Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-05-08
The slate Interest I'm Western ver-
mont.

In this NUMBER we SHalI give 'io iO-
suit of our observation of the slate
manufacture ii the town of Pouftney.
At the same time it may be understood
that any further information hereafter
obtained through friends or otherwise,
which shall be important in fair show
inc of this interest, will be cheerfully
given, though we have to 90 over the
ground again. And we should now,
perhaps, give particular mention OF
several quarries on the Sheldon Bliss
farm, located in the town of Castleton,
near the north line of the town Of
Poultney.
The Blue Slate Company, so-called,
work one of these quarries and employ
about IS men. They manufactured last
wear A, 900 squares of roofing slate and
expect to increase the amount the COM
ing year. Their slate is of fair quality
and color.
Another quarry in the immediate
vicinity is worked by the Hydes; about
eight men employed product, mostly
mill stock.
Jones and Lloyd work quarry near
the same locality; employ some eight
men; their product is roofing slate and
mill stock.
In coming to Poultney we shall begin
with the Eagle quarry establishment.
This is. located about mile and half
south of Hydeville and near the north
line of Poultney. A quarry was opened
here as early as 1862, and was the first
in the town of Poultney to produce
roofing slate, though we are informed
that the Hooker quarry, now worked by
the Eureka Slate Company, about a
mile south of the Eagle, was first opened.
After the opening of the cage, a stock
company was formed and the work of
slate making actively commenced under
the supervision of Dr. Middletown Gold
smith The company was able, and
freely appropriated their funds to the
development of the interest. In the de-
velopment the company was successful,
but not so pecuniarily, at first. For
some years the main portion of the stock
has been and is now owned by Henry
Nichols. of New York, and the concern
has been under his management since he
became thus interested. In 1859 a mill
was erected on the quarry grounds,
and has marketing establishment con-
nected with it, Most of their quarried
stock is now worked up in their mill,
and is excellent stock for that purpose.
The company are now doing a heavy
business, and employ in their quarries
and mill 100 men. The sales of their
manufactures in 1872 amounted to the
sum of $685. 900. Quite a settlement
around these works has been established,
of which we found church, store, me-
chanics' shops and good number Of
dwellings. The colOrs of the slate pro-
duced from these quarries are purple,
green and variegated. From the ability
of the company, their excellent stock,
and the extent they have developed it,
we may reasonably expect that it will
continue to produce large item every
year to make up the aggregate of the
Western Vermont slate production.
In going nearly in a southern direc-
ton from the Eagle, bearing to the right
are several openings two or three of
I which are worked with from four to
seven men each; the production is in
great part mill stock, and drawn to the
Fairhaven mills Among these open
ings is one known as the Farnum quar-
ry that has been quite extensively
worked, but for some reasons is not now.
The quality of the slate appears to be
good and we'll adapted for use in mills.
AS we are now approaching quarries
that have produced roofing slate mainly,
we will explain, as we should have
done before. what is meant Ivy a square
of slate The skaters tell us that "a
square of slate is what win measure 100
square feet when properly laid on
roof"
After leaving the Farnum quarry,
and those in the immediate vicinity, we
come to the Evergreen quarries located
some three-fourths of a mile south of
the Eagle; these quarries are worked by
the Evergreen Slate Company. The
company have employed, during the last
year, an average of twenty five men,
and intend to increase their force the
coming year, and have already forty
men at work. They produced last year
some 5000 squares of fine quality of
roofing slate, of the unfading green vari-
ETY. of color.
A quarter of a mile i'll a southeasterly
direction from the Evergreen quarries
are located the valuable quarries now
worked by the Eureka Slate Company
Here on the Hooker farm, the first slate
opening in Poultney was made by the
late Daniel Hooker and his son, Solo
mon e., who still resides on the farm,
as early as 1850, though no slate were
sent to market until 1853 or 1854 a few
were made and used near home before
that time. Mr.. Hooker and son devel-
oped the interest in this locality, and
rendered good service generally in bring
ing to the attention of the public the
value of the interest and the utility of
slate as a roofing material Afterwards
these qurrries were worked by the
Poultney Slate Company, and now by
the Eureka, as above named. Hugh q.
Hughes, an active and enterprising
Welshman, is the superintendent and
general manager of this concern. Sixty
men have been employed the last year,
and 5000 squares of slate were produced.
Colors are green and purple, and the
Sta Ia
A short distance from the Eureka
quarries, and on the Hooker farm, are
several openings made by S. L. Hooker
and worked by him until recently. The
work here is temporarily suspended,
Mr.. Hooker at present turning his at