Paper. -- We have two extensive paper mills, one on Big Redstone, and the other near the mouth of Little Beaver creek, which manufacture good paper of different kinds of the value of about 25 or 30,000 dollars worth annually. -- But they do not supply as much as the market stands in need of. -- Much of this article is yet brot' over the mountains.  There are six paper mills, we are informed, in the state of Kentucky, one of which goes part of the year by the force of steam.  We sincerely admonish our good housewives and their little daughters, to save all clean linen and cotton RAGS, for without these no paper can be made and without paper books cannot be printed.  A good price will be given for them by all the printers of this state.

Steam mill. -- A mill of this kind has been recently erectedin town, and of a construction and mechanism that does honor to human invention.  It is calculated for three pair of stones, which it is expected will make 100 barrels of flour in 24 hours.  The running gear are all cast iron, of which there is near ten tons about it.  The two cylindrical boilers which are of wrought iron, are 26 feet in lengthand 27 inches in diameter; they consume about 20 bushels of coals daily, which costs one dollar.  The mill is owned by Owen and Oliver Evans of Philadelphia, and has cost them, it is said, fourteen thousand dollars.

Salt. -- There are about 300,000 bushels of slat made annually at the Onondago salt works, in the state of new York.  The two works on Big Yellow creek, Ohio, make about 3000 bushels a year.  The salt works below Chilicothe, say 3000 bushels.  In Kentucky there are fifteenlicks, at which are made about 50,000 bushels.  King's salt works, bordering Tennessee, make say 25,000 bushels.  The saline works in the Indiana Territory, 15,000 bushels a year.  The works newly set in operation in Butler county, Pennsylvania, by Thomas Collins, Esqr. make about 2000 bushels, amounting in all to about 420,000 bushels of an internal supply.  And it is thought double this quantity coudl be made, were these works carried on to their full extent.

A report of Albert Gallatin, in January last, says the annual average of imported, and consumption of salt, is almost 3,000,000 bushels, weighing each 56 lbs. equal to 75,000 tons, & requiring in fact 125,000 ton of shipping for its importation.

Bar Iron and Castings. -- Our country is rich in furnaces and forges.  Within sixty miles of this placet here are about four thousand tons of bar iron, eighteen thousand tons of pigs andcastings, and four hundred tons of slit iron made annually.  Exclusive of what is made at these forges, about five hundred tons of rolled and bar iron come to our market annually from forges in the mountains.

Shot. -- There is an old factory of this article at the lead furnace in Louisiana territory, and we understand a factory for patent shot is about to be erected there on a very large scale.  There are two patent shot factories in Philadelphia, which make vast quantities of this article.

Powder. -- We have several powder mills in this country; but their supplies are not equal to the consumption.  Considerable quantities are brought from the manufactories over the mountains.

Saddlery. -- This business is carried on briskly; to the value of about forty thousand dollars worth of saddles, bridles, &c. are manufactured here annually; and in Kentucky, we are informed, it is still more extensive.

Cheese. -- This article is made in New Connecticut, Ohio, to a very considerable amount and exported to Kentucky and this place.  Considerable quantities of good cheese is, however, made by the industrious farmers in this neighborhood, and disposed of in our market.  Mr. Robbins, about a mile from town, it is supposed, makes in three dairies, nine thousand pounds, annually, at twelve and one half cents per pound, equal to 1125 dollars.

Boots and Shoes. -- These are made in this place to the amount of about thirty thousand pairs of boots annualy.  The most extensive manufacturer in this place is mr. James Riddle, whose annual sales are confidently above seven thousand dollars.  Women's shoes however, are not made to any considerable extent.  A considerable shoe factory is carried on at Harmony, Butler county, Pennsylvania, a handsome village settled by Germans.

Hats. -- We have a great internal supply of hats throughout the western country.  Mr. Abraham Watkins, is allwed by the best judges, to manufacture hats equal to any in the United States, or perhaps in the world.

Stockings. -- But few of these are made, except those knit in private families, and these of a courser kind of woolen stockings and socks -- they are, however increasing.

(We may perhaps, shortly give a more general view of our manufactures, and some description of the western country, for the information of our distant subscribers.)


Among the improvements which have oflate distringuished the town of Cincinnati, we with great satisfaction announcet he resulto f the enterprising exertions of messrs. Hurdus and Long, in framing and erecting machines for the manufacture of cotton -- and the union of Martin Baum, esq. to carry thesame into full and permanent operation.  These machines perform all the various operations, in taking the raw cotton from the bale, and producing the cloth fit for use.

The first is called Batting machine, the design of which is, by beating to loosen and cleanse the cotton.  This is easily worked by hand.

By the next operation the cotton passes through a Carding machine, where it is formed into slivers; which makes the texture of the thread much more regular and stronger than when done by hand.

Next it passes through a Doubling machine, where two slivers or more are united and drawn out to about five times their original length.

Then these slivers are brought into another machine where they are doubled and drawn as before and receive a gentle twist.

From thence, the materials being now called Rovings, they are carried to a machine called a Mule, where they are spun into yarn, from one a half dozen, to ten ten dozen to the pound.  The company have at present three mules; one with 168 spindles, and the other two each 204 spindles.

From thence the yarn is brought to the Reel, which receives about 30 threads at a time.

The yarn is then taken to the Looms, and woven into cloth, in such patterns as are generally made in Manchester (England) but the texture much more strong and durable.

The machines are all set in motion at one time, by one or two horses.

The whole of the above machines are made by Harman Lodge and ingenious and indefatigable mechanic, and one of the firm.

Made possible by the Rivers Institute and the
History Department of Hanover College.

 

How to cite this article:  "Prosperity of the Western Country," Western Sun (Vincennes, Indiana Territory), 28 Oct. 1809, p. 4, and 4 Nov. 1809, p. 4, available at http://history.hanover.edu/texts/1811.