateers were numerous, daring and frequently successful in getting their prizes into those ports which the enemy could not easily blockade.
vessels for England, at a freight of 7s. 6d. per ton (in lieu of ballast), which with the other charges on it amounted to 20s., and it was sold at 120s. per ton. At that date so few ships sailed from Philadelphia for England that makers of iron in Pennsylvania had to work it up for home use. At that time, says Byrd, "Great Britain imported from Spain, Holland, Den- mark, Sweden, and Muscovy, no less than 20,000 tons yearly.'' Great Britain now produces 3,600,000 tons.
324
RICHMOND IN BY-GONE DAYS.
The exports from Richmond, Petersburg, &c., were chiefly by way of Amelia Island, at the north- ern extremity of East Florida, then a Spanish colony and neutral. Tobacco, the principal and almost the only article, was transported partly in small vessels through the inlets and sounds of North and South Carolina and Georgia, partly by wagons, at an enormous expense and risk, and with great labor and trouble -- but all these were well compensated by the price of four or five shillings per pound for such as got safely to market, the first cost being about as many cents.
The central position of Virginia was most un- favorable for this forced trade. The New England States resorted to Eastport, in Maine, on our north-eastern boundary, where there seemed to exist a good understanding with their opposite neighbors and enemies. They each obeyed the injunction, "Love your enemies." The same ves- sel was. repeatedly captured and re-captured, and the prize money on both sides was divided between the amicable belligerents-friendly spoliations being made by previous arrangements.
The dangerous coast of North Carolina was deemed a safeguard by some enterprising men, who relied on the fleetness of their clippers and the dangers of their coast, to carry on trade with Cuba, &c.
Virginia had to depend chiefly on hard knocks,
325
MANUFACTURES AND MILLS.
and Norfolk rejoiced now and then in the arrival of some captured ship, a prize to her Saucy Jack or daring Roger. A similar recourse for supplies · and a similar employment for our vessels will not, I hope, recur.
The first grist mill in Richmond was built, I am told, near the spot where Haxall's mills now stand, or run. It was a mere wooden shanty, built on the rocks in the river, and approached by planks laid from one rock to another. The machinery was a common tub wheel, propelled by a natural rapid, and gave motion to a pair of mill stones, which served to grind corn for the inhabitants. Twenty-two pair now grind eight hundred barrels of flour per day, more or less, according to cir- cumstances ; and from the extensive additions to the buildings recently made, perhaps some ten or twenty pair more may be added to the establishment .*
As early as the year 1789, David Ross who " could see as far into a mill stone " or a mill site as any man, secured from the owner Samuel Overton, the ultimate possession of this great water power, embracing about one half of the width of the river, and about seven acres of land along its margin; and in 1793, he obtained it
* The miller says 1,500 bbls. flour have been made in one day (1860) and additional buildings are in progress.
28
326
RICHMOND IN BY-GONE DAYS.
complete and forever in consideration of an annual rent of 2,000 bushels of corn. This now constitutes the chief income of Overton's descend- ants. How much the property is worth to Ross's . successors, I will not venture to conjecture.
In the long interval between the erection of the shanty and of Haxall's mills, the site of the latter was occupied by Ross's mills, which were swept off by a freshet and re-built. They then acquired celebrity as Gallego's mills, the first of the name, and resisted the floods to fall a victim to the flames, as did the next generation of mills on the same spot.
The Gallego mills changed their locality to a site on the canal, some miles above the city, and these twice shared the fate of their predecessors. Then was erected by Peter Chevallie, a much larger establishment on the basin, which after a few years was also destroyed by fire. The enter- prising owners Warwick & Barksdale, nothing daunted, re-built them on even a more extended scale, and are now erecting another building of greater dimensions, twelve stories high, machinery in which can be propelled by the same water-power repeated. These and the Haxall are probably the two largest mills in the world.
A portion of the Armory has been converted (like the sword to a ploughshare,) into a flour mill ; but I believe the State is not a partner, and may
327
MANUFACTURES AND MILLS.
permit it on the ground that it is better to manu- facture food than fire-arms. A large flour mill * has been erected at Tredegar, a short distance above the Armory, and here grain is ground and cannons are cast in close proximity. This, how- ever, as well as two flour mills, Taliaferro's and Bragg's t on the Manchester side, are all of recent construction, and do not belong to by-gone days ; but those do which preceded them and occupied the same ground, to wit :
The Tredegar Iron Works are on the spot where Colonel Harvie erected at the close of the last century a flour mill, a brewery and a distillery. Whether any beer or whiskey was made there I know not, but the mill. was first occupied by a Mr. Arthur, and bore his name (a short time only) until he died, and the establishment fell into the hands of Mr. Radford, who very judiciously obtained Mr. Rutherfoord as a partner in the business in 1803, but tempted by speculation in Western lands, he sold his interest in the mills to Mr. Rutherfoord. They were burnt and re-built, and became the property of Mr. Cunningham. The same water power was applied a second time at a
* Now being converted into a woolen mill, with a capital of $150,000-one of the effects of the Harper's Ferry murders. 1860.
