New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-06-16


Vol l. DID. Gao. Philadelphia Edward Young x Co.
The results of extensive statistical ih'esteo
tions which are collected in this volume present.
a striking view of the Development OF American
;pdnstry. from the commencement OF the colom-
cation of this country to the end of the last ceuy
The annual product of manufactures in the United
States according to the census of 1850, amounted
in>.he aggregate to more than Sl,Ol9,OOO,Ooo, ana
the capital employed in them exceeded Sooo,-
100000. 1t is the design of the author OF the
present work to trace this enormous increase OF
industrial enterprise to its humble beginnings IN
the first settlement of the colonies, and to follow
it step by step to its luxuriant expansion IN our
own times. He appears to have performed his
task. without shrinking at its magnitude and diff
ficulty and has produced highly interesting
record of facts which form an essential element
in American history.
According to DIR. Bishop, glass-makng was one
of the earliest manufacturing attempts in this coun-
try. Soon after the settlement Of jamestown in
Virginia. artisans were sent to the colony for that
purpose, and early IS ZOOS glass-house was
erected in the neighborng woods, and the business
was prosecuted with considerable success. great
facility to the manufacture found in the abund-
ance of fuel. and the demand for beads and other
trinkets of glass, which were exchanged with the
Indians for fiirs and peltry, brought market Tor
the productions within convenient distance. In
Massachusetts, the manufacture was introduced al
an early period, but the date cannot be precsel!
stated. The first attempt was at Bramtree' wnere
glass bottles were made, but the proprietor failed
some time before the Revolution and the house nav
ing burned down, was never rebuilt. In lo59, the
manufacture was commenced at Salem, and as an
encouragement to the enterprise the town granted
"to the gass-men SEVERAL acres of ground adJoymns
TO their howses" The work was at first conhned
TO bottles and other coarse descriptions OF glass.
The improvements made in the manufacture IN
Europe took place at later date. Window glass
was not in common use among the earlier colonsts.
Oiled paper, for some time, formed cheap and
convenient substitute. In few years however,
the houses of the wealthy contained beneath their
deepy.projecting roofs, two ample windows IN each
story. with white or stained rhOmbc-shapcd glass
set in leaden frames, and opening on hinges While
each of the two sharp gables received another al
fording abundant light to the interior OF the dwell
inc. One or two attempts at the manufacture were
also made in New.YOrk and Philadelphia, but no
great progress was effected before the Revolution
During the war, glass was exceedingly scarce
Lord Sheffield, writing in the year OF the peace
remarks on this manufacture: There Is no article
of glass in any part of Europe but the British
which will answer in the American market. There
are glass.works in Pennsylvania. Bad glass is
made in New-Jersey for windows, but there is not
any quantity of glass made in America as yet ex-
cept bottles. Hitherto these manufactures have
been carried on there By German wOrkmen; a con-
siderable glass manufacture of Boston failed several
verrx ago. The want of flint in America Will be
always great disadvantage in the manufacture oil
this article. There has been no earth yet discoy'
cred in America proper for making the pots used in
the manufacture of glass. What has hitherto been
used in America at least in the Northern Provinces
for that purpose, has been imported from Great
Britain"
Ship-building would naturally engage the at
tenton of the coOnists among the earliest
n branches of industry The first vessel constructed
in this country was Dutch yacht called the
Onrest built by Captain Adraen Block at Man
haitian River in the year 1911. She was little
craft Of only 16 tuns burden, Of 80 feet keel,
444 feet long, and III feet wide. Small as she
was however, she played an important part in
the exploration Of the country. Captain Hen.
drikson in her discovered the Schuylkn River in
August, 1916, and explored the whole coast from
Nova-Scota to the Capes of Virginia. The bust
ness was commenced in Plymouth within four
years after the landing of the Pilgrims, although
on quite small scale. In 1924, a carpenter
sent out by the Company quickly built two
very good and strong shalops, with great and
strong lighter; and had hewn timber for ketches
"a much larger description of vessel), but this
spoilt; for in the heat of the season." says Gov
ernor Bradford, "he falls into fever and dies,
TO our great loss and SORROW" But the first
vessel of any considerable size constructed there
was a bark built by subscription in 164l. She
was of fifty tuns burden, and cost about two
hundred pounds. This was an undertaking "at
that period of exigency and priyation surprising
the equipment Of Canton or Northwest ship
with our means at the present day." In the
Massachusetts, colony, the Blessing of the Bay
was built for Governor Winthrop in 1851. Dur
ing the Summer Of that year, soon after her
launch on July A, she made several cOasting
trips, and subsequently visited Long Island and
Manhattan. She was probably the largest vessel
that had yet foated on the waters of the,Sound.
Another vessel of sixty tuns, called the Rebecca,
was built at Medford in 1858, and another Of
I20 tuns at Marblehead in 1896.