Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1872-04-18
POultney.
THE SLATE INTEREsT-ITs RISE AND
PROGRESS.

the Pioneers in the development OF the
the State interest, writes
SIN the summer of 1910, when lad
of eleven years, I had broken my slate,
and not wishing to ask my parents for
another, quarried from the surface of
notch with an iron bar, split and worked
ed to suitable thickness with an old
cooper's shave, cut to fit my old frame
with an old saw and finished on a grind
stone a slate on which I afterwards
''ciphered," and for amusement, drew
on it pictures of log cabins and cider
barrels during the memorable campaign
of that year. Probably that was the
first ciphering slate made in the State"
This correspondent, however, conceds
what all in this community well know,
that Col. A. Allen of Fairhaven was the
first who opened and worked slate
quarry. We are informed by the Fair
haven historian that he conceived the
idea of making school states as early as
1889, and in the fall of that year made
an opening with view of getting mate
rial for that purpose and that the ma
terial proved too hard and that the en-
terprise was suspended or temporarily
abandOned;"
/ The writer of this communication to
THE HERALD we'll knew Col. Allen as
early as 1889, and something of his bust
ness habits, and is of the opinion that
the idea of developing slate interest
bore heavily on his mind until in the
the end he was successful. About 1S45
he made another opening, and commenc-
ed the manufacture Of school states,
which was kept up for two or three
years, and not being sufficiently remu-
nerative, was abandoned but in the
meantime he had made few lots of
roofing slate which proved to be of good
quality, and this part of his slate bust
ness he did notabandOn. His first manu-
facture of roofing slate was in 1847, or
about that time, and then and there at
Fairhaven, commenced a business that
has grown from that time until it has
reached its present proportions.
1t did not grow rapidly at first. For
some wears Col. Allen was SOLITARY and
alone" expanding his money and devOt-
ing the energies of an active mind in a
project which to him seemed feasible,
but to others chimerical and visionary.
Even slate makers from other parts of
the country visited the first quarries he
opened and pronounced them valueless. /
He pcrsevered the result is known.
Col. Allen should be remembered.
In 1849, F. w. WhitlOCk, Esq. now
a resident of POultney, opened a quarry
in the town of CastletOn, near the north
line of Poultney, and near the Eagle
quarry. Mr.. WhitlOck did good work
by way of developing this interest and
bringing into use roofing slate. UnfOr- !
tunatelY, he did not save much for HIM
self. but the public were much benefited
by his efforts.
Soon after 1850, Daniel Hooker and
his son, s. f. Hooker, made an opening
on the Hooker Farm" about three
miles north of POultney and cOmmenc-
ed the manufacture of roofing slate, as
they say, sin a small way" They soon. .
however, brought out one of the best /
quarries that has yet been opened. 1t is
now owned by the Poultney Slate Com
pany, and | believe was rented in the
wear 1871, for four thousand dollars
Soon after the Eagle Company was
formed, and under the superintendent
of DR. Middleton Goldsmith made an
opening in the extreme north part Of
POultnev, about a mile directly south Of
the village of Hydeville. This company, .
having abundant means, worked vigor- .
Ousy for a while, but were not in the /
end pecuniarily successful. The pro-
perty went into other hands, and now
perhaps is the heaviest slate establish
ment in this slate region.
William L. Farnum, Esq, soon after
the opening of the Eagle quarry, opened .
out half mile or so south Of the Eagle
and between that and the Hooker Qua~-
ry Mr.. Farnum has quariod and manu-
featured large quantities of slate. but he .
has not made if pay very well. lie stiIl
owns the quarry. 1t produces an cN-
cellent quality Of slate, and will doubt
less sometime he worked by him or some
one with profit.
I havenot the space in this article to
give in detail the progress Of tn" Stat"
business, but must dispose Of il some
what summarily, not forgetting hy the
way to notice some facts showing the
progress of that interest in the town Of
POuItncy.
The slate business not only commence
ed in Farhaven. bat the d"veiopcmcnt
there was more rapid and at this time
the bu;ineSs is larger and more active
than at any other place on the slate line,
unless it may he ut Middle Granville
The slate stock is no better in Fcirhavpu
than in POultncy. nor is there as much
of if. but the business commenced at
Fairh3yen, and called into it I'll" Aliens.
Hanger. and other active and efficient
business men, who had carried on the hu-
siness in advance of that in P0utn"v.
There are now four Slate Mills in Fair
haven, all doing large and successful
business There are two in Hvdayille
doing fqnally as well. Those mills are
for the manufacture of tagging tile,
billiard beds, mantelS coffins, caskcts,
table tops, and a thousand other articles
for architectural, ornamental, domcs-
tic and other purposes. Slate is now
being used for great varity of purposes
and I CanuOt stop to show its excellence
for the purposes used. 1t is capable of
receiving high polish, and has sixteen
times the strength Of marble.
Five years ago but one quarry had
been opened in POultney, south Of the
Hooker farm, so called. Since that
time some seven openings have been
made on the farm of L. G. Spalding,
mile farther south, and now quarries are
here, in successful operation, finding
to a hundred men, and
yielding remunerative products to the
Still farther south are sew
eral more openings, and these are nearly
as successful as those on the Spaulding
farm.
A mile and half south of Poultney
village, near the line of the railroad, are
what are called the swamp quarries."
The first opening made here was less
than five years ago by two enterprising
William r. and John r.
Williams. Now there are seven, and
last year 5000 squares of roofing slate
were made from them, besides large
quantities of tile and tagging, manufac-
tured by the Green Mountain Company,
who owned one of these quarries. The
Williams above named have commenc-
ed building a mill near these quarries,
which they expect to complete by the
IL. -.