+ Now Dunlop, Moncure & Co's. and J. Brummel's.
328
RICHMOND IN BY-GONE DAYS.
lower level to propel the machinery of a cotton mill erected by Cunningham & Anderson, who made it a joint stock (and consequently a losing) concern. It was burnt as were the flour mills, and the site of mills, brewery, &c., is occupied by rolling mills, cannon and other foundries, machine shops, locomotive works, and in short for all sorts of iron operations, besides which Crenshaw's flour mill (now the Woollen mill) has risen in the midst of the forges and furnaces.
Mr. Rutherfoord converted Harris's cotton mill two miles higher up the river, into a flour mill, which suffered the fate of Sebastopol, by bombard- ment, in the process of blasting rock to widen the canal.
To a stranger, a walk along the banks of the canal is well compensated by a view of the Armory, the Tredegar Iron Works, the mills, the Water works, Belle Isle, (where there are also Iron works,) and the Rapids; and though last, not least, the Hollywood Cemetery.
The exportation (1860) of steam sugar mills, saw mills, and locomotives, railway wheels, and all work of that sort from our several factories is very extensive, and a large establishment for making pig iron from the ores on James river, is about to light its fires at Westham. But it would be te- dious, except to parties interested, to dilate on the subject. Already more has been said than will be
329
TOBACCO WAREHOUSES.
read. One line more only to say that new enter- prizes are starting up daily, which by judicious management may remove from Richmond-from Virginia-the opprobrium that she is dependant on other States or countries for everything she requires except bread and tobacco.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
TOBACCO WAREHOUSES.
WHERE Tobacco is in the mouth of almost every man and boy, either for mastication, fumigation, inhalation, or discussion, and where it constitutes one of the most important commercial staples, it seems proper to notice it, though I fear that my fair readers, if I have any, may turn up their pretty noses at it, instead of turning it up their pretty noses, against which latter turn I enter my protest, as well as against the practice of dipping, which I will not explain, lest an Eve-like, and evil curiosity might induce some now sweet lips to try the experiment, and I won't play the serpent to tempt them.
Tobacco is now an universal medium of intro- duction among those who are addicted to its use ; but in the early days of Virginia, and until the
330
RICHMOND IN BY-GONE DAYS.
last seventy or eighty years, it was a circulating medium in the place of money. Even the parson's salary and fees were rated at so many pounds of tobacco, estimated at two pence per pound.
The Tobacco Warehouses or Inspections in Rich- mond, fifty years ago were, Shockoe, a mere cluster of wooden sheds ; Byrd's, of brick, opposite to the present Exchange hotel; and Rocketts, of which a portion of the walls is now standing, their aspect from the river having the appearance of an old fortification. The two latter ceased their vocation long since, as has also one of later date, below Rocketts, called Powhatan from being built near the wigwam of that King. It is now converted into a number of dwellings, and serves to shelter other heads than hogs-heads. In later years, the Public Warehouse on the basin became an Inspec- tion and Seabrook's was established in the valley .*
In old times a furnace stood near each ware- house, and tobacco unfit for export, was treated as heretics were at an auto-da-fé, as being unfit for salvation-both were burned; and now both are suffered to pass for what they are worth.
The primitive mode of transporting tobacco to market was curious. The cask containing it was
* Dibrell's, near the Dock, is a recent establishment, and Mayo's is being erected on land of new formation, based on the granite of an island, over which the river flowed, since my re- membrance, in slight freshets, (1860.)
331
TOBACCO WAREHOUSES.
actually rolled on its own periphery, through mud and stream. A long wooden spike driven into the centre of each end, and projecting a few inches beyond it, served for an axletree, a split sapling was fitted to it for shafts, and extending in rear of the cask, where the parts were connected by a hickory withe; a few slabs were nailed to these, in front of the cask, forming a sort of foot board, or box, in which were stowed a middling or two of bacon, a bag of meal, a frying pan, a hoe, an axe, and a blanket, for the bipeds; the whole covered to some height with fodder, for the quadrupeds. If the distance to market was moderate, the hogs- head was rolled on its hoops, which were stout and numerous ; but if fifty to a hundred miles, or more were to be traversed, rough felloes were spiked on at each end or quarter of the cask, and these rude tires served to protect it from being worn through. Rough fellows also were the conductors.
