The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-02-16

Interesting Review OF the Wool
Growing Business In this Re-
giOn.
Letter from Matthew McKeeyer,
the Wool King OF Former Days.
HARRIsvI1LE, ONO, Feb. IA.
Editors Of the IntGllIgencef: ,'
In recent issue Of the INTELLrGENCER
you made some editorial reference to the
history Of the wool growing business In
the neighboring counties Of Pennsylvania,
West Virginia and Ohio, and to my con.
nection with it.. Since then | am in the
receipt Of your note asking me to give you
for publication some of my recollections
OF the business n generation ago. What.
ever l write must necessarily be very
imperfect, us am obliged 10 write by
the hand Of another, now that old ngc and
partial blindness have incapacitated me
from the use Of the pen. AqIg 2
At the time to which you refer / was
living at Pleasant Hill, near West Mid
dIetown, Washington county, Pm. ] be-
gan keeping sheep in the year 1928, hay
ing only the common stock ofth3t day on
hands. very early commenced expert
menting with view Of improving my
stock and obtaining a finer grade Of wool.
This did by looking out for bucks o.
the best local quality. Up to 1926 | sold
my wool to buyers in the neighborhood
of nv farm. In the spring OF that year
| received letter from Frederick Rnpp,
who was at the head Of the Economics
eighteen miles below Pittsburgh, to the
effect that he had started factory
for the manufacture Of wooden goods
among his people, and offering me
inducements 10 sell to him. Accordingly
| took my wool that season to his factory
and had It graded. The grade ran from
common up to prime. The price for
common was II cents per pound and fol
prime 70 cents. Between these two there
were four different grades, all bringing
different prices. AT that time i had only
three or four ileeces that were graded Us
high as prime, the most Of my clip being
rated simply as common. OF course
made up my mind that the thing fol mt
to do was to keep on trying to improve
the breed OF my stock, which I did as fal
az opportunity offered. l sold my WOO!
at Economy for five years, and succeeded
in having ii graded higher every year unit
| had at last . fine clip. The wool wasal
washed. on the Sleeps back and thu
ieeces would average from two ant
hall to three pounds. In the spring o
1881 Mr.. Rapp came out to our neigh
borhood and bought my whole clip Mt 81
cents per pound, paying me s., 600 dow
on the contract. With this money, ant
some more that | raised, l turned in to
buy wool, and bought that season about
10000 pounds, paying for it from 80 to
60 cents per pound. Before delivering
my own clip at Economy, Mr.. Rupp sem
an agent to INC 10 buy what wool laG
bought on speculation, and sold to him
the entire purchase at 65 cents, with the
proviso, however, that he would pay that
price for my own clip, which he did. ]
delivered my purchases at Economy and
Pittsburgh. Before the next season camt
round wool had declined very materially
in price, SO much SO that Alex. Campbell
Of Bethany, Thos. McKeever and myself
sold our clips to Geo. Wilson, Of Yves
Alexander, at SO cents per pound. Tht
clips were all well washed on the sheep'
back, and would average 8 pounds to the
fleece. After this / sent my wool fol
five years to a Mr.. Blanchard, nj Kinder
hook, n. y, who acted as my agent.
found him 10 be an honest man, and he
always did well by me. After he quit the
business / sent to James Mott, Of Phila
delphia, for several seasons, and also tC
Bullock & Davis OF that city.
In the spring Of 1916, Saml. Lawrence,
Of Lowell, Mass, who had started large
wooden factory there, sent an agent &c
our neighborhood to buy wool, naming
the prices he would give for certain
grades delivered in Lowell. Some ten OF
fifteen Of the prominent growers OF our
vicinity shipped their wool to Lawrence
After shipping We all went on to see ii
graded, and 10 ascertain for ourselves
how the land lay in regard TO wool
prospects in the future. Some OF our
company intimated to Mr.. Lawrence and
his grader that they seemed TO be grading
men rather than wool, which remark
caused some dissatisfaction, but finally
ended in laugh. We were detained in
Lowell some ten days before tho wool
was all graded. That trip, however,
ended our shipments to Lowell. al
Henry Smith and my self came home
through Duchess county, New York, and
bought ! 200 ewes on our way, OF very
fair but not to say very fine grade. On
arriving with them we made public sale
and disposed OF them at very satisfactory
prices. Wefound however that Conneti-
cut was the place to buy fine Saxony
sheep. Accordingly We went on. TO Sails.
bury, in that State, and found the wool
growers over stocked with sheep. We
bought seven or eight hundred head Of
iinc Saxony ewes near that place. From
man named Scoyille we bought fine
Saxony;buck (importcd)f for which we paid
one hundred dollars. This buck was
the finest sheep l have ever seen, be-
fore or since. His fleece weighed un-
washed about pounds. We brought
our drove home, including the imported
buck. Samuel Patterson, a prominent
wool grower OF our ncighborhood, came
to see him. He was so taken with the
animal that he gave Inc $50 for the use Of
him two weeks. The wool produced
from him was OF such u fine quality that
the second clip from his lambs, thus bred
by Patterson, took tho premium ut the
Worlds Fair in London. Some Of my
neighbors paid me 81 per lamb for the
use ofthe buck, SO high was their estima-
tion OF his value. We still had q
good many OF our fine ewes on
hand, and We made sale at
West Middletown and dispos d..of most
OF them at good prices. We put up the
fine buck at auction at that sale, some Of
the best growers Of Washington county
being present, and he was bought by
Colonel Lee, of Cross Creek township, at
1852. This was in the year ls47.
Smith and myself went on the second
time to Connecticut and bought a lot Of
fine Saxony ewes and bucks. We met
with one buck, owned by Charles B.
Smith, Of Walcottville, in that State, said
to he the finest animal in Connecticut.
He was not quite 80 fine a sheep as the
imported buck, but he had n heavier
fleece. we bought him Of Mr.. Smith,
and afterwards sold him to Alex. Camp.
bell for $3.50, at private sale. These two
l...I.. III 90 49,, su,au,osN ..A.o