Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-06-26
Evergreen !, slate Company.

1865. James sW1SWeli, w HlldHi ~. /
Clark, Andrew Clark and Griffith
Hughes were made the corporators by |
the act. At this time those four gentle
men were Joint owners, each owning an
undivided fourth of quarry property in
the town of Poultney, located mile or
thereabouts in southwesterly direction
from the Eagle quarry grounds IN that
town. Griffith Hughes, one of the cor
porators named, an honest, industrious |
Welshman, well acquainted with slate
working, with which he had become IA /
nliliar in his native Wales, had some /
three or four years previously disc0y-
cred the slate rock at this point, and
made an opening. Hughes prosecuted
his work for little time as. well as he 4
could with his small means, until Wis
well and the Clark's became owners
with HIM, when the work was pushed ON
more vigorously After the company
was organized under the charter, the
owners of the quarry property located
as above given, conveyed the same by
deed to the company. The capital stock /
was fixed at fifty thousand dollars; the
most, if not all, was taken, a portion by
capitalists from abroad. Thus organized
the company have beer. successful in de /
veloping several quarries on their
grounds, which, in roofing slate stock,
are not exceHed by any others ia the
Western Vermont slate region. The
c0lors are of the unfading green, va
riety in great demand for ornamental
roofing for public buildings and for eX-
pensive and tasteful residences.
The officers of This company are now
as follows:
President, w. A. Clark.
Vice President, Griffith Hughes.
Secretary and Treasurer, Charles d.
Clark
Directors, w. "A. Clark, Andrew Clark,
! Griffith Hughes, j. B. Bromley. s..
The office of the company is at Cas-
! Teton the officers, except Hughes, re-
| side there About forty men, on the
average, work on the quarries of this
| company, and arrangements are now be-
| ing made to increase this force and to
procure additional machinery, fixtures
and appliances, with view to a more
| extensive prosecution of their business.
On visiting the preminess of the ever
| green Slate Company, one familiar with
| slate ouarries will observe at once, that
| the indications are that their slate stock
| is inexhaustible, at least for half cen
! tury, with any force of workmen that
can be supposed to be employed, and
that the stock is Of that kind which will
be in demand so long as slate roofing is
in use. An investment, then, in slate
quarry property must be regarded as
! safe here, if anywhere.
| A few hours time was. very. agreeably
spent by .the writer on the quarry
grounds and about the works Of the
| Evergreen. Slate company, a few days
ago, and very good opportunity it
was, to observe and learn the nature
| and character Of this new industry OF
Vermont Theslatemanufacture is an IN
/ dustry, emphatically so. There is nOmOre
| MYTH or humbug about it than there is
in the business of farming. There is
| this difference a man may be a slOven-
". careless, Indifferent farmer, and yet
| Get living. Such a man better not en-
GAGE in slate making for if he expects
to succeed in that he must not only
work. but his labor must be directed by
method, skill and intelligence. The
tanner may half manure his grounds and
ha,f hoe his corn, and kind Providence
| may furnish him with half a crop with
which he can keep the wolf from his
door until another half crop is produced,
| and so exc out his existence. But the
slate manufacturer, with this loose, half
way management of his business, would
soon suspend or be suspended by his
creditors.
The managers of the Evergreen evil
IDENTIFY understand this, and the presi-
dent of the company, William A. Clark,
who is also the superintendent, gives
evidence of his faith by his works. He
was some years a conductor on the
Rensselaer, and Saratoga Railroad, but
left that position year since, or therea-
bouts, against the urgent request of the
officers of that company to remain to
take charge of the Evergreen Slate
| Works, as superintendent.
AS we arrived at the quarry grounds,
we saw that the gentlemanly cOnduc-
tor" who had so often called for our
''tickets" in the last ten years, had left
his kid gloves at home and donned hab-
ilments suitable for his present business.
| We found him not only an efficient
superintendent, but man of all work,
on the grounds; first in the engine
house giving directions to the engineer
then laying hold of loaded refuse car
rolling it to the dump and unloading it,
then down in the quarry Juggling away
with the quarrymen at a large stone
slab, and SO on, not only experimenting
but aiding and encouraging the work
men. Here we have the model superin-
| tendent or oyerseer-one who has an
eye out to every department of the
works; knows himself how to do any
portion of it, and is at the rugged work
most of the time, in one place and an
other, as this or that workman needs his
aid, or he sees an opportunity to instruct
any one by his own example.
The Vice-President, Mr. Hughes, is one
of the workmen and gives his attention to
one department of work mainly; so it
will be seen that the company is organ
lied, planned, and their works operated,
| on foundation that should insure sue
cess. Although their slate stock is
among the very best, and inferior to none,
still it requires hard, perSevering, skilled
labor to get the dollars and cents out of
| it; and, with this it must pay. There
are several roofs in the county, and
among them one on General Baxter's
grounds in Rutland, which show the
color and quality of their slate They
are beautiful green and unfading, and
the demand is beyond the present ca
| pacity of the company to supply, and,
for that reason, they are about increas-
ing their force of workmen, and add
ing to their machinery and fixtures.
1t should be gratifying to the pride
of Vermonters that such an article as
slate-an article of unmistakeable utility
and beauty-can be produced within our
borders; and especially should it give us
| pleasure when we come to know that the
excellence and superiority of the Yer
mont slate, especially in colors, has Gre
ated such demand for it as to enable it
successfully to compete with slate in
other parts of our country, where the
cost of transportation is less, and even
in Europe, as against the Wales slate
which is manufactured at about one
third the cost of ours, owing to the low
price of labor there. And more espe-
cailly should we rejoice that produc-
tive industry has opened among us that,
not only now employs so many men, but
in the prospective is so inviting it to our
men of energy and talent who are will
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