The tobacco roller, as the driver (often the owner) was called, sought no roof for shelter, during his journey, sometimes of a week's duration and of severe toil; at nightfall he kindled a fire in the woods by the road side, baked a hoe cake, fried some bacon, fed his team, (I omitted to mention the bag of corn,) rolled his blanket around him, and slept by the fire, under the lee of his cask.
When he reached the warehouse, his tobacco was inspected, a note or receipt expressing the weight,
332
RICHMOND IN BY-GONE DAYS.
etc., was handed to him, and he then sallied forth into the streets in search of a purchaser; calling out as he entered a store, "Mister, do you buy tobacco ?" When he had found the right "Mister," and obtained his money, and a few articles to carry to his "old woman," he strapped the blanket on one of his horses and rode home. These men generally travelled in small parties, and if the weather and roads were good, had a merry time of it ; if bad, they assisted each other when obstacles occurred.
The journey from beyond the Roanoke, which then consumed six days, is now performed in as many hours, and for the labor of two hundred and fifty horses, and almost as many men and boys, (for a boy usually accompanied each man,) during ten days going and returning, is now substituted a train of railroad cars, with some four or five men, for half a day, and at one-fourth of the expense.
It were superfluous to draw the contrast of those days with the present. Tobacco rollers are an extinct species. Instead of them, tobacco buyers throng the warehouses. Manufactories of the weed have sprung up in every direction. The largest buildings in the city are, with few excep- tions, tobacco factories, and I may venture to say that more tobacco is manufactured in Richmond than in any other place in the world. Such vulgar
333
TOBACCO WAREHOUSES.
terms as negro-head and pig-tail are discarded, and fanciful ones substituted, such as " Honey- dew," "Christian's-comfort," "Heart's-delight," " Perfect-love," "Rose-bud," and " Cousin-Sally." Artists are employed to design and execute em- bellishments for the packages, and various sweets, spirits, spices, and essences, are used to give a good flavor or to conceal a bad one.
Italy, Spain and France furnish thousands of boxes of liquorice and of olive oil to sweeten, and to brighten the quid-but they do not accept a quid pro quo, by permitting the importation of "Christian's-comfort," or " Heart's-delight," or any other of the consolations prepared abroad, for the lovers of tobacco. About seventy-five factories are in operation, requiring 3,500 to 4,000 hands, male and female, and working up some 25,000 hhds. of tobacco annually.
NOTE .- The following advertisement, which does not include Liquorice, Rum, Olive Oil, Sugar and Syrup, will give an idea of the condiments used in preparing tobacco for mastication.
"To Tobacconists-500 lbs. large black Angustura Tonqua Beans; 200 lbs. Oil of Cinnamon, Cloves, Peppermint, &c. ; 1,000 lbs. good Gum Arabic, in bales, low priced; 25 bottles English Essential Oil Bitter Almonds; 1,000 lbs. Cloves, All- spice, Nutmegs, Cassia, &c .; Oil of Sweet Flag Root, Branding Paint, red and blue; a large assortment of copper bound Branding Brushes; Varnish ; Spirits Turpentine, and every article used about a factory, at low prices."
334
RICHMOND IN BY-GONE DAYS.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE VISIT OF LAFAYETTE.
THE greatest popular enthusiasm I ever wit- nessed was excited by the visit of Lafayette to the United States in 1824, when in his sixty- seventh year, but erect in person as in principle, and apparently with his mental and physical powers but little impaired. In 1777, at the age of nine- teen, he first came to this country to volunteer his services.
His ovation was very different from that which is conferred on a political favorite of the day, in which one party only feels an interest, and many members of that party from interested motives. Nor was it like the triumph bestowed on a military or naval hero, which the blaze of glory kindles. Lafayette was welcomed and honored by the promptings of gratitude, which feeling he had in his youth inspired in the hearts of our fathers, for his disinterested and efficient aid in obtaining our independence, and by our admiration of his subse- quent course in seeking to establish freedom in his native land, without violence or bloodshed.
The whole American nation seemed to love and
335
THE VISIT OF LAFAYETTE.
honor him. Wherever he appeared every demon- stration of these feelings was exhibited in the most conspicuous manner. In Richmond, people from all parts of the State assembled to see him, to cheer him and to touch his hand. Many a Revolu- tionary soldier left the comforts of home to wel- come one who had partaken of the same dangers and hardships, and mothers brought their children, to see and to impress on their youthful minds the memory of the man who was beloved by Wash- ington.
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.