The Portland daily press., 1871-08-21

the nOtelS lnciuueu Inc schools here are |
graded. 1.-THE "Union Schoolhouse," a hand.
some brick building with lawn in front. ac-
five schools. 1t costs $21.O OO.-l
There are several other schoolhouse s in the |
village. The son or daughter of the poorest
citizen here can fit for Harvard or Yale for
nothing and as we'll as in Boston. There are
SO many young WORKING men here with fami-
lies that the number of school children is large,
822 in the village alone, including the district
on the east side of the Passumpsc. The
main portion of the town lies ON the west bank
of the river. The cemetery, half mile distant
from the village, rests upon fifty acres of billy
ground, quite densely wooded. 1. is a yery
beautiful burial place, with fountains and arti-
fetal pools of water, flowers and a various
growth of trees. Thirty thousand dollars have
been expended upon it already.
The population of the town of st. Johns
bury is 400. 1t has increased thilty-fye
per cent. in the past ten years. There
are nine churches. The First National
Bank of ST. Johnsbury has capital of $3.50, 900.
Forty-six merchants and traders do business in
the various departments. Thirty-one indiyid-
uals and firms ply the several branches of man
ufacture, power for which in large measure
is furnished by the Passumpsic riveE The to.
tai annual sales OF merchandise, not including
the manufactures, of the place, are 81, 800 .OOO-
The total sales OF manufactures exceed So, OO0,-
600 per year.
FAIRBANKS SCALE WORKS. ~
These are in some respects among the most
remarkable industrial establishments in the
world. That a manufacture of such charac-
ter, using so large an amount of heavy mate
rial, none of which except lumber is found any
where in the region, should have grown to
such dimensions amongst the hills OF north
ern Vermont IS itself marvel. 1t would be
indeed entirely inexplicable did not the unique
character and unequaled excellence of the
goods produced compel all that part of the
world Who want the best to come for them, be
they where they may.
The works are located at the south end Of
the village upon and in the valley of the Sleep
er stream, whose power is employed to drive a
portion of their machinery, the far greater pro-
portion of the power being, however, furnished
by.steam. The buildings number fifteen. The
area occupied is ten acres and really much
greater, as some of the buildings have four
floors The hands employed in the shops vary
| from 500 to 600. and great number besides in
numbering, operating the extensive farm, and
otherwise The shop hands are American
born; are residents of the place, to some extent
| own their houses and lots; and are, as is evil
| dent in their faces, men of intelligence and
character. No others indeed can be employed
| in such work. Over sixty horses are used, and
cattle in proportion in drawing lumber and
cultivating the great farm. P. & o. railroad
now running branch tracks to and into the
works at all points as needed, will as it pro.
crosses enable them to reduce this force Thir.
ty-seven thousand scales are manufactured
yearly, of 300 different varieties, to weigh from
| 800 tons to one grain, which find market in al.
most every country in which mercantile oper.
atoms are cOnducted,-in China, Persia, Tur.
key, Arabia, the Barbary States, Cape Colony
all the South American States, in Nautilus
Isle of France, Australia, Sandwich Islands
etc., ETC., as well as the great commercial ma
tiOns of the earth. AS sent to foreign coun
tries they areiadapted to their standards and
| products is 81 500, 900. Three million feet O
lumber are used, drawn from the region OF
the east, traversed by the P & o. R. r., which
will henceforth do this transportation. Be
| tween two and three thousand tons of Ameri
can iron are used. Half of this is from New
York State and comes by way of Burlington
| The other half is Pennsylvania iron, which
| will come via Portland when the road is open
ed. One thousand tons of Scotch iron arr
used yearly, which will also came by Portland
from Glasgow. Indeed $50 tons come viz
Portland last spring. The Scotch iron is soft
and mixed with American gives a good flow
and improves the character of the castings
Two thousand tons of Pennsylvania coal il
burned per year, which now comes through
Burlington, Lake Champlain, the lcanals and
the Hudson. A cheaper route will be by
schooner to Portland and thence by rail through
the "Notch." The great bulk of the scales now
| go to New York via Springfield and New Lon
don, nearly 300 miles of railroading. Via Port
land the RAFT will be but 135 miles, the rest by
boat. To5Boston the rail distance is 2O5 miles
| The total freight of these works is 1900 ton:
per annum.
One is surprised to observe how much of the
machinery employed in this establishment is
sui gener?s, it being largely of the Fairbanks
own devising for their special purposes. Two
entirely new machines are constructing to ex.
pedite and facilitate processes, one of them be-
ing the work of that original genius, Mr. Thad.
deus Fairbanks, to whom the world owes the
invention of the scales The Messrs. Fairbanks
encourage their workmen to devise improve
ments in their respective departments, and OF
all such improvements allow them to share in
the results. For example, very curious ap-
paratus for marking the register bars was In
vented by one OF their employees. He, accor-
DINGHY, does this marking by the job and at
rates advantageous to himself. Many of the
late improvements are the work of Col Frank
lin Fairbanks, who has the immediate super
vision of the works, Horace Fairbanks being
financial manager.
A part OF the success of this establishment is
due to the strict economy observed in all de-
partments. The Stag from the furnaces is
ground up and the residue of iron extracted,
The dust of the brass finishing and the scrap
ings from the floors are all utilized. The shaw
lngs from the wood work department by a sys-
TEN OF air-suction pipes are swept away from
the saws, Eplanes, ETC., to receptacle by the
steam boiler, and are used for fuel Thus the
air of the work rooms is kept free and breatha-
BILE. The brass dust is collected in the same
mode This is done as much from regard to the
health of the workmen as from considerations
of economy. Here ana there about the works
the best of water is ready for drinking. On the
day of my visit considerable number of the
workmen were absent, on Sunday-school pic
MIC Such are the evidences Of consideration
for the laborer seen on every hand in this model
mandatory.
What strikes the observer most of all about
the operations of this establishment, is the ex-
treme severity of test to which all the scales are
subjected prior to being approved. This is car
ried on in department separate from the 9TH
ers, SO as to avoid jar and movements of the air.
Minute weights, mere films of metal, which
one might carry on his eyeball and hardly
know it, are used for the more delicate testing;
and on the other hand ponderous masses Of iron
weighing tons are let down upon the platforms
OF the great railroad and canal boat scales, now
on this corner, now on that, land the slightest
difference in the record resulting from the
change, condemns the whole scale. 1t is this
severity of ordeal coupled with corresponding
faithfulness IN all the processes of manufacture
that has maintained the reputation of these
scales in all countries, over all competors.
for so many years, and is now extending their
market kand sale with greater rapidity than
ever.
PORTLAND & oGDENsBuRG RAILROAD.
ST. Johnsbury. by corporate and individual
subscriptions has put 1875 900 into this railroad
This shows how deep and strong IN tho onx;o,r
mere to secure railroad connection with Port.