East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1862-01-28
sketch of the Late Col. Colt.


The Hartford Times, of the 10th, has
the following interesting remarks in ref
ereucs to the late Col. Colt: r.s
AS boy, Col. Colt showed his tenden-
cy to mechanical pursuits, and early left
the schoolroom for the workshop. AT
fifteen he ran away from his school, at
Amhurst, Mass, and shipped before the
mast on an East India voyage. After
his return, and subsequent experience
in the dyeing and bleaching department
of factory at Ware, Mass, he travelled
all over the United States and portion
of the British Provinces, under the as
sumed name of DIR. Coult, lecturing on
chemistry The money thus earned he
applied to the prosecution of his inven-
tion OF the repeating pistol, the germ of
which he had already devised while on
his voyage to Calcutta. The first model
of his pistol, made in wood in 1929,
while he was sailor boy, is now in ex
istence, having been carefully preserved
by him among the many curiosities in
his museum. Ii was in 1885 that he
at the age Of 21, took out his first patent
for revolving fire arms, having first Wis
tied England and France and secured
patents there.
The first factory erected for the pro-
duction of these arms was at Patterson,
n. j., in 1885. Here a company, with
three hundred thousand dollars capital,
under the name of the Patent Arms
Company, went into operation, expend-
ing the amount of its capital chiefly in
machinery and in improvements upon
the pistol. A fow thousand pistols were,
however, made, and readily purchased
for use in the Florida war, and for other
purposes. The company suspended dur
ing the hard times of 1912, and Colonel
Colt from that time till 1S47 battled
against adverse circumstances. General
Taylor then induced the Government to
order one thousand of these pistols for
the Mexican war, and this led to the re-
commencement of the works. The thou
sand were made at Whitneyville, New
Haven, and so favorably were they re-
ceived, and so fast did the orders come in,
that the Colonel found himself in 1S4S
in a position to be able to carry out his
long cherished idea of setting up works
in the place of his birth.
He was enabled in 1850 to go on with
his long-cherished scheme of building up
great factory on the Meadows below
the city, and enclosing the grounds with
dyke to protect them from the highest
freshets. This plan contemplated the
erection of the largest and best armory
in the world, and he carried it into effect.
Purchasing two hundred and fifty acres
in the Meadows, bounded north by Little
River, and east by the Connecticut, he
surrounded the whole with dyke two
miles long, and one hundred and fifty
feet wide at the base, from thirty to sixty
feet wide at the top, and from ten to
twenty-five feet il height - averaging
about eighteen feet.
This gigantic undertaking completed,
he built within the limits enclosed by the
dyke his great Armory of Portland
stone, consisting of two main buildings
connected by central building, and
having large number of other buildings
for Offices, warerooms, etc., as well as the
beginning of the "new city" which he
had already planned and commenced
laying out.
The capacity of this Armory is ample
for turning out 1000 arms per day
The machinery, much of it invented
since the erection of the factory, is more
ingenious and wonderful than the pistol
which it produces. Here has been made
much of the machinery which the Colonel
has used in his branch factory in Eng
land.
The cost Of Colts improvements on
the meadows, aside from the expensive
adornments about his private residence
and grounds, has been, we believe, nearly
s1,s00, 900.
The factory, this winter, is running
night and day, employing two sets OF
hands. There are employed in the diff.
ferent departments of Colts works about
2,10O persons, and the works are driven
now to the full extent Of their productive
capacity. Repeating rifles, as well as
pistols, are here made.