Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-11-21

'e Catawbas were sold to DIR. Mathivet {
81 Cleveland, for wine making, from Nj
e Huntington's vineyard. Mr.. II. make
a Isabella wine speciality, and his win
vaults are stored with specimens of sue
y cessive vintages going back eight Years. a
: well as big casks of new now noisy will
f their first fermentation. His Isabel,
= - L.
7 cases being ordered from Boston, New
York, Cincinnati, st. Louis, Chicago, &c
He made barrel of wine in $50. it beine
the readiest way of disposing of the sur
plus crop. The wine was pronounced
E very good when it was two years old, and
much better in 1868. Mr.. Huntington de-
votes considerable attention to scientific
and literary pursuits, and for several
years has kept careful and correct meteor
illogical tables for his own use and the
Smithsonian Institute at Washington. He
has not missed to note the observations at
regular hours each day during that period.
Another early grape grower and wine
maker on the island is Mr.. Charles Car
penter, whose principal wine cellar is
arched in the solid lime rock of the ex-
tensively worked quarry on his premises.
The sides and rear end are formed by per-
pendicular seams in the rock. The vault
is 81 feet wide by l2O long, l6 feet high,
and floored with solid rock. Mr.. G. is
running two wine presses and will manu-
facture some $4,000 gallons this fall, at the
rate Of 700 gallons per day. He has two
vaults, and about $4,000 gallons in both.
a portion of previous vintages. Some Of
his wine casks hold l,s0O gallons. MIR.
| Carpenter has ren 1ered grape growers
much service by testing new varieties.
lie has one hundred varieties under culti-
walton, and eighty in bearing Mr.. G..
| prOnounces the Franklin a first rate WINE
grape; and says the Notified, or Spotted
Catawba, has been tested two wears for
wine and received the highest encomiums
from Committees. 1t is a great bear
er, and hardy. Mr.. Carpenter is testing
all the varieties he can hear of.
In the long agO-doubtless at the period
in Earth's history when the sand ridges
back from the present southern shore
formed the banks of Lake Erie-Kelley's
Island was divided by the waters through
a valley now one of the most inviting of
grape localities. This valley is in the
northern part of the island, one end open
ing upon the lake, and the other upon
large, lovely, and nearly land-locked bay.
On the north of the valley is a limestone
ridge extensively quarried years ago and
still very valuable, while the broad inter-
vale and gentle slopes are with fruit
empurpled Deep" for
"The vine too here her curling tcndriI shoots.
Hangs out her clusters, glowing to the SOUTH
Ana scarcely wishes for a warmer sky
In "Sweet Valley appropriate
name-MI. NJ. p. Hewlett, formerly of
Columbus, has three acres of vineyard in
bearing from which he has made twelve
hundred g1ITons or VINO wUrutr e-t;-,e---
one acre IN partial bearing, and four set
last spring. Mr.. II. II. Sturges, of Mans
field, has thirty-fve acres of grape land
twenty set to grapes last sprng-four and
half in bearing, from an acre of which
l., 40 gallons of wine were made this sea-
son. Mr.. William Kelley hassom fifteen
acres of hourishing vineyard in Sweet
Valley and at the lake end three Cleve-
land Germans recently purchased twelve
cleared acres of splendid grape la:.d, with
out improvements, except a very small
vineyard, for which they paid extra, for
the snug sum of $S, 400. The first house
is now going up on the premises. By the
way much of the grape and wine pros
perity of the island is due to the intelli-
gent Germans employed by the Messrs.
Kelley and others, some of whom were from
the wine districts of the old country, and
early saw that grapes did as well here Us
in Germany. They bought land on credit,
and have become independent in a bust
ness with which they were familiar, and
much more profitable than ordinary labor
As yet the Islanders have escaped heavy
real estate taxation, the entire tax being
n ,lx-o ciN
We have noticed but ii portion of the
Island vineyards. About one-half the
grape crop this year has been sold abroad
to be manufactured into wine. The prin-
cipal purchasers have been MessrS. NJ
Werke, r. Bartlett IL CO., T. II. Yeat-
man, Chaplin, Baird IL 60, Cincinnati;
Chicago Fruit House Company, and j. c.
Reznor, Chicago; L. j. Haywood & Co.,
Detroit; Pleasant Valley Wine Com
pany, Bath, n. y; Messrs. Mathivet and
George Leick, Cleveland Smith Il Par
sons and Adam Baur, Sandusky. Mr..
Leicll has purchased about $50 tons of Isl
and fruit, and Messrs. .AIathivet 100 or more.
The other half of the Island crop has been
packed and sold for table use, or manufac-
tured into wine here. There are twelve
large wine presses and a number of small
ones on the Island, most of them in opera
ton day and night during the vintage
season. One hundred thousand gallons of
wine will be made and stored on the Isl
and this year, and but for lack of cellar
room these figures would be largely in
creased. a joint stock company is about
being organized with capital of 100000
to erect wine vaults next season with stOr-
age capacity for --Ju;vuU gallons The
present principal wine cellars are and will
be stored about as follows c. Carpenter,
%, 900 gallons; d. Garrett 10000; c. d.
Wells, 10000 Louis Beatty, 10000; A.
Chiedler, 10000; F. Shipple, 10000; Ad-
Olson Kelley, 1000; G. C. Huntington.
5000; Thomas Resch, 1000.
The sale of grape roots and cuttings IS
no small item of the business. Sixteen
millions of cuttings were made on the
island last year, worth from 81 to So per
thousand.
The whole of Kelleys Island is under
laid with the best of limestone, valuable
for building purposes as well as lime. The
Bank of Michigan and other fine edifces
| in Detroit are of Kelleys Island stone.
| -Four quarries have been opened and pro-
vided with docks for shipping, and three
are new extensively worked. About nine
thousand cords will be quarried and ship
ped this year-from the quarry of Messrs.
Kelley & Webb, 5000; Mr.. w. S. Webb,
5000; and Messrs. F. d n. Kelley 5000.
The quarry of Messrs. f. u n. Kelley
presents working face % feet high, in
layers from ten inches toa foot thick, with
fine building stone to the bottom, which is
flint. The demand for limestone exceeds
the ability to quarry, and vessels are con-
stantly being freighted at the docks.
Cleveland, Saginaw, Detroit, Erie, Port
Huron and Lake Superior are the princi-
pal markets. Limestone is shipped to all
the lake ports as far down as Barcelona,
and considerable quantities are used for
fux purposes in the furnaces of Lake Su-
periOr, Cleveland, Akron, &c.
The Fisheries about Kelley's Island are
another source of wealth The main
pounds and nets are owned by c. b.
Wells & Co, Cameron & Catenuch, and
Fuller & McGettigen. OFF the northeast
coast of the Island are extensive gill net
, fisheries, in deep water from which large
white fish are taken each morning by the
} wagon load. Several tons of fresh white
fish, herring, &c, are now daily
sent from Kelley's dock to Sandusky by
the Island Queen, and Mr.. Hamilton, the