Daily Republican., 1879-04-22
NEW CASTLES FUTURE.
Manufacturers and their Inserest-
I"creased AetiyityiDsii DePsr'-
sssents - The ''Old FOuWdry"-A
New Nc q OOI to be Erected.

! BssenlS - The "Old FOuW0ry"-A
New Nc OOI to be Erected.
Special Correspondence ofthe Republican.
New CASTLE, April 22nd, 70.
New Castle has at last come to the
conclusion that she really has future.
This is evidenced in:thsipcrsased setivi,
ty and the enlarged capacity Of its in.
dustrial establishments. New Castle
at a no distant date is distined to be.
come rival to the gcodly city Of Will
lnington in the monopolizing of the
manufacturing interests of the State.
Under the new law passed by the Leg.
islaturs sxempting from taxation for
a certain number of years all manu-
factories that may be erected, num-
Der of iquiries from capitalists from
other cities have been made and the
facilities for the transaction of heavy
manufacture have been thoroughly
considered; and it is highly probable
that some steps will be taken during
the summer tending to the acceptation
of this advantageous offer.
Yesterday q RKrunYcAs representa-
tive ir visiting New Castle, stepped in.
to the manufactures, and was surprised
to note the unmistakabie signs of pros
perity. The report that each firm made
of its business was one of satisfaction
and all expressions converged in the
plainly apparent fact that "the mills
are buster this season than they have
been tor years"
At Taskers large number of men are
employed and the works are running
on full time. Below Taskers are the
New Castle Iron works. The company
controlling this mill is Of recent forma-
ton, at least in this State. Mr.. Hugh
Il. Steele formerly of Coatesville. Pa,
is President, and John O. Steele is Sec
retary. Mr.. Steele for number OF
wears carried on mill at Coat-svills,
where he manufactured boiler plate
and tue sheet iron, the same in which
they are at present engaged. The
mill is running full and quite large
number of hands are employed.
The four mills of William Lea x
Son, which are worked in connection
with the mills of the same firm On the
Brandywine, in Wilmington, are run
ming capacity of l3O to l40 barrels of
flour daily. They report business in
their particular branch, unusually
brisk.
= The mills of James g. Shaw, carrying
, on the cotton yarn manufacture, are
very brisk. They at present are run
; ming from l30 to 140 hands on full
, time, who turn out 5000 pounds per
day. These WORKS were" formerly car
ried on under the firm. name Of Shaw
, & Knowels, James g. Shaw and James
, 6. Knowels being the members. About
! the year 1869 or 1870, these two dis
solved partnership, and Mr.. Knowels
built a factory on the opposite side OF
. the railroad. Here he started the
t manufacture of WOODEN material.
y The mills # James &. Knowles are
r prosperous and have the reputation Of
b truniug out some of the best material
q in the market On October the 23rd,
= during the great storm, the mi lis took
e fire and were wholly destroyed. Mr.
/ Knowles at once began to rebuild. All
S the valuable machinery was ruined be
yond repair. This necessitated the
procuring of looms &c. By the latter
part of January the mill was again pu
ri in motion. The demand for the good'
); was so great that it had to be put il
f. operation before the work had beeI
d fully completed.
t Since that time Mr.. Knowels ha!
,, been constantly adding TO his machinery
>; until at present he has about half th'
70 capacity that he had before the destruc
= ton of the mill occurred; that capacity
!; at present is about 400 yards of cloth
b per day. Mr.. Il. Miller is the Superin
VI tendent and under him there are EN-
8 ployed about forty hands.
5. All the above works are in that por
:; tion of the city below the depot, and
y around them has grown up quite a nu
;, merous population, composed altogeth
1t er of families who receive sustainance
I, from employment given by these man
:, ufactures.
4 The only establishment at presen
ot idle is that owned ana formerly occupi
r ed by Mr.. Tasker, prior to the erection
d of the new addition to the immense
n works. This building is known a.
't "The Foundry" and is now for rent
;, This structure was at one time occupied
BY the New Castle Manufacturing Co.
When the New Castle and Frenchtowi
railroad, one of the first railroads IL
. the country, was in its vigor, the en-
IL gines used on the road were brought
y from England, in sections, and put to-
y; gether at New Castle. experimenting
II this was man named Young. This
: man Young, through some means OF
another got hold of the patterns and
70 went into tn. manafac.ure OF locomo-
10 tives Himself.
: In the course OF time the manutaetory
; reverted to the New Castle manufac'
n turing company who continued the bus
= = mess of building engines. Some OF the
y. first locomotives in the cOGntrywere sen'
~ from this ''old foundry" OF this com
If pany Andrew C. Gray was President
and William II. Debb, who recently
died from hy,lrophobia, at New Castle
was Superlhtehu'ut. Nv ooHP""J
r. tlourshed for while. At one time II
n is estimated that there were nearly foul
.s hundred hands employed there at oAt
!. time. Reverses came, however, ano
It through some unlucky negotiations
"a with southern roads, the company be
Jc came embarrassed which led to its ulti
!, mate failure. The building fell intt
,n the hands Of gentleman named Blan
:. ton Duncan, who afterwards became
IN notorious in southern politics, who
"a started the manufacture OF peculiar
kind of an engine whose driving power
was enveloped within this cylinder.
This too failed, and the building
3 nnnt intn Tia hands of a phila lelphit